JP Cutts single draw Naval telescope

Another popular telescope maker already featured on this website is JP Cutts, where two models of his have been described: these were a two draw and a three draw, both with wooden barrels. The two draw was interesting, in that it had an oak barrel, and was signed as JP Cutts & Sons, plus the second line of the engraving saying “Opticians to Her Majesty” (Queen Victoria). This one was sold last year on Ebay, fairly quickly. The three draw unit was obviously earlier, as it had no reference to the appointment to “Her Majesty”, and just mentions “JP Cutts” and no ‘Sons’ – but it quotes the JP Cutts being based in London, which Gloria Clifton dates as after 1836.

This telescope is a single draw with an oak barrel, a design that suggests it is earlier in date maybe, but the format was a popular design for shipboard use. The engraving first line says “JP Cutts & Sons”, which marks it as from a later date, as his sons are quoted to have joined the business in around 1841-45. The second line of the engraving again quotes the “Opticians to Her Majesty” line, so again, it must be dated as after Victoria’s Coronation in June 1838. Possibly only a short time after, as the word ‘Her’ is obviously squeezed into a smaller space than would have been desirable, possibly replacing the word ‘His’. But having seen many other JP Cutts telescopes, I have never seen the engraving using any different (better) spacing.

JP Cutts History

I recently found a new account of the JP Cutts history. This advises that John Priston Cutts was born in Leeds in February 1787: one of the reasons JP Cutts interests me is that he was Yorkshire based, a fellow Yorkshireman. He was apprenticed as an optical craftsman with the Sheffield company of Proctor and Beilby: this firm also had factory addresses in Birmingham, and operated in both places around 1804 [Two brothers named Beilby were later reported working in Bristol around 1810-1820]. In his later advertising Cutts suggests that he started his business in 1804 (ie aged 17): this was either the start or end of his apprenticeship.

The earliest known business address for JP Cutts is in an 1822 Sheffield Directory, at 58 Norfolk Street, Sheffield. Around 1828, he moved the business to Division Street, Sheffield, and it remained there until his death. In addition to optical instruments, Cutts manufactured metal implements such as razors, knives, powder flasks, and liquor flasks.

Cutts opened a branch shop / warehouse in London, probably in about 1836. That year he entered a trademark as a spectacle case manufacturer, with an address of 3 Crane Court, Fleet Street. That venture appears to have been very short-lived, as an 1839 advertisement stated “Late warehouse in London, removed to Sheffield”. He was also said to have had a branch office in New York, briefly.

During the 1830s, Cutts became associated with James Chesterman (1792-1867). Chesterman invented a number of devices, including the spring tape measure and a self-winding window blind. An 1837 directory of Sheffield listed “Cutts John Preston, optical, mathl. and philosl. instrument mfr. and sole mfr. of Chesterman’s patent self-acting window blind and map rollers, tape measures, etc. Division St”, and “Chesterman Jas. patentee and mfr. of the newly invented spring tape measures, spring map and window blind rollers, and spring hinges and door closers; at I.P. Cutts’, Division st.” The formal partnership of Cutts, Chesterman and Co. was in existence by 1855, when they exhibited “measuring tapes”, at that year’s Paris Exposition. Another partner, James Bedington (ca. 1811-1890), later joined to form Cutts, Chesterman, and Bedington. That company dissolved in 1859, after Cutts’ death. Chesterman took over the former business, and remained in Sheffield for many decades: Bedington moved to Birmingham.

This account does not refer to another partnership mentioned in Gloria Clifton’s reference book, that of JP Cutts, Sutton and Son, which was active around 1851, in Sheffield and in Hatton Garden, London: they introduced the Trade Mark ‘TRY MF’. It would be good to know what this meant as at first I thought this read ‘Try me’ – indeed the Royal Museums at Greenwich have a unit showing the Trade Mark anchor and they suggest this reads ‘TRY ME’ underneath, but I’m not convinced, it looks like TRY MF to me: their reference is NAV1486 – any suggestions welcomed! I need to polish up the Cutts & Sutton 4-draw telescope, my Accession number #272, which bears this marking, to see what that says – as soon as I can find it that is!

