Early Production Questar 3-½ Telescopes: 1954 and 1955

The American made Questar has since 1954 been acclaimed as an elegant and refined practical tool for astronomy: the Rolls-Royce of compact telescopes. The fundamental attributes attracting such praise remains the same today as it was: performance, convenience, and reliability. The Questar is among the last of few products in production over the recent decades where no practical or aesthetic aspect has been compromised in order to cut costs. This arguably remains the best balance of essential attributes in the carry-on portable class of telescope - downright easy to set up while also rewarding to use.

Here we will look at some of the earliest Questar telescopes made, and discuss how as refinements were devised these first, or what we term 'early production', telescopes and their accessories differed from mid, later and current production models.

Right: early production model Questar 3-½ of 1954-1955 cased at left, and in Pole Aligned mode at right (119,017 bytes).
From the May 1954 Questar booklet available for download at our Questar Notes & Interesting Articles on line archives.
Click on image to see enlarged view (345,776 bytes). Photo from Company Seven archives.

As explained in our article How to Choose Your Questar 3-½:

"Aside from the quality of optics, the Questar telescopes include patented devices to insure these instruments are compact, free of periodic adjustments, and user-friendly. All of these features evolved before the now popular term "user friendly" was first uttered. These features include built-in magnification changers, an integral finderscope, extraordinarily smooth and precise focusing mechanics. All of this is may be duplicated at some cost in another telescope. However, what makes the astronomical Questar 3-½ models even more unique is their extreme portability: these are a complete personal portable and power independent tracking telescope, with six magnifications (three from each provided ocular), tabletop tripod legs, superb quality Solar Filter (one for the telescope objective, and one for the finder too) which can show an eclipse and reveal Sun spots and Faculae, all of which store under an average airline aircraft seat within a compact fitted case as shown above."

Above: early production Questar telescope completed in 1955. From left to right: front left view, Front Cell with provided snap-on Solar Filter (predates thread-on filters and lens cover), and telescope left rear view showing Control Box in its natural cast aluminum finish and improved Finder Mirror support. Click on images to see enlarged views.

Early Production Models: incorporate a Maksutov-Cassegrain optical design that provides a nominal effective focal length of 1,070 mm at f/12. This difference between the optics of the early models and those of mid production telescopes and late production models with longer focal lengths that followed is difficult to tell simply by looking at or through the telescope.

However, those telescopes made between 1954 and into early 1956 can be most readily differentiated from the later production telescopes because of the burgundy red, silver and blue "Questar" declination axis cover plates. These are affixed to either side of the Fork Mount arms with contact cement. The plates read "42" APOCHROMAT F:12", Questar, NEW HOPE PA•U•S•A•" (yes there was a time when tangible items were made in the USA). These early discs are glued onto the ridge of the circle on the Fork Tine thus it is more likely to snag or be knocked off than the later example where the disc is glued in but recessed below the ridge level of the casting, so the mid and later production telescopes are less likely not to have lost their Fork bearing cover disc.

Above left: Fork Arms Declination axis bearing cover disc provided on instruments made from 1954 to early 1956 (30,306 bytes).
Right: Cover, with the QUESTAR star logo as provided over the Fork Arms elevation (Declination) axis hubs of telescopes from early 1956 to well into 1963 (83,529 bytes).

Looking for these covers on an older Questar is not always a reliable way to judge the age of the telescope since during the course of routine use and transport or during servicing visits these original disc could be snapped off and damaged, or for convenience they may have been replaced by a later version disc. Over the recent years we have become more careful to preserve the historic integrity of older Questars by employing time consuming methods to remove the covers but without damaging them so that the originals can be attached into place after the servicing.

The telescopes made in 1954 can be distinguished from late 1954 and 1955 production by arrangement of the Finder pick–off mirror bracket. The 1954 production employ an angled steel support to suspend the Finder mirror at the lower six O‘clock portion of the Control Box, this bracket is tilted at forty five degrees so that the image is directed from the mirror up to the Finder objective lens. This arrangement can be seen in the illustration at top right of this page.

When observing very bright objects through the main telescope optics light could be reflected from the Finder mirror up and into the telescope Control Box, this could distract the observer. So the single-arm mirror support allowed the user to swivel assembly to the left or to the right so the pick off mirror would no longer be in line with the main telescope.

