Dobson

[brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>]

At 15:13 5/29/97 -0500, Tom McC wrote:
> ....one more request on the construction of a teflon type bearing.  
> Does anyone know the basic elements and construction of a bearing that 
> would have work off a horizontal post that is firmly attached a wall.  
> The bearing would allow a horizonal piece of wood to pivot around the 
> post (post would or could go through the wood) and and remain in postion 
> when released.  The position of the bearing would be fairly well balanced.
>
> 	A similar type of bearing is used in Dobsonian telescopes to 
> position the telescope along the altitude angle.
>
> Thanks again for your help.
>
> ----------
> Tom K. McCarthy   Email:mcca6300@spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov

I should first apologize for my first effort at responding to your request.
That was not in the spirit of the monk - John Dobson - who is now 81 and is
the inspiration for several bands of 'Sidewalk Astronomers' who DO know 
how to make something of value at low cost.

   Accordingly, I first suggest you forward the amount of $2 and a return 
address to this address:

Sidewalk Astronomers
PO Box 4332
Burbank Ca 91503

They will send you the plans for a Dobsonian telescope and mount.

If you have access to a web browser, you may enjoy looking at their
web page, for which the URL is
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/6389/

There is a touching paragraph on John Dobson in a page created by
the Randall Museum at
http://www.wco.com/%7Edale/johndobs.html

along with many other hits which can be found with the search engine
called Web Crawler at
http:///www.webcrawler.com
using these keywords:
dobsonian mount telescope.

Regards
brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>
Altus OK