Ingalls A.G. (Ed.) Amateur telescope making. Book one

New York: Scientific American. — 1966. — 525 p.Amateur Telescope Making (ATM) is a series of three books edited by Albert G. Ingalls between 1926 and 1953 while he was an associate editor at Scientific American. The books cover various aspects of telescope construction and observational technique, sometimes at quite an advanced level, but always in a way that is accessible to the intelligent amateur. The caliber of the contributions is uniformly high and the books have remained in constant use by both amateurs and professionals.The first volume was essentially a reprinting of articles written by Ingalls and Russell W. Porter for Ingalls's monthly column "The Backyard Astronomer" (later "The Amateur Scientist") in the 1920s. It also featured numerous drawings by Porter. The two later volumes contained chapters written by James Gilbert Baker, George Ellery Hale, George Willis Ritchey and others on topics ranging from lens grinding to monochromators to photoelectric photometry. Much of the information, including Porter's articles on the Springfield mount and Franklin Wright's and Henry E. Paul's articles on the design and construction of Schmidt cameras, appeared for the first and only time in these books.The ATM books are widely credited with having initiated the amateur telescope making movement in the United States. They are often referred to collectively as the "bible" of amateur telescope making.It is suggested that the beginner read the first two chapters of Part I as an introduction or preview; then skip to Part II, where he will find the main detailed instructions for making his mirror. He should pause over Part III for a double reading, with strong emphasis on rigidity in design. If he wishes, he may attempt to fish assistance and sundry sidelights from the Miscellany at the back, skipping the harder notes which, with the remaining parts of the book, are for more advanced workers.Mirror Making for Reflectors
Making the Mounting
100-foot Sun Telescope
Wrinkles
Adjustments
Finding Celestial Objects
Telescope Housings
The Prism or Diagonal
Optical Flats
The Cassegrainian
Making Eyepieces
Amateur's Telescope
Tools and Materials — Grinding
Foucault Test
Polishing
Figuring
The Paraboloid — Zonal Testing
Silvering
Mounting the Mirror
Achromatic Object-Glass
Shaping and Grinding — Polishing
Testing and Figuring
Mounting the Lens
Design of Mountings
The HCF Lap
Motor Drives
Silvering
Grinding and Polishing Machines
Telescope Oculars
Astronomical Oculars
Solar Phenomena
Spectrohelioscope
Spectroheliograph
Compound Telescopes
Flotation Systems; Machine Polishing
Making Astronomical Flats
Solar Spectroscope and Spectrograph
Celestial Photography
Accuracy in Parabolizing
Where Is the Crest of the Doughnut?
Ronchi Test
Direct Focal Test
Simple Clock Drive
Miscellany
The Beginner’s First Telescope