Bardou, Brunner, Cassegrain, Cauchoix, Chevalier, Gambey, Gautier, Krauss, Lerebours et Secretan, Mailhat, Vion ================================= France, patent designation. Bte S.D.G.D.; brevet = certificate, brevet d'invention = patent; S.G.D.G = Sans Guarantie du Gouvernment. SPJP: Societe Parisienne Jumelles a Prismes MR.G.: Ministere de la Guerre Depose: registered ================================= BARDOU Established in Paris in 1818 by D.F. Bardou, then run by his son P.G. Bardou, and grandson, Albert D. Bardou. 'Bardou & Fils a Paris', dates 1855 & 1884. Won medals at Paris Exhibition of 1855 & London Exhibition of 1862, showed opera glasses and hand held & astronomical telescopes. 1876, Bardou & Sons at Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. Later, Bardou & Son. Prizes at the international exhibitions of 1878 and 1889. Circa 1880s, U.S. importer J.W. Queen & Co. 1895, J. Vial became owner / manager. Catalog J. Vial, 55 Rue Caulaincourt, Paris, up to 6 inch, pier mounted telescopes, weight drives. George F. Chambers, Handbook of Descriptive and Practical Astronomy, 1890, illustrations of Bardou observatory telescopes, including twin photographic / visual equatorial. 1911 Bardou catalog, 4 1/4-inch telescopes & smaller. Probably the most prolific small telescope maker circa the turn of the century. Bardou lenses used in some telescopes signed by Queen, McAllister, Pike, Sussfield Lorsch, and others. ================================= BRUNNER Johann Josef Brunner, 1804 - 1862, b. Balsthal, Switzerland, father a locksmith. Worked with father; at 22 moved to Vienna, studied instrument making with Starke. 1828, to Paris, changed name to Jean Brunner, worked with Frederic Hutzinger & Vincent Chevalier. 1830s, opened business at 34 rue des Bernardin. 1839, 1844, 1849, 1855, 1867, 1878 Paris exhibitions, London 1862; 1844 won gold medal for astronomical circle. 1845, moved to 183 rue de Vaugirard. Specialized in geodetic, surveying, astronomical instruments; also made microscopes. Equatorial telescopes, clock drives, meridian circles. Known for very high quality, precision instruments. D. 1862, sons Emile 1834 - 1895 and Leon 1840- 1894, continued as Brunner Freres, business ended 1895. 1867, 22 cm telescope for observatory of Cairo. 1874 transit of Venus expeditions used Brunner apparatus. Instruments for Observatories of Paris, Nice, Toulouse, Lisbon, Lyon, Algiers. 1887, 20 cm, 320 cm f.l. meridian circle at Observatory of Nice; scrapped in 1960s. ================================= CASSEGRAIN Laurent Cassegrain, born circa 1629, Roman Catholic priest, teacher of secondary school in Chartres. 1685, became Cure of church in Chaudon. D. 31 August 1693. Wrote a letter on the megaphone, published in the Proceedings of the Paris Academy of Sciences 25 April 1672. An accompanying note described his telescope design, parabolic concave primary & hyperboloid convex secondary. Advantage of design, partial correction of spherical aberration, later described by Ramsden. Baranne, Andre and Francoise Launay. Cassegrain: un celebre inconnu de l'astronomie instrumentale. Journal of Optics 28 (1997) 158-172. ================================= CAUCHOIX Robert-Aglae Cauchoix of Paris, (24 April 1776 -- 05 February 1845), fabricated instruments including barometers, spherometers, and micrometers. He specialized in optics, sometimes using quartz to make achromatic objectives, and used Guinand glass to fabricate the largest telescope objectives in the world three times in the 1830s, a 13 inch and two 11 3/4 inch lenses. Edward Joshua Cooper (1798-1863) of Ireland, bought a Cauchoix objective of 13.3 inches aperture and 25 feet focal length, completed in March 1831, the largest objective lens made to that time. Cooper mounted the lens on a wooden altazimuth mounting (illus. King p181), and in 1834 on an equatorial mounting by Grubb (illus. Glass p14) in his observatory at Markree Castle. The pier was a pyramid of black marble blocks, and there was no dome or even a roof over the 16 foot circular wall. While at the Grubb shop, the