LIGHTHOUSES GOING OUT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16911, 9 December 1922, Page 3

LIGHTHOUSES GOING OUT.

WHAT MODERN SCIENCE IS DOING. The lamp of an old light house on the New England coast was recently extinguished and the picturesque old tower converted into a museum. In the opinion of many /experts of the light house service the change is significant. A number of famous wave-swept light houses in America, have cost the Government a quarter of a million dollars or more to erect, and many lives have boon lost in building them. There are to-day nearly 1000 such structures in the United States which require the i constant attention of light house keep- j era. It is believed that modern in- j vention makes it possible to do away ! with / the older forms of beacons and I their attendants. Modern science has made it- -possible to operate a light automatically without attention for a year or more. The invention of the radio compass promises to revolutionise methods of longdistance, signalling at sea. A brilliant light may be placed on floating buoy in a dangerous position far from land which will function for two years without being visited. So great lias been the advance in developing light signals that the costly and complicated lenses indispensable in , old-time light houses are ncujonger required. The powerful modern lights have a greater effective range alone than many of the old lights with the aid of these complicated lenses. The most powerful coast lights are now supplied by burning oil va-por, which is cheaply and conveniently supplied. It is not generally known that the » most powerful light in America, at the entrance to New York Harbour, is .supplied in fhis way. An elaborate electric light plant was established to provide power for its illumination, which developed a candle power of 25,000,000. llie light which guard si the great shipping of New York Harbour is now supplied by an insignificant can containing gas under pressure. The automatic light house is quite as dependable as those cared for by l'ghftIceepers and their families. It 'is even possible to instal automatic fog signals m connection with the lights which will operate without attention for indefinite periods. . The picturesque light house towers built of solid masonry are being replaced by much simpler and less artisans structures which are far cheaper, xhe modern light towers ard being standardised. Tins is the case ot the lights used in such numbers in inland waters and protected positions along the coa'sts.