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The first true lighthouse may have been one that was built in about 280 bce in Egypt. The Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans also built lighthouses during ancient times. As shipping increased in Europe around 1100 ce, construction of lighthouses also increased. In 1759 an English engineer named John Smeaton designed a new type of lighthouse.
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Ancient lighthouses
Before the development of clearly defined ports, mariners were guided by fires built on hilltops. Since raising the fire would improve the visibility, placing the fire on a platform became a practice that led to the development of the lighthouse. In antiquity, the lighthouse functioned more as an entrance marker to ports than as a warning signal for reefs and promontories, unlike many modern lighthouses. The most famous lighthouse structure from antiquity was the Pharos of Alexandria, Egypt,...
Modern construction
The modern era of lighthouses began at the turn of the 18th century, as lighthouse construction boomed in lockstep with burgeoning levels of transatlanticcommerce. Advances in structural engineering and new and efficient lighting equipment allowed for the creation of larger and more powerful lighthouses, including ones exposed to the sea. The function of lighthouses shifted toward the provision of a visible warning against shipping hazards, such as rocks or reefs. The Eddystone Rocks were a m...
Lighting improvements
The source of illumination had generally been wood pyres or burning coal. The Argand lamp, invented in 1782 by the Swiss scientist, Aimé Argand, revolutionized lighthouse illumination with its steady smokeless flame. Early models used ground glass which was sometimes tinted around the wick. Later models used a mantle of thorium dioxide suspended over the flame, creating a bright, steady light. The Argand lamp used whale oil, colza, olive oil or other vegetable oil as fuel which was supplied b...
Power
In a lighthouse, the source of light is called the "lamp" (whether electric or fuelled by oil) and the concentration of the light is by the "lens" or "optic". Originally lit by open fires and later candles, the Argand hollow wick lamp and parabolic reflector were introduced in the late 18th century. Whale oil was also used with wicks as the source of light. Kerosene became popular in the 1870s and electricity and carbide (acetylene gas) began replacing kerosene around the turn of the 20th cen...
Lens
Before modern strobe lights, lenses were used to concentrate the light from a continuous source. Vertical light rays of the lamp are redirected into a horizontal plane, and horizontally the light is focused into one or a few directions at a time, with the light beamswept around. As a result, in addition to seeing the side of the light beam, the light is directly visible from greater distances, and with an identifying light characteristic. This concentration of light is accomplished with a rot...
Light characteristics
In any of these designs an observer, rather than seeing a continuous weak light, sees a brighter light during short time intervals. These instants of bright light are arranged to create a light characteristic or pattern specific to a lighthouse. For example, the Scheveningen Lighthouse flashes are alternately 2.5 and 7.5 seconds. Some lights have sectors of a particular color (usually formed by colored panes in the lantern) to distinguish safe water areas from dangerous shoals. Modern lightho...
Design
For effectiveness, the lamp must be high enough to be seen before the danger is reached by a mariner. Where dangerous shoals are located far off a flat sandy beach, the prototypical tall masonry coastal lighthouse is constructed to assist the navigator making a landfall after an ocean crossing. Often these are cylindrical to reduce the effect of wind on a tall structure, such as Cape May Light. Smaller versions of this design are often used as harbor lights to mark the entrance into a harbor,...
Components
While lighthouse buildings differ depending on the location and purpose, they tend to have common components. A light station comprises the lighthouse tower and all outbuildings, such as the keeper's living quarters, fuel house, boathouse, and fog-signaling building. The Lighthouse itself consists of a tower structure supporting the lantern room where the light operates. The lantern room is the glassed-in housing at the top of a lighthouse tower containing the lamp and lens. Its glass storm p...
Range lights
Aligning two fixed points on land provides a navigator with a line of position called a range in the U.S. and a transit in Britain. Ranges can be used to precisely align a vessel within a narrow channel such as in a river. With landmarks of a range illuminated with a set of fixed lighthouses, nighttime navigation is possible. Such paired lighthouses are called range lights in the U.S. and leading lights in the United Kingdom. The closer light is referred to as the beacon or front range; the f...
The Lighthouse of Praia da Barra, on the west coast of Portugal.Original Winstanley lighthouse, Eddystone Rock, by Jaaziell Johnston, 1813.Marjaniemi Lighthouse, the 19th-century lighthouse in the Hailuoto island, neighbouring municipality of Oulu, FinlandPoint Danger lighthouse, Queensland, 1971Lighthouses for Kids: History, Science, and Lore with 21 Activities (For Kids series) by Katherine House This comprehensive reference provides children with an in-depth history of lighthouses and firsthand stories of the challenges faced by lighthouse keepers.
The history of lighthouses is filled with tales of lighthouse keepers, the men who once lived in or near the lighthouse whose light it was their responsibility to keep burning. Most modern lighthouses, however, have automatic lights that need little tending.
The Tower of Hercules, a lighthouse of Roman origin at A Coruña in northwest Spain, modelled on the Pharos of Alexandria. The History of Lighthouses refers to the development of the use of towers, buildings, or other types of structure, as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
History and Facts about Lighthouses The first lighthouse was the Pharos of Alexandria in ancient Egypt; 2) the oldest lighthouse still in use today is the Tower of Hercules in Spain. Before electricity was developed, lighthouses were lit by fire, gas, or coal.
A lighthouse is a tower with a bright light at the top to warn and guide ships at sea. Lighthouses have played an important role in the history of our world. Believe it or not, lighthouses...
