Here is the restored tube assembly.
The colour is a close match to the original, even if it is now lead free!
The brass inserts had been over painted in later re-paintings, and these have now been restored as I believe they should have been. (converting this photo to b/w makes the brass inserts look just like the grey tube in Ellison's original photo.)
Apologies for showing my observatory in the background, but having read much of Ellison's work I think he would be glad to see his enthusiasm continued. The later chapters of his book describe how to build your own observatory.
The truss & fork layout of my 18" scope was influenced by Porter's 200" Hale design, and Porter was influenced by Ellison's book. Full circle!
The rather "upright" angle of the legs in Ellison's original mount (right photo) is now seen as necessary to clear the elevation adjustment rod when the scope is at low elevation.
The elevation support and adjuster were reconstructed from the original photo in Ellison's book.
The original photo is not clear enough to see how the azimuth adjuster was configured. I am hoping that in time my researches will uncover more detail.
It is however very useable in this state. Being very stable and the elevation adjuster being very well positioned for left handed use.
A shot of the top end, on the left with the original Steinheil 20mm Huygens eyepiece.
Below with my laser collimator. What would Ellison have thought of that?!
The access door is too small to withdraw the mirror through, and the original silver surface would have been too soft to clean. I suspect it was used to aid cooling of the telescope.
Below is the brass "Y" configuration described on page 81 of Ellison's book.
Alignment adjustment and locking seems very efficient, (at least when using a laser collimator!)