However, It soon became apparent to Questar that the Achilles Heel of this otherwise durable instrument was the support bracket of the Finder pick off mirror.

• This arrangement exposed the pick off mirror to dirt.
  
• It was impractical for users to restore the mirror position with enough precision to center the Finder view to that of the main telescope, and have the arm hold that alignment.
  
• The protruding bracket was prone to snagging or bending by impact that would produce a misalignment of the mirror thus rendering the Finder inaccurate if not completely useless.

So by 1955 Questar changed over to the more durable 'U' shaped finder mirror support. In this arrangement the mirror is glued onto a pivoting plate. The mirror and tilt plate are attached onto the Base of a ‘U‘ shaped steel housing by four screws, the screws adjust the tip and tilt of the mirror so that the image shown in the Finder is centered in the view through the main telescope. The entire assembly is attached to the bottom of the Control Box by four short bolts. In time Questar modified the production lacquering the steel pick off mirror housing to prevent oxidation.

The change of design of the Finder pick off mirror housing would spur the development of yet another innovation in the late 1960’s: the installation of a Solar Filter for the Finder. This Solar Filter mechanism is hinged so that the user could swing the filter element ninety degrees over or away from the Finder lens (between the mirror and the lens). By having this in place one completely eliminated the risk of accidentally switching from viewing through the main telescope with its Solar Filter attached to the Finder mode that up the then had no solar filter protection. This accessory also helps to keep the interior of the Control Box dark, free of glare from sunlight that could otherwise enter through the Finder Lens. To this day no other manufacturer has been so thoughtful to provide such a convenience built-in to their telescope!

Other distinctive aspects shared by the early production telescopes are the scalloped hand knobs attached onto either side of the Fork Mount. On these the attachment bolt at center is visible. These knobs control the elevation lock and elevation motion fine control. The knobs of Questar telescopes made since late December 1955 are similarly machined from solid aluminum 24S-T4 stock however, the center is solid and no longer scalloped as they were on the earlier production telescopes. These knobs are attached by a bolt threaded from the inner side of the fork so no attachment hardware is visible.

The Control Box casting of those Questar telescopes made from 1954 into early 1956 were delivered with a polished natural metal finish. Production models manufactured from early in 1956 to the present day will still include the Control Box however, their casting exterior is hand sanded, then primed, and then finished with a two part silver paint.

The Control Box of the the very early Questar telescopes incorporates an Amici image erecting prism so that when observing through the eyepiece the image will appear correctly oriented upright and correct left to right. The prisms originally selected by Mr. Braymer were production surplus models, acquired at a reasonable cost, and that suited their purpose in the Questar nicely. Keep it in mind that these early Questar telescopes were intended to be operated at magnifications not likely to exceed about 160x, their high magnification eyepiece with the telescope Barlow lens engaged. However, as the early stocks ran low and new prisms had to be manufactured it was found these were a costly, tedious to make component. Mr. Braymer decided to discontinue the original image erecting prism, changing this to a 90 degree prism diagonal, fully Magnesium Fluoride (MgFl) antireflection coated, that has been installed in all new Questar telescopes produced or serviced to this day.

Furthermore, years later as Questar Brandon and other third party 1.25 inch diameter eyepieces came onto the market for that are compatible with the Questar, the quality of image is superior to that of the original prism particularly when observing at the higher magnifications that the later production Questar’s are intended to attain. The sole compromise is that the orientation of the image observed through the 90 degree prism diagonal is upright but reversed left to right; this orientation is typical of what is observed through catadioptric and refracting telescopes that employ a 90 degree prism or mirror diagonal to position an eyepiece in a more comfortable position for the observer. Since quality of view is more critical to the astronomer than orientation this poses no practical issue for them, while Birders and nature observers find it is easy to adapt to the reversed left to right view or can buy an optional image erecting accessory for the axial port.

Above: at left shows a very early Questar’s Control Box with .950 inch Dia. Axial Port Cover removed, at right is that of a mid production model (61,373 bytes).
The very earliest Questar telescopes are distinguished by their polished Control Box housing, these were not painted. Furthermore, the very early production
telescopes incorporated the Image Erecting Prism. One can discern whether or not their Questar has the Image Erecting Prism by 1. the image orientation
observed through the instrument is correct left to right and right side up, or by 2. looking into the Axial Port to see if theirs has the Image Erecting Prism.
Click on the image above to see enlarged view (193,183 bytes).

