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Unitron History Project
Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2019 1:26 pm
by Unitron48
This thread is intended to be an ongoing effort that details my interest and research in the Unitron Company of the 1950's-early 1990's.
Since acquiring my first Unitron (a Model 114, 60mm,
f/15 on an
alt-az mount) in 1959, I added several models up to the Model 510 (125mm,
f/16, photo-equatorial). In 2014 I also took on as a retirement project the research and documentation of Unitron USA and its Japanese supplier, Nihon Seiko. Included in this effort was the documentation of the larger 5 inch and 6 inch models. That effort is documented on this website:
https://www.unitronhistory.com/.
Lots more to come!
Dave
Re: Unitron History Project
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2019 6:51 pm
by Unitron48
As part of my ongoing research into the history of Nihon Seiko and Unitron/Polarex scopes, I visited the current Unitron facility on Long Island, NY. The Unitron Company, and now also Accu-Scope Inc, has been located at 73 Mall Drive in Commack, NY since 2008. By that year, Unitron was dealing solely with microscopes.
The purpose of the visit was twofold: (1) seek out any additional information on Unitron and Nihon Seiko, and (2) gift them one of the two 3 inch Unitron refractors that I acquired from Lawrence Fine's son, Phillip, several years ago. I'll be making several posts to cover the details of the visit.
Dave
Re: Unitron History Project
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2019 7:10 pm
by Unitron48
Those of you who followed my Unitron History thread on AF might recall the telescope I "passed along" to Unitron was acquired when I visited Philip Fine at their Summer home on Cape Cod. The telescope was one of two (along with other Unitron accessories) "gifted" me by Lawrence Fine's children. At the time of the visit I presented Philip a bound set of Sky and Telescope magazines from 1955-56. Included was the December 1955 issue that featured Philip and his sister Karen in a Unitron advertisement for the Model 160, 4 inch Photo-equatorial refractor.
Dave
Re: Unitron History Project
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2019 8:14 pm
by helicon
Really cool Dave!
Re: Unitron History Project
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2019 8:58 pm
by Lady Fraktor
Beautiful telescopes and a wonderful read and resource Dave.
Thank you for all of the effort you have put into this.
Re: Unitron History Project
Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2019 9:13 pm
by j.gardavsky
Hello Dave,
your great Unitron hands-on legacy comes at the right time!
The Unitron 80mm spotting and astronomy scopes with a turret for the eyepieces used to be quite popular in Germany as a bigger aperture alternative to the Carl Zeiss Jena Asiola. I have just missed one of these Unitrons on the eBay.
The Eschenbach optics company in Nuernberg used to be the dealer for these scopes, later Unitron has rebranded them as "Eschenbach" to increase the market shares with a German brand name.
The boss of Eschenbach is my neighbour across the fence, but he lets today to manufacture the Eschenbach optics in Far East,
as many other German optics companies.
Thank you for sharing,
JG
Re: Unitron History Project
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 12:18 am
by Unitron48
Hi JG! I have a 1987 Eschenbach catalog on my website:
https://www.unitronhistory.com/wp-conte ... enbach.pdf.
Would love for you to translate sometime!
Dave
Re: Unitron History Project
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 12:26 am
by Unitron48
j.gardavsky wrote: ↑Tue Sep 24, 2019 9:13 pm
Hello Dave,
your great Unitron hands-on legacy comes at the right time!
The Unitron 80mm spotting and astronomy scopes with a turret for the eyepieces used to be quite popular in Germany as a bigger aperture alternative to the Carl Zeiss Jena Asiola. I have just missed one of these Unitrons on the eBay.
The Eschenbach optics company in Nuernberg used to be the dealer for these scopes, later Unitron has rebranded them as "Eschenbach" to increase the market shares with a German brand name.
The boss of Eschenbach is my neighbour across the fence, but he lets today to manufacture the Eschenbach optics in Far East,
as many other German optics companies.
Thank you for sharing,
JG
I don't have any of the Unitron/Polarex spotting scopes in my personal collection. I do have a collection of photos of the Polarex Branded spotting scopes (50mm, 60mm, and 80mm) posted:
https://www.unitronhistory.com/models/p ... ng-scopes/
Dave
Re: Unitron History Project
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 3:33 pm
by j.gardavsky
Hello Dave,
I can make a search if there are any English writings on Unitron in Germany. As everything with me, it can take time.
Best,
JG
Re: Unitron History Project
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 3:42 pm
by JCINGA
Very cool stuff and a fantastic amount of work put into that - thank you for sharing - beautiful scopes!
Re: Unitron History Project
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 3:58 pm
by Richard
Lovely scopes nice for sharing one day when its for sale here in RSA I would love any one
Re: Unitron History Project
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 5:20 pm
by John Baars
Hello Dave,
Great telescopes and a great project!
Your project has been and still is a joyful resource of reading and inspiration for me and many other amateurs.
By your directions I was able to visit the restoration of the only 9 inch Unitron in the world.
I sincerely hope that like the owner of the nine incher, all Unitron and Polarex owners in the world are well aware of the historic value of their possessions and legacy. Your project certainly contributes to that.
Thanks!
John
Re: Unitron History Project
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 6:18 pm
by Unitron48
Thanks to all! Appreciate the support for the project and the nice comments.
Dave
Re: Unitron History Project
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 7:16 pm
by Unitron48
John Baars wrote: ↑Wed Sep 25, 2019 5:20 pm
Hello Dave,
Great telescopes and a great project!
Your project has been and still is a joyful resource of reading and inspiration for me and many other amateurs.
By your directions I was able to visit the restoration of the only 9 inch Unitron in the world.
I sincerely hope that like the owner of the nine incher, all Unitron and Polarex owners in the world are well aware of the historic value of their possessions and legacy. Your project certainly contributes to that.
Thanks!
John
Here are some photos of the Polarex/Unitron Model 900 that John is referring to. There is a lot more on that very rare scope on my website:
https://www.unitronhistory.com/user-sto ... model-900/. The story behind its discovery is truly amazing. Although Nihon Seiko advertised refractors up to 10 inch
aperture. This is the only one discovered that is larger than 6 inch
aperture.
Dave
Re: Unitron History Project
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 7:45 pm
by Unitron48
As I stated in the introduction to this thread, a secondary objective of my research effort was the documentation of the rare larger
aperture (5 inch or larger) Polarex/Unitron refractors. There are less than 20 of each in existence....most in private collections. To date I have visited 3 of the 4 complete Unitron Model 620's open for public viewing: Castleton University in Vermont, Ferris State University in Michigan, and University of North Texas, Texas. Information about these scopes is available on my website.
Five of us rented the Model 620 at UNT for the night. What a thrill that was
Dave