The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-07-21
BRILLIANTA AS THE Sun
OUR NEW COAST LIGHT THAT WILL
RIVAL THE LIGHTNING's FLASH.
Triumph of the French Who Had Ii
Exhibition Chicago and sold
Ii to Uncle Sam for $4,000.

| New York Herald
In the lamphOuse of the government
lighthouse station at Tompknsville. Staten
| island is housed the most wonderfuB light
| in the world. The light itself stands fifteen
| feet high, the face of it's bull's-ey is nine
| feet across and its lenses are four inches
! thick. 1t is capable of flashing a ray of
| light equivalent to the power OF $4,000. 600
candles and the distance from which 1t can
| be seen on a clear night is practically linn
| tied only by the curvature of the earth.
| This flash will have the intensity and
| binding glare of stroke of lightning.
! That part of the light which revolves
J weighs fifteen tons. and exquisite is the
! mechanism by which il is moved that the
| pressure of two fingers will turn it. A child
| might operate ii and the motive power
| which propels it is a simple bit of clock
| work encased in box two feet square.
As stood the other day before the light,
| in company with Capt. a. w. Schley, lis
tening to his description of it, the veteran
commanders eye flashed as he exclaimed
| enthusiastically:
Isn't it Marvellous
THAT is really the only adjective which
| will describe it."
The light is at present set up at the
| Staten island lighthouse station prepare
| tory to its removal to its permanent home
| in the governments lighthouse on Fire ISL
| and. 1t was taken thither from the worlds
fair at Chicago, where it had been on eX
hibition by it's French manufacturers. The
light is the last and eliminating point OF
| a series of experiments which the French
government had been conducting with
view to securing better coast illumination.
In the matter of coast light Improvement
the French government has led the world.
Ep a a a
| the latest and finest improvement. 1t was
| made by Henry Lepaute's Sons. of Paris,
| a firm whose name is known all over the
| lighthouse world, and its construction was
| supervised by French engineering officials.
| When it was completed. early in last
year, so wonderfully perfect was IL in all
| its details that its makers determined TO
| bring the light TO the worlds fair, doubtless
| with a view of calling the attention of the
at the fair to the wonderful improvements
| which France has made in this line in the
past few years The light stood In the
| Electrical Building. and was only lit
| few times during the fair. 1t is not to be
| COMPOUNDED with the great Schuckert light.
| which was exhibited from the top of the
| Manufacturers Building. and which the
| United States government is now testing
| down at Sandy Hook.
| PRICE PAID WAS $4,000.
| 1t was at the fair that the light came
naturally to the attention of the govern
ment lighthouse board, and when its char
| acter became known it was not very long
before Captain Schley's suggestion that 1t
| be purchased and put up on Fire island
! adopted. The price paid was $4,000.
| This represents merely the cost of the lens
| and the revolving apparatus. 1t will cost
| as much more to put the great lamp in
| place on the island. This is a large sum
| to pay for a lantern. but when one comes
| TO examine all its intricate makeup the
| cost does not surprise one.
| The light consists of two huge concave
| discs about eight and half feet in diam
| eter. These discs are placed back to back
| about a foot apart. and in position look
| like a monster double convex magnifying
| lens large that they could not be cast
| upon segments and the whole strung to-
| gether on great iron skeleton. And this,
| in point of fact, is precisely the case.
| The largest cOncave lens ever cast in
| single piece was about three feet in diam
| eter. The light under view is three times
| that So an entirely different method of
| manufacture had TO be adopted. not merely
| for this reason, but in order TO make
| perfect dispensing lens. The whole has been
| size from two TO four inches across their
| face and from half foot TO two feet long.
| In the central portion of the big bulls
| eye these prisms have been placed closely
| together and joined with some translucent
| cement But in the larger outer circle
| these prisms are so large that il has been
| possible to separate them two and three
inches. This outer circle looks like nothing
so much as a great circular cage, in which
4
| Back to back. the lenses inclose a hollow
| Interior into which is thrust a powerful
| electric light. This light Of itself is about
| seven thousand candle power. When its
| light is projected through these huge mag
| nifying prisms its power is intensified more
| than thirty-1ve thousand times. Stop a
! moment TO compute what this means.
| QUARTER BILLION CANDLE POWER.
1t is altogether beyond the human inn
agination to grasp the possible effect of
25O,OO0OO0 candles lit at the same time and
| drawn by some concentrating lens into one
| broad ray. Try some larger basis of COM
| parison. An ordinary oil lamp is about
| thirty-eigfht or forty candle power Some
! of the improved lamps are double this
| Think for moment of facing the combined
| beam of about three million Rochester
| lamps.
| Perhaps you are not able to grasp even
| this An ordinary electric light, such as
| YOU see i'm the street an arc light is about
one thousand candle power. Well. the Fire
island light will be as 100000 of these fused
| in one. Or, to take another instance, a
| powerful light like that which glows from
| the upHfted arm of the Statue of Liberty
Is about six thousand candle power. If
| you have ever seen its steady glow from
| a distance of miles and miles down the bay
| perhaps you may realize something of the
| sight you will witness when you catch the
flash of the new light on Fire island which
| Will be about forty thousand times as in
! tense.
Then compute the projecting power of
|
| emit time the light on Fire island-the fin
| est oil lamp which ingenuity has been able
| to devise-may be seen on clear night
| sine thlrty-five or forty miles at sea.
When the new light is in position the in
| coming European liners will catch sight
of it's flash from far beyond Montauk
| Point 10 miles away.
1t will sweep all over Long island gid
| the heights of Kingsbridge, and. if there
| are no intervening hills, startle the sleepy
| denizens of the Quaker City. With it the
| operators at Fire island will he able TO
| flash MESA ges 10 Atlantic City just as
easily the operators flashed MESA ges
| from Sandy Hook to Pantata Dunn on top
| of the Equitable building. with the Schuck-
| ert light. the other evening. Perhaps the
| rays of the light on a clear evening may
be seen as far down as Cape May
At any rate it will sweep the whole Jer-
and for hundred miles or more in either
| direction.
MAY NOT BE ABLE TO PIERCE FOG
This. of course is in comparatively clear
weather. What the new light will be able
10 do when a huge gray fog rolls land
ward is yet to be revealed by tests thaf
viii be made after the light is in position
When the great Schuckert light was tried
in a fog the other night it "A compare
tive failure. Its rays We're not able L
pierce the mist any great distance
| Whether the new light will he able 10 dc
any more remains To be seen IL is built