Serrurier truss
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A Serrurier truss is used in telescope tube assembly construction. The design was created in 1935 by engineer Mark U. Serrurier when he was working on the Mt. Palomar 200 inch (5 meter) Hale telescope. The design solves the problem of truss flexing by supporting the primary objective mirror and the secondary mirror by two sets of opposing trusses before and after the declination pivot. The trusses are designed to have an equal amount of flexure, which allows the optics to stay on a common optical axis. When flexing the "top" truss resists tension and the "bottom" truss resists compression. This has the effect of keeping the optical elements parallel to each other. The net result is all of the optical elements stay in collimation regardless of the orientation of the telescope.
Certain designs used by amateur telescope makers, specifically truss tube Dobsonians that use a single truss, will sometimes be called "Serrurier truss" designs. These single truss designs are used for their rigidity and do perform the function of keeping the optical elements parallel, but since the lack the opposing truss they are not technically a "Serrurier truss".
Other examples of Serrurier truss designs:
 200 inch (5 meter) Hale telescope |
 Forststernwarte Jena 50cm |
 A Dobsonian single truss design. |
[edit] References
- Learner, Richard. "The Legacy of the 200-inch", Sky&Telescope, April 1986, pp. 349-353
- Sinnott, Roger W. "Flexure of a Serrurier Truss", Sky&Telescope, February 1994, pp. 91-94
- astro.caltech.edu - Reflecting Telescopes
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