780 



SIGHT. 



of the world has no 

 Night signals are used for m 

 .aion between 



. .., : 



. rposes for 



I 



bstweec 



vessels and the shore, on railways as danger and 

 headway signals, and by the army and navy. Each 

 nation has Its own secret plan and chart, the code 



book of Which I- I" 



ami a piece of lead is attached to the cover, so that. 



when in use on a war vessel it can be thrown over- 

 board to prevent its falling into the hands of an 

 enemy. In the arm <vided for 



A simple, comprehensive night-signal code, as an 

 au\ii oal commercial day-signal 



code, i* Mill wanted. Thiswoiild add much to the pr..- 

 n of life and p; .numerable attempts 



have been made to establish a simple night--i-nal 

 system. The latest was when President Cleveland 

 made this the first subject to be acted u|>oii by the 

 International \. rence of T889. 



naling by day is easy, because there are many 

 established means by which it may be done, 

 of the day systems are operative onlv at short dis- 

 tance depending on flags, disks, and semaphores. 

 Plash signals by means of mirrors form the only 

 day system now in use for signaling at a great dis- 

 t, 



It was not until after the loss of the White Star 

 B : t, that distinguishing 

 wen- brought into use, and a special distress 

 signal and signal to call a pilot fr u-.-.-n I'nited 

 States lake and sea coasts were adopted. On that 

 occasion rockets and blue light* were di-played, and 

 were mi-tak. n for a saluta nmr. 



instead of distress signals, for which they were in- 

 tended. The need of a distinguishing night-signal 

 system was never folly realized until th 

 occurred. Now most 'of have 



adopted ditinguihing night signals. These are 

 lafMrn-d m the Government bureau, and the li-t 

 is published in several nautical almai... 

 lines use a simultaneous dfeplav of pyp.teehni 

 m a distinguishing signal three lights, one for- 

 ward, one amidships, and one aft. This is obje, - 

 tionabie for these reasons: If a vessel is abreast, 

 .. long distance merge, and they are 

 still more liable to he thus seen when appro 

 brad on. Should any one or two of these signals 



-.- di-play would not be perfect 

 *nd trial the display were comp! 



m. ;.-:. . . : 



by the party signaled, as 

 would not know that 



*re th* 

 fie and are 



the age of nineteen, invented what are now known 

 rials,* 1 I'ut In- did not 



plete tin- MIX. - piitelited ill 1858, 



several years aft- r In- .!..,i!i. i.\ In- \\ido\\. Man ha 



.11 !o him li\ In- 



n- \\ it h ( '.'ini: Utoii and ( .'iii- 



IIHN|. rt Of tin- I'm: na\ \. -n 



d in tin- maritiiiir world, 

 numeral 



naling. and Mr. Co- 1 a ..f iiighi 



signals applicable to tin.- code, which i- - 

 sen ted on the ...',..n.| :iipaii\ MIL: this 



article. The first complete signals made l\ I 1 . 

 min I-', ('"-ton were made in the \Va-hii 



.\ !,!' i:-- \\a- -lationed as a ina-ler n 



i from tin- navy and t\vo 



years before his deaUL Tin- ordnai fihe 



,:ned for him <-n account of tlii> in- 

 vention. ami it is theonU xjuare in the \ard named 



named f-r olli- 

 high rank. The Co-ton night -igna .-ptrd 



by the I'nited State- na\ \.and the e<.l<.|> e|ii-en 



were green, red. and white. All the distinguishing 

 signals are given in " HI is-'.- Nautical Aim 



Sim-.- the-e -igiial- Wen 



improvement- i made. In 1HO the e<.m- 



p<-iti.n fire- \\ere juit up in waterproof boxes. 

 When one wasto.be u-ed the oovet wa- n-niovrd 

 and the l.o\ |.la-ed np.,n n Imanl: port fire was 

 then u-cd to ignite it. The di-play \\a- made from 



the -urface .r deck. Tl u n 



white, and l.lue in coml.inat i.n. t'ndi-r tin- 

 patent, a- u-e.l l.ythe t"nite<l State- na\y during 

 the civil war. compounds for producing red. white. 

 and B put up in cartridge eases m.. 



tinfoil and Manilla paper, and a ouick match at- 

 tached, the color green being -ul>-t it tiled for l.lue. 

 because it was not pos-ilile at that stage of th- 

 to produce a di-t inet. durable. an<l safe l>lue-li::lil 

 composition. The vi-ibility of the color- should 

 be the same at all di-tanc. -. William 

 has overcome this, after trial- covering s. 

 years. The -o-called blue light made b\ th. 

 end fireworks manufacturers, and in u- l.\ the 



maritime world, is not a blue it i- a j r white 



light. The cartridge was so con-trmte 

 placed on a wooden handle, by which it was held 

 while the di-play was made. In 1H',:', the ear 

 was so constructed ius to be placed in the - 

 of a peculiarly made pi-tol and to ignite by 



n cap. " This was the at 



the I'nited Stat.-s army. In 1*77 th.- fnited - 

 navy adopted the < ;.d night -ignal. in- 



i by II. II. Co-ton, late captain in the I'nited 

 Marine Corps. It now al.-o u-es search 

 and the Adoi-e system, which i- operated by a 

 board turning on and off im-ami and 



white lights. The < 



1 by H. Il.Costnn in 1ft 



Coston took out the fir-t patent for friction-ignit- 

 ing signals in 1871. William K. Co-ton. 

 son of Benjamin F. Coston. further improved the 



&- CT 





vnvor owrc cuiurv in MM 



same cartridge burning in tnccession do away with 

 any chance of failure or misunderstanding. 



The night signal, in use prior to 1800 were 

 torches, rockets, Roman candles, and red, white, and 

 blue lighls, besides lanterns with colored glass. In 

 1840 Benjamin Franklin Coston, an American, at 



Coston signals by igniting them by mean- of a per- 

 cussion cap, and made a signal 'combining ; 

 and surface display, thereby enlarging the sc< : 

 its utility. The patent wa- granted in ls*l. 



Tic .re adopted by 



the United States. France, Italy,' Denmark, II<>1- 



