Huet 8x40 "Eclipsable"
Mfr: Huet, Paris, France
Date: circa 1950's
AFOV: ~88 degrees
TFOV: 11 degrees
Eye Relief: ~12mm
Prisms: Sprenger Leman roof
Serial Number: 016
This is another unusual French Navy 8x40 binocular, probably some kind of a mounted gun sight. It is marked "Jumelle P.8x40 Eclipsable Pour Mark 14". It has brass and aluminum construction. The prism housings are able to swing out of the way of what appears to be a window for direct observation. When the prism housings are in place, there is a mechanism on the left hand side for setting the interpupilary distance. The eyepieces appear to be the same as on the Huet 8x40 roof prism hand held binocular, with the same wide field of view. The right side has a reticle in a "spider web" pattern. The optical path from the objective to the eyepiece is diverted by a single prism of the Sprenger Leman type, one of the largest I have ever seen at 110mm long. The prism has a roof but no silvered or aluminized reflecting surfaces. The optics have light blue coatings. Glass windows at the end of long brass tubes protect the objectives.
This 8x40 provides excellent wide angle views similar to the Huet 8x40 hand held with a brighter image possibly due to the one piece prism construction. Of course this is not an instrument one can easily hand hold because of its shape and weight.