The
"Heinzman
Letter"
"From then on for several years I found myself practically in the telescope business."
From a handwritten letter to SRO member Tony Heinzman
George A. Carroll
"From then on for several years I found myself practically in the telescope business."
From a handwritten letter to SRO member Tony Heinzman
George A. Carroll
Los Angeles Public Library,
Valley Times Photo Collection
Cropped by SRO, Inc.
George Carroll Remembers - an Intimate Recollection
To read his handwritten account is both personal and pleasurable, and worth the time to fight for words dimmed by the limits of scanning technology. Your reward will be a first person account as told through the aged hands of an accomplished engineer and master craftsman.
A transcription follows the scanned pages.
Correspondents of Correspondence
George Carroll pictured with Tony Heinzman. In response to an inquiry by Heinzman, Carroll pens a letter recalling the events which spurred his interest in astronomy and then helped it grow.
Correspondents of Correspondence
George Carroll pictured with Tony Heinzman. In response to an inquiry by Heinzman, Carroll pens a letter recalling the events which spurred his interest in astronomy and then helped it grow.
“When I was a young kid…”
1
When I was a young kid the family lived on a farm in the central part of Texas, not far from the small town of Belton. The summers were very hot and many nights we would sleep outside to take advantage of the cool breezes if there were any.The nights were generally clear and very dark. The stars seemed to be very close. This is what was intreaguing to me and was the basis of many questions that came to mind. My grandfather visited us quite frequently and was a source of information for me. He was a man who never failed to answer a question regardless of the subject.
It was not very long after I began watching the stars – moon, etc. that it appeared that some of the answers that I had got did not fit the observations very well.
Now things were getting more mysterious and the answers more mysterious.
I was now about 8 years old and, and Halley’s Comet came along and really fouled things up good.
I was now in school and began bombarding the teacher with a lot of questions he did not even try to answer. So I was now out on a limb with no where to go.
We moved to a different community and school district. The school employed three teachers, so I started to bombard them with a collection of questions that they thought could not have any answers.
There was a storage room with a locked door that apparently never got much use.
2
One day I noticed the door was open so I went over to take a look. Much to my surprise there was a man in there looking through a bunch of boxes etc. I could see some very interesting things on the shelf in the back.The man let me come in and have a look. Believe it or not the interesting little gadget was an ORRERY. A wall chart near by explained the workings of the orrery. I began to realize how few of the previous answers that I had collected was correct. I never got to see in the room again.
As the years passed I gradually picked up bits of information that began to fit together and make sense.
It was after I had grown up and was on my own that I met a man that had studied astronomy at Harvard. He and I eventually became good friends. He had an observatory out in the county south of Ft. Worth, Texas at his summer home.
I visited him several times and learned of several other amateur astronomers in the central Texas area. The telescope that was in his observatory was a 5″ Brashear refractor loaned to him by Harvard. I had not come into contact with the reflector telescope yet.
After quite a long time I heard of an elderly preacher who had built several reflecting telescopes. After many tries I was able to contact him and finally went to visit him.
3
He had built three reflecting telescopes a 6 in[an] 8″ and a 10″. Their quality in general was very poor as compared to the 5″ refractor from Harvard.
I was not yet able to find any information as to how to grind and polish a lens or mirror.
The optical people that I had contacted were extremely reluctant to divulge any information on how to make lenses + etc.
Amateur telescope makers were far and few between. I was finally able to borrow a book from an old friend that was sort of a history of some of the old telescope and lens makers.
This book was quite a revelation to me because it discussed the different methods used by some of the more successful ones.
After studying their methods I decided that I would give it a try. I managed to get hold of a 6″ disk and the necessary abrasives etc.
After many months of experimenting I began to see some results. After a few more months I had found a way to test a mirror. This allowed me to make a 6″ F10 mirror that appeared to be fairly good.
After I had mounted it in a tube and made a tripod for same I would take it out on the side walk to try it.
4
One evening a car drove by and suddenly stopped and backed up. A middle aged man got out of the car and came walking over. As he approached he asked if I objected to him looking at my telescope.
I told him I did not object. As the conversation continued I found out that he had made a 6″ reflector telescope also but its performance rather poor poor as compared to a refractor.
After looking through [my] reflector it became almost impossible to get him away from it.
Finally he said – That is the best reflecting telescope that I have ever seen. It rivals (?) a refractor in some respects, he said.
The result ended up by me having to make him one. From then on for several years I found my self practically in the telescope business.
I became listed as a professional in 1946 and operated the Astro Telescope Co. in Glendale, Calif for several years.
I quit when it dawned on me that all work + no play was making me a dull boy.
NOTE The books on telescope making came into existence about the time I made my first one.
Hope you can read this –
George
Call me for more if needed
Geo