Info on Taylor-Hobson 12 1/2" Lens

[Nazrat]

I inherited some lenses and have been weeding through them with my dad. A few have been easy to identify as they were mated to their large-format cameras. One that I'm working to identify right now is a very large lens.

It's a Taylor-Hobson "Television Projection Lens" No 258698 12 1/2" F/1.5 lens. It's weighs probably 60-80lbs and is approx 15" in diameter and about the same length. The history as I understand it is that it was used to project radar images from a monitor onto a projection screen some decades ago. It is mounted on an adjustable trolley with a hand-crank.

If anyone has any additional info I'd love to hear it.

Thanks,
Tad

[Nazrat]

I got a little bit excited in the first post, the diameter is approx 9" and the length approx 15"

-Tad

[venchka]

That's still quite a handfull. 317mm f/1.5. Most impressive.

[Nazrat]

It is a handful. It was a good bit heavier than my 75-lb scale could handle. I'm new at this: although it says projection lens on it, would it be useful for a large-format camera? There were several that were in the same attic as this.

-Tad

[Ernest Purdum]

A very sturdy LF camera.

[Jim Galli]

4 sale?

[Nazrat]

I got a little bit more info: It was used at one point with doublers and triplers to photograph Apollo coming out from behind the moon. "We got the magnification up to enough so the Apollo image was a little larger than a grain in the film, but the little chunk of the moon was awesome." I'm still looking for those photos.

-Tad

[Nazrat]

Try this. Pentax spotmatic with flower-pot lens adapter. Possibly a single doubler/tripler. The mounting plate is still with it, but it weighs a lot and makes the package almost impossible for one person to move around. The tripod used is a horse too and is probably around here somewhere.

http://www.grosvenor.org/albums/Old-Family-1/scan0001.sized.jpg

-Tad

[Jim Galli]

Dinosaurs once roamed the earth!

[Nazrat]

4 sale?

I've decided that I won't ever do anything with it, so yes it is:
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?p=830487#post830487

-Tad

[Steven Tribe]

If VM is to be believed - there was a series of lenses developed by T T & H (Cooke) for use with the pre-war Baird (mechanical) television system in the UK which were F1.5 and F1.6.
It was said these were considered for wartime use (aerial photography) but not used because of cost and difficulty in making them. These are 8 glass monsters.

Date of serial number matches perfectly 1938.
I would have thought the place for this was a museum for television which includes the early (deadend!) UK systems in the 1930's.

The present Cooke company (still active with special lenses) has been rediscovering it's own history. They have a goodish historical website and, I'm sure, would be interested in hearing about it.

[Nazrat]

Great info. It makes sense because it was cast off by NRL (Naval Research Lab) sometime around WWII. It was used to take a picture of Apollo coming around the moon too. Apollo was only about 6-8 grains on the 35mm film but it was there.

-Tad

[Steven Tribe]

The present day "historical" contact at Cooke Optics is Barbara Lowry. Their current write-up of the 1930's doesn't include early televison lenses. I am sure she would be interested in the larger of the two lenses (data, rather than ownership!).
She is a member here under her real name - but is not very active.

[Barbara Lowry]

Hi there! The reason the Taylor Hobson television lenses are not on the Cooke Optics website in the history section is because the TV lenses were never annointed with the 'Cooke' name. They are part of Taylor Hobson history, not the Cooke lineage. When the Cooke lens division was purchased from T-H, we adopted and lovingly carry on the Cooke lens history. In reality, the histories can't be truly divorced from one another but as Cooke Optics Limited, we 'limited' our scope to just the Cooke brand.

[Steven Tribe]

"In reality, the histories can't be truly divorced from one another but as Cooke Optics Limited, we 'limited' our scope to just the Cooke brand."

Which, of course, is not sensible when the Cooke labeling was used in a very random way - not related to the original Cooke patent triplet! This also seems to be in conflict with the recent PS series?

[Nazrat]

For those looking for info in the future, the lens has a back focus is around 7.5" and it casts an image that's around 8.5" in diameter. It weighs 83lbs. I don't have fancy equipment, but holding a piece of floppy tracing paper behind it I got the image below. I was able to get any part of the image in focus, but without a frame to hold the tracing paper tight I didn't have enough hands to hold the paper perfectly.

This is an 8.5" (tall) x 11" piece of tracing paper, photographed with my cheap digital camera on a self-timer.
http://tad.luddite.net/gallery/d/70171-2/lens-photo1.jpg

-Tad