objective suffered an impact which removed several splinters of glass from the edge, which were filled with pitch and joined several surface scratches and veins in the glass to detract from the view. Cooper used the telescope to sketch Halley's comet in 1835 and to view the solar eclipse of 15 May 1836. During 1835 and 1836, the instrument traveled to Europe on an altazimuth mounting with Cooper and his employee Andrew Graham. The telescope was later used by Graham for the bulk of the measurements made to produce the 4 volume Markree Catalogue, with measured positions for 660,155 stars (Chapman) or 60,000 stars (Glass), in the ecliptic, to twelfth magnitude. (Cooper also owned an 1831 Troughton transit with a 5 inch Tulley objective, an 1839 Ertel meridian circle of 7 inches aperture, an 1842 Ertel 3 inch equatorial comet seeker, and a 3 foot Dollond refractor.) Graham resigned in 1860, E.J. Cooper died in 1863, but the observatory remained active until the death of E.H. Cooper in 1902. In the 1870s, the Cauchoix objective showed rays coming off stars, from improperly centered lenses, which had been noted when the lens was new. Circa 1928, the Grubb / Cauchoix telescope was sold to the Jesuit Seminary in Aberdeen, Hong Kong, where it was used during the 1930s, but bombing damaged the observatory in 1941 and the telescope was moved to Manila Observatory circa 1947, where the objective was being used in a Littrow spectrograph for solar work in 1989. (Hoskin and Glass) The first 11.75 inch Cauchoix objective had a focal length of about 19 feet, and was the world's largest objective when made in 1829. It was for a French customer, but sold to Sir James South (1785-1867), reputedly for 1,000 or 1,200 pounds. South mounted it in a Troughton & Simms English equatorial mounting that was unsteady and subject to vibrations. Troughton and Sheepshanks fixed, or attempted to fix, these problems, but South found it unsatisfactory, refused to pay the bill, lost a lawsuit, and in 1836 destroyed the mount, selling the ruined parts as scrap metal. However, South spared the objective lens, donated it to University of Dublin in 1863, and it is still in use as the South telescope, in an 1868 Grubb equatorial mount at Dunsink Observatory that was extensively used by Robert Ball in the 1870s. Wayman quotes two texts that describe a Cauchoix objective at Dunsink, a 5.2 inch doublet of quartz and flint glass, that showed excessive color around bright objects; which was mounted in an equatorial by clockmaker J. Sharp that might have been defective and was very little used. The Northumberland Equatorial at Cambridge University, 1838, had a Cauchoix 11.6 inch doublet, of 19.5 foot focal length, costing 15,000 francs, refigured by F.J. Hargreaves in 1937, and now in storage; the telescope currently uses a 12 inch doublet designed by R. Willstrop and fabricated by Jim Hysom of A.E. Optics. The equatorial mounting was by Ransome of Ipswich and Troughton & Simms of London. 1837-1838, R. Sheepshanks purchased and presented to Greenwich a Cauchoix objective of 6.7 inches aperture and 8 feet 2 inches focal length, used in a square wooden tube on a Grubb German equatorial weight driven mount, which was housed in the South Dome at Greenwich 1838-1963, and in the Altazimuth pavilion after 1963, where it was still in use in 1975 but in storage by 1997. The Greenwich 30 inch Grubb reflector of 1896 carries the Hodgson 6 inch guiding refractor, with an objective of 6 feet 6 inches focal length, 'said to be by Cauchoix'. This objective was used to observe the 1874 Transit of Venus from Hawaii. Other Cauchoix instruments include: Collegio Romano Observatory in Rome, Italy, 6.25 inch equatorial refractor, 1825. Geneva Observatory, meridian telescope, 4 foot focal length, 1772, by Sisson, with later optics by Cauchoix. "Although there is some thought that the spherometer was invented by the French optician Laroue, the first spherometer of which there is positive knowledge was devised and named around 1810 by Robert Aglae Cauchoix, and made by the French mechanician