What is the history of the Gibraltar mount?

[Swoop1]

I have a very soft spot in my heart for Gibraltar and like to find out what I can about anything I see that references the rock.

I have recently seen items about Gibraltar mounts and cannot find where this stems from.

Has anyone out there got any idea?

Thanks,

Matt.

[RT65CB-SWL]

The only thing I know about them is that they were made by or made for TeleVue... but you knew that anyway!

A few years back I was going to purchase one... then these came along...

Edited July 14, 2021 by Philip R

[ollypenrice]

I guess the name comes from 'Rock of Gibraltar' and was chosen for its connotations of immovable stability. To the American ear, in particular, it may also evoke Rock Hudson whose name combined Rock of Gibraltar with Hudson River. The actor's production company was called Gibraltar. Perhaps his combination of substance and elegance was behind the choice of name? Pure speculation!

Olly

[skyhog]

4 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

I guess the name comes from 'Rock of Gibraltar' and was chosen for its connotations of immovable stability. To the American ear, in particular, it may also evoke Rock Hudson whose name combined Rock of Gibraltar with Hudson River. The actor's production company was called Gibraltar. Perhaps his combination of substance and elegance was behind the choice of name? Pure speculation!

Olly

Well you learn something everyday... I didn't know that and it sounds like the kind of trivia I'm surprised passed me by... 

[ollypenrice]

5 hours ago, skyhog said:

Well you learn something everyday... I didn't know that and it sounds like the kind of trivia I'm surprised passed me by... 

I wouldn't volunteer such trivia without being asked!!!

🤣lly

[John]

I had a Tele Vue Gibraltar for a while. It worked well with my 102mm F/6.5 refractor but not so well with scopes with longer tubes. I guess Tele Vue's refractors tend to be on the shorter side so it was designed with those in mind.

Not quite sure that I would liken the stability to the Rock of Gibraltar

I'm sure Olly is correct about the origins of the mounts name though.

Edited July 15, 2021 by John

[ollypenrice]

1 hour ago, John said:

I had a Tele Vue Gibraltar for a while. It worked well with my 102mm F/6.5 refractor but not so well with scopes with longer tubes. I guess Tele Vue's refractors tend to be on the shorter side so it was designed with those in mind.

Not quite sure that I would liken the stability to the Rock of Gibraltar

I'm sure Olly is correct about the origins of the mounts name though.

It's an appealing mount in some ways but in others it's a bit maddening. It ought to be a quick thing to set up but it isn't. That free standing triangular tray/tripod leg spreader is a faff and invites you to drop the wing nuts in the dark and lose them. The truth is that I have ended up leaving mine outside more often than I should because I don't feel like undoing those tray bolts, collapsing the tripod and bringing it in. As a result it has become rather ratty!

In a nutshell I would like to like it more than I do but it gets on my wick.

Olly

[Swoop1]

Thanks for your input folks.

I shall keep digging.

I did wonder if it was a name used as the mount was based on some military ordnance or optic mount from days of yore.....

[John]

When I bought my first astronomy magazine, back 1981, it was the American publication "Astronomy". I was mesmerized by the glossy adverts for Celestron, Meade, Coulter Optical, Unitron etc but did also notice a small advert in the back  pages for a company called "Tele Vue" selling their plossl eyepieces. What a naff name for an astro equipment company thought I, nobody's going to want stuff with that branding on it !

Little did I know ........

 

[ollypenrice]

10 hours ago, John said:

When I bought my first astronomy magazine, back 1981, it was the American publication "Astronomy". I was mesmerized by the glossy adverts for Celestron, Meade, Coulter Optical, Unitron etc but did also notice a small advert in the back  pages for a company called "Tele Vue" selling their plossl eyepieces. What a naff name for an astro equipment company thought I, nobody's going to want stuff with that branding on it !

Little did I know ........

 

As a former English teacher I have an in-bred hostility towards names making deliberate spelling mistakes. This does not mean that my 13mm Ethos will ever be for sale.

lly

Edited July 21, 2021 by ollypenrice

[JeremyS]

22 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

As a former English teacher I have an in-bred hostility towards names making deliberate spelling mistakes. This does not mean that my 13mm Ethos will ever be for sale.

lly

Tele Vue? But that’s a French name.

🤔

[ollypenrice]

4 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Tele Vue? But that’s a French name.

🤔

I confess that this hadn't occurred to me.  Vue is a feminine noun meaning view, which looks promising until you consider that the prefix télé in French requires two accents, both of which are strikingly absent from the brand name.  So you haven't let Al Nagler off the hook, here, you've raised the charge against him to that of making deliberate spelling mistakes in two languages simultaneously!

Heinous!  (But quite impressive...)

Olly

[John]

This was what Tele Vue produced in 1977, which might explain the company name:

[ollypenrice]

36 minutes ago, John said:

This was what Tele Vue produced in 1977, which might explain the company name:

What is it?

Olly

Edit: ... apart from being the only TeleVue product I've ever seen which left my wallet fingers undisturbed!

Edited July 21, 2021 by ollypenrice

[JeremyS]

Is it a way of projecting the image from a tv screen onto a large white display screen? Precursor of a Beamer that allows you to project from a computer

[John]

5 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

What is it?

Olly

Edit: ... apart from being the only TeleVue product I've ever seen which left my wallet fingers undisturbed!

Jeremy has it:

https://televue.com/televueopticstalk/2017/02/27/tele-vue-whats-in-a-name/#.YPhZgKrTXIU

You put it next to your music centre I guess: