HISTORY Q
Air trumpet foghorns used a coal-fired hot air engine which compressed air in a cylinder connected to a large reed horn
device was developed by Andrew Morse in the United States. He called it his ‘perpetual bell’. This was an elaborate device with a boom floating in the surf. As the swell made the boom move up and down it raised up large weights, which in turn drove the striking apparatus. The major problem with this device was that in foggy weather the sea is normally quite calm, and, while the mechanism worked reasonably well when there was a swell, in rougher seas the boom was often torn apart, and the idea was soon discontinued. There were many developments of
Foghorns have saved countless lives since they were first invented in the mid-19th century
Steam whistles
at West Hoddy Head and Cape Elizabeth in Maine
used locomotive whistles and
clockwork mechanisms for striking bells and gongs, and, although these had to be wound up by hand, some had the capacity for 10,000 strikes of the bell from one winding. They were quite successful and bell strikers lasted well into the 20th century. Many countries started using automatic
were the loudest fog signals in the world at the time
striking bells, but they did have one serious drawback – range. In the mid-19th century a Mr Cunningham of the Scottish Lighthouse Service is reported as noting that the 2.5-ton bell at Howth in Ireland could be heard only one mile to windward against a light breeze in fog, and that if the sea was rough the sound was drowned completely by the noise of the surf. In France hemispherical reflectors were placed behind the bell to help focus the sound. After cannons, bells and gongs, fog signals
started to be developed that would look more familiar to us today. There is controversy about who really invented the first modern foghorn. The first practical power-operated fog signal was developed by Celadon Daboll of New London, Connecticut. Responding to a notice by the newly formed US Lighthouse Board, he
developed a fog trumpet driven by compressed air, the compressor being either manually operated or horse driven and the compressed air stored in a tank. His trumpet was similar in concept to a clarinet reed, and was quite successful, with a range of up to six miles. The next stage in evolution, the steam-
powered whistle, was first seen in 1855. In 1869, steam whistles at West Hoddy
Head and Cape Elizabeth, Maine were the loudest fog signals in the world at the time, and used locomotive whistles. European nations never used locomotive whistles as they were considered too similar to a ship’s whistle and could cause confusion. The 1850s and 1860s were an age of intense experimentation for fog signals, and other solutions such as sirens were tested. There are competing claims for who introduced the characteristic loud and low notes that became standard for foghorns to the present day. Captain James William Newton (1831-1906) claimed credit for the use of low notes, although history has come to credit the Scot Robert Foulis for the first automated steam-powered horn (as opposed to whistle) in 1858. Foulis’s claim is given subjective support by his somewhat romantic story. Foulis, who emigrated to Canada following the early death of his wife, said he heard his daughter playing the piano in the distance on a foggy night, and noticed that the low notes travelled much better through the fog than the high notes. This may be truth or folklore. The first of his foghorns was installed on Partridge Island in 1859. Foulis did file a patent on 9 April 1879 entitled ‘Improvements in Ships’ Fog Signals’. It was Foulis who proposed a unique pattern
31
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
