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Show OUR LIGflTflDl5D ' PfMAIN IJNCMMjCD fV'-xZg), HERB Is an odd thing IJEbI raajj about lighthouses. When-1 When-1 yt ever science comes along l with an improved light Ili5 a new lighthouse is not built for il- 11 is simi1y Installed in the old one. ftS) The axiom about new "fflf wine in old bottles does ; not apply to new lights In old lighthouses at all. The modern age of lighthouses was ushered in with the building of the third Eddystone by John Smeaton in the year 1759, according to an article Dn the subject in the Edison Monthly. This lighthouse wae important for several sev-eral reasons. In form and construction construc-tion It was superior to the lighthouses of the time, and the illuminant, though nothing better than two-fifth-pound tallow candles, aggregating 67.2 candle power, afforded by the steadiness of the flame the possibility of future improvement im-provement through the use of devices to direct and concentrate the beams. As In the organic world there are creatures of a day, while others, like men, enjoy a reasonable longevity, so it is in the world of architectural cen-struction, cen-struction, and lighthouses belong to the long -lived class. For one of these a hundred years is no great matter, and thus It happens that many a modern lighthouse has seen revolutionli-1 revolutionli-1 n g illumlnants come and go, and has Itself profited profit-ed by the latest lamp surgery performed with ever - increasing delicacy within its lantern, whereby Its ancient an-cient body has taken on new dignity dig-nity and capability capabil-ity for its beneficent benefi-cent task. SZ ' SAfDy 'HOOK J&f27?OZie& Such a lighthouse may be seen at Sandy Hook, for although the first of these structures to be erected In America was placed at the entrance of Boston harbor as early as 1716, the New Jersey lighthouse is the oldest now in existence upon our coasts. At one time the illuminating material consisted of 36 1 lard-oil candles. At a later period oil burners were installed, while during successive periods kerosene kero-sene was used in an old type float lamp, and electricity, then in the experimental ex-perimental stage, was adopted. After this there was a recurrence to the oil lamp, and at the present time incandescent incan-descent vapor is employed. Here it must be admitted that lighthouses, when serving a double purpose, have not always figured as temples to the gods, for by the British, who built this lighthouse and put it In commission in the year 1764, it was intended to serve also as a military prison. It was constructed con-structed with a dungeon underneath, and Just 100 years later, in supplying a foundation for an iron stairway, evidence evi-dence of its former use was made apparent ap-parent through the discovery of a vault containing a human skeleton. This old lighthouse also had its secret underground passage, the entrance to which was barred by an iron door located lo-cated in a near-by hillside. Then, too, in this year of reconstruction, the holes that were made in the sides of the tower by cannon shots from British Brit-ish men-of-war were cemented; so If the tradition must connect lighthouses and temples, the one at Sandy Hook was certainly reared to Moloch, the god of war, though In the past 100 years it has lighted many a British ship on pacific errands into New York harbor. . With the growing complexity and advance toward perfection of lighthouse light-house system, lighthouse zones are established es-tablished at varying distances from the land, the character of the light, whether double or single, colored or white, fixed, flashing or intermittent, being determined by the requirements of its position and the use to which it is put as a signal. While great elevation would seem a leading requirement if a coast light is to perform effective service, it is a positive disadvantage in certain localities local-ities and at certain seasons of the year, when, as in St. George's channel, foggy weather is the rule, for the fog clouds envelop the light and render it quite useless for the guidance of vessels below. The "fog light," or "occasional light," at South Stack, on the Island of Anglesea, England, was constructed to meet these conditions. An inclined plane was excavated in the rock, and upon this a tramway was laid. The light, being contained in a carriage, which in clear weather was left at the summit of the incline. jflTHDl5D H WCHANGED f? r ( 8 - v A f f 1 n r fc'lff caI mlles- Ttle 1DstaIlatlon Ifi. i 4 V s-Z comprises six A-50 accumula- M m -A. 4 tors. wlth a flasher arranged to feJ?, aJJi mCfi -yZ'7i?4 show single flashes, and a one- filt ;- V?,J foot burner with a fourthor- teaaajsg6aiaifikte-Y I The following years saw the can be iowered to a position from which its beams may be directed over the sea at the lowest possible level. The forward part of this lantern contains con-tains catoptric apparatus of three reflectors, re-flectors, which, being placed on a revolving re-volving plane having a reciprocal motion mo-tion through the arc to be illuminated, gives the characteristic of the main light. The motion is produced by means of a powerful spring. Steel's Ledge lighthouse, located In Penobscot bay, Maine, contains a powerful pow-erful acetylene light having a 600 candlepower Intensity and an optical range in clear weather of 12 nautl- nme? tower (ZAnmMABX-zfCiTQri cal miles. The installation comprises six A-50 accumulators, accumula-tors, with a flasher arranged to show single flashes, and a one-foot one-foot burner with a fourth-order lens. The following years saw the introduction of electricity into a number of lighthouses. Most important im-portant and powerful of all lights was and still is, in this country at any rate, the Naveslnk, which in 1898 was provided pro-vided with a five-second white flash electric light, the flash having a duration dura-tion of .08 seconds, Its bivalve lens fias a focal distance of 700 like the new light Installed at South Foreland In 1904. Electricity is now being used In the so-called "unattended lights." Lights of this description will, upon the completion com-pletion of the Panama canal, guide ships on their way through Gatun lake. In passing through the latter the canal makes eight turns, some of these being at a sharp angle. The range lights are of reinforced concrete, "so placed In pairs that one towers above the other at a distance back of the lower one of several hundred feet." The pilot will direct his course by keeping these two lights In line, turning when the pair on the opposite shore appear in view. These range towers, rising to a height of about 60 feet, are sometimes placed in the midst of the dense tropical Jungle that fringes the shores. In a few ol these compressed acetylene, which will burn six months without attention, atten-tion, is the illuminant, but the greatei number of the lighthouses are on a general elsctric light circuit. As Abbott Ab-bott states in his recent work on "Panama," "Pan-ama," the whole canal will be lighted with buoys, beacons, lighthouses and light posts. |