ASTRONOMICAL HISTORY Tele Vue’s introduction of the Nagler 25 years ago started a revolution in high-quality . ⁄⁄⁄ BY MICHAEL E. BAKICH The eyepiece that changed observing

In 1977, Nagler founded Tele Vue Optics has marked a in Spring Valley, New York. There, he began number of great moments: the first Schmidt-Cassegrain making projection for big-screen telescope, the first time a reflector was put on a Dobsonian television sets. In 1979, Nagler introduced Tele Vue Plössl to amateur mount, and the first go-to drive, to name a few. Count with astronomers, but even though the Plössls these benchmarks the introduction of the Tele Vue 13mm received rave reviews, 1980 stands out in the minds of most observers. That was Nagler eyepiece. That eyepiece was the first the year the Tele Vue BAKICH MICHAEL E. : to offer both a large apparent field of view Nagler eyepiece series and sharp images. made its debut. ASTRONOMY To mark the 25th anniversary of the first “I knew the design KEEPING THE BUSINESS IN THE FAMILY works well for the Naglers. David. Even David and Sandy’s 10-year-old daughter Allison (not Nagler eyepiece, I traveled to Chester, New was the most ad- Changes can be implemented without a lot of red tape. From left to pictured) sees a future with the company: “I help out wherever I can. York, where I toured the facility and spoke vanced,” said Al right are CEO Al, vice presidents Judi and Sandy, and president I can’t wait to start working here for real.” with the Nagler family. Nagler. “What I didn’t know was if amateur Lifetime focus astronomers would pay Al Nagler, founder and CEO of Tele Vue that much for an eye- Optics, was both an amateur astronomer piece.” Indeed, $200 was a and a successful optical designer before he steep asking price for an eye- formed his company in 1977. As a youth piece when other companies at the attending the Bronx High School of Science time were selling “research grade” eye- in the 1950s, he built his first telescope — pieces for as little as $39.95. an 8-inch f/6.5 reflector that, with its At this point, Nagler decided to visit star mount, weighed 350 pounds. And what a THE 13MM TELE VUE NAGLER debuted parties and let people try his eyepieces in in 1980 and won wide acclaim among start this was. The project earned Nagler a their telescopes. Later, as Tele Vue became amateur astronomers. Tele Vue produced prize (a micrometer) at graduation, $80 this eyepiece until 2001, when the 13mm more established, it used the slogan, “even from Mechanix Illustrated (payment for an better than you imagined.” Well, initial Type 6 replaced it. ASTRONOMY: JAMES FORBES article detailing how he made it), a Stella- response to the Nagler eyepieces was even fane award, and a job interview at Farrand The lunar module simulator included a better than Al imagined. Observers couldn’t Optical Company in the Bronx, New York. star field using 1,000 polished steel ball believe what they were seeing. The Nagler Nagler had a productive optical design bearings set into a black globe. They were combined the widest field (82° apparent career at Farrand from 1957 to 1973. While the correct size and in the correct positions field of view) with sharp images, not just in there, he designed the optics for the visual to simulate an accurate star field. Al even the center, but at the field’s edge as well. simulator that was used to train astronauts had a few bearings gold-plated to simulate Since then, both the Nagler eyepieces (in to pilot the Gemini spacecraft and the Antares, Betelgeuse, and several other red- 2003, Tele Vue introduced the Type 6) and BAKICH E. MICHAEL : Apollo lunar module. dish stars. “You wouldn’t believe how much the company have evolved. And, in March

realism just that little bit of color added,” he 1988, Al took a step that guaranteed Tele ASTRONOMY Michael E. Bakich is an associate editor of said. Such attention to detail still is one of Vue, Inc., would stay in the family: He TELESCOPES ATTACHED TO TABLES point at specially chosen tar- through tens of thousands of eyepieces and filters and, in Al Astronomy. Al’s finest traits. hired his son David. gets in one of Tele Vue’s testing labs. Ray Occhi, seated, has looked Nagler’s words, “can spot a problem a mile away.”

