Part 4

The figuring, which consists of removing high spots to achieve a truly parabolic contour, probably took the longest time to complete. A mirror must be continually tested as this polishing is being done, and since the polishing warms the glass and distorts its shape, it is necessary to allow a long time for the glass to cool before it can be tested. Peate estimated that polishing and figuring the mirror took 750 hours.[36]

We do not have a really accurate account of how he tested the mirror. Unfortunately none of the eyewitnesses to these tests had any knowledge of optics or of standard testing procedure. The information of those who had such knowledge is all at least secondhand and sometimes even more remote. J. W. Fecker, successor to Brashear,[37] who was one of a group that examined the mirror in 1923, states that Peate did not use the knife edge test but that he did use a pin with a hole in its head in one of the tests used at that time.

A variety of different tests and diversions with the mirror have been reported. Dr. Peate would entertain visitors in various ways. One of these was to train the mirror on an apple orchard in a valley a few miles away. In another Peate would pull out one of his whiskers and hang it on a fence nearly a quarter of a mile away. Peate himself tells of the time spent in testing the mirror, but does not go into detail about the procedure. He does mention a testing table that stood about 75 feet away from the revolving table on which the mirror rested. He says further that the mirror was tested “in all ways known, in the shop and on a pin and a watch dial a thousand feet distant.” Of these only the pin test seems to have been a conventional one.[38]

After the polishing, the mirror was silvered. Said Peate: “It was silvered and tried on the heavens in the starless region under Corvus, and under the very imperfect management of the mirror on telescopic stars, the report was as good as could be expected.”[39] Dr. Peate must have spent some time testing it on the stars. The mirror was evidently completed sometime late in summer of 1897, and when Peate was satisfied that it was as perfect as possible, he made arrangements to send it to American University. He also designed the shipping case to protect it on the trip to Washington. It is described in the University paper as follows:[40]

This consists of a box in which the glass is packed and a wheeled truck in which it is swung. It is swung on its edge by iron bands, which go around it over an iron belt which encircles it.

After waiting for the case, he encountered a further delay by reason of the fact that the express company had no office at Greenville. However the great glass finally was loaded on the train, and on August 24, 1898, it arrived safely at American University.

Although all parties concerned in this project seemed optimistic, no provision for mounting the mirror had yet been made. The University paper which announced the safe arrival of the glass hoped, at a later date, that—

some day, we trust before long, a noble and generous giver will appear, who will provide for the proper mounting of this mirror and also build a worthy housing.

This donor was never to appear. Five years later, in announcing the death of Peate, the _Courier_ was still appealing for funds to mount the mirror. Late in 1903 it announced that a gentleman in Pennsylvania would contribute $100,000 to defray the cost of an observatory to house the mirror, but nothing further was ever heard of this gentleman. Earlier, before the mirror had been made, the Reverend H. G. Sedgwick of Nashville, Tennessee, had offered to mount and equip the mirror on the same terms under which Peate had made it. That is, he would do the work if someone would donate the cost and the material. But of this offer, too, nothing further was heard. Possibly he died before the mirror was completed.

The mirror was to remain untouched for some 24 years. In 1922 the “Greenville Roundtable,” a group reportedly founded by Dr. Peate, allocated $90 to the Reverend H. G. Dodds to investigate the disposition of the mirror. In that same year the Erie Conference appointed Dodds a committee of one to report on the same matter. Dodds visited American University and conferred with the chancellors. They checked the mirror and it seemed to be in good shape. Dodds then went to Warner and Swasey, in Cleveland, Ohio, where he attempted to discover what it would cost to mount the mirror and provide an observatory. But he learned nothing there. Dodds knew nothing either of astronomy or of glass and his lack of knowledge did not inspire confidence in his mission. He did note a peculiar phenomenon, that people seemed suspicious of the mirror in itself without knowing anything about its actual condition.[41]