Nicolas Fortin. Cauchoix's design, a three-legged base supporting a central micrometer screw, was quickly adopted as the basic standard and remains in use to this day. The Conservatorie National des Arts et Metiers in Paris has a spherometer made by Cauchoix and used by Biot that reads to 1/1000 millimeter." (Robert Ariail) The Smithsonian owns a mural telescope signed "Cauchoix 'A Paris", catalog #315,426. The brass telescope is 24 inches in length, and 2 1/4 inches in diameter. Included is a wall mounting bracket, a tin lantern with wick and mounting bracket, iron wrench, and papers: Notice, "Lunettes Polyaldes pour Marino et la compagne", by M. Cauchoix, 8 pages. Manuscript notations by a former owner, in French, 3 pages. Booklet, "Description des Lunettes Murales, construites par M. Cauchoix, Optician, Qua. Voltaire 'a Paris. Avec l'indication des procedes pour s'en servir, et des examples des calculs d'Obserations", Paris, 1818 (use of the instrument, with engraving, posted at: http://home.europa.com/~telscope/cauchoix.jpg 52kb; also describes use at the Cape of Good Hope to correct Breguet's Chronometer in 1816, page 16.) Also at the Smithsonian is a brass variable angle prism signed "Cauchoix a Paris", used at the U.S. Military Academy circa 1830. Daumas notes that Cauchoix invented a 'foot' for a telescope, an example of which was under a Lerebours telescope owned by Napolean, now at the Paris Observatory. Cauchoix's storefront was on the Quai Voltair by Pont-Royal. Cauchoix's nephew M. Rossin assumed leadership of the business in 1836. Rossin continued the use of quartz for objective lenses. ==== Chapman, Allan. The Victorian Amateur Astronomer: Independent Astronomical Research in Britain 1820-1920. Wiley, 1998. Daumas, Maurice. Scientific Instruments of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries and their Makers. (translated by Mary Holbrook). London: Portman, 1989. de Clercq, P.R. Nineteenth-century Scientific Instruments and their Makers: Papers Presented at the Fourth Scientific Instrument Symposium, Amsterdam 23-26 October 1984. Leiden: Museum Boerhaave. 1985. (J. Payen, “La construction des instruments scientifiques en France au XIXe siecle") Glass, Ian S. Victorian Telescope Makers: The Lives and Letters of Thomas and Howard Grubb. Bristol: Institute of Physics Publishing, 1997. Hoskin, Michael. Archives of Dunsink and Markree Observatories. Journal for the History of Astronomy, 13 (1982) 146-152. Howse, Derek. Greenwich Observatory, Volume 3: The Buildings and Instruments. London: Taylor and Francis, 1975. King, Henry C. The History of the Telescope. New York: Dover Publications, 1979 (1955). Wayman, Patrick. Dunsink Observatory, 1785-1985 - A Bicentennial History. Dublin: Royal Dublin Society, 1987. --Sources, contributed by Robert Ariail: Lunettes vitro-crystallines. 1831. In Poggendorf's Annalen for 1829,.may be an article, pamphlet, book or advertisement. Citation, American Journal of Science 19(1830-1831) 390. Citation, Philosophical Magazine 63(1824) 252-259. "Cauchois ou Cauchoix (Robert-Aglae)" Article dans: Grande Encyclopedie, vol. II, p. 886. Bulletin de la Societe d'Encouragement, 1811, pp. 117-127 (sur le flint de Dartigues) et 1830, pp. 190-192 (sur ses instruments d'optique). Cauchoix, R.A. Nachrichten ueber Herrn Cauchoix's Fernroehre mit objectiven aus Glas und Cristall. Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 212 (Juillet 5, 1831), pp. 349-52. (Lists lenses for sale, including Cooper's of 1 foot 1.86 pouces (English))./ Mädler. Geschichte der Himmelskunde. Herschel, John F.W., The Telescope - from Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1861. ================================== CHEVALIER Established circa 1765 by Louis Vincent Chevalier (dates? 1734 - 1804, or 1743 - 1800), at 31 quai de l'Horloge; made & sold mirrors, lenses, telescopes. 