time warp

I spent a couple of hours at the downtown Toronto Reference Library of the Toronto Public Library (TPL). You know, at the centre of the Universe, just north of Yonge and Bloor!

Guns, traffic madness, pollution, hustle and bustle aside, this is one of the fantastic benefits to living in the big city. It seems everything is here. What a tremendous place. Nice building too.

I haven't been to the Reference Library for a long time... Flashbacks, romantic memories, I remember the smell of this place. Wow, look at all these young, good-looking people. Holy crap, look at all those computers! You could have a major frag-fest here...

The old way to conduct research, I asked to examine some ancient periodicals.

From 1985 through 2000, I requested the RASC Observer's Handbook, searching for familiar covers. I was trying to jostle some dormant engrams since I can't seem to find my old copies. 1991 and 1996 looked very familiar. Something about '92. The '85 through '90, '98, '99, and 2000 did not ring any bells. By accident, they brought up a 1947 issue. Wow! Fascinating stuff. I particularly liked the hand-drawn planet charts and monthly constellation charts.

While I was waiting for the handbooks to be dredged from the bowels of the building, I had a brainwave to search for the keywords "edmund" and "scientific" in the library computer system. Cool: the old Toronto Edmund Scientific Co. product catalog came up. I ordered the librarian slaves to locate the 1974 and 1975 editions. And struck gold!



This is Mom's telescope!

Some key discoveries:

• this 'scope is referred to as the Super Space Conqueror
• main tube is aluminum, 47-3/4" long, baked with white enamel, interior is painted flat black, pre-drilled to take a camera holder
• focal length is 48"
• should go down to 13th magnitude stars
• will split double stars separated by less than 1 arcsecond
• the mirror is parabolic, made by Pyrex, hand-finished, and rated to better than ¼ wave
• came with a wide-field achromatic 48x Kellner
• mount has teflon bearings and fine setting circles
• the clock drive has a quick clutch with lock and a manual slow-motion, lever-operated control
• catalog number 85086
• shipping weight is 68 lbs.
• listed at $249.50 in the '74 catalog, an addendum advised that the price was adjusted to $259.50, and the price rose to $285 in the '75 catalog

I copied the separate page for the clock drive.



These dry, tinted old catalogs are a treat! They take me back. I'm not the only one who feels nostalgic about them...

I love libraries (despite The Age of Internet).

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Old link: http://www.tpl.toronto.on.ca/
Updated TPL link: http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/