Shortly after Dodds’ failure to secure a user for the mirror the Perkins Observatory at Ohio Wesleyan University, which planned to add a large reflecting telescope, became interested in it. Dr. Clifford C. Crump, director of the Perkins Observatory, J. W. Fecker, then president of the J. W. Fecker Company, and A. N. Finn and A. Q. Tool, of the National Bureau of Standards, inspected the glass at American University. They found it remarkably free of bubbles and similar defects. Due to a lack of facilities they were unable to test the mirror optically, so that no comment was made on either the polishing or the correctness of the figure. It was, however, found badly strained due to poor annealing, and Fecker advised against using it, as it would have to be re-annealed. If this were done, some refiguring would also be necessary. After this rather expensive renovation it would remain a rather thin, flexible glass and not equal to modern standards. The Perkins Observatory consequently decided rather to use a mirror cast and finished under the supervision of the Bureau of Standards.[42]

This was the last attempt to use the mirror. It remained at American University until the mid 30’s, when it was placed in the Smithsonian Institution. It was still, in February 1935, the largest mirror ever cast and polished in the United States.

Let us return now to Dr. Peate. After seeing the mirror safely stored at American University he returned to Greenville, Pennsylvania. Then 78 years old, still in good health and very active, he was to live for 5 more years.

To the end of his life he maintained his interest in astronomy, and was optimistic about the possibility of his great mirror eventually being mounted and used. In 1900 at the age of 80 he decided to see Europe once again. His prime objective on this trip was undoubtedly the Paris Exposition of 1900, where one of the main attractions was a huge telescope made by Gautier. It had a refracting objective of 49.2 inches, mounted horizontally, the largest refractor yet made. Strangely enough this much publicized telescope was never used either. After the exposition was over the backers became bankrupt and the instrument was dismantled and sold for scrap.

Dr. Peate with his wide range of knowledge and his conversational ability delighted and puzzled his fellow passengers on the boat to and from Europe. They guessed that he was an educator, a scientist, or statesman but he denied all this saying, “no, I’m only a bricklayer.”

Dr. Peate lived three years after this trip, dying on March 24, 1903. His good health and physical vigor never left him till almost the moment of his death; as shortly as a week before, he had conducted a funeral service.

It would be rather easy to dismiss him as a harmless fanatic except that everything known of him indicates that he was not. It is reasonable to believe that his mirrors were made more in the hope than in the certain expectation that they would stimulate the study of astronomy in the institutions receiving them. He was probably well aware of the difficulties of establishing so large a telescope at a newly founded institution such as American University, and, content in the knowledge that he had done his part, could only hope that others might be inspired to do likewise.

Dr. Peate’s great mirror will shortly be put to use in a manner that could hardly have been predicted by its maker. It has been in the Smithsonian Institution for over 20 years. The huge glass will form a part of the exhibition of optics and astronomy in the new Museum of History and Technology that the Smithsonian Institution will open to the public about 1962. There it will be seen by some millions of persons each year. Because of its spectacular size it should catch the attention of most museum visitors. Surely it will awaken in more than one potentially able worker an interest in astronomy. If so, it will have accomplished Dr. Peate’s purpose.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Instruments surviving from 18th-century America are almost exclusively of European origin, products of the numerous and famous shops which sprang up, particularly in England and France, to meet the demand occasioned by the popularity of the telescope among amateurs and dilettanti.

[2] U.S. National Museum catalog nos. 152078 and 152079.

[3] W. I. Milham, _Early American Observatories_, Williamstown, Mass., Williams College, 1938.

[4] _Mechanics Magazine_, 1830, vol. 13, pp. 114-115 and frontispiece.

[5] See p. 184 for a list of Holcomb’s instruments in the U.S. National Museum.

[6] H. C. King, _The History of the Telescope_, London, Charles Griffin, 1955, pp. 246-248. Milham _op. cit._ (footnote 3), p. 10.

[7] As reported in the _Journal of the Franklin Institute_ for July 1834, new ser. vol 14 (whole no. 18), pp. 169-172; July 1835, new ser. vol. 16 (whole no. 20), pp. 11-13; and August 1836, new ser. vol. 18 (whole no. 22), p. 110. The first two of these are given in the appendix, pp. 181-184.