3 sons were opticians, Louis, & Nicolas-Marie had short careers; Jacques Louis Vincent (1771-1841), worked for father, left for army, returned in 1803-4 to start own manufacturing business. Made optics for telegraph operator telescopes. Vincent's son, Charles Louis Chevalier, 1804 - 1859, with father improved the camera obscura with a lens / prism, very successful. Vincent retained overly tight control, circa 1832 Charles left to form own business, reunited businesses 1841. Greatest success with microscopes, including reflecting, horizontal, inverted, and polarizing microscopes. Improved achromatic microscope, using several doublets in line. Produced a few jewel lenses. Important in early photography, experimented & improved lenses. Charles' son & successor Louis Marie Arthur Chevalier 1830 -1874, Palais Royal 158. In 1863, published "L'Art de l'opticien et ses rapports avec la construction et l'application des lunettes". Improved medical equipment, & production methods. Many other texts written by family members. After Arthur, company declined, catalog 1885, probably closed by 1889. 1860s, catalogs included hundreds of instruments, 15 employees at factory & 60 remote employees. Telescope at Craigdarroch Castle, Victora, B.C., signed: "No. 1 Rue de la Bourse, Paris, A. Chevallier, A. Fontana, Succr." Other Chevaliers: --Guy Chevalier, 1 Rue Royale, Paris. (opera glass) --Victor Chevalier, 1770-1841, Paris, instrument maker, patented 'cannon sundial' (blasts at noon) --Jean Gabriel Augustin Chevallier, 1778-1848, worked 1796--, Pont Neuf #15, Paris, optician, instrument maker, inventor. ================================ GAMBEY Henri Prudence Gambey. Born 8 Oct. 1787, Troyes, France. Died 28 Jan. 1847, Paris. Father a clockmaker. Worker & supervisor at Ecole des Arts et Metiers (Compiegne), also at Chalons-sur-Marne. In Paris, worked for Ferrat, for Etienne Lenoir, returned to Ferrat 1808. 1809, opened shop at 52 rue du Faubourg, St. Denis. Met & was assisted by Francois Arago. Built superior circular dividing engine; improved machine tools, new theodolite. Gold medal at 1819, 1824, & 1829 Paris exhibitions. 1827, gold medal for meridian circle 162 mm, 238 cm f.l. for Paris Observatory. Other instruments for Paris Obs., including plans for large equatorial built after his death. Widow, brothers, workers continued shop until circa 1855. Theodolites & repeating circles were very finely made, portable theodolite for Bureau des Longitudes. Heliostats, sextants, equatorial telescope, astronomical transit, alt-azimuth. ================================ GAUTIER Paul Ferdinand Gautier, 12 Oct. 1842, Paris - 7 Dec. 1909, Paris. At 18 worked for Secretan. 1866, William Eichens 1818 - 1884, director of Secretan, left to start a business, with Gautier. 1876, Gautier opened shop at 24 rue d'Enfer. 1880, purchased Eichens business. 1900, 56 boulevard Arago, 40 employees. 1910, company bought by G. Prin, later combined with Secretan as Ets. Secretan, Epry, Jecquelin successeurs. Displayed at 1878, 1889 Paris Exhibition. Coude design: 7 equatorial coude telescopes built 1879 - 1892. First at Paris 27 cm, 7 m f.l., 1882, scrapped 1970s. Alger, 1886, 32 cm, 6.3 m f.l. Besancon, 1888, 32 cm, 6.4 m f.l. Lyon, 1886, 35 cm, 7.8 m f.l. Nice, 40 cm, 10m f.l. (still used). Vienna, 1885, 38 cm, 9.3 m f.l. Another at Paris, 1892, 60 cm, 18 m f.l., visual & photographic objectives, is largest made, now in storage. All used Gautier mounts and optics by Paul & Prosper Henry. Coude idea from Maurice Loewy 1871, fixed eyepiece, no dome needed, but complex mechanism to adjust declination. 1889, 22 cm, 310 cm f.l. meridian circle for La Plata. 1885, first astrograph as used for Carte du Ciel, double telescope 33 cm photographic & 25 cm visual objectives, equatorial mounting, optics by Henry. 1887, this design was chosen as the prototype for the Carte du Ciel project, 13 total made by Gautier for CdC, largest such astrograph was Meudon 83 cm / 66 cm, 16 m f.l. 'Atlas de la lune', Loewy & Puiseux, 1896- 1910, used the Paris astrograph. Improved photographic plate measuring machines. 17 large equatorials, 7 coudes, 3 refractors, 7 large meridian circles, 3 altazimuths, reflectors, many other instruments. Observatories in Algeria, Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Greece, Netherlands, Spain, Vatican. 