Artificial Light: Its Influence upon CivilizationLuckiesh, Matthew
History
Artificial Light: Its Influence upon Civilization
Luckiesh, Matthew
Electric lighting; Lighting -- History
Coal-gas was introduced into lighthouses in about the middle of the
nineteenth century. Inasmuch as the gas-mantle had not yet appeared, the
gas was burned in jets. Various arrangements of the jets, such as
concentric rings forming a stepped cone, were devised. The gas-mantle
was a great boon to the mariner as well as to civilized beings in
general. It greatly increases the intensity of light obtainable from a
given amount of fuel and it is a fairly compact bright source which
makes it possible to direct the light to some degree by means of optical
systems. Owing to the elaborate apparatus necessary for making coal-gas,
several other gases have been more desirable fuels for lighthouse lamps.
Various simple gas-generators have been devised. Some of the high-flash
mineral-oils are vaporized and burned under a mantle. Acetylene, which
is so simply made by means of calcium carbide and water, has been a
great factor in lighting for navigation. By the latter part of the
nineteenth century lighthouses employing incandescent gas-burners were
emitting beams of light having luminous intensities as great as several
hundred thousand candles. These special gas-mantle light-sources have
brightness as high as several hundred candles per square inch.
Electric arc-lamps were first introduced into lighthouse service in
about 1860, but these lamps cannot be considered to have been really
practicable until about 1875. In 1883 the British lighthouse authorities
carried out an extensive investigation of arc-lamps. It was found that
the whiter light from these lamps suffered a greater absorption by the
atmosphere than the yellower light from oils, but the much greater
luminous intensity of the arc-lamp more than compensated for this
disadvantage. The final result of the investigation was the conclusion
that for ordinary lighthouse purposes the oil-and gas-lamps were more
suitable and economical than arc-lamps; but where great range was
desired, the latter were much more advantageous, owing to their great
luminous intensity. Electric incandescent filament lamps have been used
for the less important lights, and recently there has been some
application of the modern high-efficiency filament lamps.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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