Star Projectors
While we were at the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston, we found a star projector we gave our granddaughter. I have no idea what she thought of it, but I remember when I was in sixth grade I built my own.
Back in those days, you could actually sit outside at night and see the Milky Way from my backyard. I spent hours watching the stars and imagining other worlds. Naturally I was a big Science Fiction fan. I devoured anything Robert Heinlein wrote, searched used book stores for paperback Sci Fi copies and scoured the TV listings for anything remotely related to “the unknown”.
I saved up $31. 78 and mailed it to Edmund Scientific Company for a 3 inch reflecting telescope. From my backyard I watched Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury, Venus and Mars. I rigged a projector screen that allowed me to track sunspots crossing the surface of the sun. But the “Great Idea” was yet to come.
While studying the Edmund Catalogue, I was tempted by a projector that would shine constellations on the ceiling of the room. Now I could have the telescope, or the projector, but not both. Or could I??
My first attempt was an oatmeal box with a flashlight shoved in the bottom and holes punched in the top that matched the Big Dipper. Way too much light escaped from the flashlight end of the box and the flashlight flopped around a lot. But essentially ---- it worked! I painted the inside of the box with flat black paint to cut down on reflection, built a holder for the flashlight, and taped every possible opening. Only one problem left.
After watching the Big Dipper for about 12 seconds, it gets boring. I needed a way to project other constellations. I could either eat 400 boxes of oatmeal, or figure a way to interchange tops. As it happened, my Father brought home used tally cards from Endicott Johnson. These were basically 3 X 5 cards used to track boxes of shoe soles. Once used they were thrown out. There were always a bunch laying around the house, so I used them to lay out each constellation. Now how to secure to the oatmeal box? I used my erector set and constructed a metal slot that attached to the oatmeal top. Now each card could be slid over the opening in the box top and projected onto ?????
As it turned out, the wall worked only if the projector was the right distance away. Too close and the constellation was cramped, too far away and it was not crisp enough. The solution was another box, folded to resemble a screen at a drive in movie, painted white and held the exact distance from the projector by two pieces of wood that connected the projector and screen. Amazingly, the whole thing worked, and must have worked pretty well. I entered it in the Seventh Grade Science fair and won second place, which allowed me to go on to the big time Science fair at Broome Tec.
My best friend won first place with a Van De Graff Generator. This consisted of a large electrical ball on the end of a tube. Apparently it generated 4 zillion volts of useless and harmless electricity. But it did make your hair stand straight out from your head if you were silly enough to grab hold of the thing. (I had spent way too much time with Ken to touch it myself. )
Anyway, we had a delightful time, got some positive recognition and used the experience to form the Deyo Hill Science club. This consisted of myself, Ken and several other guys who were interested in “ the world beyond” It should be noted that several of these caricature might well have been from the “ world beyond” already but we had fun. In truth, the fun was mostly me giving Ken money to help buy the parts for a ten inch reflecting telescope. I built most of the tube work which was pretty simple, he ground the mirror which was incredibly difficult. This pattern continued throughout life. He is now a Doctor of Quantum Physics and I build bookcases.
We used the telescope a few times, but in truth it weighed so much and was so awkward to move, even with the motor driven tracking system, that the novelty soon wore off. Plus Saturn occasionally had three distinct rings and forty seven moons. I checked and this didn’t seem accurate.
So perhaps I owe my granddaughter an apology for all the doors of adventure I may have opened. I can’t wait to introduce her to the horses I have come to know.