What do lighthouses look like inside

Composite Group Flashing Light: A group-flashing light in which the flashes combined in successive groups of different numbers of flashes. Composite Group Occulting Light: A light similar to a group-occulting light except that the successive groups in a period have different numbers of eclipses.

Cottage Style Lighthouse: A lighthouse comprised of a small one story buildig with a light on top that housed the keeper s. Crib: A structure, usually of timbers, that was sunk in water through filling with stone, and served as the foundation for a concrete pier built atop it. Daymark: The daytime identifier of an aid to navigation. Diaphone: A sound signal, which produces sound by means of a slotted piston moved back and forth by compressed air. Directional Light: A light illuminating a sector or very narrow angle and intended to mark a direction to be followed.

Emergency Light: A light of reduced intensity displayed by certain aids to navigation when the main light is extinguished. Establish: To place an authorized aid to navigation in operation for the first time. Extinguished: A lighted aid to navigation, which fails to show a light characteristic.

Fixed Light: A light showing continuously and steadily, as opposed to a rhythmic light. A steady, non-flashing beam.

Flash Tube: An electronically controlled high-intensity discharge lamp with a very brief flash duration. Flashing Light: A light in which the total duration of light in each period is clearly shorter than the total duration of darkness and in which the flashes of light are all of equal duration. Commonly used for a single-flashing light, which exhibits only single flashes, which are repeated at regular intervals.

Focal Plane : The narrow beam of light emitted from a Fresnel lens or modern optic. The distance from the water surface to the center of the beam is known as the height of the focal plane. Fog Detector: An electronic device used to automatically determine conditions of visibility, which warrant the activation of a sound signal or additional light signals. Fog Signal: Any type of audible device that could warn mariners from obstacles during period of heavy fog when the light could not be seen.

Bells, whistles and horns, either manually or power operated were all used with varying degrees of success. Fresnel Lens Fray-nel : An optic array manufactured using the design principles of Augustin Fresnel, the French physicist who first established the design, and after whom the Fresnel Lens was named. A type of optic consisting of a convex lens and many prisms of glass, which focus and intensify the light through reflection and refraction.

Fuel: A material that is burned to produce light fuels used for lighthouses included wood, lard, whale oil, tallow, kerosene. Today, besides electricity and acetylene gas, solar power is also used. Geographic Range: The greatest distance the curvature of the earth permits an object of a given height to be seen from a particular height of eye without regard to luminous intensity or visibility conditions.

Gong: A wave actuated sound signal on buoys, which uses a group of saucer-shaped bells to produce different tones. A GPS receiver triangulates satellite transmissions to calculate position on the Earth. Group Flashing Light: A flashing light in which a group of flashes is regularly repeated.

Group-Occulting Light: An occulting light in which a group of eclipses, specified in number, is regularly repeated. Harbor Light: A light to guide ships safely into a harbor. This is usually a small light at the end of a pier. Horn: A sound signal, which uses electricity or compressed air to vibrate a disc diaphragm. Similar to the Coleman lamps, used in camping today.

Inner or rear Range Light: The light in a pair of range lights that is situated behind the other as viewed from the water. Interim Light-keeper: A light-keeper who served on a temporary basis, usually between the appointments of full-time light-keepers.

Interrupted Quick Light: A quick flashing light in which the rapid alternations are interrupted at regular intervals by eclipses of long duration. Isophase Light: A rhythmic light in which all durations of light and darkness are equal. Formerly called equal interval light. Keeper: The person who takes care of the light in the lighthouse. The Head Keeper is responsible for the operation of the light station. Lamp: The lighting apparatus inside a lens. Lamp and Reflector: A lamp and highly polished mirror used before the invention of the Fresnel lens and in some current electric lights.

Lantern: A glass enclosure at the top of the lighthouse tower, which housed the lighthouse lens. Lens: Glass optical system used to concentrate the light in a desired direction.

Lewis Lamp: Invented by Winslow Lewis who patented the design in its primary advantage was that it used less than half the oil of the prior oil lamps. It added a a parabolic reflector behind the lamp and a magnifying lens made from 4-inch-diameter green bottle glass in front of the lamp, a design similar to an Argand lamp. Light Sector: The arc over which a light is visible, described in degrees true, as observed from seaward towards the light.

May be used to define distinctive color difference of two adjoining sectors, or an obscured sector. Lighthouse: Enclosed tower with an enclosed lantern built by a governing authority as an aid to navigation.

