John Steinberg wrote:

Starstuffed wrote:

[...]

Landmarks and scenic viewpoints all across America and the world are
outfitted with coin-operated telescopes and binoculars. These wonderful
devices stand ready to satisfy the tourist's eye and are a vital part of
the
road trip experience but could they also serve the star-starved
traveling
amateur astronomer who, for whatever reasons, does not have a
grab-and-go
scope available?

Anecdotally, I'm sorry to report that up and down a lot of the eastern
seaboard, these objects from another time have been rapidly
disappearing.

I recall with great fondness using them at the old Newark airport and
countless other places as a boy. Today, one often finds in their place
instead just their cast iron mounts and sometimes a plaquard indicating
the manufacturer, etc. Victims of vandalism or just relics from another
era I don't know, but I do know they are disappearing from many a scenic
area.

The most recent one that I had occasion to use was on Martha's Vineyard
overlooking the famous Gay Head Cliffs. Although it brought back fond
memories -- the ticking of the timing mechanism, a closer view of the
cliffs and the sense of power that you were at the helm -- the optical
quality was poor and like pay telephones, I expect they will largely
disappear from the landscape over the next decade or so.

As for use under the night sky, I'm not even sure they can be pointed
up, but judging from the optical quality of the ones I've used in the
recent past, I'd keep a pair of binoculars (or three) in the trunk of
your car instead.

Still, I do have very fond memories of these coin-operated binoculars so
much thanks for the trip down memory lane, Martin(i)


Hi John,

Yes, I also have great memories of these. The ticking sound was great,
wasn't it??!!!!!

Unfortunately, you may be correct about them fading into oblivion, much like
the drive-in theater, carpet golf, and those places where your food order
was placed on a tray hanging on your car's window sill.

BUT WAIT!!!!!!!!!! The financially affluent, which I just know you are, can
still own a brand new coin-operated scope of their very own and have it
installed anywhere on their property. The links I provided at the bottom of
my original post will lead you to many options for these and pricing.

One site, http://www.euroscope.de/produkt.en.html, has a pretty nifty
looking out-and-out coin-operated telescope (the Model Galilei) which would
just make Howard Lester ill if he knew you had one and he did not. . .but
hey, he would get over it ;o)

--
Martin
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