⁄ ⁄ ⁄ © 2013 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form 90 ASTRONOMY without DECEMBER permission 05from the publisher. www.Astronomy.com “NOBODY ELSE has MEASURING THE APPAR- ever seen this, let Type 1 ENT FIELD OF VIEW of a alone looked wide-angle eyepiece like a through it,” said Al Nagler doesn’t have to be Nagler about the complex. “Years ago,” said one-of-a-kind 25mm David Nagler, pictured, Nagler Type 2 eye- “we came up with this sim- piece prototype ple device as a demonstra- (left). This design tion tool for star parties. It didn’t work out to Type 2 allows someone to com- Tele Vue’s standards pare easily the apparent and, thus, was never fields of view between released. eyepieces.” : MICHAEL E. BAKICH MICHAEL E. : : MICHAEL E. BAKICH E. MICHAEL : CHANGE IS GOOD. These diagrams show the changes in optical layout between Tele Vue’s Type 1 and Type 2 eyepieces. TELE VUE OPTICS VUE TELE ASTRONOMY ASTRONOMY

Family legacy met Al in the late 1950s. Their first date Making optics front of a large bulletin board hung, not in way to do something, we’ll do it.” To which David Nagler, now Tele Vue’s president, was a visit to New York’s Hayden Planetar- Al’s first “for sale” telescope was the MPT, an office or a back room, but in the hallway Al added, “Yes, and cost is not an issue.” recalls the beginning. “Mom and Dad used ium followed by a concert. “Can you think which stood for “Multi-Purpose Telescope,” everyone at Tele Vue uses. to sit at the kitchen table boxing up eye- of a better combination?” asked Al. They a 5-inch f/4 refractor, which was intro- After assembly comes optical testing. Q and A pieces to ship,” he said. During his college married in 1961. duced in 1981. Today at Tele Vue, one Each telescope then is cleaned thoroughly. During my time with Al and David, I asked years at Syracuse University, David would Tele Vue’s other vice president is Sandy employee assembles one telescope from One final optical test — any adjustments hundreds of questions. Nothing was off- : MICHAEL E. BAKICH MICHAEL E. : come home during breaks and on week- Nagler, David’s wife. The two met at the start to finish. This instills a sense of are made — and then the scope is packed. limits, and they answered every question I ends and put in time at the factory. “I Alpha Gamma Delta sorority at Syracuse accomplishment, and there’s no lack of I was surprised at how much is still done asked except one. (More on this later.) Here worked as an optics tester. I’ve personally where David was working as a houseboy, pride among employees. Several times dur- “by feel.” Several sets of eyes look at a are a few examples: ASTRONOMY tested tens of thousands of eyepieces. After and they married in 1992. Sandy worked at ing my visit, I overheard someone say (in highly magnified image of a false star. Dif- I asked David what percentage of their I graduated, I realized Tele Vue was where Tele Vue from December 1988 until Octo- response to a specific telescope being men- fraction rings both inside and outside of products is used in amateur astronomy, and I wanted to be.” David, whose degree is in ber 1994, then rejoined the company in tioned), “That’s one of mine,” or, “You made focus are compared. At any point, anyone how much ends up in other applications. Television, Radio, and Film Production, 2002. Sandy and David have a daughter, that one, didn’t you?” can reject the product being tested, sending “More than 90 percent is used by skygaz- SCANNING THE EYEPIECE CASE in Al and started writing advertising copy and Allison, 10, who is ready to head the next How do employees know which scopes it back for more adjustment. ers,” he said. “When we started, it was all David Nagler’s office is like taking an his- designing ads for Tele Vue. generation of Naglers at Tele Vue. “I help they built? Al explained, “When we receive “Because we’re a small company (20 for astronomy, but the portability and qual- torical tour through the development of high-quality amateur-astronomy optics. “Mom” referenced above is Judi Nagler, out wherever I can,” she told me. “I can’t the warranty card packed with each tele- employees), we can make decisions ity of our small refractors appeal to more who is one of Tele Vue’s vice presidents. She wait to start working here for real.” scope, we post it here.” We were standing in quickly,” said David. “If we can find a better and more birders as time goes by.”

