Linda’s Monday Morning Moaning’s
In a lighthouse, the source of light is called the ‘lamp’, whether electric or fueled by oil, and the light is concentrated by the ‘lens’ or ‘optic’.
The introduction of electrification and automatic lamp changers began to make lighthouse keepers obsolete. They lighthouses still had keepers, because they could be used as a rescue service when necessary. Remaining modern lighthouse are usually illuminated by a single stationary flashing light that is powered by solar charged batteries mounted on a steel skeleton tower. In modern automated lighthouses, the system of rotating lenses is often replaced by high intensity light that emit brief omnidirectional flashes, while concentrating the light in time rather than direction. The lens were used to concentrate the light from a continuous source.
The lantern room is a glassed-in housing at the top of a light tower containing the lamp and lens. At the top of the lantern room is a storm proof ventilator designed to remove the smoke of the lamps and the heat that builds up in the glass enclosure. Beneath the lantern room is usually a supple room where the fuel and supples were kept and also where the keeper could prepare the lanterns for the nights use. On the lighthouse tower there is found a platform called the gallery, just outside the lantern room, this was used for cleaning the outside windows of the lantern room.
Lighthouses near to each other that have a similar shape are often painted in unique patterns so they can be easily recognized during the daylight, this being called a ‘daymark’. To be effective, the lamp must be high enough to be seen before danger is reached by a mariner. Whether a lighthouse was built tall or short, would depend on the location of where the light was located. If built on a hill, quite often the tower could be shorter, where as if on the land equal to the water, quite often the tower would need to be taller. There are times that lighthouses needed to be constructed in the water itself. In water too deep for a conventional structure, a lightship was used instead of a lighthouse itself. Most of those have now been replaced by fixed light platforms similar to offshore oil exploration.
Range lights, align two fixed points on land to provide a navigator with a line of position called a range. Ranges can be used to precisely align a vessel within a narrow channel as in a river. With landmarks of a range illuminated with a set of fixed lighthouses, night time navigation is possible. Hence, they are called range lights. The closer light is referred to as the beacon or front range, the further light is called the rear range. Most often the rear range is taller than the front range light. When the vessel is on the correct course, the two lights align vertically.
On that ‘wee note’ till next week.
Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
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Linda Osborne Cynowa 