[8] Reported by “R. K. M.” in _Sky and Telescope_, March 1942, vol. 1, p. 21. The “Catalog of Objectives Made by Henry Fitz,” the time span of which is unspecified, lists 428 objectives up to 13 inches and only 6 mirrors. It is not clear, however, that these represent finished units.

[9] Langley’s work at the Allegheny Observatory, particularly his invention of the bolometer, brought him international reknown as a scientist. In January 1887 he was appointed assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and later in that year became its third Secretary, serving from 1887-1906.

[10] The giant mirrors of Herschel (1789) and Rosse (1842) were made of an alloy of 71% copper and 29% tin, and 68½% copper and 31½% tin, respectively. This alloy was known as “speculum metal.” The silvered glass mirror was pioneered by Steinhill and Foucault in 1856. In England Dr. A. A. Common made considerable use in the 1870’s of silvered glass mirrors made by George Calver. About 1892-97 Common himself made, but never finished, a 60-inch mirror. It was later refigured and is still in use.

On these matters see King, _op. cit._ (footnote 6).

[11] For a list of these, see appendix, p. 184.

[12] Words crossed out in manuscript. See figure 1.

[13] For a list of Fitz material in the U.S. National Museum, see appendix, p. 184.

[14] F. W. Preston, “The first big American telescope mirror, John Peate, his lens,” _Bulletin of the American Ceramic Society_, 1936, vol. 15, pp. 129-152. Hereafter cited as Preston.

[15] The circumstances of Peate’s life and ministerial career are from Preston, supplemented by Dr. Peate’s service record, provided by the Erie Conference of the Methodist Church. Dr. Preston’s prime sources are: J. N. Fradenburgh, _History of the Erie Conference_, Oil City, Pa., 1907, vol. 2, pp. 204-211; obituary notice by R. N. Stubbs in _Minutes of the Erie Conference_, pl. publ. 1903, p. 90. Other data were obtained by Preston through interviews and letters, all cited in detail in the article.

[16] From information provided by Robert Barr, acting secretary of Oberlin College, February 15, 1960. The college records show a John Peate from Buffalo enrolled in the preparatory department in 1842-43 and 1844-45. The _Encyclopedia Americana_ (1924 ed., vol. 21, p. 460) states that Peate attended Oberlin about this time. The Doctorate was an honorary one conferred by Allegheny College.

[17] Fradenburgh, _op. cit._ (footnote 2), p. 204.

[18] Preston, p. 130, n. 10; p. 131, n. 19; p. 148.

[19] “On the Construction of a Silvered Glass Telescope, Fifteen and a Half Inches in Aperture, and its Use in Celestial Photography,” _Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge_, vol. 14, art. 3, iv+55 pp., 1865 (reprinted in vol. 34 as art. 2, 1904).

[20] Preston, p. 148. From an article in the Greenville, Pa., _Record Argus_, December 17, 1903.

[21] Preston, p. 148. In 1960 it was further learned that an “American Temperance” college or university once existed at Harriman.

[22] _Scientific American_, October 24, 1891, vol. 65, p. 260.

[23] Communication from Thiel College, Preston, p. 131, n. 17.

[24] _Popular Astronomy_, July 1898, vol. 6, p. 310.

[25] Preston, p. 129, notes 2 & 3. Based on recollections of George Lambert (1895) and John Morrison (1903). That the decision to make the mirror 62 inches in diameter may have had another origin is suggested by the fact that Common, in England, had made two mirrors of 60 and 61 inches in 1886-91.

[26] Minutes of the Erie Conference, 1893, p. 29. Preston, p. 130, n. 4.

[27] Preston has reconstructed the story of the making of the 62-inch mirror from contemporary journals, which will be cited below, and from personal communications with some of the participants, notably George Howard and George Lambert. Detailed citation of these communications are given in Preston. He has also used a brief manuscript account by Peate himself (Preston, p. 142, n. 62).

[28] Communication with Frank A’Hearn and John Hodge. Preston, p. 135.

