Bonhams 1793 : LOHMANN BROTHERS. A rare 5-inch pneumatic-drive refracting telescope, Greenville, OH, c.1918,

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5 Dec 2012 13:00 EST New York
Illuminating Space: Images from a Private Virginian Collection
Back to auction 20830

LOHMANN BROTHERS.

A rare 5-inch pneumatic-drive refracting telescope, Greenville, OH, c.1918, signed "Lohmann Bros. | Makers | Greenville, Ohio," pale blue-painted brass, sighting scope, steel headset, with wood tripod base, 1800 mm long, the base 1900 mm high, some paint loss.

PERHAPS THE ONLY SURVIVING EXAMPLE OF A PNEUMATICALLY-DRIVEN TELESCOPE. The Lohmann Brothers emigrated from Germany to America around 1890, and initially concentrated on basic engineering and woodwork. Not many of their telescopes are known to exist. Lohmann's advertisements in the magazine Scientific Monthly featured the present design of telescope, described as "5-in. with pneumatic clock"—an unusual form of drive mechanism allowing the observer to track his subject in the night sky (vol 9 no 3, September, 1919, and vol 10 no 2, January, 1920). The advertisements seem to show a pneumatic bulb on a cord, not present here.

Sold for US$ 5,000 inc. premium