Improvements in Light Signals.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 30th July, 1895-Accepted, 7th Sept., 1895
[Communicated from abroad by DAVID PORTER HEAP, Engineer, of Portland,
in the State of Maine, United States of America.]
Improvements in Light Signals.
I, HENRY EDWARD NEWTON of The Office for Patents, 6 Bream's Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates more particularly to light signals which require to be
displayed at a considerable elevation above their basic support, and although the
invention, as herein embodied, is especially adopted for use in light-houses and
light-vessels, it is also applicable where the rays of light produced by the illuminant
are concentrated and displayed in a beam or beams. Light-houses, as ordinarily
constructed, require a tower of considerable height for the display of the signal,
which tower must not only be equal to the support of a costly and weighty lantern,
an illuminating apparatus, and its accessories, located near its upper end, but in
order to capacitate it to maintain such a heavy load at its top at all times, it must,
additionally, be strong enough to resist the action of storms. Such a lantern,
illuminating apparatus, and accessories, weigh about three tons in light-houses of the
4th, 5th, and 6th orders, and in the higher orders, these parts are proportionately
heavier.
This weight and bulk at the top of the tower, and other conditions, necessitate
an extensive, strong, and consequently expensive structure, and the location of the
illuminating apparatus at the top of the tower entails a costly maintenance.
That the cost of such towers will be largely reduced, they can be relieved of
the heavy weights which they now carry at their tops is apparent, since they will
then only have to be constructed sufficiently strong to resist damage from storms;
and the difficulty and expense of attending and maintaining the illuminating
apparatus will be greatly reduced by concentrating the illuminating machinery at
the base of the tower.
Light-vessels, as now built, are supplied with two lanterns which are each
displayed from special masts provided in addition to the sail masts.
These lanterns are each furnished with eight lamps, and require to be made very
strong, and consequently very heavy, each weighing about one ton.
They are provided with a hoisting apparatus for raising them at night to a
height determined by the attachment of the stays for their carrying masts, so that
the light is exhibited at a point about forty feet above the vessel's deck, which
elevation gives it a limited range. These lanterns require to be lowered into
houses at the base of their masts for trimming etc., and when raised, their heavy
weight near the tops of the special masts necessarily causes the vessel to roll
unduly, thus tending to constantly vary the direction of the emergent beams of
light, which defective action is partially overcome by hanging the lamps on
gimbals.
Their lights are not visible from the deck, and should any one be extinguished,
or defectively burn, the fault is not readily discernible, and if apparent, the entire
antern must be lowered to the deck to correct it, an operation requiring time
during which the light from that lautern would not be shewn, and which lowering
.

page_text: and rehoisting is a difficult operation, especially during a storm, when the light is
most liable to become defective.
The cost of the lighting apparatus of a light-vessel will therefore be greatly
reduced, the existence of a heavy weight near the tops of the masts, and the
resulting bad effects due to the excessive rolling, be avoided, the hoisting devices
become unnecessary, the care of the light be simplified, its maintenance rendered
more certain, and greater facility be afforded in attending to and maintaining the
illuminating apparatus, by concentrating the illuminating machinery at the base of
a tubular mast.
The many disadvantages existing in light-houses and light-vessels constructed
and operated according to the present systems, are not only overcome,
but great
advantages are attained, and a simple, cheap, and effective light, signal is produced
by my improved system, which provides for operating the light at or near the basic
support of the apparatus while its displayed beam or beams of light are deflected
horizontally from a reflector sustained at such elevation as to produce an increased
effect.
More particularly stated, the invention consists in the combination with a reflector,
and means for sustaining it in an elevating position, of an illuminating apparatus
at its base, consisting of a light and means for concentrating its rays into a
beam and directing it onto the reflector which deflects the beam toward the
horizon.
In a more limited sense, the invention comprehends the combination with a
supporting tower or tubular mast sustaining a reflector in an elevated position, of
an illuminating apparatus its base, consisting of a light, and means for concentrating
its rays into a beam and directing it onto the reflector, which deflects the same
toward the horizon.
The invention also includes various means whereby the emergent beams of light
may be acted upon or controlled, so as to impart to the signal any desired
predetermined characteristic.
In the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 is an elevation of a light-house embodying this invention.
Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the forward part of a light-vessel with a light-tower
embodying this invention.
Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic vertical sectional elevation of a tower or tube, more
particularly illustrating the arrangement of the light, a parabolic reflector for
concentrating its rays into a vertical beam, and directing the same onto the
upper reflector, for horizontal deflection, the directions of the light being indicated
by dotted lines
Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic plan view of a conical reflector, with the radiating rays
of light deflected thereby, indicated by dotted lines.
Fig. 5 is a similar view of a pyramidal reflector having eight equal sides, in
which the beams of light reflected thereby are indicated by dotted lines.
Fig. 6 is an elevation of a flat opaque damper, adapted to swing on a horizontal
axis.
Fig. 7 is an elevation of a damper adapted to turn in a horizontal plane, and
having broad spokes and intervening openings.
Figs. 8 and 9 shew some of the many practical constructions of upper reflectors
and lower concentrators.
Fig. 10 is a sectional elevation of a light-tower embodying this invention, and
including one of the many modes which may be employed to rotate its upper
reflector.
Fig. 11 is a bottom plan view of a pyramoidal reflector, alternate sides of which
are provided with coloured screens; and
Fig. 12 is a side elevation of the same, with the nearest screen removed.
In the practical embodiment of this invention, the means for supporting the
upper reflector must be of such a structure that, while it will maintain the upper
reflector at the desired altitude, and provide for its rotation, when such movement.

page_text: is desired, it shall also primarily have a construction that will provide an
unobstructed passage for the concentrated rays or beam of light from below to the
reflector above; and although this means may be a structure composed of one or
more supporting members, its preferable form is a tubular tower or mast T and,
for the purposes of this description, this supporting means will be referred to as
a tower.
This tower will preferably be a tubular metal structure, as that form adapts it
to protect interior parts from the weather; and its height will be suitable to the
display of the signal at the required elevation; and whether continuous or sectional,
it will have a diameter or shape suited to the strength required for its own support
and that of the reflector sustained at its top.
This tower will be maintained upon the ground by an appropriate foundation, as
in Figure 1, or from the deck of a vessel by suitable attachments.
At or near its base it is provided with a concentrator R, so arranged with
respect to the light I, as to concentrate its rays into a circular beam, and direct
the same vertically onto a reflector C, sustained at the top of the tower in such
a manner as to deflect the concentrated rays or beam of light horizontally or
approximately horizontally.
The tower may be constructed at its top to carry the reflector, to properly
support a roof, and maintain the usual glazed windows, and at its bottom it will
have an opening through which the interior may be reached.
The light indicated by I in Fig. 3, which is shewn in Figures 1, 2, and 8 as
produced by an oil lamp I, and, in Figures 9 and 10, as produced by an incan-
descent electric lamp I, may be any suitable one, and the light concentrator may
have any construction that will so reflect and refract its rays, that the emergent
beam will approximately be a cylinder. As examples of the many practical
concentrators that may be so used, I have illustrated in Fig. 8 a construction
adapted to an oil lamp, and in Figures 9 and 10 one suitably modified to be used
with an incandescent electric light.
In Figures 8 and 9, the part marked a, b, e, f, represents a silvered parabolic
reflector having its focus in the centre of the flame, and b, c, d, e, indicate totally
reflecting glass prisms so constructed that the light will be reflected to a point
near the top of the flame. Above the flame is arranged a range lens, with the
bull's eye omitted, in Figure 8, for the passage of the lamp chimney. As is shewn
by the dotted lines which indicate the directions of the rays of light, all the light
below the line a, f, is either reflected directly upward by the parabola, or is
returned by the prisms to a point a little above the flame; all of the light above
the line a, f, is refracted and reflected upward by the range lens, and, therefore, the
resultant beam is a cylinder.
The upper reflector may be constructed to deflect the concentrated beam in one
direction, or divide it into several beams, deflected in as many directions, but as it
is desirable, especially in light-houses and vessels, to display beams of light
simultaneously in many directions, it will preferably have the shape of a pyramid,
as in Figures 5 and 10, or that of a cone, as in Figures 1 and 2, or that of a
pyramoid, as in Figures 11 and 12, according to the characteristic which it may
be desired to show; their apexes being underneath, and their sides making an
angle of forty-five degrees with the horizontal, and will therefore reflect the
vertical beams of light in a horizontal direction.