[29] Peate’s workshop and apparatus is described in detail by Preston, pp. 135-138.

[30] Preston, p. 139.

[31] _Advance Argus_, Greenville, Pa., May 9, 1895. Preston, p. 139.

[32] Clipping of uncertain date from the _Pittsburgh Leader_, quoting the _National Glass Budget_. Preston, p. 139 and n. 55.

[33] Preston, p. 140.

[34] Preston, p. 139.

[35] Preston, p. 140.

[36] Preston, p. 142.

[37] The Brashear Instrument Company, after the death of its founder John Brashear, became the J. W. Fecker Company, Inc. This concern is now a division of the American Optical Company.

[38] Preston, pp. 142-143.

[39] The mirror is no longer silvered. The silver surface was apparently removed during the inspection by the Bureau of Standards in the 1920’s.

[40] Preston, p. 144. Various notices were published in the _American University Courier_ in 1898.

[41] Preston, pp. 145-146.

[42] Preston, p. 146.

Appendix

REPORTS OF COMMITTEES OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE

_Report on Amasa Holcomb’s Reflecting Telescope._

[From _Journal of the Franklin Institute_, July 1834, new ser. vol. 14 (whole no. 18), pp. 169-172.]

The Committee on Science and the Arts, constituted by the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the promotion of the Mechanic Arts, to whom was referred for examination a Reflecting Telescope, manufactured by Mr. Amasa Holcomb, of Southwick, Hampden county, Massachusetts,

REPORT:—

That the following is the description of the instrument as given by Mr. Holcomb.

“The telescope submitted to the examination of the Committee of the Franklin Institute is of the reflecting kind; has a focal length of six feet; the diameter of the speculum is three inches nine-tenths; the rays of light are reflected but once; the image formed in the focus of the speculum is viewed by a common astronomical eye piece, or by a single lens; it has also an eye piece for viewing land objects, which shows them erect. The telescope is of the same construction as those of Sir William Herschell, the observer having his back towards the object and looking directly towards the speculum. It has an advantage over those of the Gregorian and Newtonian forms, by showing the object brighter with the same aperture, there being no light lost by a second reflection. The diameter of the speculum is small in proportion to the length of the instrument; it will bear a diameter of eight inches, with much advantage for viewing very small stars, in consequence of the great increase of the light.

The magnifying powers that are used are, forty, ninety, and two hundred and fifty.”

Through the politeness of Prof. A. D. Bache, the committee were permitted to compare the performance of Mr. Holcomb’s reflector with that of a five feet achromatic, of four inches aperture, by Dolland, the property of the University of Pennsylvania. The instrument was also compared with a three and a half feet achromatic, by Dolland, and with a Gregorian of four inches aperture, the mirrors of which had been lately repolished in London. The short stay of Mr. Holcomb in Philadelphia, prevented the comparison of it with reflectors in the possession of other members of the committee.

On the evening of the 14th of April, the committee met by adjournment in the open lot south of the Pennsylvania Hospital, the use of which was politely permitted to the committee by the managers of that institution.

The following were the results of the comparisons:—

The moon, nearly full, was at a height to be conveniently viewed with the lower powers of the instruments: with a power of 350 in the five feet achromatic, the moon appeared bright and well defined,—with the same eye-piece, giving a power of 400, in the reflector by Mr. Holcomb, the moon was sufficiently bright, and equally well defined. The same, with the exception that the moon was more brilliant, and the field of view much greater, was remarked with the use of Mr. Holcomb’s highest magnifier, giving a power of two hundred and fifty.

As an illustration of their comparative performances, it was remarked that the waved appearance of the outer declivities of the craters of some of the apparently extinct lunar volcanoes, indicating the successive depositions of the lava, was more manifest with a power of four hundred in the reflector.

The immersions of 3 and 4 Geminorum of the sixth and seventh magnitude, were observed at the same instant of time in each.

The same occurred the evening before with a star of the eighth or ninth magnitude.