⁄⁄⁄ THE FIRST NAGLER EYEPIECE

On July 3, 1979, Al Nagler completed and dated the original technical drawing for the first of a series of eyepieces to carry his name. In November of that year, he applied for a patent, which was subsequently granted. The 13mm Nagler eyepiece went into production in 1980. Two additional first- generation Nagler eyepieces followed: the 9mm and the 4.8mm. These eyepieces made quite a stir when they were introduced. As well as being the highest-priced eyepiece for amateurs, the 13mm Nagler eyepiece was the first:

• with a dual barrel, both 11⁄4" and 2" • with an 82° apparent field of view BAKICH E. MICHAEL :

• to combine an expanded field of view and BAKICH MICHAEL E. : sharp images in the center and at the edge ASTRONOMY AL NAGLER’S DESIGN NOTEBOOK sits open to the page showing the • with eye relief longer than its ASTRONOMY original drawing and specifications for the first Nagler eyepiece. That — Michael E. Bakich eyepiece — the 13mm — rests atop the notebook. TELE VUE’S OFFICES occupy part of a Chester, New York, industrial we’d get people asking about television sales or service,” said Al park. The building, so far, is nameless. “With a name like Tele Vue, Nagler. “It’s something we can add in the future, if we choose to.”

92 ASTRONOMY ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ DECEMBER 05 WWW.ASTRONOMY.COM 93 RANK doth have its privileges “One day, I was looking at my Tele Vue-85 refractor,” said David Nagler, “and I wondered what it would look like with a silver tube. So, I sent it out for chroming. I really like the way it : MICHAEL E. BAKICH MICHAEL E. : : MICHAEL E. BAKICH MICHAEL E. : turned out, and it is unique.” ASTRONOMY TELE VUE VUE OPTICS TELE ASTRONOMY

“WE ONLY REPLACE AN EYEPIECE with a better one, never for THE MPT (which stood for “Multi-Purpose Telescope”) was the first “LET’S SEE WHAT THIS ONE LOOKS LIKE,” said Al Nagler as he

: MICHAEL E. BAKICH MICHAEL E. : lack of sales,” said Al Nagler. An example of this is the original telescope Tele Vue manufactured. It had a 5-inch aperture, a peered into the specially designed rig (called the “trombone”). Tele 13mm Nagler (left). Its replacement weighs one-quarter as much, 500mm focal length, and a native focal ratio of 4. The MPT’s focal Vue opticians built this setup to test EverBrite star diagonals. has the same 82° apparent field of view, and boasts higher-quality ratio was variable to f/20 with the built-in iris diaphragm. The last Every diagonal is tested, cleaned, re-tested, and finally packaged ASTRONOMY optical elements, so it gives a better view than the original. remaining MPT functions as a test scope at Tele Vue. for shipment to dealers.

