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)
Again, for ascertaining the verticality of the main lenses, or for
setting the subsidiary lenses or mirrors shewn in Plates XIII. and
XIV., at the required angle of inclination, recourse is had to a
clinometer (fig. 89) touching the back of the lens LL by means of studs
at A, A, while the spirit-level S indicates, on the graduated limb,
the amount of deviation from the vertical position of the instrument,
whether accidental or intentional.
[Illustration: Fig. 90.]
Lastly, to test the true position of the lamp itself, with reference to
the lenses thus properly arranged, we apply a radius or trainer (fig.
90) which fits into the centre burner at F, while its point A touches
the centre of the lens _l_, _l_; at B is a graduated slide, which
admits of the trainer being lengthened or shortened to suit various
focal distances; and the spirit-level at _c_ at once corrects any error
in the length of the trainer arising from depression or elevation,
and also serves to indicate the proper level for the burner which is
noticed at page 290, in speaking of the lamp. The dotted line F _c′_B′A′
shews the position of the trainer in reference to an adjacent lens.
The elegant apparatus invented by AUGUSTIN FRESNEL for Harbour Lights,
on the same principle as that just described for Sea Lights, is shewn
beneath (fig. 91). It consists of thirteen rings of glass of various
diameters arranged one above another, in an oval form. The five middle
rings have an interior diameter of 11·81 inches (30^{cm.}), and like
those of the larger apparatus, refract equally over the horizontal
plane of the focus the light which they receive from it. The other
rings or prisms, five of which are upper and three lower, are ground
and set in such a manner, that they project all the light derived
from the focus in a direction parallel to the other rays by _total
reflection_.
[Illustration: Fig. 91.]
The arrangements of this apparatus, which is distinguished by the
addition of external refractors arranged vertically, will be more fully
understood by a reference to fig. 91, which shews its section and plan.
F is the focal point in which the flame is placed; _r_, _r_ cylindric
refractors, forming by their union a cylinder with a lamp in its axis,
and producing a zone of light of equal intensity all round the horizon;
_x_, _x_ are catadioptric prismatic rings acting by _total reflection_,
and giving out zones of light of equal intensity at every point of the
horizon. The dotted lines shew the course traversed by the rays of
light which proceed from the lamp, and are acted upon by the rings of
glass. The letters _r′_ _r′_ shew the external prisms, having their
axes at right angles to those of the principal bent prisms, composing
the refractors at _r_, _r_, and revolving around them. This ingenious
application of the property of crossed prism is already described at
page 264.
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