The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-10-13

Of our experiments in New York havint
demonstrated the entire feasibility of the
plan.
MANY people wonder why electricity
has not been applied more generally in
lighthouses. The explanation is that tho
lights produced by lard oil and other illu-
minants now in use are seen, located and
identified as far Gs the curvature of the
earth will admit, and no evidence is Mt
hand to show that electric lights could be
seen and identified better or he more clear
~ discerncd in fog
AT Hell Gate some years ago we had
beautiful electric light placed upon an iron
tower 225 feet high. There were nine
lights, each of G,000 candle power and de.
signed to illuminate that intricate and
dangerous channel MS by artificial day.
light. AT night the effect was simply
grand. The tower itself could not be seen
and the light appeared us if hung from the
heavens. But the light was so brilliant
that it dazzled the eyes of the pilots and
prevented them seeing objects beyond the
circle illuminated. The shadows thrown
were so heavy that they took the form of
obstacles, and the light had to be discon-
tinucd. Having un electric plant near at
hand. we lighted the Sandy Hook beacon
with electricity, but made it of fourth rate
power, SO it would not dazzle the ewes of
pilots"
"Do you not lose many buoyss"
"A great many. Passing steamers run
into them, and spar huoys are cut off bv
propeller blades. Despite state and ma
tional laws vessels and boats sometimes
tie TO buoys. Occasionally buoys are set
adrift that rewards may he obtained by
their recovery. Ice is the worst enemy of
buoys Twice in one winter New York
harbor was swept clearof buoys
THE seagoing qualities of the large
iron buoys are shown by their volunteer
voyages. Several of them have made their
way to Europe i'll the gulf stream"
Mr.. johnson. have heard good deal
about the siren foghorn. How far can one
be heardf"
Thirty miles is the limit, and then
under the most favorable circumstances.
We have beaten the world on fog signals.
and European nations have adopted our
devices We have nearly 100 of these sig
nails, and their cost was 100000. l want
to call your attention to n curious fact in
the use of fog signals. The general sup
position is that sound is always heard in
all directions from it's source, according to
its intensity or force. But this is not
true. Sound has some remarkable char
acteristics, and failure to understand them
has led to disaster and death.
Twelve years ago the wreck of the
steamer Rhode Island on Narragansctt
bay, which involved loss of n million
dollars, was aScribed to the failure of the
fog signal on Beaver Tail point to sound
at that time. OF course we made nm in
vestigation, and found that the siren was
sounding all the time. But we also dis.
covered that where it should have been
heard loudly it was not heard Mt all, and
where its sound was expected to be faint
it was very clear; that it could be heard
and lost and heard and lost again, all
within easy carshot
Another instance was when the steamer
City of Richmond approached land in tho
Maine waters, hearinga Whitehead fog sig
nal distinctly six miles from shore, but at
three miles from shore the soulnl suddenly
reased and was not heard again till the