These early production Questar telescopes incorporate some components made of Synthane, a dimensionally stable and lightweight Bakelite tube made by the Synthane Corporation. Synthane sheets consist of a laminate of fibrous sheet materials such as cellulose or asbestos paper, or a cotton or asbestos or glass fabric, saturated with a thermo setting resin. This is cured over time under high temperature and pressure. These components included the Corrector Lens front cell, the optical tube assembly backplate (the wall between the Control Box and Optical Tube in the area of the Primary Mirror), and for the earlier production models the Cover Plate at the bottom of the Base is also of Synthane.

For models made from 1954 into 1956 information including the telescope Serial Number, Questar patents information, the voltage and cycles of the motor installed in the Base were hand engraved onto the cover at the bottom of the Base. This engraving is usually located between the center opening for the tripod leg and the AC wall plug socket. On these early telescopes one will read something like this:

Above: earliest production telescopes are also distinguished by their Synthane Base Cover Plate that bear hand inscribed information and Serial Number. Later plates are made of durable aluminum stock, each machined and clearly polished with that grain spanning the plate in the same orientation (38,911 and 38,932 bytes). Note: some owners inscribed their Social Security/FIN or other number on a Questar, the SSN of Mr. Shapiro has been blurred by us for use in this example. Click on the images above left and at right to see enlarged views (189,284 and 211,600 bytes).

Most AC wall receptacle and power cords in the United States of this era are a two slot socket and plug arrangement. Both of the receptacle slots and both plug blade tips too are identical in width and thickness, so a power cord can be plugged into a receptacle in either orientation right side up or upside down. The Questar was originally provided with a brown insulated, 7 amp rated AC power cord with a two prong male plug on one end, at the other is a female socket with two identical 3/32 inch (2.23mm) diameter prong holes spaced 3/10 inch (7.42mm) center to center. There is a specific flow of how the AC current runs through the wiring. One of the plug blades connects to the neutral wire socket of a receptacle, while the other blade connects to the hot wire. The hot wire carries electricity into the home and to the breaker panel, while the neutral wire carries unused electricity back to the breaker panel and out. To provide an added measure of safety for these lighter duty appliances the polarized plug and socket were developed. Questar adapted, so the later power cord and socket are polarized with tips being 7.2mm center to center with a larger 3.5mm and smaller 2.5mm prong holes and this can be retrofitted to older Questar telescopes. In fact today Questar Corp. will provide only the polarized AC cord as a replacement part, this can be sold with a new matching polarized plug socket to replace the original in the Base.

From the earliest days of production the Braymers focused on selling the Questar 3-½ telescopes into schools, focusing on the High School to College level science teaching departments; keep in mind that then (as today) these were not an inexpensive acquisition for the average amateur and the best chance to have a Questar make a lasting impression was to expose students to these instruments. Hopefully, in time these students would graduate and have the means to acquire their own telescope. Over the first year of production most of the telescopes were assigned to Questar sales representatives across the country or to schools. To this date many of Company Seven’s academic and science customers (U.S. Naval Academy, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, etc.) own Questar telescopes that are available to staff and students either at their facilities or on a loaner basis. The telescopes are easily identified by the unique Serial Number they bear engraved on the Base Cover Plate.

Right: Base Cover Plate of a Questar 3-½ telescope made in 1970 (38,803 bytes). The Questar telescope rests on its tripod legs or on the 1/4-20 tpi threaded socket in the middle and the Base casting that surrounds the Base Plate; no load is placed on the recessed cover plate. Notice the Serial Number that was originally engraved on the Base Cover Plate cannot be read; there is no other logical reason for this degree of crosshatch wear other than for the purposeful obliteration of the Serial Number.
Click on image to see enlarged view (248,727 bytes).

