The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1924-03-13
HIGHWAY LIGHTHOUSES
TO PROTECT ROAD TRAVEL
Main State Highways Of Mary
land Are Part Of National
System to be SignaliZed.


pendously increasing travels of man.
Safety lighthouses, INTENDED by hu-
man hand, are today the marvel Of
our boundless seas. But now the
brothers of these lighthouses of the
sea are moving inland to become
lighthouses of the road and light
houses Of the sky. The fundamental
principles of travel by water, the old
est method known to mankind, are be-
ing applied to the most modern fields
of transportation that exists.
Miniature marine watch-towers,
flashing colored signal lights, will
safely guide motorists from coast to
coast. A chum of powerful beacons,
faithful as the silent sentinels of the
sea, will light the aviator's way as he
flies in the dead of night across the
heavens.
The light of the pharos, that first
lighthouse of all the world blazed
forth its cheer and warning to the
mariners of Egypt 1000 years ago.
This was brushwood burning bright
atop of a gigantic tower. 1t was one
of the seven wonders of the world.
When the sea dashed strong and the
night was inky black, this great bea-
con shone, and mariners sixty miles
away, it is said, could see and come
within the protection of its beams.
There was no airplanes then. The
sky was virgin of all save the flap
ping of birds wings. Mems colossal
bird of the sky was undreamed of.
And far beneath Egypt's great pyre
tower the roads were peaceful, too.
Only caravan now and then moved
slowly across the desert. The stars
of the sky were enough to guide the
driver. For the transportation that
existed en- land and sea in those days
one lighthouse was enough.
But now the caravans Of humanity
stream in endless procession across
the earth. And, pushed up off the
earth because there is no more
room for them there, they fly, bearing
their burdens across the sky. Is it,
aftel all, surprising that earthly bea-
cons, as myriad as those first stuff
cient stars, should at last shine forth
for confused civilization?
When the United States postal SER
vice inauguratcd its continuous mail
service from New York to San Fran
cisco-3000 miles in twenty-eight
hour Light vas the chief factor Of
all in making this record. The air
mail pilots few one-third Of this
transcoutinental marathon in the
dead Of right. A pathway Of light,
1888 lighthouses aud beacons, all told,
will guide the fioras he speeds across
this 6G5 mile lap Of the journey.
But while these speedy planes are
wiuglng through the air to their ap-
pointed places, what is happening
here On earth viii be no whit less i'm
portaut. Highway Lighthouses in
twcaty-four states will fash direc-
ton and warning to the millions Of
vehicular travellers in the amazingly
increased confusion and dangers OF
modern travel.
And here's the romance Of it!
These new beacons, even now fast
dotting the land, are actually brother
lights of the great guardians Of the
coast. They are similar to the light
house the world around.
Few persons know just how all the
lighthouses and buoys in our harbors
become lighted at shutdown and re-
main for long periods apparently I'M
attended. 1t would seem inconceivable
that the lights do not require human
agency in the operation. Nevertheless
they are unattended. Eight of the
great lights north of the Arctic Circle
are so designed that they flash every
night for period of two years with
out the touch OF a human hand. They
burn acetylene gas stored in tanks or
TASKS and the flow is turned on and
off by what is known as the sun
valve.
This sort of beacon, which sheds
its rays unfailingly, is the invention
of DIR. Gustaf Dalen, of Sweden, Win
ner of the Nobel prize in physics in
1912, and a directing force in the four
great interrelated companies of the
world which light humanity's way to
safety. In America this is the Ameri-
can Gas Accumulation Company and
its associated Highway Lighthouse
Company, Elizabeth, N. j., which has
pushed these developments forward.
For years DR.. Dalen worked trying
to evolve coast light that would not
fail, one which would be invulnerable
to weather conditions and to human
neglect and carelessness. He sue
ceeded. First he designed a gas burn
er which permits of tiny continuous
pikot fed by the acetylene gas. By a
delicate system of gearing as com
pact as that of small clock, he crea-
ted the flash system, so that the