1900 Paris Exhibition telescope. Two 125 cm objectives visual & photographic 900 kg each, cast at Mantois. Fixed 60 m tube. Mercury floated siderostat; with 2 m mirror, cast at Jeumont, ground & polished by Gautier over 10 months. Gautier designed & built polishing machines for optics, built thermally insulated workshop with double walls. Telescope used at exhibition by Antoniadi, but failed due to lights & smoke, unventilated steel tube; also only photographic objective was completed & used visually & photographically. Financial problems after exhibition, telescope later scrapped, siderostat mirror now at Paris observatory. Large financial loss from this telescope ruined business. ================================ KRAUSS M.E. Krauss founded company 1882, Luetzowstrasse no. 68, Berlin, Germany. By 1901, in Paris, 1922 address 18 rue de Naples, Paris. Exhibitions: medal at Melbourne 1880 (pre-production?), medal at Anvers 1885, Chicago 1893, Paris 1900. 1890 catalog of Optical Instrument Works of E. Krauss; 1898 B & L microscopes; 1905 Krauss microscopes. Agent for Zeiss and a maker of binoculars under license from Zeiss, using their designs & patents. British representatives A.E. Stanley & Co., 19 Thavies Inn, Holborn Circus, E.C.; but binoculars were made only for the French market. Also Galilean binoculars. 'Krauss - Paris & St. Petersburg' stamp on some binoculars. Krauss binoculars with Cyrillic marks from the 1920s. Krauss Paris 12 x 50 with modified Porro II prism (Cranz prism), 1920. Krauss 12 x 70 binocular for anti aircraft observation, circa 1935. Later, B.B.T.-Krauss (Barbier, Benard, & Turenne). 1922 catalog of binoculars included refractor telescopes with 68, 75, and 81 mm objectives. Also spotting scope with 3 eyepieces on a turret; battery commander's rangefinders (scissor scope), and spyglasses. ================================= LEREBOURS et SECRETAN Noel Jean Lerebours 1761 - 1840, worked for spectacle maker & for Louvel, Paris. At 18, started own business; 1789 opened shop at 69 quai de l'Horloge, Paris. Worked through Revolution. 1792, producing lenses for instruments by Etienne Lenoir. Made series of lenses for optical telegraphs. 1809 catalog. Produced telescope objectives 11 cm aperture, 1816 made a 19 cm objective, 1823 a 24 cm objective, 1829 a 32 cm for Paris Observatory. 1836, a 15 cm Lerebours, the largest refractor in the U.S., installed at Wesleyan U., Middletown, CT. Made microscopes & distance microscopes. Son Nicolas Marie Paymal Lerebours 1807 - 1873, began work 1830, continued business, 1844 completed a 38 cm, 8 m f.l., bought by Bureau des Longitudes; was also a very early photographer. Marc Francois Louis Secretan 1804 - 1867, b. Lausanne, professor of mathematics at Academy of Lausanne, moved to Paris 1844. 1845, L & S joined, used name until 1880s and beyond. Secretan became head of Lerebours and Secretan after 1855 retirement of Paymal. Secretan also issued catalogs as sole proprietor after 1860. Collaborated with William Eichens, important mechanical designer of telescopes. 1860s, worked with Leon Foucault, improved silvering techniques. Marc Secretan d. 1867, son August 1833 - 1874 continued business, succeeded by his cousin Georges Emmanuel Secretan 1837 -1906, then Paul Victor Secretan in early 1900s, then mostly or solely a retail business. George Prin, (successor to Gautier) was absorbed into Secretan in 1934. Secretan in business through 1947; by 1955, although still named Secretan, was controlled by C. Eprey and Jacquelin since circa 1920s. 1860, 32 cm, 500 cm f.l. equatorial (west tower) for Paris Observatory. 1863, 24 cm, 385 cm f.l. meridian circle for Paris. 80 cm reflector for Marseille 1864, and 80cm for Toulouse 1874 (made with Leon Foucault). Circa 1865, made clockwork telescope drives designed by Foucault & Villarceau. Many objectives and mirrors for Paul and Prosper Henry at Paris Observatory, with equatorial and Coude mounts designed & built by Gautier. 