Help please, Who knows this SUPERSCOPES mount / scope and who will have information about it…

[guillaumetmt]

 

Hello everyone, I live in France and I had the opportunity to buy this frame with two Newtons of the same brand (500 mm in diameter and 360 mm in diameter) The large tube seems to have missing elements but the small tube is complete (Primary/Secondary/Ring).

Who knows this EQ mount? It seems to be from the brand SUPERSCOPES in Bedford / England, model TITAN 2...

after a lot of research, I did not find any information on this EQ Mount, it seems to be a mount made in England in the 1980s/90s by the company SUPERSCOPES in BEDFORD, Mr Phil Stone would have made or designed this mount, he is a member of the Bedford Astronomical Society, that's all I found on this subject.

I attach some photos of this mount.

If anyone has any information about him.... old documentation, I would like to know the capabilities of this mount. It is equipped with optical encoder and motor on both axes but I do not have the control system.

Thank you very much,

Guillaume.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Sorry but before my time in this hobby (unfortunately well within my lifetime though 😂) but there must be a few on SGL that have had experience of them so hopefully you can get some sort of info. I had a quick search but I guess have only found on Google what you found. There is an email address for a director, probably defunct now but have you tried that address >#

EMAIL

And there is an old thread HERE and the last post says the member will message the OP directly about this company so may be worth joining the forum and seeing if that member is still on the forum and message him.

Sorry I cannot help further but as I say I am sure somebody will at least be aware of these scopes and mount and can help further, I really hope so 🙂 

Steve

[Carbon Brush]

Wow! What a find!
I have seen bits like this for real, and discussed on SGL. But not a mount in such good condition.

I'm sure some members will be along who know much more. Looking forward to hearing more.

David.

 

[fwm891]

There was a company (many many years ago) called AE based in or very near Bedford... Could be wrong on this. Around the time when it was still Fullerscopes before they became Broadhust Clarkson and Fuller (BCF) so going back quite a bit (like me!)

[Saganite]

Hi Guillaume,

A lovely find.

I am a member of the Bedford Astronomical Society and I know Phil very well, in fact, he operates the big 16" Cass in our Observatory.  

pm sent.

Steve

Edited February 10, 2023 by Saganite

[mikeDnight]

Wow, that's a blast from the past. It looks like all it needs is a good prying clean and a polish with brasso. It's a very nice find!

[Budgie1]

I did a search of this forum using just "Superscopes" in the search window and it came back with a couple of pages of hits.

Not all to do with Superscopes Ltd but THIS thread has a couple of images of the Titan 2 mount and the member still seems to be active on here.  

[guillaumetmt]

29 minutes ago, Saganite said:

Hi Guillaume,

A lovely find.

I am a member of the Bedford Astronomical Society and I know Phil very well, in fact he operates the big 16" Cass in our Observatory.  

pm sent.

Steve

Hi Steve, That's great... could you ask Mr Phil Stone?? I have no information about this material, I would have liked to know the load capacities of the mount , I have a second DEC axle but it seems to be missing the part to fix it on the RA... and to know according to the pictures what is missing on the big tube and how it was fixed and on what type of mount it was fixed. I do not have the original electronic control box, today it is certain that I can adapt more efficient in terms of electronics, I will gladly take any information!! thanks Steve.

 

29 minutes ago, Saganite said:

Hi Guillaume,

A lovely find.

I am a member of the Bedford Astronomical Society and I know Phil very well, in fact he operates the big 16" Cass in our Observatory.  

pm sent.

Steve

 

[JeremyS]

I used a SuperScopes Titan 2 EQ mount just like that many years ago. It was excellent. It held a SuperScopes 30cm Newtonian.

I was involved in its purchase by a school in about 1990. Phil Stone installed it himself. I visited him in Bedford. I also bought a  Celestron C8 and Vixen mount from him in 1992.

The School no longer has it. I wish I did!

I recall the motors were Vixen so you could you use standard vixen hand controllers including the SKy Sensor

Edited February 10, 2023 by JeremyS

[guillaumetmt]

16 minutes ago, Budgie1 said:

I did a search of this forum using just "Superscopes" in the search window and it came back with a couple of pages of hits.

