horseshoe mount

Both the horseshoe mount and the gearing system needed improvements.

The Hale telescope is the most prominent example of a Horseshoe mount in use.

They have no structural purpose, but may be considered lucky, akin to a horseshoe mounted over a doorway.

One was Alan Gee's design that uses a cylindrical bearing surface and a pivot making a mount similar in structure to a horseshoe mount that has been "cut flat".

The Horseshoe mount overcomes the design disadvantage of English or Yoke mounts by replacing the polar bearing with an open "horseshoe" structure to allow the telescope to access Polaris and stars near it.

The Hale telescope uses a special type of equatorial mount called a "horseshoe mount", a modified yoke mount that replaces the polar bearing with an open "horseshoe" structure that gives the telescope full access to the entire sky including Polaris and stars near it.