A Dalén light is a flashing light produced from burning of carbide gas (acetylene), combined with a solar sensor which automatically operates the light only during darkness.

Overview

In the last quarter of the 19th century navigation buoys began to be illuminated, however at first the lights were fixed (continuous) and could be mistaken for ship's navigation lights.

Gustaf Dalén Nils Gustaf Dalén (; 30 November 1869 – 9 December 1937) was a Swedish engineer and inventor who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1912 "for his invention of Sun valve, automatic regulators for use in conjunction with gas accumulators fo ...

invented a valve which could be adjusted to deliver pulses of acetylene into the lamp. A pilot light, which burns continuously, then ignited them. The pattern of flashes (known as the light's ''characteristic'') can be set by screw adjustments. The invention of this system resulted in Dalén being awarded the 1912

Nobel Prize in Physics The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...

. Gas was wasted however due to illumination during the day and subsequently Dalén developed the sun valve to shut off the flashes during daylight. The technology was a form of light source in

lighthouses A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mark ...

from the 1900s through the 1960s, when electric lighting had become dominant. Dalén later invented the

AGA cooker The Aga Range Cooker is a Swedish range Kitchen stove, cooker. Invented and initially produced in Sweden, since 1957 most production has been located in the UK. In 2015, the British AGA Cooker manufacturing company, AGA Rangemaster Group, was a ...

in 1922 whilst recuperating from an accident with acetylene which blinded him. The

carbide lamp A carbide lamp or acetylene gas lamp is a simple lamp that produces and burns acetylene (C2H2), which is created by the reaction of calcium carbide (CaC2) with water (H2O). Acetylene gas lamps were used to illuminate buildings, as lighthouse beac ...

was developed in the early 1900s. While the lamps proved useful in many applications, the problem of safely storing

acetylene Acetylene (Chemical nomenclature, systematic name: ethyne) is a chemical compound with the formula and structure . It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is u ...

meant they needed regular refilling which constrained their use in applications such as lighthouses.

Examples

Lighthouses using Dalén lighting have included: * Barrenjoey Lighthouse, New South Wales (1932–1972) *

Peninsula Point Light The Peninsula Point Light is a lighthouse located at the southern tip of the Stonington Peninsula in Bay de Noc township in Delta County, Michigan. United States Coast Guard historical documents have over the years listed the name of the site ...

(1922–1936)

Upper Peninsula The Upper Peninsula of Michigan—also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. or Yoop—is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula b ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

United States * Point Stephens Light,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

(1922–1960) * Celarain Lighthouse, Mexico (1934 – ) *

Skerryvore Skerryvore (from the Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic ''An Sgeir Mhòr'' meaning "The Great Skerry") is a remote island that lies off the west coast of Scotland, southwest of Tiree. Skerryvore Lighthouse is located on these rocks, built with some diff ...

Lighthouse, the

Hebrides The Hebrides ( ; , ; ) are the largest archipelago in the United Kingdom, off the west coast of the Scotland, Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Ou ...

( –1959) * Recalada a Bahía Blanca Light,

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

(1928–1974)

References

External links

Terry Pepper, Seeing the Light – Lighthouses of the Western Great Lakes, Illumination.
Lighthouse fixtures Types of lamp Synthetic fuel technologies Linde plc Swedish inventions {{lighthouse-stub