To Al, I noted that not every Tele Vue model eyepiece series. When it removed tinued, “They’ve been dropped, scratched, Vue wasn’t well-known to amateur astrono- followed up with, “Why didn’t you call the thrill of breaking new ground, doing some- eyepiece is still being made. I asked why a the coma, it revealed some astigmatism, or had something bad happen to them. mers, so I didn’t know if I could sell eye- Type 4 series the Type 3?” Al’s two-part thing that hasn’t been done before. And, certain eyepiece doesn’t survive. “We dis- which led to the Panoptic design.” They come back here for repair.” But are pieces — no matter how good — that cost a reply was both cryptic (“We have to have above all, the satisfaction of knowing our continue an eyepiece only if we can make a David continued, “The Paracorr, along any eyepieces returned for quality issues? lot more than available eyepieces without some secrets.”) and challenging (“That’s all customers are having a great experience.” better one of that focal length. We’ve never with our Nagler eyepieces, complemented “Less than one in 5,000,” Al beamed. more name recognition. So I designed a I’m saying. If you can get David to tell you, This last point was made obvious many discontinued anything for lack of sales.” what’s been called the Dobsonian revolu- I asked David how changes in amateur line of Plössls, built up good reviews and I’m OK with that.”) I turned to David, but times during my visit, when a voice from Moving beyond eyepieces, I asked David tion, which began in the 1980s, perfectly. astronomy have impacted Tele Vue. He good word of mouth from observers, and the look in his eye wasn’t inviting. Perhaps the front office would announce over the which of their accessories has proved most People were using short-focal-ratio reflec- replied, “It’s easy to design a product in a when I thought the time was right, I intro- I’ll wait until the 50th anniversary of the intercom, “Al or David, technical question popular. “The Paracorr,” he replied without tors, and we provided ways to help them vacuum. However, with the variety of exist- duced the Nagler.” Since then, amateur Nagler to ask the question again. on [telephone] line 1.” hesitation. (Note: Tele Vue’s Paracorr is an get the most from their investment.” ing equipment a new product will interact astronomy hasn’t been the same. One call Al fielded went on for more add-on optical accessory that reduces the At one point, Al and I were walking with, it’s increasingly difficult to satisfy all By now, you may be wondering what my And the beat goes on than 10 minutes. Finally, the customer optical defect known as coma in “fast,” or through the ample warehouse. Tele Vue applications with the high-performance unanswered question was. I asked it while “What’s the best thing about running Tele expressed his gratitude and asked who he’d short-focal-ratio, reflectors.) stocks at least a 6-month supply of most standards a Tele Vue product must possess.” chatting in Al and David’s office: Why are Vue?” I asked both Al and David. Both been speaking to. “This is Al,” was the reply. “The idea behind it was that we wanted products because they don’t want to run In 1979, Al was awarded a patent for his there no Nagler Type 3 eyepieces? replied so quickly that I have trouble The customer thanked Al again and then a to emulate the flat into any shipping-related issues with their Plössl eyepieces. I asked how the Nagler “There just aren’t any,” replied Al, “We remembering which of them made a cer- commented on how owning Tele Vue field of our refractors. We wanted to get rid suppliers. I asked if many eyepieces were design developed from them. “Actually,” Al came out with the Type 4 in 1997.” Having tain point. But I remember what they said: equipment has made his hobby more enjoy- of the coma, but not introduce any other returned. “Quite a few,” he replied. Having replied, “I designed the Naglers first. But it spent several days with the driving forces “The freedom to do what we want, when able. Al related all this to me. Then, as a [optical] flaws.” Al added: “The Paracorr seen Tele Vue’s quality-control up close, I was such a radical design with its wide field behind Tele Vue, I was pretty certain they we want, and for the right reasons. The joy large smile crossed his face, he said, “That’s showed a limitation in our Wide Field was surprised at this answer until Al con- of view and sharp images. At the time, Tele never did anything without a reason, so I of working with like-minded people. The what it’s all about.

⁄⁄⁄ LET’S HAVE A CONTEST

In 1984, Al Nagler designed a telescope. Al was one of the telescopes. The response said, “If I’m ever going to make it with a was great, but none of the names really telescope, it’s going to be at the time of appealed to Al or his staff. Halley’s Comet!” Unlike other products “We were sitting around one day,” David Nagler introduced, he wasn’t certain the said, “when Dad announced, ‘I have the scope would sell. “We chose brass for the perfect name — Renaissance!’ It was per- tube in case sales were bad,” Al said. “We fect, too, embodying what the scope was. knew we could sell them to designers.” And But the contest was on, and somebody had thus was born ... but wait! The new scope to win.” : MICHAEL E. BAKICH MICHAEL E. :

lacked a name. Luckily, as the contest deadline appro- BAKICH MICHAEL E. : “We actually looked on this as an ached, someone sent in the chosen name. opportunity to generate some press for the The following day, someone else sug- ASTRONOMY introduction of the telescope,” said Al. gested Renaissance. What to do? “We ASTRONOMY So a contest was announced to name solved it the only way we could. We gave TELESCOPE WARRANTY CARDS, and espe- MANY CORPORATE EXECUTIVES spend their days in long, boring ers. Their office’s “dual-desk” setup allows for rapid (and occasion- Tele Vue’s new scope. First prize, fittingly, them both telescopes,” said Al. — M. E. B. cially their customer comments, occupy a meetings. At Tele Vue, you’re likely to find the company president ally high-volume) exchanges of ideas. “It’s a system that works well,” prominent location at Tele Vue. (David Nagler, left) and CEO (Al Nagler) fielding calls from custom- said David. “It lets us make decisions quickly.”

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