Later comment (Oct 2017): Inspection of various other Cutts scopes, plus one branded “Newton, Halifax” today, shows the TM distinctly shows “TRY MF” as the wording under the Anchor symbol. So the Royal Museum has got that wrong! But it’s always possible the engraving tool or person had it wrong, and perpetuated the mistake – see the previous comments made below…….

Royal Museums at Greenwich have responded to my query, and they reckon the ‘F’ is a fault in the engraving process on the metalwork. In addition they have found an entry placed by the company in the 1870 publication ‘The Handbook to the Manufacturers and Exporters of Great Britain’ that showed the trade mark printed, where it definitely says “TRY ME”, in between two horizontal lines, under the anchor symbol used as part of the Trademark. This was in an article that provided a comprehensive review of the whole history of this company, including their microscopes.

This telescope

Closed up the telescope is 20” long: fully extended it is 36”. The OD is 2.5”, the clear visible diameter of the objective is 1.5”. The wooden main barrel appears to be of oak, and is in good condition. The overall condition is excellent: the brass is beautiful, and the eyepiece is complete with a protective slide over the lens, which sticks out of the bell shaped eyepiece housing when the scope is in use. The only potentially missing item would be an objective lens cap/cover, although the (steel) screws at the objective end holding the lens assembly in place have been replaced with brass screws. At the other end of the barrel the brass collar is held on with what look like copper pins.

The single draw is split in the middle to allow access to the second cartridge containing the two lenses closest to the objective. The end of the single draw is used to create an orifice that is typically used restrict the light passing down the edges of the barrel from the objective lens. The eyepiece cartridge has the other two lenses. All the screw threads unscrew and run easily.

The engraving on the first draw reads:

JP Cutts & Sons

Opticians to Her Majesty

Sheffield

….where the word ‘Her’ is in a slightly smaller font size.

The telescope weight is significant – it probably needs to be supported on the rigging, as it weighs approximately 1.1kg (2.4 lbs or 39 ounces). Presumably on sailing ships the lookouts who climbed the masts did not have to carry telescopes as big as these!

How well does it work?

The telescope focuses easily, and can even be used with spectacles in place! Easily means there is plenty of movement of the draw in and out to move through the point of best focus. The magnification is around 10x, not a high magnification compared to some, but a good wide field of view, for a telescope, makes up for that.

Background data

The scope was bought from A.Miller, a stallholder at the London Scientific Instruments Fair, in October 1999. He seemed to specialise in renovating telescopes that potentially could display beautifully polished wooden barrels, but this one was awaiting treatment, ie not yet renovated. It is Accession number #56.

Robert Maxwell’s Naval Telescope

Continuing the theme of telescopes that could have had celebrity owners, or even notorious owners, this is a whopper. It is certainly a naval telescope, bought for use on board ship. The owner’s name, engraved on the first draw, is confirmed to be Robert Maxwell. In fact the engraving says that it was “Made for Robert Maxwell”, and the maker was “W J Cannon (of) 177 Shadwell, London”.

 

Since Gloria Clifton’s Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers has date limits of 1550 to 1851, there is no mention of W J Cannon, he was only active after 1851. In fact, the engraving also tells us that this telescope was made in 1863. So while dated beautifully, the Robert Maxwell who used it was long before the Maxwell of Pergamon Press fame. He eventually was disgraced by mis-appropriating the funds from the Mirror Newspaper Group Pension Fund, fell off the back of his yacht apparently (maybe while using a telescope?) and was eventually found drowned, floating in the sea. That was in 1991, He wasn’t really called Robert Maxwell, he adopted that name after arriving in Britain from Czechoslovakia, fleeing from Hitler.

The Telescope itself

 

It is very large: indeed it seems to be a little on the ostentatious side. The eyepiece has the Victorian bell shape, and is gilded on top of the brass, as is the sunshade and the objective lens cap, on the far end of the scope. Then surprisingly the cartridge housing, located in the central split of the single draw, is also gilded, as is the one at the eyepiece. The eyepiece has had a knock, and the slider that protected the lens is now missing.