Unfortunately for some organizations and for many amateurs whose Questar telescope was stolen over the decades, it is a simple matter to erase visible signs of the Serial Number. Many used Questar telescopes pop up at Pawn Shops, on eBay, and other auction sites and some bear a missing or altered Serial Number with the hope that the buyer will not know to consider that. Less knowledgeable or scrupulous retailers in the astronomy community may overlook this too. Some years ago a mutual acquaintance of Company Seven and of the owner of a nearby competing telescope store bought a used Questar 3-½ there, then he brought it to us for evaluation. At first glance the Serial Number simply did not match the production era of the telescope, on closer inspection it became clear to us that the Serial Number had been altered. When we inspected production marks inside that Questar that led us the original owner, this was the University of California in Barstow. We later learned the telescope had been signed out on loan then back in to their astronomy department but in fact it had never been returned, but was sold by the person who last signed it out.

If the Serial Number is absent or altered, and if you do not wish to live under the risk of being caught with what is probably stolen property, then do not risk buying it.

The use of a Synthane backplate complicates alignment and other servicing these early telescopes since it is not practical to remove the optical tube barrel from the Synthane backplate. As mentioned above, these telescopes incorporate an image erecting Amici prism in their Control Box.

In time Questar discovered the threads tapped into the Synthane backplate wear out from the friction of the honed stainless steel threaded shaft. The wear progresses so that mirror shift while focusing becomes more and more pronounced, the smoothness of focusing degrades, and eventually the threads wear out altogether so the user can not focus until the back plate is replaced. So Questar gradually moved away from using Synthane and instead relied on machined aluminum for these components.

The accessories provided as standard with these early telescopes for $795 included:

1.   40X Eyepiece
2.   80X Eyepiece
3.   Velvet-lined English cowhide Carrying Case with two keys
4.   Questar Tabletop Equatorial Tripod Legs
5.   Questar AC Power Cord
6.   Questar Off-Axis Solar Filter
7.   Questar Bristol Wrench
8.   Questar Booklet
9.   Questar Owners Manuals
10. A letter of gratitude usually signed by Lawrence Braymer, the founder of Questar
11. Leverpak shipping drum.

Into 1956 the early Questars were shipped in a protective Leather Carrying Case (described below) but with no Lens Cover since it was assumed the case could provide satisfactory protection of the Corrector lens. The only provided accessory for the front of the telescope was the Solar Filter (shown above at center) that snapped into place held by three gasketed tabs pressing against the Synthane front cell’s inner radius. Questar changed the design of the optical tube front cell so that the 95 mm diameter radius was threaded to accept a new lens cover or the provided revised Solar Filter. Questar simultaneously devised a thread on Lens Cover to protect the Corrector Lens of the telescope. The lens cover was made with the black disc made of the lightweight Synthane material with a lightweight aluminum alloy edge trim glued onto the Synthane. The center is covered with a Questar logo disc glued into place.

The fork tines of early to mid production Questar telescopes feature gloss reflective polished edges with the recessed areas on the face of the fork tines painted silver. By the mid 1980’s the quality of the castings being provided caused the company to change from polished edges to a fine vertical milling that leaves a satin appearance.

As mentioned above, the early production Questars like this one also have an etched and filled Moon Map, Star Chart, and Right Ascension Setting Circle instead of the silk screened versions produced for later production units.

Eyepieces and Magnifications: these telescopes were engineered to accept either of two provided eyepieces, each is an assembly with a male thread of 1.175 inch (29.85 mm) diameter. The knurled upper assembly of the eyepiece houses the optical elements and the eyepiece Field Stop. The eyepiece threads onto the telescope eyepiece holder atop the Control Box. One dials the two Control Box knobs to allow the eyepiece to view through the Finder, then rotates the knurled upper assembly clockwise or counterclockwise to bring the Field Stop closer to or farther from the Finder’s objective lens until focus the object of study is sharp and clear.

The eyepieces provided with new Questar telescopes produced from 1954 through mid 1973 are:

1. 40X a 26mm König lens design with a 50 degree apparent field of view (measured by Company Seven as having a 18mm Dia. Field Stop), and

2. 80X a 12mm Erfle a five element wide angle lens claiming a 75 degree apparent field of view (16.6 mm Dia. Field Stop).

The Questar telescope eyepieces provided from 1957 to 1973 are labeled "40-80X" or "80-160X" to make it more clear these can be used with the Barlow Lens dialed in line or out. Of course it is possible that owners bought used older eyepieces to replace lost newer ones or vice versa, so eyepiece labeling alone cannot be counted on to date a Questar.

