Lighthouse Construction and Illumination;
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,^^ •' li''y'^ iric ji-f^^-' LIGHTHOUSE CONSTRUCTION Ain) ILLUMINATION ^IGHTHOUSE CONSTKUCTION AND ILLUMINATION THOMAS STEVENSON, F.R.S.E., F.G.S. MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS ; ' ' AUTHOR OF LIGHTHOUSE ILLUMINATION, ' THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF HARBOURS,' ETC. LONDON AND NEAV YOEK E. & F. N. SPON MDCCCLXXXI Printed by R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh. TO §ir John gatokshato, F.R.SS. L. & E., F.G.S., ETC. PAST PRESIDENT OF THE INSTITUTION OP CIVIL ENGINEERS. MY DEAE HAWKSHAW, I beg leave to dedicate to you the following pages, not only on account of the distinguished posi- tion which you justly hold in the profession, but as a mark of my great personal regard and friendship. Very truly yours, THOMAS STEVENSON. Edinburgh, December 1880. PEEFACE. In the following pages I have done my best to give a condensed statement, 1st, Of the facts and principles which regulate the design and construction of Lighthouse Towers in exposed situations ; and 2d, Of the practical application of optics to Coast Illumination. The history of the introduc- tion of the optical agents, and their combinations to meet different requirements, have, so far as consistent with a clear exposition and division of the subject, been arranged in the chronological order of their publication, or of their employ- ment id Lighthouses. Though there are many excellent publications on special branches of this very important application of optical science, yet a systematic treatment of the whole subject, brought up to the present date, seems to be necessary. This will appear from the fact that so many new optical agents and modes of dealing with the light have been invented since the intro- duction of the admirable dioptric system of Fresnel, which VUl PKEFACE. consisted of only four agents, and tliree forms of apparatus in which these agents were combined. All the later improvements have been fully described and illustrated, so as to enable the engineer to select from the different designs, such plans as will best suit the special peculiarities of any line of coast which he may be called on to illuminate. Edinbtjegh, December 1880. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE LIGHTHOUSE CONSTRUCTION . 1 CHAPTER II. LIGHTHOUSE ILLUMINATION ADAPTED TO THE ILLUMINA- TION OF EVERY AZIMUTH, OR OF CERTAIN AZIMUTHS ONLY, BY LIGHT OF EQUAL POWER, ACTING EITHER CONSTANTLY OR PERIODICALLY . .45 CHAPTER III. AZIMUTHAL CONDENSING SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTING THE LIGHT UNEQUALLY in different directions EITHER CONSTANTLY OR PERIODICALLY 97 CHAPTER IV. DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHTS . 125 CHAPTER V. THE ILLUMINATION OF BEACONS AND BUOYS 152 CHAPTER VL THE ELECTRIC LIGHT 178 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. STATISTICS OF LIGHTHOUSE APPARATUS . .192 CHAPTER Vm. SOURCES OF ILLUMINATION 204 CHAPTER IX. MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH LIGHTHOUSES 214 CHAPTER X. FOG-SIGNALS 247 APPENDIX. MATHEMATICAL FORMULA 264 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES . • • .276 INDEX 283 CHAPTEE I. LIGHTHOUSE CONSTRUCTION, 1. Among the many works of man which prove the truth of the saying that " knowledge is power," we must not omit those solitary towers, often half-buried in the surge, that convert hidden dangers into sources of safety, so that the sailor now steers for those very rocks which he formerly dreaded and took so much care to avoid. Olim periclum nunc sahis would be a fitting inscription for all such beacons of the night. It was therefore a true, as well as a noble saying of Louis XIV., when one of his privateers seized the workmen at the Eddystone, and took them to France in hope of reward, that " though he was at war with England, he was not at war with mankind." It is to the history and peculiarities of construction, and the general principles which have to be kept in view in designing such towers, that we have now to devote our attention. In considering this subject, the first and most important matter requiring our attention, is the element with which we have to deal, its destructive power when excited by storms, and the directions of the forces it exerts against the masonry of a tower placed within its reach. In his History of the Eddystone Lighthouse Smeaton says —" When we have to do with, and to endeavour to control, those powers of nature that are subject to no calcu- B 2. LIGHTHOUSE CONSTKUCTION. lation, I trust it will be deemed prudent not to omit, in such a case, anything that can without