Lizard Lighthouse
near Penzance
c.1877 Three 10 HP hot air engines were supplied by A. and F. Brown of New York to drive the generators for the light and the air compressors for the fog signals. The flywheels were 8 ft 6" diameter and ran at 60 rpm.
The fog siren, which produced a 'weird and melancholy' sound, was designed by James Douglass and George Slight of Blackwall.
1894 Installed a Priestman Brothers oil engine driving an air compressor by Johnson and Hutchinson of London.
1908 Three hot bulb engines by Richard Hornsby and Sons were installed to replace the hot air engines, driving De Méritens magnetos. Serial Nos. 30338-40. A fourth was installed in 1921 to repalce the Priestman engine.
1950 The Hornsby engines were replaced by Gardner diesels, three driving Reavell air compressors, and one driving a generator for use when required due to loss of mains supply.
See Also
Sources of Information
- 'Lost Sounds' by Alan Renton, Whittles Publishing, 2001