Account of the Skerryvore lighthouse : $b with notes on the illumination of lighthousesStevenson, Alan
History
Account of the Skerryvore lighthouse : $b with notes on the illumination of lighthouses
Stevenson, Alan
Skerryvore Lighthouse (Hebrides, Scotland)
The balance-crane was safely landed on the Rock on the 20th July and
on the 25th it was erected in working order on the top of the masonry.
On the afternoon of that day, I had the satisfaction of seeing it put
to a severe trial in raising a stone of nearly two tons weight and
drawing it from the _shear-poles_ already noticed to the top of the
building. As that trial was made at an earlier stage of the works than
was originally intended, the Tower was of larger diameter than was
quite suited to the arrangements of the crane, which was consequently
subjected to the weight of the stone at the very point of the jib. I
felt no small anxiety as to the result, and had taken the precaution
to relieve the centre pillar or shaft, on which the crane swung, from
part of its burden, by means of a guy attached to a lewis-bat on the
top of the building; yet even with that aid, the point of the jib was
depressed 6 or 8 inches on a length of 14 feet. That test, however,
having been successfully passed and not the slightest trace of any
injury having been discoverable in any part of the crane, we continued
to work it with perfect confidence and in the most satisfactory manner
throughout the whole season until the close of the Rock operations for
the year on the 17th of August.
The mass of masonry built during the season was 30,300 cubic feet, a
quantity considerably more than double that contained in the Eddystone
and somewhat more than the mass of the Bell Rock. The whole was very
carefully _set_ and when gauged at the upper bed of each course was
found to preserve the diameter due to the height, according to the
calculated dimensions, within a fraction rarely exceeding ¹⁄₁₆th of
an inch. The height of the mass also, when measured, exceeded the
specified height only by _half an inch_. The mortar employed was
composed of equal parts of lime from the Halkin Mountain in North
Wales and Pozzolano; and I consider it if possible superior to that
produced from the lime of Aberdda. When we left the Rock this season,
two apartments were covered in and the third was nearly completed, as
will appear from the section (Plate III.) (on which the progress of the
several seasons is marked), and only about _one-third_ of the whole
Tower remained to be built.
Our last work on the Rock before leaving it for the season on the 17th
August, was to cover the balance-crane with a strong tarpaulin in order
to protect it as much as possible from the weather and also to make a
temporary lightning-conductor from the top of the building to the sea.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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