The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1913-02-20
The UNERRINC sun
L Is Uncle Sans Most Reliable
Lighthouse Keeper.
NEVER FhLTERS IN ITS WORK
BY the Aid OF the Wonderful Sun Valve
1t Lights the AcetyIene Beacons as 1t
Sets at Night and Extinguishes Them
as 1t Rises In the Morning.

| It LIghrS the Acetyiene beaconS as IL
Sets at Night and Extinguishes Them
! as 1t Rises In the Morning.
The sun is the most trustworthy or
lighthouse keepers. The sun or the
heat from it lights n.2ny hundreds OF
| beacons along our coasts and water
ways evening after evening and eX-
tinglIishes 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
has utilized the services of the sun and
made that great lamp of heaven
| faithful and unerring. servant is most
| interesting
The discovery of acetylene gas was
the first 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 APP
plication of certain well known scien-
tific 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 ou" huge country could be
much simplified.
|. 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
hn n
the lighthouse board devised some
wonderful improvements, among them
the utilization of the sun
The self lighting and self extinguish-
ing acetylene beacon is a very simple
thing. but it depends almost entirely
on the 'sun valve" which is one of the
most wonderful but least complex Of
the achievements of modern science.
In the first place. the source Of light
for these lone beacons is dissolved
acetylene. which is stored under pres
sure in steel cylinders. One of these
cylinders can be charged with enough
gas to last q small beacon three years.
Usually, however, in the case of float
ing buoys. six months supply is all
that is necessary. us such buoys are
overhauled and painted twice year.
Knowing the size of the flame and its
hourly consumption of gas, it is very
easy to compute how long cylinderful
will last and how often it will need to
be visited That is all the care the
light will need. The sun valve does
the rest.
The scientific principle upon which
the sun valve depends is that light
waves become transformed in different
degrees. according to the nature of the
lntercepting body. Sunlight upon dark
surfaces is converted into heat. and
beat produces expansion. This expan-
sion is especially perceptible in certain
metals.
In carefully sealed and substantial
ly mounted glass jar nearly foot
high and about One-fOurth that in di-
ameter q thick black rod is placed per-
pendicuIarly through the center. 1t is
supported by three slenderer rods of
highly polished copper. The big black
rod.is of copper also and is coated with
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
D,,5 k1D nfr
warmer in the morning this rod length
ems. 1t pushes dawn into the metal
chamber in which the glass jar rests
and touches the end Of lever. 1t
presses down on this lever, which is
controlled by ASPIRING and cuts off the
flow of the gas to the lamp.
When the sun disappears from view
In the evening and the temperature OF
the air falls the process is reversed.
The rod contracts and releases it's pres
sure on the lever, allowing the gas to
flow upward to the lamp. The gas is
ignited by little pilot fame that Is
never extinguished. Thus the beacon
is lighted at the proper time and is put
out when it is no longer needed. al
though along desOlate coasts it may
never gladden. the human eye for
months at time.
The engineers Of the lighthouse board
say that the precision of this device Is
almost incredible. 1t can be used with
equal certainty in equatorial heat and
in polar cold, for it responds with the
utmost accuracy to small variations in
temperature. 1t is used on lonely is
lands in the Pacific. There are nearly
hundred of these sun valve beacons
In Alaska. In summer they are aids
to navigation, and in winter they guide
the travellers on dog sledges over the
frozen wastes.-Harper's Weekly.