History of lights on buoys?

[prv]

The other day my dad gave me a copy of a pilot book from the 1930s (no, his sailing heyday wasn't that long ago - he in turn was given it by a friend). It's interesting reading, how some places have changed and how others have hardly changed at all. One thing I noticed was the descriptions of buoys - lots of "black & white stripes", "red cone to be left to starboard" etc - the IALA system obviously hadn't come in at that point.

Some of these buoys were lit, and this got me wondering about the technology used. It's easy enough now with a reliable battery and a solar panel, but what were they using in the 30s and before? I'm guessing by then they were electric - did someone row out each week with a fresh battery or something?

Were there any earlier buoys that didn't use electricity? Clockwork self-igniting acetylene or some such crazy system?

Pete

 

[vyv_cox]

There are some bigger ones that have a small diesel generator running constantly. The base of the buoy is the tank and they are serviced once per year. I believe some in the approaches to Liverpool are this type. Doesn't seem likely that engine reliability was good enough more than about 20 years ago, so probably doesn't answer your question in the slightest!

 

[lenseman]

As I worked for Trinity House Lights & Buoys (as well as Sunk and Folkestone Pilots), I can probably answer that for you. I served on THV Ready, THV Penlee and THV Patricia.

Each of the buoys, that were lit, used to carry three five foot acetelyne bottles which we used to change at sea. The timing sequences (Qk Fl 15s, Occ, etc) were controlled by gas pressure and mechanical clockwork mechanism to set the flash timing and rate.

Getting the buoys on deck in a rough sea, with all the fore deck stanchions down and the forward hold open was quite tricky and a 12 ton, barnacle encrusted buoy, sliding around the wet foredeck was not something you wanted to get in the way of.

No toe-tectors, hard hats, gloves! No Health & Safety in those days.

More reading here:

http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/interactive/a_brief_history_of_trinity_house.pdf

 

[earlybird]

I think some early ones were acetylene, with flash timing controlled by gas pressure. This link shows propane. I wonder if it's still in use?
/www.calorscotland.co.uk/case-studies/clyde-buoys.htm

 

[Main Event]

I think some early ones were acetylene, with flash timing controlled by gas pressure. This link shows propane. I wonder if it's still in use?
/www.calorscotland.co.uk/case-studies/clyde-buoys.htm

Keep up at the back there ! See post #3

 

[DaveS]

I think some early ones were acetylene, with flash timing controlled by gas pressure. This link shows propane. I wonder if it's still in use?
/www.calorscotland.co.uk/case-studies/clyde-buoys.htm

Drifting slightly, but..

In the early 1970s I quite often used Achnashellach station on the Kyle line. It was lit by propane worked by a clockwork timer set to the morning and evening train times. Unfortunately the trains were often late, so it was quite common for the lights to go out a few minutes before the train arrived!