difficulty be applied, and that would be likely to add to the security." This state- ment of our greatest maritime engineer indicates the propriety of carefully collecting any facts that may help us to a more accurate estimation of those forces which he regarded as being " suhjcct to no calculation." Now, it must be recollected that it is not an agent of constant power that we have to deal with here, for the towers which are built on rocks in the sea are not all assailed equally. The forces that act against buildings confronting the open ocean are never found in seas of smaller area, where, however, they may yet prove sufficiently powerful to destroy our works, unless w^e have correctly estimated the amount of exposure. In order to have a safe guide to direct us in each case, we must know, approxi- mately at least, the heights of the waves which are due to different lengths of " fetch." Before making any design, therefore, we ought, if possible, to know the law of generation of waves in relation to the distance from the windward shore. 2 . Laio of the liatio of the Sciuare Roots of the Distances from the Winchvard Shore.—In the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal for 1852 I stated, as the result of a series of observations begun in 1850, that the height of waves in- creased most nearly " in the ratio of the square roots of their distances from the windward shore." Wliere h is the height of waves in feet, and cl the fetch in miles, the formula A= 1-5 \/f^, from which the storm curve was laid down, will be found sufficiently accurate for all but very short fetches. A^liere the fetch is less than 39 miles, the most accurate formula is 7t = I'S \/^+ (2*5 — Vd). In calculating the annexed table, both formulcC were employed. The ordinates representing the height of waves in heavy GENEEATION OF WAVES. gales (Fig. 1) were all that had been observed when the diagram was made, but since then many more have been obtained, which also corroborate the law. The abscissae show the lengths of fetch, 0\ 5 JO 10 30 m 50 GO Vertleal Scal/e. Fig. 1. Table shovnng apjproximate heights of Waves due to lengths of Fetch. Miles. Heights. 4 LIGHTHOUSE CONSTRUCTION. continue to increase in height, however long may be the line of exposure. The maximum height in the Atlantic, as carefully measured by the late Dr. Scoresby, was 43 feet. He also gave 559 feet as the width from crest to crest, 1 G seconds as the interval of time between each wave, and 32-^ miles per hour as their velocity.^ Greater waves than those have been recorded, and are given by Cialdi ; but by what means theii' heights were ascertained we do not know. 4. Force of Waves.—As regards the greatest heights at which waves exert their force, the following facts may be noticed : —At the Bishop Eock Lighthouse a bell hung from a bracket on the balcony was broken from its attach- ments at the level of 100 feet above high water (Naut. Mag., vol. xxxi. p. 262). At Unst Lighthouse, in Shet- land, a wall 5 feet high and 2 feet thick was thrown down and a door was broken open at a height of 195 feet above the sea. At the Fastnet Light (Plate VI.), off Cape Clear, a mass of stone from 2 to 3 tons was thrown off -I- the top of the cliff at the level of 82 feet above the sea. ]\Ir, ConoUy, inspector of the works, states that the sea rises over the top of the rock in what he describes as " a solid dark mass," at a height of 36 to 40 feet above the base of the lighthouse tower, being an elevation of from 118 to 122 feet above the sea, and this sheet of water and spray is of sufficient' density to shut out the daylight of the lee w^indow on the third story. On one occasion, when a hea\'y jet of water struck the tower, some cups were thrown off a small table. During another storm a 60 -gallon cask, full of rain-water (weighing about 6 cwt.), w^as burst from its lashings on the balcony at a height of 150 feet above ^ Life of Dr. W. Scoresby, by Dr. Scoresby Jackson. Loiulon : 1861, p. 324. MARINE DYNAMOMETER, 5 the sea. It is important to observe that in this case the "body of water which passes over the Fastnet and strikes violently against the tower is largely due to the existence of a formidable chasm in the rock, and is probably limited to a comparatively small portion of the upper surface. On the rocky islet at Bound Skerry Lighthouse, in Shetland, at 6 2 1" feet above low water, there is a beach of blocks huddled together, some of which are 9-| tons weight. At an eleva- tion of 72 feet, a block of 5-|- tons was' torn out of its position in situ, and there is no doubt that another of 13^ tons was in like manner quarried out of tJie rock by the waves, at the level of 74 feet above the sea.