Closed up, the telescope is 21”, and has an OD of 2.5”. When fully extended the length is 38”. The brass barrel is covered with a sheet of leather, that was once stitched along the seam, but has shrunk significantly, so the seam has split over half the body length, and has left a 0.25” gap over the length of the 15” barrel. This is a shrinkage of only 1.6%, so although it is very noticeable, the shrinkage is very small!

Bought on Ebay in September 2012, accession number 166.

Andy Macnab’s Ross telescope

I was quite surprised to find Andy Macnab’s telescope in an antiques saleroom: this was way back in 1995, in Beacon Marine Antiques, in Swanwick, near Hamble, UK. In fact the saleroom was in a barge, called the ”Bernadette de Lourdes”, moored on the Hamble River near Moody’s boatyard.

The telescope was made by Ross, and is engraved “Ross, London” and gives the serial Number 58140. I don’t know whether there is any reference book to find more data about these Ross serial numbers, maybe someone can tell me? Ross became part of Avimo in Taunton in 1975. It looks and feels like a 1930s built telescope. The feel is also just right, it’s relatively small, solid, easy to focus, light and easy to carry.

 

Description

It is a two draw brass telescope, 24” long when extended, 10.5” closed, nearly 1.75” diameter. The barrel has a stitched leather covering, with a sunshade, and the objective lens cap has two holes to allow it to be retained with a leather thong or cord. The eyepiece has a sliding shutter to cover the lens. Inside, the lens cartridges are well engineered, and conventional. Bothe sliders are lined with felt, to give a very tight joint: the air inside is able to escape through an air exhaust hole under the sunshade.

The telescope came with its own leather case, which carries the initials AJM for AJ Macnab.

A J Macnab, the owner

 

Well, I wonder who AJ Macnab was? At least we know he was the owner, probably the first owner, as the telescope is engraved “A.J.Macnab, From A & J”. Presumably A & J were his parents, and it is reasonable to postulate that this was a gift maybe when AJM left home to join either his first ship or his first Regiment.

I have not found him as yet. It is not really likely that this was Andy McNab, the well-known author of “Bravo Two Zero”, and other stories about a Sargeant in the SAS in the Gulf War, as first this was just a pen-name, second, if he had this telescope when he joined the Army in 1930, he would have been about 80 years old in the Gulf War, and thirdly, he spelled his name in a different way! Plus if he was in the SAS, he surely would not have used a bright polished brass telescope when trying to hide in the desert sand!

Current use

This telescope has been one of the first choice units for me to take away on holiday, or on any leisure trip, for the past twenty years – usually accompanied by the Carpenter multi-draw, which fits better into an anorak pocket. It has also been to lots of air displays and events. It was acquired in 1995, and is Accession number 26.

Not a telescope I am going to part with!

Another large Berge, from 1800

I seem to have an affinity for Berge and his telescopes, probably because they are ‘almost as good as’ Ramsden scopes, but much cheaper! Nevertheless this one was really really cheap, because it has no objective lens, nor the metalwork that wraps round the objective pair. After cleaning it up, and re-polishing the wood, it makes a good display item, and even has the original brass objective lens cap, to make it look complete!

Four draws, creating a 35″ long telescope

Engraved as “Berge London”, and “Late Ramsden” on the next line, the initial letters of these two lines are next to the eyepiece, ie on the opposite side to the standard format that was mostly used after about 1790. But Matthew Berge was just a bit of a traditionalist, and stuck to the old format, because he took over from Ramsden in 1800. He worked at 199 Piccadilly, maybe until 1817 – he died in 1819: but we don’t know for how long he leveraged off the Ramsden name and quoted “Late Ramsden” on his scopes. Then the business was taken over by a further two ex-Ramsden employees who had also worked for Berge, called Worthington & Allan: Nathaniel Worthington continued this business until 1851.

So the scope is around 200 years old at least, is an impressive size, and a modern design for the era in which it was built: leading the field in design, as Ramsden also did!

Construction

This is a four draw mahogany barrelled brass telescope, measuring 10” when closed up, and 35” when opened out. The outer diameter at the objective, 2.25”, makes it a fairly hefty instrument. The objective lens thread is around 2” OD, and when fitted with the objective lens from telescope #271, a similarly sized unit from Spencer & Co (see the story posted 30 Dec 2016), the combination works and focuses very well. So I just need a 2” OD objective with a focal length of around 27” to bring it back into operation!