This upper reflector may be constructed in many ways; thus, it might be of
metal, with a polished surface, or made of polished glass mirrors; but it is
preferable, in some cases, to use a set of totally reflecting prisms, as shown in
Figures 8 and 9, since with them there is the least loss of light, and they may be
conveniently kept in an efficient state.
As a pyramid or pyramoid, the reflector may have any number of sides, as the
eight shown in Figures 5, 10, 11, and 12, and the reflected beams will be pro-
portioned in intensity to the area of the faces. If its faces are equal, as in
Figure 5, and it remains stationary, its faces will reflect eight beams of light, and

page_text: there will be dark angles, as o o, between them, and if this reflector is revolved
around its vertical axis, the light will be alternately visible and invisible, and will
have the appearance of a flashing light.
By either changing the shape of the pyramid or pyramoid, or the speed of
revolution, or both, many varieties of signals may be obtained.
In conoidal form, the stationary reflector C will transmit a beam of light
deflected equally to all points of the horizon, as is shewn in Figure 4, and if the
apex of the reflector is cut off, as in Figures 3, 4, 5, so as to allow a portion of the
light to be reflected through it toward the zenith, this portion will be continually
visible by reflection from the dust or haze in the air, while the horizontal beams
will retain their characteristics unaffected thereby.
A. flashing effect can be produced in several ways:-
Thus, by providing the tower with a damper interposed between the concentrator
and the reflector at some convenient point for operation by suitable clock-work or
otherwise, the whole or any desired portion of the light may be periodically cut off.
A circular flat opaque plate or damper, such as is shewn in Figure 6, mounted in
the tower above the light, and caused to revolve on a horizontal axis, will
alternately obstruct and admit the passage of the beam, thus producing the flashing
effect. If this damper has a hole in its centre, as shewn, the only portion of the
beam which will be seen at the top of the tower, when the damper is horizontal,
will be the central portion of the vertical bean, and when such damper is vertical,
both vertical and horizontal beams will be visible. By providing a damper adapted
to horizontally rotate, and constructed as shown in Figure 7, with alternating
openings and opaque parts, with or without a central hole, and caused to rotate
appropriately, and by suitably varying the relative extent of the opaque portions
and the intervening openings, many varieties of obstruction and flash may be
obtained.
In this example, the damper has four openings and four intervening opaque parts
corresponding to the eight sides of the reflector shewn in Figure 5. By this
structure, the opaque parts of the damper will, when it is stationary, obscure or cut
off four alternate beams, which otherwise would be visible, as in Figure 5, while
the remaining four beams will be displayed; but when this damper is rotated, sets
of four alternate beams will be successively displayed. Thus, according to the
opening in the damper, one or any number of beams may be displayed. Any other
form of damper operating to wholly or partially obscure the beam of light, may be
adopted.
Still another method, especially applicable in case gas or electricity were the
illuminant, would be to entirely extinguish and relight the light, in accordance
with the characteristic desired.
In case magnesium powder were flashed at the base of the tower, the
characteristic would be determined by the number of flashes, and the intervals
between them.
In order to obtain a very powerful light, the light I, and concentrator therefor,
may be what is known as a "search light" so arranged as to throw a vertical beam
of light, but any appriate light, and concentrator therefor, may be used at or near
the base of the tower or tube, and if, for convenience of arrangement or operation,
they are located out of the axial centre of the tower, or even without the vertical
area of the tower, but contiguous thereto, appropriate reflecting surfaces may be
added, to cause the rays of light to be directed upward as a circular beam within
the tower.
Although there are many ways whereby rotary movement may be given to the
upper reflector, one mode of causing such rotation is shewn in Figure 10, where the
upper reflector C is hung on a vertical axis that turns on ball-bearings, and is
rotated by pulleys and a rope or band from a vertical shaft S that is regularly
rotated by suitable gearing from a clock or other driving mechanism located at Di
but when all of the rays are concentrated so as to be directed as a single beam by
a rotative reflector, the latter may be supported on an universal joint.

page_text: If it is desired to give characteristic colour effect to the signal, it may be done
by providing the totally reflecting prisms, either when arranged in a stationary
cone or pyramid, with screens of coloured glass to the extent required, according as
the signal is to be partially or wholly coloured.
To produce a combination of coloured and white flashes, the conoidal or
pyramoidal rotating reflector may carry a sheet of coloured glass in front of one or
more faces or portions of it. In Figures 11 and 12, such a reflector is shewn as
provided with coloured screens 1, 3, 5, 7, dependent before its faces 2, 4, 6, 8.
