HARBOUR LIGHTS

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 284, 27 August 1930, Page 8

HARBOUR LIGHTS

PENCARROW LOW LEVEL The new light which is shortly to replace the one that has been in operation for years in the low-level lighthouse at Pencarrow Head, has arrived from Sweden, and is at present on exhibition in shed No. 29, on Pipitea Wharf. The invention of a Swedish scientist, the new Dalem-Aga light is a marvellously ingenious apparatus, as was demonstrated at an official inspection by members of the Harbour Board. The fuel used is acetylene gas, supplied from cylinders giving a three months supply. The light is an incandescent mantle, and there is an attached mechanism which automatically replaces broken or burntout mantles. A catadioptric lens gives the light sufficient brilliancy to make it visible at a distance of 16 miles, or half as far again as the present light. The new light Is a flashing one, with a cycle of 12 seconds, or five to the minute, and ' it is automatichlly switched on at sunset and extinguished at sunrise by the action of daylight on a system of rods which operate a valve. • As previously reported, a steel tower has been constructed to carry the I'Rht at a higher level than the existing«one. The tower will stand on the. concrete pedestal carrying the present light, . which, of course, will continue to function until the new Ifeht is in full working order. When the old light is removed, tho steel tower will be encased in concrete.