Thomas Cooke (machinist)
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This page is about the instrument maker. For other persons named Thomas Cooke, see Thomas Cooke
Thomas Cooke (March 8, 1807 – October 19, 1868) was a British instrument maker based on York. He founded T. Cooke & Sons, the instrument company
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[edit] Life
Thomas Cooke was the son of a shoemaker born in Allerthorpe, near Pocklington, East Riding of Yorkshire. His formal education consisted of two years at an elementary school but he continued learning after this and he taught himself navigation and astronomy with the intention of becoming a sailor. His mother dissuaded him from that career and in 1829 he moved to York and worked as a mathematics schoolmaster at the Rev. Schackley’s School at Micklegate, York, which had opened in 1827. He also taught in various ladies' schools to increase his income.
His marriage to Hannah was to produce seven children, five of whom were boys, Two of these Charles Frederick (1836 - 98) and Thomas (1839 - 1919) subsequently joined him in the business he founded in 1836 at 50 Stonegate, close to York Minster with the assistance of a loan of £100 from his wife’s uncle.
Cooke studied optics and became interested in making telescopes, the first of which was a refracting telescope with the base of a tumbler shaped to form its lens. This led to his friends including John Phillips encouraging him to make telescopes and other optical devices commercially.[1][2] [3]
[edit] Work
In 1837 he established his first optical business in a small shop at 50 Stonegate, York, and later moved to larger premises in Coney Street. He built his first telescope for William Gray. At that time, the excise tax on glass discouraged the making of refracting telescopes, which were usually imported from abroad. Cooke was thus one of the pioneers of making such telescopes in Britain.
He made more instruments and built his reputation. He was not only an optician but had mechanical abilities as well, and among other things, manufactured turret clocks for church towers. He founded the firm T. Cooke & Sons. In 1855 he moved to bigger premises, the Buckingham Works at Bishophill in York, where factory methods of production were first applied to optical instruments.[4]
One of his finest achievements was the construction of the 25 inch 'Newall' refractor for Robert Stirling Newall; sadly, Thomas died before seeing it completed. For some years the Newall was the largest refracting telescope in the world. On Newall's death it was donated to Cambridge University and finally moved in 1959 to Mount Penteli observatory in Greece. He made a telescope for the Royal Observatory, also Greenwich and another for Prince Albert. The firm amalgamated with Troughton & Simms (London) to become Cooke, Troughton & Simms in 1922 and this later became part of Vickers, but still run by his sons Thomas & Frederick.
Thomas Cooke was succeeded by his sons, Thomas and Frederick. He is buried in York Cemetery.
[edit] Telescopes in use today
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A telescope made by Thomas Cooke is still in daily use at Carter Observatory - The National Observatory of New Zealand, delivering excellent results.
At the observatory in the Museum Gardens, York there is a working 4.5" telescope, built for the Yorkshire Philosophical Society in 1850. A second unit of the same construction was purchased and installed in the observatory at Bootham School, York in 1854. A third matching instrument, dating from the same period, was donated to Friendsʼ School, Hobart in 1974 by the grandson of Jonathan Backhouse Hodgkin. All three instruments remain in active service.
A 5" refractor dating from 1883 is also still in use at Coats Observatory, Paisley, Scotland .
[edit] See also
There is also a 6" Cooke telescope in the Airdrie Public Observatory, Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. run by ASTRA.www.astra.org.uk
[edit] References
- ^ Feinstein (Editor), C. H. [1981]. York 1831-1981:150 Years of Scientific Endeavour and Social Change. The Ebor Press. ISBN 0-900657-56-1.P38
- ^ Willis, Ronald [1972] (1988). The illustrated portrait of York, 4th Ed., Robert Hale Limited. ISBN 0-7090-3468-7.P184
- ^ McConnell, Anita [1992] (1992). Instrument makers to the world, A history of Cooke, Troughton and Simms, 1st Ed., University of York. ISBN 1-85072-096-7.P50
- ^ Feinsten (Editor), C. H. [1981]. York 1831-1981:150 Years of Scientific Endeavour and Social Change. The Ebor Press. ISBN 0-900657-56-1.P39
[edit] External links
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Cooke, Thomas |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | British instrument maker |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 8, 1807 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Allerthorpe, near Pocklington, East Riding of Yorkshire, Yorkshire, England |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 19, 1868 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
