1961 Swift 839 Refractor

[philj]

Popped into Kedleston Hall Antiques in the Park Fair today. Was about to give up when in the corner of one stall I saw a wooden box lurking under a tarpaulin. Now I cannot resist wooden boxes and had to open it up.

To my surprise there was a 1961 vintage Swift 839 60mm Refractor absolutely complete in its fitted box.

A swift (pun) bit of haggling and I got it for a very good price, actually I could not not buy it at the price he was asking.

When I was a lad I used to dream of owning one of these, good quality refractors but I had to make do with a Tasco 50mm as that was my parents could afford.

Its all there including stock 3, 6, 12 EPs plus Barlow finder and EQ mount. There is also a 20mm additional EP and Sun Filter, (I will not be using the filter though). The only thing missing is the rubber strap for fixing the finder to the OTA, snapped or perished long ago no doubt.

I cleaned the optics up and tried it on terrestial objects this afternoon and the quality is rather good, despite trying to peer through the minute eyepiece glass of these 1" eyepieces.

So the next clearish night I shall be reliving the old days and trying the swift out.

Philj

[Brass n glass]

What a stroke of luck for you. Those early Japanese outfits that came in wooden boxes are starting to increase in value. I remember when they arrrived here; you got a complete outfit for about the same price as the remnants of the UK optical industry charged for an altaz refractor with one eyepiece (all lenses uncoated, of course) - Hugh

[philj]

Hi Hugh, I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the image, (after an optical clean up) last night, very little false colour evident.

The cross hairs on the finder have gone so I need to sort those out, also the tripod and box have seen a few knocks so a clean up and revarnish/lacquer will make it like new I reckon.

I used to have a Tasco 10ED 3" refractor in my early years and that came in a fitted wooden box. Felt lined compartments and clamps for every item. These early Japanese scopes were indeed value for money compared to UK makers.

Philj

[philj]

I could not resist making an adaptor to take 1 1/4" eps for the Swift. The Swift 1" EPs are quite good quality but soooo small and narrow fov. I tried free hand a 11/4 diagonal and 25mm Plossl in the focuser and the view was exceptional for such a small refractor.

So to make it permanent I had a rummage through my scope box and found a plastic diagonal which came with my Lidl Bresser 70mm(my mobile rig guide scope). The diagonal is rubbish quality but the female end unscrews and is a perfect slide fit in the Swift draw tube. This is then held in place by the Swift Rack fixing screw, jobs a good un. The mod can be reversed at any time to put it back to 1" again with no damage or mods to the scope.

Philj

[Brass n glass]

A very handy mod. As you say the early narrow eyepieces are very awkward to use. They were usually Huygenians or Kelners with pinhole lenses and extremely narrow FoVs. Also, some of them had plastic lenses as well as plastic barrels - Hugh

[F15Rules]

Hi Phil,

I was fascinated to read about your Swift..one just like it went on Ebay about 2-3months ago and it went for about £370 to a buyer in Spain!

I'm a refractor fan but especially the longer focus achromats like yours. The small 60mm refractors I grew up with in the late 60s early 70s were often actually very good quality: many of them came from Japan, from Towa, a very high quality manufacturer who made scopes under various brand names..the giveaway on a Towa built scope is usually a small circle with a T inside it. They are often known as Circle T scopes and often have a longer focal length of up to F16.

The longer tube means much less false colour, and some of these scopes are really semi-apochromatic in their performance, I bet your Swift is too.

My "modern" scope is a Tal 100RS on a Celestron CG-5 mount with 2" stainless pipes - a great rig and the Tal, at F10, is crisp and well corrected. But I also have a couple of older F15 scopes, one is a Tasco 14TE (don't laugh, in the 60s/70s many of their scopes were Cirlce T's). This 60mm beauty has the best colour correction I have ever seen in an achromat - it is just superb on brighter doubles like Albireo in Cygnus.

I also have a recently acquired Circle T made 80mm F15mm (1200mm focal length) scope, packaged in a wooder box just like yours was, which someone had bought at an auction. I paid £110 for it, I suspect the seller paid a lot less, but it was worth it. Only daytime views so far, but extremely sharp, with almost no violet at the edge of the field of view. It sits on a nice equatorial and wooden tripod and I estimate it dates from around 1968. All metal, no plastic..even the lens shield is metal, and the objective cell is collimatable!