In order to modify the absorption of light by the inner walls of the tube or
tower, it may be coated with a light colour, and to increase the amount of light
received on the reflector C, it would be of some advantage to make the interior
surface of the tube or tower a reflective surface.
By this invention, which provides for the placing and operating of the illuminating
apparatus at the base of a tubular tower or mast, the cost of a light-house is
greatly reduced, and in the case of a light vessel, the number of the masts is also
reduced.
In both cases, the illuminating apparatus and watch room being at or near the
tower or mast, the maintenance of the light is simplified and made easier; the
oil in the one case will no longer have to be carried to the top of the tower,
and in the other the lanterns will not be required to be hoisted and lowered.
Moreover, as the labour of attendance is diminished, the number of attendants and
consequent cost of maintenance will be lessened. The watching of the light may
be performed at the base of the tower or mast, and ascension to the top of
either will only be necessary to keep the reflector in condition, this being
accomplished by a spiral staircase in the light-house and by means of the shrouds
in the light-vessel. In the light-vessel, instead of four masts, two will suffice, since
they may perform the double function of sail masts and light towers or tubes, and
in view of the facility afforded by these improvements in the production of
varying characteristics, only one need be lighted. And furthermore, the upper
reflector need not have the permanently glazed windows now required to protect
the illuminant, and the latter being located in the most accessible place, may be
easily kept in continuous operation, since, should the light, from any cause, he
extinguished, become defective, the lamp smoke, a chimney break, or an electric
filament cease to operate, substitutes may be quickly and conveniently supplied.
The upper reflector has been spoken of as conical or pyramidal. The surfaces
of either may be so curved as to cause the emergent beams to issue in a cone, the
angle of the apex of which is of any appropriate extent, to increase, as may be
desired, the divergence of the light, in which case the diminished intensity of the
light may be compensated for by an increase in the initial intensity of the
illuminant.
When there is a protecting deck, as in the vessel Figure 2, and as would be
the case if the tower projected from a house, the tower need not necessarily be
continued below such deck, or the roof of the house, although the illuminating
apparatus may be situated some distance below the immediate basic support of the
tower, as is apparent.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed (as communicated to me
from abroad), I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The combination with an upper reflector, and means for sustaining it in an
elevated position, of an illuminating apparatus at the base, consisting of a light,
and means for concentrating its rays into a beam, and directing the same onto the
upper reflector, which deflects the beam toward the horizon, substantially as
described.
2. The combination with an upper reflector, and a supporting tower or mast,
sustaining the same in a elevated position, of an illuminating apparatus at the base,
consisting of a light and means for concentrating its rays into a beam, and directing

page_text: the same onto the upper reflector, which deflects the beam toward the horizon,
substantially as described.
3. The combination with a supporting tower, of a reflector at its top and
concentrator at its base, and a light interposed between them, substantially as
described.
4. The combination with a supporting tower, of a revolving reflector at its top,
and, at its base, a light, and means for concentrating its rays into a beam, and
directing the same outo the revolving reflector, which deflects the beam toward
the horizon, substantially as described.
5. The combination with a tower supporting a reflector at its top, and having,
at its base, a light, and means for concentrating its rays into a beam, of means
alternately obscuring and displaying the light from the upper reflector, substantially
as described.
6. The combination with a tower supporting a reflector at its top, and having,
at its base, a light, and means for concentrating its rays into a beam, of a rotating
damper operating to alternately obstruct and clear the path through which the light
passes upward, substantially as described.
7. The combination with a tower supporting a reflector at its top, and having,
at its base, a light, and means for concentrating its rays into a beam, of a
horizontally rotative wheel having opaque portions which obscure the light rays
they intercept, substantially as described.
8. The combination with a supporting tower, of a revolving pyramoidal reflector
at its top, and, at its base, a light, and means for concentrating its rays into a
beam, and directing the same onto the reflector, substantially as described.
9. The combination with a protecting deck, and meaus for supporting the
reflector above the same, of a light below said deck, and means for concentrating
its rays and directing the same onto the reflector, substantially as described.
10. The combination with a protective deck, and a revolving reflector supported
above the same, of a light below said deck, and means for concentrating its rays,
and directing the same onto the reflector, substantially as described.
Dated this 30th day of July 1895.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.