The Age of Unitron

Abstract

Who would have thought that within only a few years of the ending of World II, the defeated Japanese nation would be opening up their optical houses and selling their finest wares to their erstwhile foes in America? Such is the crazy world of international commerce! The early 1950s witnessed a remarkable resurgence in the marketing of a range of small and medium aperture achromatic refractors to meet the needs of a growing army of amateur astronomers across the United States and Canada. Fine Japanese-made achromatic optics, ranging in size from 2 to 6 in. (50–150 mm) found their way across the Pacific, where they were housed in exquisitely made optical tubes and marketed under a number of brand names, including Royal Astro, Mayflower, Sears, and Swift, among others. But it is arguably the ‘Unitron’ appellation that has become most iconic of this mini-age of refractors (Fig. 8.1).