I have attached a couple of photos..two are of the Topic 80mm Circle T (this is not my own scope but is identical), and one of the Tasco 14TE 60mm. When you think how cheaply these refractors can be bought these days, if you are patient and look for them, it makes me wonder why anyone bothers with the cheaper mass produced scopes like skywatcher cheapies - I don't mean their high end offerings, just the entry level ones...our old refractors just eat them for breakfast!

Thanks again for some nice pics and an interesting thread

best wishes,

Dave

[philj]

Hi Dave thanks for the info I shall have a close look to see if I can find a Circle T.

A fine collection you have there and I completely agree with you regarding the quality of these vintage scopes surpassing the entry level modern ones. I bought a Bresser 70mm to use as a guide scope from Lidl earlier in the year, plastic everywhere and the tripod/mount was rubbish. Optically as well the Swift outclasses the Bresser, but as a guide scope the Bresser is OK.

£370 cripes! I paid £25 The tripod and box were battered but sound, and I need to make a new focuser pinion bcause a few teeth are stripped but I think I got a bargain there:D

I tried it out on the moon and a few doubles the other week and was well pleased with its performance using decent 11/4 eyepieces. I managed to split Epsilon Lyra components with an 8mm ep, now that was one heck of a surprise, I could never do that with my old 70s Tasco 60mm.

Philj

[Mark at Beaufort]

Swift telescopes that takes me back to the 1960s when Charles Frank in Glasgow were selling them.

I had a 60mm refractor (not Swift) which was okay but a few swift accessories improved the scope.

I recently visited the Mills Observatory in Dundee and the custodian gave me a guided tour and showed me his pride and joy - yes a Swift refractor.

Phil I think you had a fantastic deal.

Mark

[philj]

Thanks Mark so do I

The Swift has now been refettled and what a little beauty it makes:

I made a new focusing pinion and bar, the old one had been half stripped, that was fun, turning the blank on the lathe was easy, cutting the helical teeth by hand with a dremmel was not. :DIt now focuses OK but has a few rough spots so I may have another go at some time but its functional

The tripod has been completely stripped and revarnished and the accessory tray and brackets derusted and repainted with Plastikote cappucino silk finish, not quite dark enough but close.

The wooden case has been completely stripped and revarnished and a new carry handle fitted.

The finder fixing was difficult. They originally came with a metal bicycle clip type arrangement but I just could not make one that looked good. So I took the bold step and fixed the shoe direct to the tube.

It looks quite handsome now I think. Not bad for 25 notes:D:D

One thing I have recently found out is that Takahashi have routes in Swift, so I may just have a £25 Tak :D

Philj

[Mark at Beaufort]

Phil

The custodian at the Mills Observatory Dundee was a bit of an expert on Swift telescopes. I am sure he mentioned something about the Takahashi connection with Swift.

mark

[Ang68]

On 20/06/2009 at 16:24, philj said:

Popped into Kedleston Hall Antiques in the Park Fair today. Was about to give up when in the corner of one stall I saw a wooden box lurking under a tarpaulin. Now I cannot resist wooden boxes and had to open it up.

To my surprise there was a 1961 vintage Swift 839 60mm Refractor absolutely complete in its fitted box.

A swift (pun) bit of haggling and I got it for a very good price, actually I could not not buy it at the price he was asking.

When I was a lad I used to dream of owning one of these, good quality refractors but I had to make do with a Tasco 50mm as that was my parents could afford.

Its all there including stock 3, 6, 12 EPs plus Barlow finder and EQ mount. There is also a 20mm additional EP and Sun Filter, (I will not be using the filter though). The only thing missing is the rubber strap for fixing the finder to the OTA, snapped or perished long ago no doubt.

I cleaned the optics up and tried it on terrestial objects this afternoon and the quality is rather good, despite trying to peer through the minute eyepiece glass of these 1" eyepieces.

So the next clearish night I shall be reliving the old days and trying the swift out.

Philj

 

[Ang68]

I inherited  a Swift Model 831, D  77 mm, F 1000mm from my brother. It's very similar looking to yours, with a very similar wood box.

It is nicely fitted in the box, secured with wood and heavy-duty metal restraints. It's very heavy!

I'd love to try it out, but as a novice 68-year-old, my problem is that everything was completely  un-assembled down to the screws, and there's no manual!

Would love to know if anyone has a similar-model manual that I can get copied.