22 cm for M. Lias (Observatory of Brazil); 160 mm equatorial for M. de Boe (President of the Astronomical Society of Belgium); small photographic equatorial at the Observatory of Besancom; & many amateur instruments. 1853 catalog, 2000 instruments of a wide variety; produced, retailed, or imported by Secretan. Catalogs had technical descriptions & instructions. See George F. Chambers, Handbook of Astronomy, vol. II, 1890, images of large observatory equatorials and transits. ================================= MAILHAT R. Mailhat, 39, 41-43 Boulevard Saint-Jacques, Paris. Late 1800s. Student of P. Gautier, shop director for Secretan. Medal at l'Exposition Universelle de 1900. Catalog, 32pp: R. Mailhat, ateliers de mecanique et d'optique pour les sciences et l'industrie, Paris. 1900. Built instruments for Observatorie de Paris; La Faculte Des Sciences; Bureau Des Longitudes; Observatoire De Juvisy. Astronomical and terrestrial refractors, 57mm-109mm, oculars, mountings, observatory instruments. 33 cm equatorial refractor & dome. 150mm Circle meridien d'Observatoire. 250 mm refractor at l'Observatoire de la Faculte des Sciences de Paris, might still be extant. Also made d'Appareils de Geodesie; de Meteorologie and de Physique; scientific instruments in general. Possibly M.R. Mailhat, father of R. Mailhat, instrument maker, signature: 'Mailhat Paris' (R. Mailhat signed instruments: R. Mailhat Paris.) Mailhat telescope dated 1913, Buenos Aires, Argentina. ================================= VION Th. Vion (probably Theodore) founded company in 1832. Two sons, Vion Freres (brothers), at international exhibitions of 1878, 1889, 1893, and 1900. Made 'longview' for field and sea; terrestrial & astronomical telescopes, equatorial mountings; surveying instruments; microscopes; spherical & parabolic mirrors, prisms, doublet objectives. Astrolabe a prisme, systeme Claude (prismatic astrolabe). By 1922, Etablt Vion, (etablissement = business, E. Vion = Vion & Co.) Catalog Selsi - E. Vion, 1923, distributed by Palo Co., N.Y. Circa 1930, address 38 Rue de Turenne, Paris. 1930, universal equatorial dial (Whipple Museum). Telescopes, recommended in Flammarion 'Astronomie Populaire'; and in Rudaux 'Manuel pratique d'Astronomie' (1952). Available in European retailers until at least 1960. Meteorological instruments. (current address?: F-91310, Montlhery, France. As of 2000, Montlhery has no 'Vion' in phone book). ========================================== Sources: Anderson, R.G.W., J. Burnett, B. Gee; Handlist of Scientific Instrument- Maker's Trade Catalogs, 1600-1914; Edinburgh; National Museums of Scotland, 1990. Billings Microscope Collection p85. Biswas, Asit & Margaret. Gambey. Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Charles Gillispie, ed. New York: Scribner, 1970--. Brenni, Paolo. The Brunners and Paul Gautier. Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 49, 1996. Brenni, Paolo. The Chevalier Dynasty. Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 39, 1993. Brenni, Paolo. H.P. Gambey. Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 38, 1993. Brenni, Paolo. Lerebours et Secretan. Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 40, 1994. Clay & Court, History of the Microscope. Daumas, Scientific Instruments of the 17th and 18th Centuries. Davis & Dreyfuss, Finest Instruments Ever Made. Levy, Jacques. Gautier. Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Charles Gillispie, ed. New York: Scribner, 1970--. J. Payen, La Construction des Instruments Scientifiques, in de Clercq, 19C Sci. Instr. & Makers. Rosenthal, Spectacles & other vision aids. Seeger, Militaerische Fernglaeser. G. Turner, 19th Century Scientific Instruments. G. Turner, The Great Age of the Microscope. Weimer, T. The Coude Equatorial. Journal for the History of Astronomy 13 (1982), 110-118. L'Industrie Francaise des Instruments de Precision. 1901-2. Catalog of Syndicat des Constructeurs en Instruments d'Optique & de Precision, Paris Also text from on line by Deborah Warner and Robert Ariail. ================================================= home page: http://www.europa.com/~telscope/binotele.htm