Not all to do with Superscopes Ltd but THIS thread has a couple of images of the Titan 2 mount and the member still seems to be active on here.  

Yes, I saw this post, I searched the same way as you, but I did not find any technical characteristics, the mount in this post also seems to be a Titan 2 but slightly different from mine (see the friction system of the RA and DEC wheels ... and see the base that supports the mount on the column....)

[Saganite]

10 minutes ago, guillaumetmt said:

Hi Steve, That's great... could you ask Mr Phil Stone?? I have no information about this material, I would have liked to know the load capacities of the mount , I have a second DEC axle but it seems to be missing the part to fix it on the RA... and to know according to the pictures what is missing on the big tube and how it was fixed and on what type of mount it was fixed. I do not have the original electronic control box, today it is certain that I can adapt more efficient in terms of electronics, I will gladly take any information!! thanks Steve.

 

 

I have sent the enquiry onward so hopefully you will have some answers before too long.

[NGC 1502]

This will be SUPERBLY engineered.  I bought items from Phil Stone in the 90s. Top stuff😊

[guillaumetmt]

4 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

I used a SuperScopes Titan 2 EQ mount just like that many years ago. It was excellent. It held a SuperScopes 30cm Newtonian.

I was involved in its purchase by a school in about 1990. Phil Stone installed it himself. I visited him in Bedford. I also bought a  Celestron C8 and Vixen mount from him in 1992.

The School no longer has it. I wish I did!

I recall the motors were Vixen so you could you use stand vixen hand controllers including the SKy Sensor

What a coincidence, I bought this set in England from a company that sells laboratory and university equipment (old stock), we traveled from France specifically to recover the equipment, they confirmed to me that this equipment comes from a university, the small tube is equipped with a 300mm mirror, the tube measures 36 cm in diameter (white part without the rings) the large tube measures 50 cm in diameter (white part without the rings at the ends)

[guillaumetmt]

5 minutes ago, Saganite said:

I have sent the enquiry onward so hopefully you will have some answers before too long.

Thank you very much Steve, that’s great 

[guillaumetmt]

9 minutes ago, guillaumetmt said:

What a coincidence, I bought this set in England from a company that sells laboratory and university equipment (old stock), we traveled from France specifically to recover the equipment, they confirmed to me that this equipment comes from a university, the small tube is equipped with a 300mm mirror, the tube measures 36 cm in diameter (white part without the rings) the large tube measures 50 cm in diameter (white part without the rings at the ends)

Small tube length 140 cm , large tube length 170 cm

[Peter Drew]

Bedfordshire was a hotspot for astronomical manufacturing during that era.  As well as my own company Bedford Astronomical supplies, there was Astrosystems of which I was a founding director along with Rob Miller and David Hinds, Astronomical Equipment (AE), James Muirden and latterly Superscopes.  Also of note, the legendary Horace Dall and astronomical electronics specialists Astrotech.  I did know Phil, in fact he did credit me with being his inspiration to form his business, the quality of his work is evident in the photos.  I left Bedford to move up North to found the Astronomy Centre which pre-dated the Bedford AS but I was a member of Luton AS and its Chaiman at one point.  Good to know that Phil is still active in Astronomy.     🙂  

[Mr Spock]

Now that's how a mount should look  What a fabulous piece of engineering.

[guillaumetmt]

5 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

Bedfordshire was a hotspot for astronomical manufacturing during that era.  As well as my own company Bedford Astronomical supplies, there was Astrosystems of which I was a founding director along with Rob Miller and David Hinds, Astronomical Equipment (AE), James Muirden and latterly Superscopes.  Also of note, the legendary Horace Dall and astronomical electronics specialists Astrotech.  I did know Phil, in fact he did credit me with being his inspiration to form his business, the quality of his work is evident in the photos.  I left Bedford to move up North to found the Astronomy Centre which pre-dated the Bedford AS but I was a member of Luton AS and its Chaiman at one point.  Good to know that Phil is still active in Astronomy.     🙂  

Hi, I had sent an email to the Bedford Astronomical Society for some information on the material, but not being a member I did not receive a reply, so it seems that my investment in this material is not bad, it clearly seems to be very good quality material.

