Figure 34. — Holmes' experimental magneto generator that was demonstrated at Blackwall. 

 From La Lumiere eledrique, September 23, 1882, vol. 7. p. 298. 



went into operation on December 26, 1863, and the 

 results were so encouraging" that a pair of the machines 

 were installed in the north lighthouse in 1865.'* 



Le Roux, in published preliminary engineering 

 reports on the success of the installation at the light- 

 houses, questioned the reliability of the new system, 

 pointing out that, despite previous hopes, the light 

 from the arc was not much brighter than that from 

 oil; also, Reynaud, in a formal report to the French 

 government, concluded that the two lighthouses were 

 too expensive for ordinary use but were valuable where 

 great brilliance was required.*' Notwithstanding 

 these objections, another installation was made at Cap 

 Gris Nez, near Calais, in February 1869, and other 

 Alliance installations were made outside France — 



^< Les Alondes, 1864, vol. 4, pp. 57-61; A. Guerout, "L'Eclai- 

 rage electrique du Port du Havre," La Lumiere e/ectrique, 

 1881, vol. 4, pp. 132-136; Cosmos, 1866, ser. 2, vol. 4, pp. 7-11; 

 L'Annee scientifique, 1866, vol. 11, pp. 48-56. 



== F. P. Le Roux, "Les Machines magneto-electriques 

 frangaises et Tapplication de Telectricite a Teclairage des 

 phares," Bulletin de la Societe d' Encouragement pour I'Industrie 

 Naticnale, 1867, vol. 14, pp. 677-711, 748-790; Leonce Rey- 

 naud, "Experiences comparatives des deux systemes d'eclairage 

 des phares a I'huile et a la lumiere electrique, consideres au 

 point de vue economique," Bulletin de la Societe d'Encourage- 

 menl pour I'Lndustrie Nationale, 1867, vol. 14, pp. llb-ll')\ Cosmos, 

 1866, vol. 4, pp. 7-11. 



when the Suez Canal was opened in 1 869 a lighthouse 

 using Alliance equipment was set up at Port Said, 

 and two years later a similar installation was made at 

 Odessa, in southern Russia. "^ The brightness of the 

 arc had been increased, and it was now claimed to be 

 300 Carcel units. 



No more French installations were made in the 

 decade following the Franco-Prussian war, but in 

 January 1880 there was a proposal to install electric 

 lighting in all the first-order lighthouses along the 

 coast of France. Palmyra, a city at the mouth of the 

 Gironde River, and Planier, an island in the Mediter- 

 ranean near Marseilles, each obtained an electric 

 lighthouse in 1881. In the following year the French 

 governiTient made a large appropriation for the 

 installation of 46 electric lighthouses along the coast.'' 



About this time electric lighthouses — but not of the 

 Alliance system — began to appear outside Europe. 



''• Cosmos, 1870, ser. 3, vol. 6, pp. 103-104; U Annie scientifique, 

 1870-1871, vol. 15, pp. 50-51; "Lighthouse," Encyclopedia 

 Britannica, New York, 1911, ed. 11, vol. 16, p. 641. 



5' Allard, op: cit. (footnote 47), pp. 325-383; "Note sur quel- 

 ques objections relatives ^ I'emploi de la lumiere electrique 

 dans les phares," Annales des ponts et chausees, memoires et docu- 

 ments, 1882, vol. 1, pp. 489-502; A. Guerout, "L'Eclairage 

 electrique des cotes de France," La Lumiere electrique, 1881, vol. 

 5, pp. 25-35. 



360 



BULLETIN 228: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