What is the future for this?

Accession number 292: it will probably end up on the wall at the Goonhilly Visitor Centre in Cornwall, where the original trans-Atlantic radio telescopes are being brought back into operation for space research. That is, unless someone wants a lovely 200 year old talking point for about £100, which is what I think it’s worth. Unless I find a good spare lens assembly!

The barrel has little damage, and polishes well: the brass draws have some stiffness from bangs!

Accession number 292: acquired in October 2016, from an Ebay supplier, based in Ashford, Kent.

A 3-Draw JP Cutts Telescope

This is a fairly conventional three draw, mahogany barrel telescope, of a good size from a well-known maker. John Preston Cutts was known to have been working between 1822 and 1841, but he claimed that the business had been established in 1804. He received a Royal Appointment to supply to Queen Victoria, so telescopes engraved to that effect (such as #282, described earlier) must have been built after 1837 therefore.

The business started in Sheffield, Near St Paul’s Church at 58 Norfolk Street, and then after 1828 he was at Division Street, Sheffield. In Sheffield he worked alongside James Chesterman, a mathematical instrument maker, who made linear measures (rulers). This telescope is clearly engraved as “JP Cutts, London” in a real Victorian scroll: his premises in London were at 3 Crown Court, Fleet Street, from 1836 onwards.

Later, the business traded as JP Cutts, Sons & Sutton, from both Sheffield and Hatton Garden in London: trading under this name was recorded in 1851. Not many of the actual dates relating to this business seem to be known exactly!

Description

The OD of the main barrel is almost 1.9”, with the visible lens OD of the objective 1.6”. This assembly has been subjected to a ‘major trauma’, ie a big bang on the side, which has distorted the mounting ring and cracked the side of one of the lenses. This crack does not have any visible effect on the view through the scope.

On receipt, the brass fitting on the other end of the mahogany barrel lacked any retaining screws: these have been replaced with small modern brass round-headed screws, which still had to be cut in half to reduce the penetration. The barrel has one longitudinal crack, but is still stable.

The three draws all extend smoothly, and are remarkably clear of dents and dings. Total length extended is 28.5”: closed it is 9.5” long. The eyepiece is a flat ended, square design, typical of the very early and the late C19th: in the middle to early years of the century the bulbous or bell shaped design was fashionable.

What was it used for?

The telescope is the right size for use from on board ship, or for use by an Army Scout or Officer in the C19th. It is maybe a little too bulky and large for use by a country Gentleman for spotting deer or hare or foxes on the moors, he would probably prefer more of a pocket scope. In fact we have no information about any owners, this is just speculation.

Conclusions

A nice telescope that works well, probably made in the mid 1830s, say 1836 or 37, and sold thru the JP Cutts new offices in London. The telescope was bought on Ebay from a supplier in Littlehampton, in January 2012. It is my Accession Number #158.

Update April 2018: The telescope was sold on Ebay in April 2018, to a young man in SE London.

A Telescope made by Tom Jones

This telescope has a very standard design, three brass draws, a leather covered barrel, flat ended eyepiece, 29.5” long extended. Looking at the two leather loops on the barrel, suggests the intended use is on a strap for carrying on a belt or over the shoulder, etc: possibly for Army or cavalry use. The impression is that it is a better than average quality, ie good leather, well stitched, good quality brass tubes: between the draws the mounts and sliders are all in good condition, no play – and are built with the threads well recessed and solid shoulders at the tube ends. The eyepiece flat-ish face is black, with some form of coating to the brass, almost enamelled.

So how old is it? Well you could say just pre-WW2, 1930s, Army. Or you could say 1900, or even 1870. You would not suggest it was 1830, it just looks too … modern? But the condition actually makes you realise it’s had a fairly hard life at some time, and survived. The second draw is very stiff, from tube damage. There are dents in the other draws, and the leather at the objective end looks to have lost its surface. The objective lens, which unscrews nicely, is peened into the mount.