Lighthouse Board: The nine member board appointed by the US Congress in , established to manage the lighthouses throughout the United States. Lightship: A ship, usually fitted with a light beacon on a tall mast that served as a lighthouse where it was not practical to build one. Today, there is only one manned lighthouse in the United States. In an effort to preserve the history and aesthetics of lighthouses, the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of outlines a process in which the Coast Guard transfers certain decommissioned lighthouses to nonprofit groups and other organizations at no cost, provided that the organizations maintain the structures and keep them open to the public.

If no organizations claim the lighthouse, it goes up for auction [source: National Park Service ]. The lighthouses of the ancient world were manned by slaves and soldiers [source: Ray]. In Europe during the Middle Ages, monks and nuns staffed the structures.

By the heyday of the late 19th century, most light keepers were professionals employed by agencies like the Lighthouse Board later the U. Many light keepers were formerly fishermen, sailors , sons of light keepers or individuals with some other connection with the maritime field.

Salaries were generally very low -- U. Typically, light keepers worked in two scenarios. The first, a "stag station," was a lighthouse manned by a head keeper and a few assistants who worked in shifts, spending long stretches away from their families. This was particularly common in offshore lighthouses.

In the second scenario, a keeper lived with his family on the premises. With a few notable exceptions, light keepers were almost always men. A light keeper's job required singular attention. Before automation, the scope of his responsibilities including refilling the oil in the lamps, changing and trimming the wicks, sounding the fog signal, cleaning the lens of soot and debris and otherwise keeping things tidy. Officially, light keepers simply reported wrecks and hazards; life-saving endeavors were the province of the U.

Lifesaving Service, a precursor to the Coast Guard. But in reality, light keepers were responsible for saving many lives [source: United States Coast Guard ]. Ida Lewis, one of the few female light keepers in history, is probably the best remembered of this bunch.

These feats earned her a cover story in Harper's Weekly. Lighthouse Service in and brought its responsibilities under the purview of the Coast Guard. Most of the records from the period before have been lost except for log books kept by the light keepers themselves, Gales says. And, unfortunately, none of the light keepers from that era are still alive. Beginning in the s, lightships -- vessels anchored offshore with beacons on top of tall masts -- appeared to warn approaching boats of hazards where lighthouses could not be built.

For their crews, endless boredom, exposure to rough weather and the hazards of shipping traffic were just a few of the occupational hazards.

A lot of those guys ended up going deaf" [source: Gales ]. First constructed around B. It also might have been the tallest structure on the planet: Estimates claim the three-tiered lighthouses might have reached up to feet The beacon was a fire burning in an open cupola -- a small glass device -- that was reflected onto the water with a mirror, guiding ships into the port of Alexandria.

An earthquake destroyed the structure in but undersea remnants of the lighthouse were discovered in The environment around Eddystone Light in Plymouth, England was so inhospitable that this lighthouse had to be built four times. Henry Winstanley started construction on the first wooden structure in and, after he was captured and briefly imprisoned by the French, the lighthouse was lit in In , the already damaged lighthouse was swept out to sea.

The next iteration lasted from until it burned down in Next, esteemed engineer John Smeaton built a lighthouse with a broader base that lasted for years, until a concerned Trinity House disassembled the lighthouse for fear that it would be destroyed in But the hundreds of barge trips and hours spent en route are worth it, Jordan said, for the feeling she gets when she sits outside by the railing and takes in the view.

When she's at her lighthouse, she shuts off her phone and gives in to nature, she said. And it forces you to sit and relax. Each group plays a role in the auction, maintenance, and protection of the structures, according to GSA representatives. Back in the day, lighthouses were constructed with keepers in mind. They would stay on the lighthouse grounds, come whipping wind or high seas, lighting the light and blasting the foghorn to guide ships to safety.

With new technology, however, this is no longer necessary; the Coast Guard only has to check the equipment foghorn, light, battery cells, solar panels every few months at lighthouses still necessary for navigation. Here's where the relationship gets rocky. Maintaining these gigantic structures is expensive, and "the structures themselves are often no longer critical to the Coast Guard's mission," according to the GSA. With no live-in keepers, who is going to take care of them?

When the Coast Guard identifies "excess" lights, the GSA makes them available to nonprofits, local agencies, historic preservation groups, and community development organizations — at no charge.

It's an extensive process with a host of requirements, including a promise to preserve the structure's historic integrity. If there are no successful applications, people like Korstad and Jordan step in.

The properties are put up for online auction , and anyone can buy them, according to Barbara Salfity, branch chief for the GSA. Many of the same requirements apply. A number of lights are available at a time. Extroverts and technology junkies need not apply.