They Needed Cookes to build the Sydney Harbour Bridge

 There had been plans to build a bridge across Sydney harbour since 1815 but nothing really happened in the 19^th century. Although there were plans to build a bridge in 1914 World War 1 stopped all those ideas.

After World War 1 tenders were put out in 1921 for companies to put forward ideas for the bridge, in 1922 Cooke and Sons of York designed a new type of Level which would be used to help the engineers construct the bridge. This level enabled a difference in height of a quarter of an inch of any two lines at a dissonance of one mile to be determined.

This order was placed before Cooke and Sons became Cooke Troughton and Simms later in 1922.

Eventually in 1924 the Australian government awarded the contract to Dorman Long and Co Ltd of Middlesbrough who would also build the Tyne Bridge at Newcastle upon Tyne. The Sydney Harbour Bridge was formally opened in March 1932.

If you have ever been over the Sydney Harbour Bridge just remember that without the superb optical equipment of Thomas Cooke and Sons of York it would probably never have been built.

Another Cooke for Yorkshire

 

I have very little information on Henry Mann 1806-1879 of Spen Bank, Cleckheaton, Yorkshire other than that in 1867 he purchased a 4.5 inch equatorial telescope at a cost of £100 (today this would be over £12,000) from Thomas Cooke & Sons of York

The Astronomy Show

 Join me, Martin Lunn tonight and every Monday evening from 7.00 pm-9.00 pm on the Astronomy Show, I will take my weekly look at the night sky and look at all the latest news in astronomy. There will be the astronomical anniversaries this week plus the A-Z of Constellations and the Messier Marathon.

The Astronomy Show every Monday evening only on Drystone Radio 102 and 103.5 FM the show can be heard live on line at www.drystoneradio.com and the show can be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.

Thomas Cooke and the French Expo of 1855

 The last French Monarch of France Napoleon III who was nephew to the Emperor Napoleon was rebuilding Paris in 1855 and wanted he Exposition of that year to be the most impressive. The Paris Expositions were begun in 1789.

Although Napoleon wanted it to be the greatest art and industrial event ever staged it had already been eclipsed by the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in Britain in 1851. The exposition would run from June to November 1855.

Among the exhibitors was Thomas Cooke of York who took the brave step of exhibiting a variety of optical equipment including a 7.5 inch equatorial with a clock work drive.

Cooke was exhibitor No. 392 and was described as selling astronomical and nautical instruments. He was in the 8^th section ‘Arts connected with Science and Education’.

For Cooke it was a great success not only because he won a First Class Medal for his 7.5 inch telescope he also made some very good contacts. He met the astronomer Warren De La Rue and Lt Gen Edward Sabine, astronomer, geophysicist and explorer and Lt Col Strange from the East India Company, the latter two would be very important in ensuring that Cooke theodolites being used in the great survey of India.

He also introduced himself to the astronomers of Europe and in the following years there would be orders for telescopes and observatories from countries such as Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Russia and Sweden.

The Green Companion of Antares, Canada and a Cooke

Dr Ferguson of Fergus Ontario stated that at 4.00 am on the 28^th March 1893, he found that Antares and its green companion so easily divided by his 3.5 inch Cooke that he tried smaller apertures and was always successful in “clearly and distinctly” separating them until he reaches 2.5 inches, when “the green star was visible as a thickening of the diffraction ring.

Transit of Mercury seen from Canada with a Cooke

 

Dr Donaldson of Fergus, Ontario was among many astronomers who watched the transit of Mercury on the May 8th/9th 1891. He used his 3.5 inch Cooke refractor and was singularly fortunate in his observations.

He reported that internal contact occurred at 6.57.45 Eastern Standard Time and that from the time the planet, as a wedge apparently, began to cut into the solar limb until it stood “clear, black, and distinct on the sun’s disc, only a very fine rim of brilliant light separating it from the outer darkness beyond the limb”, the “black-drop” was very noticeable and that evidence of it did not disappear until Mercury was well in the disc.

Cooke eyepieces for Wolverhampton

 

In 1867 Charles Machin of Waterloo Road South, Wolverhampton, purchased three astronomical eyepieces from Thomas Cooke & Sons.

However I don’t know if he had a Cooke telescope or not, or even the type and size of this telescope.