Between the two lenses of the objective pair around the edge there is a deposit of some form of dirt or solids. It is possible the objective end has been left sitting in some liquid or moisture, probably for several years, and this has left a deposit – because the two lenses were not quite matched in their internal face curvature, at the edges. I’ve no idea how to get at this without radical interference with the mount.

The maker – Thomas Jones

 

It does have a maker’s name, engraved on the first draw: and it’s on the right hand side of the draw, ie the ‘T’ of Thomas is next to the eyepiece! Surely this is the old style, pre-1800? The script is neat but flourishing, Victorian or earlier. The address is quoted, “62 Charing Cross, London”: even this implies possibly C19, rather than after the introduction of district letters in London.

Finding Jones in Gloria Clifton’s reference book shows up lots of makers, notably in Liverpool and London. But a Thomas Jones business, active from 1806 to as late as 1860, was at 62 Charing Cross from 1816 onwards. Interestingly, Jones had been apprenticed to, and worked for Jesse Ramsden, from 1789. Ramsden died around 1800, but this telescope shows his influence and style. Thomas Jones later received a Royal Appointment to the Duke of Clarence for his instruments – presumably that was in the 1820s.

       

So what date do we put on this telescope? I would suggest somewhere between 1816 and 1830, because the address says later than 1816, but the engraving on the right side suggests an earlier date, certainly not after 1830. In addition, from 1831 to 1835 he traded as ‘Thomas Jones and Son’, in partnership with his son, also called Thomas (II). We do not know when Thomas Jones (the father) died, but it was possibly in 1835, when the business reverted to just “Thomas Jones”, and continued trading until around 1860.

Description

Much is described in the introduction: 3-draw, brass, leather clad barrel. Closed length is 9.75”, open it is 29.5”. The OD is 1.875”.

Accession Number #274, acquired March 2016.

Enbeeco Merlin 20x – 40x: (1950s?)

This is another relatively modern, aluminium, ‘ENBEECO London’ pancratic telescope. It is very lightly engraved as the “Merlin” 20x – 40x, and is very light in weight: much lighter than the “Petrel” described previously. It is also not anodised, but bare aluminium, which has survived well on all but one of the draws. The construction follows the normal style of brass telescopes, with knurled rings on the end of each draw. These rings do not have sliders, they are very short threads, but joint stability is improved by a ring of felt behind the thread.

The light engraving on the aluminium draw

Inside the first two draws the two lens cartridges are brass, and look as though they are from an older (brass) telescope design. The leather cover on the barrel is good quality, thick leather, such as would have been used on  an old brass military one. So maybe the Merlin pre-dates the Petrel, ie was from the 1950s?

What is really impressive is the magnification and image quality from the Merlin telescope. Certainly at 40x there is not a lot of light getting in, as the objective is small, 1.1” visible diameter. Plus the field of view is very small, necessarily! Admittedly I don’t often use a telescope wearing glasses, but the Merlin does require the eyepiece to be within about 5mm of your eyeball to see the full image.

Closed the Merlin is 9” long, with all three draws fully open it is 23” long.

Newbold and Bulford

N&B do seem to have a bit of a problem with their company name/image, as they are variously known as Newbold & Bulford Ltd, N&B Ltd London and ENBEECO London.

A Google search produced the following comment from 2015, suggesting Enbeeco was used after WW2. This was in response to a query about an Enbeeco Ranger 55:

“Newbold and Bulford, which eventually disappeared into the Pyser Group, was one of the oldest British optical companies, tracing its origins back to 1796. I used a Ranger for astronomy when I was at school in the 1950s; in those days a three-inch refractor (including those supplied by Newbold and Bulford), cost a fortune. The Ranger was one of the last old-style brass telescopes made in England, reputedly by Ross, which I think closed in 1959. My Ranger was the basic 30X; the Ranger 55 was a 30X-55X zoom, or ‘vari-power’ as they were called then. Each was supplied with the same 41mm objective, and all lenses were uncoated. I have both versions today, and the 30X version is a fine performer showing very little false colour, even on Venus. Enbeeco was the brand name used by the company after World War Two.

