Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1914-03-18
TITANIC TIEnoRlAL LIGHT HOUSE

by the sea breezes and needed ths
frequent use of the bellows to keep L
alight There were many complaints
about the poorness of the lights ana
the lanterns were subsequently ID
moved, but coal or wood fires d
NAMED in use till 1922.
Candles were next thought of, I'D
these again had obvious disadya1
tages, for the great heat generated ID
the lantern melted the candles and
thus diminished the intensity of THO
light. The wicks also required tha
constant use of snuffers and thu
again was a serious disadvantage
The use of oil was not universall
adopted until the middle of the eig4
teenth century, while soon afterWare
contrivances were adopted for increas
ing the light by means of refector$
Gas was first used as an illumina11
in the early part of the nineteentA
century, but only for lighthouses q
piers and harbors near gas works
and it was not until 1866 that ga
was used at out of the way IghE
houses. Soon afterward electrici4
and limelight were introduced; a1e
these, gas and oil are now the primo
pal illuminants employed.
1t was toward the middle of tAe
eighteenth century that schemes ~
distinguishing one light from anothF
were introduced, and the first deviT
of this kind was invented, strange
it may seem, by a barber OF LgnA
called Robert Hamblin. The methoQ
by which lights are varied noWadaY
consists of hiding the light shown ~
a certain number of seconds. Inq2
one lighthouse may show a slngE
flash every Is seconds, another tnf7
flashes in quick succession every
seconds, and yet another may snow
light for 80 seconds and then De y
scured for ten seconds and so
These methods. combined with the 81 7
ployment Of white, red and greg
lights, provide many different VaIiS
ties of lights and thus form a real'
means of distinguishing one from
other. as no two lights on our coS1'
are exactly the same.
Bell on the Inchcape Rock
The present Bell Rock lighthouse
situated off Arbroath, and this Is
place. it will be remembered, thaI u
been immortalized in the poem OF =
Ralph the Rover" where
The good old abbot of AberbrothocA .ocs
Had placed that bell on the lncaca 4"s
On a buoy, in the storm II HO0'0
swung, -, r,,ng s
And over the waves its warning 'uD0
The first time a lighthouse
erected on an isolated rock was II
case of the first Eddystone lgnInosud
completed by Winstanley IN ~
where tallow candles were useu o.
;Ilrrinant The tower was polygo
in form, which the ornaHel'@
above offered great resistance "
wind. This lighthouse, however ~
fiji 1903 when it was knocked ~
by the sea, and Winstaniey nim y
and ali the occupants perlSneo'
next Eddystone was completes -
17Os by Rudyard, and this n was n
pletely destroyed by fire IN . Dso1
1755. 1t had been conStruc ,,rsnf
wood and the next tower, OF s+ graz
was erected by John SEnsa ~ a
stood toe from 1858 TO 1881. INT In
however, it was discovered Una. taas
rock on which it stood was Ok. pew val
dermined by the action Oh . sEI
and this necessitated the , oaiLri| r..
anu new tower on neighbours born n
with more secure founda' 1881 wh
tower was completed in IS0I Eas
t t old smeaton lighthouse Sc, WI ghd
moved to the Hoe at plymouth
it now stands.