Key West Florida - Tumblr Posts
Just another silent film actress
Lighthouse Tech
All of these pictures were taken at the Key West Lighthouse, a very well put together museum with a lighthouse that retains its original lens, as well as some remarkable exhibits in the keeper's house and the entrance building.
A link to the museum:
https://www.kwahs.org/key-west-lighthouse-keepers-quarters/
The pictures listed in the order they appear: 1. Key West Lighthouse; 2. The lighthouse's third order Fresnel lens; 3. Key West's colored sector glass pane; 4. A fifth order lens; 5. The twelve foot high, first order lens from Sombrero Key Lighthouse; 6. A fourth order lens; 7. A diagram showing some interesting information on lens sizes, the arrangement of the sections, and how far they could be seen.
Lighthouses are another interest of mine. I adore these things, and the remarkable engineering that went into them. If any building deserves to be described as a work of art, it's a lighthouse.
The Fresnel (pronounced Frey-nel) lenses are the ultimate blend of art, science, and engineering. They refract light over incredible distances from a comparatively small light source, and they are immeasurably beautiful, in my eyes. They are extremely intricate and very well put together, and if it weren't for the unstoppable march of "progress" and the extreme shortsightedness that seems to come with it, they would last a thousand years.
They come in many different shapes and sizes. Each was unique, as each one needed to fit the specific needs of the area. That, and they were all handmade. The different sizes were known as orders. First orders are on the upper end of the size spectrum, while sixth orders are on the lower end.
Some lighthouses received colored sections so that they could be identified from a distance, or to warn of obstructions. Many of these used sector glass panes in front of the lens, while on some, such as the Umpqua River Lighthouse, the lens itself was colored.
Lens rotation was accomplished via a clockwork mechanism. Some lenses rode on wheeled carriages, but these were not suitable for first order lenses. They were simply too heavy, there was too much friction, and the clockwork could not make them turn fast enough. So, the solution was to find a material for the lens to ride on that would be nearly frictionless. The solution they came up with was to fill a huge basin with mercury and place the lens and carriage on top of it. Mercury is very dense, so the lens actually floats on the surface of the mercury. It is so smooth that a person can rotate a three ton lens with their finger.
I might post some more photos from my trip to Key West. Stay tuned
Key West Lighthouse and Keeper's Quarters Museum
Some of the exhibits contained inside the keeper's house in Key West.