444 



LIGHTHOUSE ESTABLISHMENT, THE UNITED STATES. 



local foreman had a bonfire built on the rock 

 as soon as possible, but the vessel was lost 

 probably before the signal could be seen. It 

 was on this night that the working-party lost 

 their supply-house, and came so near losing 

 their quarters, if not their lives. 



The illuminating apparatus used by the light- 

 house establishment varied with the dates of 

 its use. The beacon on Point Allerton, Mas- 

 sachusetts, was illumined in 1673 by "fier 

 balls of pitch and ocum," burned in open 

 braziers. The lighthouse on Little Brewster 

 Island, Boston Harbor, erected in 1715 -'16, 

 was first lighted by tallow candles. Then fol- 

 lowed the spider lamp, burned in the lantern 

 as it might have been in a window. In 1812 

 the Government bought of Mr. Winslow Lewis, 

 for $20,000, the patent for his ' magnifying 

 and reflecting lantern." This is described as 

 consisting of a lamp, a reflector, and what was 

 called the magnifier. The reflector was of a 

 thin sheet of copper, commonly segments of a 

 sphere, plated over with a slight film of silver, 

 though the copper was so thin that its com- 

 pression between the arms of its iron supports 

 materially altered its form, and its silvered con- 

 cave surface had much the grain and luster of 

 tin ware, and would reflect no distinct image. 

 The patentee, in 1812, made no pretension to a 

 knowledge of optics as now understood, and 

 his reflectors came about as near to a true 

 paraboloid as did a barber's basin. The lamp, 

 roughly constructed on the principle of Ar- 

 gand's fountain-lamp, burning from thirty to 

 forty gallons of oil per year, had a three-quarter 

 inch burner, and was attached to a circular iron 

 frame in front of the reflector. Before the 

 lamp was a so-called lens, of bottle-green glass, 

 shaped like the bull's-eye let into a ship's deck, 

 from two and a half to four inches thick 

 through the axis and nine inches in diameter, 

 which was supposed to have some magnifying 

 power. This apparatus was inclosed in a mas- 

 sive wrought-iron lantern, glazed with panes 

 ten by twelve inches in size. The eifect of the 

 whole was characterized by one of the report- 

 ing inspectors as making a bad light worse. 

 But its main merit seems to have been that of 

 economy, as the patentee, who had fitted thirty- 

 four lighthouses with his apparatus, contracted 

 in 1816 to maintain the lights on receiving one 

 half the oil previously consumed, and again, in 

 1821, for one third of the old allowance. 



This apparatus is spoken of more respect- 

 fully in a report to the House of Representa- 

 tives in 1842, made by its committee on com- 

 merce, from which it appears that " the im- 

 provement in the character of the light and 

 the economy in saving oil were subjects of high 

 commendation by the Government." It also 

 appears that the use of the magnifying bull's-eye 

 was gradually abandoned, so that but few re- 

 mained in 1838, and the last one was removed 

 in 1840. The administration of the system 

 was largely improved. The reflectors were 

 made on true optical principles, approximating, 



if not reaching, the paraboloid m form, and 

 were heavily silvered and properly placed. 

 The heavy lantern frames were replaced by 

 lighter ones, the small panes of glass by larger 

 ones, and the ventilation of the towers was so 

 largely improved that obscuration by smoke 

 was no longer unpreventable. The system, 

 largely improved, was retained, but its admin- 

 istration was good only where it had faithful, 

 intelligent, and honest administrators. Finally, 

 the reflectors were so well made and so well 

 placed that, in certain instances, it is now a 

 question whether a better light was possible 

 than was then furnished. Some of the old re- 

 flectors then used appear from recent exam- 

 ination to have an enormous candle power. 

 But a poor light was the rule, and a good light 

 the exception. War was made on the system 

 of reflectors, and, when the lighthouse estab- 

 lishment was turned over to the Lighthouse 

 Board in 1852, the reflectors were replaced by 

 the Fresnel lenticular apparatus, found so suc- 

 cessful in France, and more or less throughout 

 the world. The adoption in this country of 

 the lenticular apparatus made it possible for a 

 light-keeper of average capacity to keep a good 

 light, and impossible for him to keep a bad 

 one, except by violation of plain rules and 

 avoidance of routine duties. Besides this, the 

 saving in oil effected by use of the lenses over 

 reflectors was so great that the expense of ex- 

 changing the one for the other was saved in a 

 few years, although the first cost of the lenses 

 was quite large. 



It was shown, in a report made to Congress 

 in 1858, that the mean average cost of each 

 lighthouse, for the five and a quarter years 

 preceding the organization of the Lighthouse 

 Board, was $1,302, with oil at an average of 

 $1.13 per gallon, while, for the same period 

 after the board took charge, it was but $1,286, 

 with oil at $1.62 per gallon. Thus it appeared 

 that under the board the average cost of main- 

 taining each light was about $16 per year less 

 than under the previous management, although 

 oil was about fifty cents per gallon more ; and 

 it was broadly claimed by the board, and the 

 claim does not appear to have been disputed, 

 that by the change it furnished under the new 

 system, u at least four times as much light for 

 the benefit of the navigator as the best system 

 of reflector lights which has been devised, and 

 at the same time at a consumption of not more 

 than one fourth of the quantity of oil, required 

 for the best system of reflector lights." 



A full description is given in Appletons' 

 " Cyclopaedia " of the reflectors, under the head 

 LIGHTHOUSES, and of the lenticular apparatus 

 under the name of AUGUSTIN FRESNEL, its in- 

 ventor. 



The illuminant of the lighthouse establish- 

 ment has been changed whenever a better one 

 has been found. The " fier-balls of pitch and 

 ocum," used in the open brazier at Point Aller- 

 ton in 1673, were succeeded by tallow candles 

 at Little Brewster Island in 171G, which g;.vc 





