Fig. 50.—Spar Gas Buoy.
seaward of the light should not be employed except when the danger
is in the near vicinity of the light. Outlying dangers require marking
by a light placed on the danger or by a floating light in its vicinity.
9. Illuminated Buoys.—Gas Buoys. Pintsch’s oil gas has been in use for the illumination of buoys since 1878. In 1883 an automatic occulter was perfected, worked by the gas passing from the reservoir to the burner. The lights placed on these buoys burn continuously for three or more months. The buoys and lanterns are made in various forms and sizes. The spar buoy (fig. 50) may be adopted for situations where strong tides or currents prevail. Oil gas lights are frequently fitted to Courtenay whistling (fig. 51) and bell buoys.
In the ordinary type of gas buoy lantern the burner employed is of the multiple-jet, Argand ring, or incandescent type. Incandescent mantles have been applied to buoy lights in France with successful results. Since 1906, and more recently the same system of illumination has been adopted in England and other countries. The lenses employed are of cylindrical dioptric fixed-light form, usually 100 mm. to 300 mm. diameter. Some of the largest types of gas-buoy in use on the French coast have an elevation from water level to the focal plane of over 26 ft. with a beam intensity of more than 1000 candles. A large gas-buoy with an elevation of 34 ft. to the focal plane was placed at the entrance to the Gironde in 1907. It has an incandescent burner and exhibits a light of over 1500 candles. Oil gas forms the most trustworthy and efficient illuminant for buoy purposes yet introduced, and the system has been largely adopted by lighthouse and harbour authorities.
There are now over 2000 buoys fitted with oil gas apparatus, in addition to 600 beacons, light-vessels and boats.
Electric Lit Buoys.—Buoys have been fitted with electric light, both fixed and occulting. Six electrically lit spar-buoys were laid down in the Gedney channel, New York lower bay, in 1888. These were illuminated by 100 candle-power Swan lamps with continuous current supplied by cable from a power station on shore. The wear and tear of the cables caused considerable trouble and expense. In 1895 alternating current was introduced. The installation was superseded by gas lit buoys in 1904.
Acetylene and Oil Lighted Buoys.—Acetylene has been extensively employed for the lighting of buoys in Canada and in the United States; to a less extent it has also been adopted in other countries. Both the low pressure system, by which the acetylene gas is produced by an automatic generator, and the so-called high pressure system in which purified acetylene is held in solution in a high pressure gasholder filled with asbestos composition saturated with acetone, have been employed for illuminating buoys and beacons. Wigham oil lamps are also used to a limited extent for buoy lighting.
Bell Buoys.—One form of clapper actuated by the roll of the buoy (shown in fig. 52) consists of a hardened steel ball placed in a horizontal phosphor-bronze cylinder provided with rubber buffers. Three of these cylinders are arranged around the mouth of the fixed bell, which is struck by the balls rolling backwards and forwards as the buoy moves. Another form of bell mechanism consists of a fixed bell with three or more suspended clappers placed externally which strike the bell when the buoy rolls.
 | |
| Fig. 51.—Courtenay’s Automatic Whistling Buoy. | |
A, Cylinder, 27 ft. 6 in. long. |
G, Air inlet tubes. |
10. Fog Signals.—The introduction of coast fog signals is of comparatively recent date. They were, until the middle of the 19th century, practically unknown except so far as a few isolated bells and guns were concerned. The increasing demands of navigation, and the application of steam power to the propulsion of ships resulting in an increase of their speed, drew attention to the necessity of providing suitable signals as aids to navigation during fog and mist. In times of fog the mariner can expect no certain assistance from even the most efficient system of coast lighting, since the beams of light from the most powerful electric lighthouse are frequently entirely dispersed and absorbed by the particles of moisture, forming a sea fog of even moderate density, at a distance of less than a 14 m. from the shore. The careful experiments and scientific research which have been devoted to the subject of coast fog-signalling have produced much that is useful and valuable to the mariner, but unfortunately the practical results so far have not been so satisfactory as might be desired, owing to (1) the very short range of the most powerful signals yet produced under certain unfavourable acoustic conditions of the atmosphere, (2) the difficulty experienced by the mariner in judging at any time how far the atmospheric conditions are against him in listening for the expected signal, and (3) the difficulty in locating the position of a sound signal by phonic observations.
Fig. 52.—Buoy Bell.
Bells and Gongs are the oldest and, generally speaking, the least efficient forms of fog signals. Under very favourable acoustic conditions the sounds are audible at considerable ranges. On the other hand, 2-ton bells have been inaudible at distances of a few hundred yards. The 1893 United States trials showed that a bell weighing 4000 ℔ struck by a 450 ℔ hammer was heard at a distance of 14 m. across a gentle breeze and at over 9 m. against a 10-knot breeze. Bells are frequently used for beacon and buoy signals, and in some cases at isolated rock and other stations where there is insufficient accommodation for sirens and horns, but their use is being gradually discontinued in this country for situations where a
