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Photographic copy of plan, elevation and cross section of fog signal with plans of floors. Section of rain water cistern plus cock and bat for oil pipes. Northern Lights, sheet No.4
E 25633
Description Photographic copy of plan, elevation and cross section of fog signal with plans of floors. Section of rain water cistern plus cock and bat for oil pipes. Northern Lights, sheet No.4
Date 17/4/1897
Collection Records of the Northern Lighthouse Board, Edinburgh, Scotland
Catalogue Number E 25633
Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images
Copy of DC 8485
Copies SC 787667
Scope and Content Photographic copy of sections, plans and elevations of fog signal, Butt of Lewis Lighthouse, Western Isles This shows plans, sections and an elevation the fog signal tower, which resembles a shorter version of the main lighthouse. The tapering tower has a ladder between its three floors, and is surmounted by a parapet with iron railings to allow keepers to attend to the horn (seen in the elevation, right). Detailed drawings on the right show designs for a tap on the oil drum, and part of a cistern. The earliest fog warning signals were bells on cliff-tops rung to warn mariners during fog. These were superseded by foghorns, with a note produced by forcing compressed air produced by a generator through a diaphragm, with the signal itself controlled by a clockwork mechanism and weight. Mariners would recognise the signal by its musical note and the length of time between blasts. Later lighthouses were fitted with electronic fog detectors and electric horns. Butt of Lewis Lighthouse was built in 1862 to designs by engineers David (1815-86) and Thomas Stevenson (1818-87) and stands on the northernmost tip of the Isle of Lewis, officially the windiest spot in the UK. The 37m-high red brick tower is surmounted by a black domed lantern, and has a light which flashes white every five seconds, with a range of 40km over the Atlantic Ocean. The keepers lived in white-painted, flat-roofed cottages around the tower until the complex was automated in 1998. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.
Accession Number 1987/10
External Reference C/10/18
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/729480
Attribution: © Copyright: Northern Lighthouse Board. Courtesy of HES.
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