Trev and Flo Anderson have supplied several of these photos of the lights in the 1970's |
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| In 1976, four 1000 watt bulbs were in position between three large mirrored-on-one side brass concave reflectors, in a tulip design. |
Only one was illuminated at a time, the others were backups. As one light burned out, the other rotated up into position.The base of the light floated on a platform in a tub of mercury to reduce friction. |
This version mounted by the CoastGuard in 1968 rotated on a fixed plate on top of the old mercury basin. The Mercury was left sealed inside until an attempt to move the pedestal for a Pepsi commercial in the late 1980's caused a spill. The light was mounted after that on a solid pedestal. We are still looking for a picture of that light .It looked like a bank of a dozen headlights around a rotating column. Only one headlight was illuminated at a time. |
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With automation in 1996, the light was replaced by an energy-efficient rotating lucite Fresnel lens, a modification of the type used in the 1800's . In order to understand why the Fresnel lens is so efficient beaming light from the 100 ft height to over 20 miles at sea. See this link with an explanation of the physics of a Fresnel lens.
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The view to the horizon over the railing outside the caged light.This light is visible from those far shores.
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The light stands on a pedestal. In the centre of the assembly is a 20 watt light bulb, the kind you may use in a desk lamp. This small light is visible at great distance. |
The 20 watt bulb inside the light housing.
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The mechanism which used to turn the light around on a bowl of mercury was this large counterweight which had to be wound up manually every four hours. There were holes in the steps which it allowed it to drop down slowly through several stories of the light tower.The weight still sits on a step although the holes have been concreted over with conduits running through them. |
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Each step in line below through over half the tower height was painted with a black square by a former lightkeeper to show the line of fall of the counterweight. |
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Barry and Ann Marie MacDonald toured the lighthouse after doing a presentation on Heritage Lighthouses at the Maritime Museum, Feb 2007 |