roles in the war efforts for both world wars. Warner & Swasey took part in the transition to numerical control (NC) and computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools during the 1950s through 1970s, but like many other machine tool builders during those decades, it ultimately was affected by the prevailing winds of merger and acquisition in the industry. It was acquired by Bendix Corporation in 1980. Products Telescopes The first Warner & Swasey telescope, built in 1881, was sold to Beloit College for its new Smith Observatory and had a 9.5-inch lens made by Alvan Clark & Sons. Among the notable instruments the company built were the telescopes for Lick Observatory (1888, 36-inch, refracting); the United States Naval Observatory (1893); Yerkes Observatory (according to the 50th-anniversary book, this was a 40-inch refracting telescope completed in time for display at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, although its installation at Yerkes was apparently in 1897); and Canada's Dominion Astrophysical Observatory (1916, 72-inch, reflecting). In 1919, the company's founders donated their private observatory in East Cleveland, Ohio to Case Western Reserve University. Today's Warner and Swasey Observatory grew from that facility. The company's 50th-anniversary book describes the firm's giant-telescope-building work as unprofitable overall but a labor of technological love. List of observatories with Warner & Swasey telescopes Bosque Alegre Observatory, National University of Cordoba, ARG Burrell Memorial Observatory, Baldwin Wallace University, USA Crane Observatory, Washburn University, USA Chabot Space & Science Center, Oakland, California, USA Drake Municipal Observatory, Des Moines, Iowa, USA Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, NRC, Canada Dudley Observatory, miSci, Schenectady, NY, USA Durfee High School, Fall River, Massachusetts, USA Fuertes Observatory (Irving Porter Church Memorial Telescope), Cornell University, USA Hildene Astronomy Club (Robert Todd Lincoln Telescope), Manchester, Vermont, USA James Observatory, Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi, USA Kirkwood Observatory, Indiana University, USA Lee Observatory, American University of Beirut, Lebanon Lick Observatory, University of California, USA McDonald Observatory (Otto Struve Telescope), University of Texas at Austin, USA Moraine Farm Observatory (Col. Deeds 7" Refractor), Col. Deeds Homestead, currently owned by Kettering health Network, Dayton OH, USA Painter Hall Observatory, University of Texas at Austin, USA Perkins Telescope, Lowell Observatory, USA McKim Observatory, DePauw University, USA Mueller Observatory, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, USA Ritter Observatory, University of Toledo, USA Spacewatch 0.9-meter Telescope, Kitt Peak, University of Arizona, USA Stephens Memorial Observatory (Cooley Telescope - 9-inch Refractor), Hiram College, USA Swasey Observatory, Denison University,