In the early 1960s, when suppliers in the Far East, started a big export drive to Western Europe, Enbeeco was one of the first British optical companies to sell Japanese binoculars and telescopes under its own name. In the early 60s in England, you could buy three types of instrument: ‘British’, ‘Japanese’ and ‘Empire’, which usually meant Hong Kong. With some binoculars you could buy coated and uncoated versions of the same glass. HTH”

A 1951 Glass Industry Directory gives the N&B address as Enbeeco House, Roger Street, Grays Inn Road, London WC1.  Other websites show N&B used the name ‘Cub’ as long ago as 1900 for one of their commercial telescopes.

N&B Petrel 1960: where it all started!

When I was 13/14, we moved home back to Leeds, and my bedroom, at 53 Cookridge Lane, overlooked Yeadon aerodrome – or at least it was on the top of the next hill. This started me off as an aeroplane spotter, particularly as the approach to the main runway at the time, runway 28, came straight past our house.

I tried using my Dad’s ex-Army binoculars, but could not get on with those, so decided I needed a telescope, to identify any interesting aeroplane (mainly light aircraft) visitors. My favourite photographic shop in Leeds was Beckett’s in “The Headrow”: I think we went there: and without much other choice I bought this N&B “Petrel”, a pancratic x25 – x40 aluminium bodied telescope. I honestly don’t know how much it cost, but when I worked full time at the airport five years later, in the holidays, I earned an enormous wage every week, of £12/10/0: to me that was a fortune, so it could have cost as ‘little’ as that!

Long range spying

Google maps are now able to tell me that it was 1.75 miles, or 9000 feet, from my bedroom window to the main apron at Yeadon: at x40 trying to use the scope hand-held was impossible, even if the aircraft was parked on this apron. But the small window with hinges at the top could wedge the scope while it was pointing in the right direction: and standing on a little chair I could get my eye up at the other end. Given reasonable climatic conditions, and no heat haze from the airport tarmac, I could just read the registrations on the airliners, like the BKS Dakotas and similar: you could certainly read the airline names. So, if when you come home from school there is something interesting sitting there, the procedure was to jump on a bike and cycle the 5 miles or so to the airport – a lot further than the crows or aeroplanes would have to fly!

Spotting light aircraft ‘on approach’!

The next problem with a narrow angle/field of view of a telescope was finding the aeroplane in the sky – something that had caused a problem with Dad’s binoculars too. But with a telescope and a Meccano set the problem was soon solved. I used my right eye to look thru the telescope, so the left eye was still available and sort of looking in the same direction. The simple instructions are:

Strap a Meccano right angle bracket to a rubber/eraser (the thing you use to remove unwanted pencil marks) using elastic bands, align the Meccano bracket in the same plane as your eyes, and use the left eye to point the telescope so that the aeroplane is in the hole at the end of the Meccano strip – ‘hey presto!’ the aeroplane appears thru the scope view in the right eye. After training your brain/eyes for a while, they work independently, and later, you can throw away the Meccano, as the left eye knows where to put the end of the scope.

The  pictures show the nearest I can reproduce to the original location system these days: I lost the Meccano set when my parents moved house and I was at University – by the way, if you live at 53 Cookridge Lane, you’ll find it by crawling under the floor of the lounge!

The telescope

Nowadays I know that N&B Ltd stands for Newbold and Bulford. The scope is black anodised aluminium – which on occasions got very hot sitting on the bedroom windowsill, with two sections extended and focussed, ready for action. After 60 years the anodising has worn off the main draw: there are three draws in all, one for magnification and the second for the focus, with a knurled finger grip. Closed it is just over 12”, open fully it is 28”: the objective is 1.5” OD. The sliders are all felt covered, to keep them tight. While the knurled ring releases the first draw, the second and third draws have to be removed thru the objective end.

Many years ago I replaced the plastic type cover on the barrel with some green leather. It was then that I started in a quest to find a decently built brass telescope, to replace this well used unit – but mainly well used at airports and on aeroplanes! You can find all my aeroplane pictures from the 1960s era in the FlickR albums on tinyurl.com/nickplanes.

Accession Number had to be #0 (zero).