Construction of a 41 inch equatorial refracting telescope, 1928.

Photograph showing the interior of the optical workshop of Sir Howard Grubb, Parsons and Company in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In this view, a glas lens blank is having its edge ground and polished smooth. It was to be used for the 41 inch refracting telescope ordered by the Rusian government for its new Nikolaieff Observatory in the Crimea. Due to World War I and the Rusian Revolution, construction of the telescope did not start until the 1920s. Despite the tube, mounting and observatory building being completed the Rusian government cancelled the project. Although glas for the lens had been cast it was never worked into a finished objective lens. These are preserved at the Newcastle Science Museum.