[guillaumetmt]

3 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

Now that's how a mount should look  What a fabulous piece of engineering.

Hi, I started to see for the restoration, it is not difficult to see the manufacturing quality invested in this mount, the friction system of the RA and DEC are extremely well studied, the adjustment to align the endless screws with the gear too!

[lguise]

Guillaumetmt,

Saganite made contact with me just now. Welcome to SGL, I have owned a Titan mount with a 12” Newtonian and also one of the larger Hercules mounts with a tube for a 16” mirror. All Philip Stone’s work is very well engineered. His mirrors were supplied mostly by David Sinden or David Hinds so hopefully you will find the optics in your scope are very good. 
I am in regular contact with Phil as we run the community observatory in Bedford together. I will speak to him to check he is happy for me to pass on his contact details, provided he is I will send them by PM to you.

Superscopes which was based in Bedford was a separate company to Astronomical Equipment (AE) and Luton Astro Systems although all three firms were in a very close geographic area.

Best wishes,

Linton

[lguise]

I will investigate what happened to your email to Bedford AS, it should have come through to us and been replied to. I am one of the instruments curators.

Best wishes,

Linton

[guillaumetmt]

8 minutes ago, lguise said:

I will investigate what happened to your email to Bedford AS, it should have come through to us and been replied to. I am one of the instruments curators.

Best wishes,

Linton

 

12 minutes ago, lguise said:

Guillaumetmt,

Saganite made contact with me just now. Welcome to SGL, I have owned a Titan mount with a 12” Newtonian and also one of the larger Hercules mounts with a tube for a 16” mirror. All Philip Stone’s work is very well engineered. His mirrors were supplied mostly by David Sinden or David Hinds so hopefully you will find the optics in your scope are very good. 
I am in regular contact with Phil as we run the community observatory in Bedford together. I will speak to him to check he is happy for me to pass on his contact details, provided he is I will send them by PM to you.

Superscopes which was based in Bedford was a separate company to Astronomical Equipment (AE) and Luton Astro Systems although all three firms were in a very close geographic area.

Best wishes,

Linton

Hello Linton, and thank you all for all these answers, I will be happy to get all possible answers about this material! I confess to you that I am delighted to learn that it is a quality material, my purchase at the start can only be made with the visual and the images that the seller sent me, the material seemed old certainly but seemed to breathe quality, it seems that I was not mistaken on my first judgments... Well I think that the large tube was rather adapted for a more imposing mount !! This big tube is really impressive...

[lguise]

Superscopes used to also make excellent observatories, here is a photo of Philip while we were putting together the observatory in my garden.

Linton

[guillaumetmt]

1 hour ago, lguise said:

Superscopes used to also make excellent observatories, here is a photo of Philip while we were putting together the observatory in my garden.

Linton

Hi Linton, superb Dome, I can finally put a face to this much sought after person Mr Phil Stone, you are talking about the Hercules mount, so there was even bigger than the Titan, that certainly explains the 500mm diameter tube that I I have in addition to the small tube, there must have been an even more imposing mount in this university... We are impatient to obtain information on this material, because here in France after an open post on our forum, no information emerges from this material, it remains a mystery to us at this time.

[malc-c]

Struth... this takes me back.   I bought my first scope, a Vixen 4" fluorite coated refractor from Phil  in the mid 80's.  One of my friends had a large reflector on a large EQ mount that Phil installed in his roll off observatory.  I believe my friend is still a member of the forum so may provide more details on the scope and its installation.  

Yes Bedfordshire was a hub of astronomical businesses at the time, and a lot of the scopes and mounts were very well engineered.  Nice to hear Phil is still around and involved in astronomy.  He always had time for people and you never got the feeling you were imposing on his time even though he was no doubt busy at the time.