The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1912-12-27
The UNERRING sun
It Is Uncle Sans Most Reliable
Lighthouse Keeper.
NEVER FALTERs IN ITS WORK.

Hy the Aid Of the Wonderful Sun Valve
II Lights the AcetyIene Beacons az II
Sets at Night and Extinsuishes Thorn
as It Rises IN the Morning.
The sun is the most trustworthy OF
lighthouse keepers, The sun or the
heat from 1t lights many hundreds Of
beacons along our coasts and water
ways evening after evening and ex.
tinguishes them punctually every morn
Ing. They are guides on land and sea
that are never touched by human hands
from one months end to another, The
way in which the United States gov.
ernment, through its lighthouse board,
has utilized the services of the sun and
made that great lamp OF heaven a
-faithful and unerring servant Is most
interesting.
The discovery Of acetylene gas was
the iirst step toward retiring the lonely
keepers Of the little lights In faroff
places, Modern magic was not slow
In recognizing the fact that by the ap.
plication Of certain well known scien.
the principles the lighting Of the great
chains of beacons that girdle the coasts
Of the two seas and the gulf and cover
the great lakes and every navigable
stream In our huge country could be
much simplitied.
The United States did not become in
terested In the acetylene light and its
automatically generating gas buoy until
about the year 1906 and did not adopt
It until 1908. Then the engineers Of
the lighthouse hoard devised some
wonderful improvements, among them
the utilization Of the sun.
The SELF lighting and self extinguish.
ing acetyIene, beacon ia \ very simn,e
thing. hut il aenends almost entirely
on the "sun valve y which. u one of The
most wonderful butg laast comnler 81
the achievements Of modern science.
II tba f,rst nlaca tba .a,,re. - Not,y
for these lone beacons ~ d;sso,vpfi
acetvlene. which a stored und4r mas.
s,,re IN steel cylinders, Gina ~ tlasa
cylinders con Ia CHARGED ,ystb onoro,,
gas to last a small beacon tl,qea vaa,,s
Usually however in tl,a casa ~ eoat.
inc buovs 4 Liz months, su,,n,v l. all
that Il necessary. saa s,,ch huovs are
oyerhauIed and nainted tw;ea : vear
knowing the siue af tba dame. and rs
hourlv consumntion II ,as = is varv
easv to commute how ,ono O. ! c,,,indavfny
will last and how often f. viii need q
NJ ,,;s,taa nss,s rs 4. -, NJ ~ ~
light viii need. THE sim valve does
the rest.
The scientific princinle unon which
the sun valve depends is Tint light
waves become transformed in different
degrees, according to the nature of the
intercepting body. Sunlight upon dark
surfaces is converted into heat. and
heat produces expansion. This expan-
sion is especially perceptible Ia certain
metals. 4
In a carefully sealed and substantial
" mounted glass jar nearly foot
high and about one fourth that in di5
ameter a thick black rod is placed per-
pendicularly through the center. It is
supported by three slenderer rods Of
highly polished copper. The big black
rod Is of copper also and is coated with
lampblack to make it absorb light to
the greatest possible degree. The sup
porting rods reflect light without alb
sorbing It and do not expand or con-
tract to the same extent as the largest
rod
The thick black piece OF copper in
the center Of the jar Is extremely SEN
sitive to light and heat. AS the sun
appears and the atmosphere grows
warmer In the morning this rod length
ems. 1t pushes down into the metal
chamber in which the glass Jar rests
ana touches the end Of lever. It
presses down on this lever, which is
controlled by spring and cuts of the
fiow Of the gas to the lamp.
When the sun disappears from View