[ATM] ATM: Big Mounting (and other notes, "longish"))

["David Harbour" <scarab2@cox.net>]

To all:

I have been surprised (and somewhat flattered) that so many, lately, have
appreciated the unique design innovations I embodied in my large, one person
transportable, fully latitude adjustable fork equatorial mounting for optics
up to 20"s aperture. Because of this inexplicable (but slight) re-surgence
of interest in my older designs which I marketed as Great Plains Instruments
through Sky and Telescope magazine between 1988 through 1990, and then
sporadically up to 1992, and then my refiguring service briefly in 1995, I
have been involved in efforts to help those who have expressed an interest
in building their own examples of my smaller fork equatorial kit build
mountings, and of course, the big, latitude adjustable one, as represented
here:

http://www.atmsite.org/contrib/Harbour/Sym.Eq.Mntng.html

It was simply my bad luck to have developed these unusually versatile, ultra
light weight, kit build mountings when I did, because in the atm-ing world,
at about that time, everyone began to spit on the equatorial mounting in any
form, and became ga-ga over the Dobsonian. And that is okay with me; the
only consequence of significance it had for me was that my work with
developing the kits, and the precision cut templates for mass producing
them, was inappropriately timed. I produced ten or twelve dozen precision
cut templates for all of the models of the mountings, for easy replication
of the parts. Finding no interest as the years passed by, I destroyed all of
them. Now, several of my atm friends are very keenly interested in
reproducing some of my designs. I thought I could help them. But I have had
to come to realize that I will not be able to offer any kind of detailed and
comprehensive support for those who want to re-create my designs. It is too
late; the time has passed when that kind of instrument might have been
popular- but more importantly, the time has passed when David Harbour can do
what he wanted to do.  In fact, the time had already passed when he should
have done what he did in terms of offering those kits. The decade for it
would not have been the nineties, when I started (late eighties), but the
late seventies and early eighties; the Dob had become King already when I
began offering those neat little fork equatorial kits.

I will send the very large number of negatives that document in great detail
how I built these relatively complex mountings to George Anderson to make a
master CD of, as soon as I can, and also, Gary Fuchs is in possession of an
extraordinary little "product video" that I made in 1989 that shows a
fourteen year old girl disassemble an 8" f/7 fork equatorial mounted
kitbuild Newtonian, and pick it up (all of it, including mounted optics) and
carry ALL OF IT BY HERSELF twenty feet and reassemble it, IN ABOUT THIRTY
SECONDS, without tools or fasteners. They were unique little instruments,
every bit as convenient to build and use as any Dobsonian. Perhaps Gary can
make dupes for those who would like to have them. Gary has a precious memory
for me in his hands, when life was more of a wide vista in front of me than
it is now, and I created something very wonderful, and was excited about it.
He has promised me to take care of it (I only have one copy). I kiddingly
told him that I would require his little girl as security for the tape; he
did offer the cat instead. But I know Gary will take care of it and return
it, when he is finished with it. I hope he produces a great many copies of
it, as it is quite an intriguint little silent film of eleven minutes
duration, depicting the three patented (#4,901,072) design innovations I
incorporated into the little mounting. (Number might be: 4,072,901; I am not
sure; I no longer have my certificate with the red ribbon and the gold seal
on it).

I will not progress any further in the writing of my document detailing the
construction techniques, but rather now consider it finished. I will provide
Michael Madigan with this document, and the prints I promised him. What I
should have left behind were the templates, which would have relieved any of
you who wanted to build my last mounting (I destroyed the smaller templates
a very long time ago) of 99 per cent of the most difficult part of
constructing the big mounting; but the years rolled by, and everyone
continued their honeymoon with the Dobsonian. The templates were returning
nothing to me, so they went to Valhalla.

I have been happy to have been able to pass on much of my older (and
somewhat "dated") wisdom in telescope making to you fine ladies and
gentlemen, and have so much enjoyed my re-visits to the list over the years.

I have certain knowledge that my years are short, and there are two tasks
remaining for me to complete in order for me to fulfill my life. I have come
to understand that, like "Roy Batty", in the film, "Blade Runner", I will
not be given permission to escape from "the facts of life" (quoting "Doctor
Tyrell"), and the facts of life for me are that I need to abandon any
further very time intensive involvement in trying to resurrect my old fork
equatorial mountings, as the other two things that I have to do for others
are the most important accomplishments left for me to fullfill before my
time has passed, and they are increasingly soaking up my left over energy,
leaving not enough left over for my old and first love, atm-ing.

I mourn the death of those templates; I poured my heart and soul into them,
and wrecked my health building the big mounting. I am very sad that no one
was interested; I would have given anyone any kind of help they needed then,
as the web page, from the link above, promised. But I had no takers, and now
the opportunity is lost to us. It was, perhaps, not meant to be. Many great
thinkers have believed that whatever comes to pass is by design, whether we
understand that design or not, or even believe it or not. I choose to
believe that that is true. If there is a destiny for the kind of telescope I
used to build, one of you will pick it up and fulfill it; another destiny
has been assigned to me for this period remaining for me.

You are the greatest bunch of guys in the world!

David

P.S.- Correspond with Ken Hunter about the big mounting; I gave it to him
(except the wonderfully light and ultra strong Warren Truss tube, which I
use to dry socks on now in the living room). I gave my Cassegrain optics for
the mount to Frank Ward. I hope he has been able to enjoy them. The
templates, well- they went to the city landfill, in about five hundred small
pieces. I offered them free to the list; no one was interested.

Now, I have to keep my wife happy and comfortable in her shortening and
increasingly pain filled remaining years, and I have to finish my novel, my
statement about the meaning of humankind in relationship to the universe,
urged on by the Emperor's maxim, that:   "...a limit of time has been fixed
for thee, which if thou dost not use for...".



_______________________________________________
ATM mailing list http://www.atmlist.net/