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Series IV: Light Station Equipment

Scope and Contents note

Series IV dates from ca. 1873-1927 and consists of photographs of a variety of types of equipment along with associated equipment tests and exhibitions. The photographs are arranged by type of equipment or related subject into six subseries: Audible Alerts, Engines and Air Compressors, Equipment Tests, Lenses and Lighthouse Apparatus, Lighthouse Equipment Exhibition Displays, and Unidentified and Miscellaneous Equipment.

Audible Alerts consists primarily of photographs of fog signals. One series of fifteen photographs documents the construction of the fog signal structure and installation of equipment by Hamilton-Foster Fog Signal Co., at Falkner's Island (Faulkner's Island), Connecticut. Four details of fog bell apparatus for the Minots Ledge Light Station in Massachusetts are included.

Engines and Air Compressors consists of a group of photographs by Underhill of Meitz and Weiss oil engine air compressors as installed in various engine rooms. Also included in this series are photographs of unidentified engine rooms, one of which is in Detroit, Michigan.

Equipment Tests show details of various equipment tests, including rust tests on steel and iron, tests of centrifugal pumps, and a few tests of machinery under icy conditions.

Lenses and Lighthouse Apparatus consists of photographs and halftone tear-sheets of lenses and lanterns made by Barbier, Benard & Turenne Manufacturers (Paris, France), Chance Brothers and Co. (London, England), and by unidentified manufacturers. Locations of installed lenses and lanterns have been listed in the finding aid.

Lighthouse Equipment Exhibition Displays includes photographs of equipment displays at various international exhibitions. Also included is a 1927 typescript letter from the acting Commissioner of Lighthouses to the Department of Commerce regarding lighthouse exhibition photographs from the Sesqui-Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1926.

Audible Alerts

Bialy, John A. - Fog bell for Minots Ledge Light, Massachusetts (4 items, elevations and cross sections), undated

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 56 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Daboll - Rotating fog apparatus, undated

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 56 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Hamilton-Foster Fog Signal Co. - Construction of fog signal at Falkner's (Faulkner's) Island, Connecticut (16 items), undated

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 56 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

New England Gamewell Co. - Fog bell machine, [1897], inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 56 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Stevens, George M. (Boston) - Improved fog bell machine, 1897 Mar. 9

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 56 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Unidentified manufacturer -- Whistle reflector, [1896], inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 56 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Engines and Air Compressors

Meitz and Weiss Oil Engine Air Compressor Series, Boston, (by Underhill, New York) -- Engine room interiors (B22901- 2 copies, B22902, B22645), 1915, inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 57 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Meitz and Weiss Oil Engine Air Compressor Series, Boston, (by Underhill, New York) -- Close up of engine components (B22394, B22395, no number), 1915, inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 57 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Unidentified Manufacturers -- Engine room interior, Detroit, Michigan, [1873], inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 58 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Unidentified Manufacturers -- Engine room interiors (3 items), undated

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 58 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Equipment Tests

A.G.A. Flashing & Reducing Chamber filled with ice, 1914, inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 59 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

A.G.A. Reconstructed Flasher operating while frozen, 1915, inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 59 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Centrifugal pump testing (2 items), 1922, inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 59 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Ingot iron and steel rust tests (inscribed as: steel scaled, ingot iron scaled, ingot iron not scaled), [1915], inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 59 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Valve pressure testing series (4 items), [1897], inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 59 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Lenses and Lighthouse Apparatus

Barbier, Benard & Turenne Manufacturers (Paris, France) -- Cape Hinchinbrook, Alaska - Third order lightning light, 1906, inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 60 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Barbier, Benard & Turenne Manufacturers (Paris, France) -- Hillsboro Inlet, Florida - Second order bivalve lightning light, 1906, inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 60 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Barbier, Benard & Turenne Manufacturers (Paris, France) -- Liston Range Rear, Delaware - Range light, 1906, inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 60 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Barbier, Benard & Turenne Manufacturers (Paris, France) -- Mexican Government - Fourth order lenses (half tone tear sheet) (2 copies), [1890], inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 60 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Barbier, Benard & Turenne Manufacturers (Paris, France) -- Point Arena, California - First order lightning light apparatus, 1906, inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 60 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Barbier, Benard & Turenne Manufacturers (Paris, France) -- Unidentified (half tone tear sheet), [1890], inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 60 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

General note

See also: Box 7, Folder 68

Chance Brother's and Co. (London, England) -- Cape Leeuwin, Western Australia - First order light (halftone tear sheet), [1895], inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 61 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chance Brother's and Co. (London, England) -- Cape of Good Hope - First order quadruple flashing light (half tone tear sheet), [1895], inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 61 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chance Brother's and Co. (London, England) -- Makapu Point - Lens (half tone tear sheet), 1908, inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 61 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chance Brother's and Co. (London, England) -- Mexico - Dioptric lighthouse apparatus, [1875], inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 61 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chance Brother's and Co. (London, England) -- Oyster Island, Burma - First order fixed occulting white lens light (by H.J. Whitlock), [1890], inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 61 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chance Brother's and Co. (London, England) -- Pulau Pisang, Malaysia - First order lantern, [1890], inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 61 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chance Brother's and Co. (London, England) -- Spurn Head, England - Single-flashing hyperradial apparatus (halftone tear sheet), [1897], inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 61 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chance Brother's and Co. (London, England) -- Watling Island, Bahamas - Second order double flashing light (by H.J. Whitlock), [1890], inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 61 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Chance Brother's and Co. (London, England) -- Experimental lantern and apparatus for floating light, [1890], inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 61 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Unidentified manufacturer -- Bolina Point, Texas - Lens, [1908], inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 62 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Unidentified manufacturer -- Hawaii - Lens, [1900], inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 62 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Unidentified manufacturer -- Second order bivalve lens (2 items), [1898], inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 62 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Unidentified manufacturer -- Unidentified lens, undated

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 62 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Unidentified manufacturer -- Unidentified lantern base and wick (2 items), undated

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 62 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Unidentified manufacturer -- Unidentified gas burning navigational lantern, undated

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 62 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Lighthouse Equipment Exhibition Displays

Paris Exposition Universelle, Paris, France (2 items), 1900, inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 63 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, CA, 1915, inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 63 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Safety First Exhibit, Washington, DC (2 items), 1916, inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 63 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition, Philadelphia, PA (11 items), 1926, inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 63 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Letter from the acting Commissioner of Lighthouses to the Department of Commerce regarding exhibit photographs, 1927, inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 63 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Unidentified and Miscellaneous Equipment

Light station tool box, 1915, inclusive

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 64 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Vulcan iron and steel works, frame fabrication (2 items), undated

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 64 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Unidentified instrument panel, undated

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 64 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Unidentified equipment shop exteriors (3 items), undated

Offsite-Box: 6, Folder: 65 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
New-York Historical Society
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