Lightships and LighthousesTalbot, Frederick Arthur Ambrose
History
Lightships and Lighthouses
Talbot, Frederick Arthur Ambrose
Lighthouses
The British firm has established a unique reputation, as it has been
responsible for the majority of the great lights of the world, some of
which are not only of huge dimensions and weight, but also of novel
form. The hyperradial apparatuses which have been placed recently in
the towers of Manora Point and Cape Race probably rank as the most
powerful and the finest in existence. These are used in conjunction
with the petroleum vapour incandescent burner. The Cape Race light,
for instance, comprises a revolving optic of four panels, subtending
a horizontal angle of 90 degrees, with a vertical angle of 121½
degrees. Each lens comprises the central disc, or bull’s-eye, around
which are placed nine rings of glass, giving a total refracting angle
of 57 degrees. In order to bend the vertical rays into a horizontal
path twenty-two catadioptric reflecting prisms are disposed above
the lens, while below are thirteen similar prisms. The total amount
of glass worked into the four panels is about 6,720 pounds, and the
prisms are mounted in gun-metal frames, which weigh approximately
4,800 pounds, so that the total weight of the glass portion and its
mounting alone, standing some 12 feet in height, is over 11,500 pounds.
The installation completed for the equipment of the Manora Point
lighthouse, Karachi, is very similar.
In some cases the demand for a powerful light has been met with a
system differing from the “hyperradiant.” The lenses and respective
groups of refractors are superimposed, each tier having its individual
burner and flues for carrying off the products of combustion. In this
way we have the biform, comprising two such panels arranged one above
the other, as in the Fastnet and Eddystone lights; and the quadriform,
wherein four tiers are built one above the other, as installed at the
Mew Island light in Ireland. The advantage of this arrangement is that
a beam of great intensity is secured with a lantern of comparatively
small diameter.
The French authorities adopted a modification of this system. Instead
of placing two lenses and refractors one above the other, they ranged
them side by side, the effect being analogous to a couple of squinting
eyes, the panels being parallel and therefore throwing out parallel
beams. But these adaptations have not come into extensive use, as
they have been superseded by more simple means of achieving similar
requirements with an even more powerful ray. The hyperradiant stands
as the finest type of apparatus yet devised, and therefore is employed
when an extremely powerful light is required.
While the design and arrangement of the optical apparatus is certainly
a most vital and delicate task, the mounting thereof upon a substantial
support in such a way that it may perform its work with the highest
efficiency is equally imperative, since the finest apparatus might be
very adversely affected by being improperly mounted.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--APPARATUS SHOWING A DOUBLE FLASH, FOLLOWED BY
A SINGLE FLASH.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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