Friday, February 14, 2020
Acetylene world 8, the most patient of all
Acetylene was an efficient and reliable light source, and the Dalen sun valve was an effective and reliable automatic control for acetylene lights. Lighthouses and buoys used it until the 1930s when electric systems began to reach the same reliability.
One lighthouse stuck with acetylene, and stuck with Dalen, until 2012. Chumbe Island lighthouse, on the east coast of Africa, was built in 1904 as an oil burner, converted to acetylene with Dalen in 1926, and finally converted to solar-powered electric in 2012.
You can see the Dalen hanging on the roof of the light itself, above Polistra's head.
You can see the Dalen hanging on the roof of the light itself, above Polistra's head.Labels: Patient things
¶ 1:42 AM