The immersions, however, of two very small stars, apparently of the tenth or eleventh magnitude, were observed with difficulty in the refractor, but could not be observed at all in the reflector.

The comparison of Polaris was best seen when the moon was up in the refractor, but in the absence of the moon it was readily seen in both.

Castor was easily divided with the lower powers of either, but in the case of this, as well as of other binary and double stars, the dark space between the stars was less disturbed by scattering rays in the reflector than in the refractor.

ε Bootes was seen double in each, but more distinctly in the reflector, μ Draconis, γ Leonis, and 4th and 5th ε Lyra, were seen distinctly double in both instruments; μ Draconis, from the equality of the disks and softness of light, presented the finest appearance.

γ Virginis, with a power of three hundred and fifty in either telescope, gave no certain indications of being double. Some of the members of the committee were of opinion that it was slightly elongated.

It was stated by the artist that his reflector would divide stars distant 3″ from each other.

Estimating the distance of the stars observed by the late observations of South, Struve, and Herschel, jr., the committee were of opinion that his instrument is adequate to the distinct division of double stars distant from each other 2″.5.

The motion of this instrument, plainly mounted, was steady, and with the finder, even without rack work, objects were easily made to range with the centre, or line of collimation of the instrument.

The position of the observers with the Herschelian telescope, was natural and easy in contemplating objects having seventy or eighty degrees of altitude, though quite constrained and inconvenient in using the achromatic.

The reflector gave a distinct view of land objects, even when within one-fourth of a mile.

Some light was lost by the position of the head, an inconvenience partially obviated by making the end nearest the object three inches greater in aperture.

The Gregorian, which probably was not a very fine instrument of its kind, bore no comparison in distinctness, or in quantity of light, with the Herschelian telescope.

From these trials, the committee are of opinion that Mr. Holcomb has been entirely successful in the difficult art of polishing specula with the true curve, which gives to the objects viewed all the distinctness of figure that is given them by the best refractors by Dolland.

In one respect, the largeness of the field of view, the reflectors by Mr. Holcomb have a decided advantage over achromatics and reflectors of different construction. The apparent diameter of the field of view in the Herschelian being nearly double that of either, with equal freedom from aberration. The quantity of light furnished by the refractor was greater with the same aperture, an important advantage in searching for, and observing very minute objects. This deficiency of light in the Herschelian for viewing faint objects near the moon, or satellites near their primaries, the committee are of opinion may be removed by enlarging the aperture of the Herschelian reflector to five or five and a half inches.

The simplicity of the method of preparing and mounting Mr. Holcomb’s telescopes is worthy of notice, since on this plan, the artist is enabled to furnish for an expense of one hundred dollars, with plain mounting, or of one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars, with more expensive mounting, telescopes whose performance equals that of Gregorians and achromatics hitherto imported into the country at an expense of five hundred dollars.

By order of the committee.

WILLIAM HAMILTON, _Actuary_.

_May 8th, 1834._

_Report on Holcomb’s Reflecting Telescopes._

[From _Journal of the Franklin Institute_, July 1835, new ser. vol. 16 (whole no. 20), pp. 11-13]

The Committee on Science and the Arts, constituted by the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the promotion of the Mechanic Arts, to whom was referred for examination, two reflecting telescopes, made by Mr. Amasa Holcomb, of Southwick, Hampden county, Massachusetts,

REPORT:—

That the following description of these telescopes is given by Mr. Holcomb:

The two reflecting telescopes now submitted by the subscriber, are constructed on the plan of Sir William Herschel, having the front view. The largest has a focal length of 9½ feet; the diameter of the speculum is 8½ inches, and has five astronomical eye-pieces, and one terrestrial eye-piece, for showing objects erect; the lowest power is 57, the highest 900. The smallest has a focal length of 7 feet 9 inches; the diameter of the speculum is 6½ inches, and has one terrestrial, and four astronomical, eye-pieces; the lowest power is 60, the highest is 600. They are of the same kind as those that were submitted a year ago, except the manner of mounting, which is very different.

AMASA HOLCOMB.