Telescopes The first Warner & Swasey telescope, built in 1881, was sold to
Beloit College for its new
Smith Observatory and had a 9.5-inch lens made by
Alvan Clark & Sons. Among the notable instruments the company built were the telescopes for
Lick Observatory (1888, 36-inch, refracting); the
United States Naval Observatory (1893);
Yerkes Observatory (according to the 50th-anniversary book, this was a 40-inch refracting telescope completed in time for display at the
World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, although its installation at Yerkes was apparently in 1897); and Canada's
Dominion Astrophysical Observatory (1916, 72-inch, reflecting). describes the firm's giant-telescope-building work as unprofitable overall but a labor of technological love. •
Dominion Astrophysical Observatory,
NRC, Canada •
Dudley Observatory, miSci,
Schenectady, NY, USA •
Durfee High School, Fall River, Massachusetts, USA •
Fuertes Observatory (Irving Porter Church Memorial Telescope),
Cornell University, USA • Hildene Astronomy Club (Robert Todd Lincoln Telescope),
Manchester, Vermont, USA • James Observatory,
Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi, USA •
Kirkwood Observatory,
Indiana University, USA •
Lee Observatory,
American University of Beirut, Lebanon •
Lick Observatory,
University of California, USA •
McDonald Observatory (
Otto Struve Telescope),
University of Texas at Austin, USA •
Moraine Farm Observatory (Col. Deeds 7" Refractor), Col. Deeds Homestead, currently owned by Kettering health Network, Dayton OH, USA •
Painter Hall Observatory, University of Texas at Austin, USA •
Perkins Telescope,
Lowell Observatory, USA •
McKim Observatory,
DePauw University, USA •
Mueller Observatory,
Cleveland Museum of Natural History, USA •
Ritter Observatory,
University of Toledo, USA •
Spacewatch 0.9-meter Telescope,
Kitt Peak,
University of Arizona, USA • Stephens Memorial Observatory (Cooley Telescope - 9-inch Refractor),
Hiram College, USA •
Swasey Observatory,
Denison University, USA • Tate Laboratory, School of Physics and Astronomy,
University of Minnesota, USA •
United States Naval Observatory (USNO),
United States Navy, USA •
University of Illinois Observatory, Urbana, Illinois, USA •
Theodor Jacobsen Observatory,
University of Washington, USA •
Warner and Swasey Observatory, Case Western Reserve University, USA •
Yerkes Observatory,
Williams Bay, Wisconsin, USA
Turret lathes Warner & Swasey was one of the premier brands in heavy
turret lathes between the 1910s and 1960s; it became the world's largest manufacturer of such lathes by 1928. Military instrument contracts were an important line of work for the company. The U.S. government referred many problems concerning such instruments to the company during the
Spanish–American War (1898). Presumably, the range finders included the company's
depression position finder. During
World War I, three important kinds of instrument were produced: "musket sights, naval gun sights, and panoramic sights". In 1967, the Company acquired the Sargent Engineering Corporation of
Fort Dodge, Iowa, a manufacturer of hydraulic cranes. Their six Sargent Hydra-Tower Crane models enabled the company to move into another large segment of the construction industry using hydraulic machinery. That same year the Company partnered with a Canadian paper industry association in the manufacture of the Arbomatik, a line of hydraulic tree harvesting equipment. Through corporate diversity into hydraulic construction equipment, the growing popularity and productivity of this type of
hydraulic machinery yielded strong business growth for the Warner & Swasey company of Cleveland, Ohio during the years of 1946 through 1977. Badger Machine was sold to Alvis International Group in 1978.
Gradall In 1946, Warner & Swasey Company acquired the patent rights to manufacture the Gradall telescopic boom excavator from the brothers Ray and Koop Ferwerda with their manufacturing company, the FWF Corporation, of
Beachwood, Ohio. The Gradall, a type of
hydraulic machinery, became a business of the new owner as the Gradall Division with operations in Cleveland. In the year 1946, the Gradall was the first production
hydraulic excavator that was designed and manufactured in the United States. In July 1950, Gradall manufacturing operations were moved to
New Philadelphia, Ohio, where it continues in 2017, as Gradall Industries, Inc., a global manufacturer of telescopic boom excavators and industrial maintenance machinery. Following the purchase of Warner & Swasey by Bendix in 1980 and the purchase of Bendix by Allied Corp in 1983, From 1999 to 2006, Gradall was owned by
JLG. In 2006 Gradall was acquired by the Alamo Group of Seguin, Texas and formally was renamed Gradall Industries. ==See also==