LIGHTHOUSES GOING OUT

Evening Star, Issue 18145, 8 December 1922, Page 9

LIGHTHOUSES GOING OUT

The lamp of an old lighthouse on the New England coast was recently extinguished and the picturesque oldi tower converted into a museum. In the opinion of many experts of 'the lighthouse service the change is significant. A number of famous wave-swept lighthouses in America have cost the Government a quarter of a million dollars or more to erect, and many lives have been lost in building them. There ore to-day nearly 1,000 such structures in .the United States, which require the const-ant attention of lighthouse keepers. It is believed that modem invention makes it possible to ■do away with the older forms of beacons and their attendants.

Modem science has made it possible to operate a light automatically without attention for a year or more. The invention of the radio compass promisee to_ revolutionise methods of Long-distanco signalling at eea. A brilliant light may be placed on a floating buoy in a dangerous position far from land which will function for two years without being visited. So .great has been file advance fn developing light signals that the costly and complicated lenses indispensable in oldtime lighthouses are no longer required. The powerful modem lights have a greater effective range alone than many of tiro old lights with the aid of these complicated' lenses. The most powerful coast lights are now supplied by burning oil vapor, which; is cheaply and conveniently supplied. It is not generally known that -the most powerful light in America, at the entrance to Kew York Harbor, is supplied in this war. An elaborate electric light plant was established to provide power for itu illumination, which developed a candle power of 25,000,000. Tiro light) which guards tiro great shipping of _ New _ York Harbor is .now supplied by an insignificant can containing gas wider pressure. The automatic lighthouse is quite as dependable as those oared for by lighthouse keeper's and their families. It_as even possible to install - automatic fog signals in connection with the lights wbioh will operate without attention for indefinite periods.

The picturesque lighthouse towers built of solid masonry are being replaced by much simpler and less artistic structures which are far cheaper. The modern light towers are being standardised. This is especially the case of the lights used in such numbers in inland waters and protected positions along the coasts.