Tower Optical

[1] The company's large, silver-colored devices are used at Niagara Falls, the Empire State Building and other locations.

[2] The binocular machine has essentially kept its distinctive, tubby shape since it was first manufactured, a deliberate strategy "to preserve its identity", according to Bonnie Rising, the third-generation owner of the family business.

[3] A foundry in Pennsylvania manufactures the parts used for Tower's viewers, about 35 of which are assembled each year in its two-story building in East Norwalk.

[2] A typical viewer is housed in a chrome-plated, bronze-cast shell mounted on a cast iron yoke and pedestal.

He bought the shop from its owner-founders, Arthur Casey, Earl Bunnell, and John Hanrahan, soon after Hamilton started machining the parts for the viewers.

Artist Michael Oatman accompanied workers making 5 a.m. repair runs to tourist locations and "videotaped people as they fantasized about what they would most like to see with the binoculars", according to the newspaper.

[8] Tower Optical also made a lightweight viewer for Oatman to install temporarily at tourist sites.