TO KNOW THE STARRY HEAVENS 



131 



A Young Man's Homemade Telescope. 



Dayton. Ohio. 

 To the Editor : 



Enclosed you will find a picture of the 

 telescope that I constructed with the aid 

 of Air. Fosdick. The instrument is a 



astronomer as R. E. Fosdick declares is 

 as g-ood for all practical purposes as any 

 telescope costing $150. 



"John made his own design of the 

 telescope according to directions that he 

 read in books obtained from the library. 



MR. JOHN L. WALLACE AND THE TELESCOPE HE MADE 



reflector of the Newtonian type with a 

 mirror six and one-half inches in diame- 

 ter and a focal length of one hundred and 

 ten inches. 



Some of the parts are odds and ends 

 found in a garage, such as an automobile 

 drive shaft for a declination axis, but for 

 the larger part I bought the material and 

 worked it down. 



Yours truly, 



John L. \\'allace. 



Mr. Fosdick is the leader of a local 

 group of amateur astronomers. From a 

 newspaper clipping sent to us by him we 

 quote as follows : 



"The latest mechanical genius that has 

 been discovered in this city is John \\'al- 

 lace, sixteen years of age, a sophomore 

 in Steele high school. The lad who is the 

 son of Clinton Wallace, of the Rotterman 

 building, has just constructed a telescope 

 — an instrument that such a well-known 



He conceived the idea while studying as- 

 tronomy, although there was nothing 

 brought out in the classroom that would 

 provide the directions for making the 

 telescope. 



"He began his work some time before 

 Christmas and worked on Saturdays 

 and at various times on week days, when 

 he wasn't occupied in doing other things, 

 until he had completed the instrument. 

 Everything was carried on in his father's 

 garage. He consulted Mr. Fosdick at 

 various stages of the work, but he per- 

 formed the actual labor himself^ 



"The tubes are of common sheet iron. 

 There is a silver glass mirror at one end 

 and an eyepiece at the other end. He 

 bought the glass for the lens and ground 

 it himself . The tube is one hundred 

 inches long and seven and one-iialf 

 inches in diameter. The mirror is six 

 and one-half inches in diameter. 