* the Barlow lens built into the Control Box of the telescope was represented as providing an amplification factor of about 2X*. Over decades of acceptance testing new and older Questars at Company Seven, we find the effective Barlow magnification could vary higher or lower than 2X from production lot to lot.

Those eyepieces provided with the Questar telescopes delivered from 1954 through 1973 were made by Toyo Jitsugyo KK, an optical company established in 1947 in Japan. Those made through 1956 bear no markings to indicate maker, or country of origin. The eyepieces made from 1956 will bear the engraved code mark "B.O.L. JAPAN"; this refers to an arrangement the manufacturer established between Oriental Trading, the export division of Toyo Jitsugyo KK., with Bushnell Optical Laboratory Inc. then based in California. These eyepiece do not bear the diopter indicators of the original eyepieces, the barrels of these eyepieces are finished in black paint.

The eyepiece could have been provided from the factory with the option a crosshair reticle ('+') pattern spanning edge to edge) installed. The black cross-hair is and glass thread on or off, positioned in place of the field stop.

The early Questar 3-½ telescopes were equipped with eyepieces to reach magnifications of up to 160x, though they are capable of higher. The optical design of these original telescopes and some other factors too produced a system that is good; under a critical star test a well adjusted early Questar can show a nice diffraction pattern since the optics shop making the optics then (as now) hand matched each set of optics to assure nominal figuring. Late in the 1960’s the design of the optics was changed, overall specifications made more stringent, and improved materials and coatings offered. These changes along with new choices of eyepieces would provide the later production telescopes with truly amazing higher magnifications and brighter performance.

English Leather Case For Questar 3-½: among the accessories that distinguished the Questar was the custom fitted rigid case provided as a standard accessory with each new astronomical telescope. The Questar telescope slides into the larger portion of the case, while the door interior has pouches sewn in to accommodate those accessories that were provided with the Questar. The case is made in England of two ply stitched Saddle Leather, with the interior fully lined in velvet. The leather is pliable and without any additional interior bracing, yet it is rigid enough to retain its shape and hold the seven pound Questar 3-½ safely in transit. The Questar literature of the period describes the provided case as:

"FINEST BRITISH COWHIDE, each one made by hand for us in Staffordshire, England. Deep luggage tan color, fully velvet lined in old wine color, leather pouches for accessories. Conservative white stitching, two locks. Rim of Questar’s Base held in case by adjustable eccentric Synthane disks."

The case is designed to hold the Questar telescope with all its standard accessories. The accessories provided with the telescope are stored in leather pouches sewn onto the interior of the door lid. This arrangement is illustrated by the image at the bottom right of this article.

Right: Original Questar Leather Case in Company Seven’s Museum Collection (74,161 bytes).
Click on image to see enlarged view (236,042 bytes).

The case is laid out well and is compact, light weight (especially compared to modern Questar cases), and is beautiful. There are some aspects that are unusual:

• There are no pads attached to the bottom of the case and so it rests flush against any surface it is placed upon. This makes it more likely that the bottom could be contaminated and stained so care must be taken where one places the case.

• The bottom of the case extends to the front of the case and beyond the walls to form a flap. The flap easily is held down to install the telescope, and it is pushed out when removing the telescope. This helps to hold the Base in place.

• The door is not hinged by means of any mechanical hardware but it is a folded extension of the side wall of the case. The flap of the lid onto which the latch is attached is similarly formed to bend although it is not moving back and forth as often or as far.

• Rollers made of Synthane are attached to either side of the case interior. These grasp the flange of the Questar telescope Base holding it in place securely.

The door lid is secured by two nickel plated steel spring loaded keyed laches, each cases included two keys. The lock hardware was made by C.W. Cheney And Son Ltd., a famous maker of locks, keys, hinges, and other hardware. Cheney was established soon after World War I, based on Factory Road in Hockley, England but has since been acquired by other companies, moved from Factory Road after 2001, and little remains with the qualities of what they made in the era of the Questar cases. Do keep in mind these locks only serve to keep the honest person honest; anyone who really wants to get in can handily walk off with the Questar in the case and force these latches to the breaking point.