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why don't you first check out wikipedia!.
(sorry, yahoo doesn't let me post the link, just go to the wikipedia website and type in lighthouse into the search box)

then you can use google to find more specific websites!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK!!! jk!!! : ) : P good luck j idk random : )Www@QuestionHome@Com

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Terms
Lighthouse: a structure that, with the optic, has some sort of signal to help and guide ships at sea!.
Light: short term for lighthouse, also used for a light-emitting device!.
Lamp: a device for producing light!.
Illuminant: refers to a lamp or similiar device!. also refers to the substance that is used by the lamp such as whale oil, kerosene or electricity!.
Optic: any one of the lenses, prisms or mirrors of an optical device!.
Fresnel lens: together with its lamp and illuminant, an optic that vastly improved lighthouses' beams of lights!.
Beacon: either an illuminated or unlighted aid to ships
Daybeacon: also a daymarker!. Lighthouses have individual shapes and colorings so that daytime identification could help navigators pinpoint their location!.


History
A national Lighthouse Service was established under the Treasury Department on August 7, 1789 when the First United States Congress passed the first public works act!. The first lighthouses were: Boston (MA 1716), Brant Point (MA, 1746), Beavertail (RI, 1749), New London Harbor (CT, 1760), Sandy Hook (NJ, 1764), Cape Henlopen (DE, 1765), Morris Island (SC, 1767), Plymouth (ME, 1769), Cape Ann (MA, 1771), Portsmouth Harbor (NH, 1771), Nantucket (MA, 1784), and Newburyport (MA, 1788)!.

For the next thirty-one years the management of the Lighthouse Service was bounced around the new country's bureaucracy!. In 1820 Congress returned the service to the Secretary of the Treasury, who was told to reestablish it under a new service head!. Auditor Stephen Pleasonton was chosen, a miserly bookkeeper without any maritime experience!. Although his management was questioned, beseiged with accusations of felonious conduct, and severly criticized in investigation reports, Pleasonton remained in office for 32 years!.

Early lighthouses were simple structures, based on a form known as the "fustrum of a cone!." They were round or polygonal toweres with thick masonary walls, few windows and ornamentation!. Of moderate height and utilitarian design, they were made by local craftspeople using local materials (wood, cut stone or rubble, brick or granite)!. There were few people in America with formal architectural or engineer training!. The first college courses were at the U!.S!. Military Academy!. From 1850 to 1880 West Point graduates provided most of the know-how in improved and varied lighthouse construction!.

In 1842 I!.W!.P!. Lewis' report on the lighthouses in Massachusetts and Maine prompted Congress to assign the U!.S!. Army Corp of Topographical Engineers to take over the construction of lighthouses being built by the Lighthouse Service under Pleasonton!. Research and development of lighthouse designs and construction vastly improved the lighthouses!. The effort to build off-shore stations to mark shoals, reefs and ledges became reality with the introduction of new foundation-building techniques!. Lighthouses began to develope destinctive styles, as well!.

Federal Revival Lighthouses (1853-1909) - Early colonial American lighthouses were modeled after european lights, to have structural strength, resistance to wind, and maximum height!. During the Federal Revival period, lighthouse design borrowed the simplicity of the colonial period!. The towers were circular, square or square trapezoidal, mostly short with few ornamentation!. The keeper's dwellings usually had roofs with steeply pitched gables!.

Italianate Influence - This styling shows a masonry structure with low-pitched roofs with wide eaves supported by large brackets; tall vertical windows in the second story, often with arched hood mouldings; and doors that copy the windows!.

Victorian and Gothic Revivals (1867 - 1870) - These were lighthouses with two-story houses with either integrated or attached towers!. Roofs were steep-pitched and gabled, exteriors were coursed brick or patterned wood shingles, extended porches, ornate corner brackets and turned spindlework!. New Jersey's Hereford Inlet or Sea Girt Lighthouses are good examples of the Victorian Revival style!.
The Victorian-Gothic lighthouse was usually a 2 1/2 story structure with thick granite walls, slate sloping roofs with extended cornices!. The tower seems to sit atop the house in the front and is octagonal!. Block Island North of Rhode Island is an example!.

Second Empire Revival (1870 - 1874) - This is another design where the tower is integrated with the keeper's dwelling!. These structures are marked by a steep, sloping mansard roof with dormer windows (which can be arched)!. Rose Island and Ponham Rocks are examples in Rhode Island!.

The Iron Period (1847 - 1909) - Cast-iron lighthouses first emerged when lighthouse design research resulted in the piling-supported, lattice-styled platform on Massachusett's Minots Ledge and the first screw-pile platform lighthouse on Delaware Bay's Brandywine Shoal!. Architectural advances in the new cast-iron technology permited the construction of "coffee pot" and skeleton tower structures!. Massachusett's Scituate lighthouse is a cast-iron tower, Spring Point Ledge in Maine is of the "coffee pot" style, Finns Point Rear Range in New Jersey is a skeleton tower, and Drum Point in Maryland is an example of this!.

To be effective the lamp needs to be high enough to be seen before the danger is reached by a mariner!. The necessary height is calculated by taking the square root of the height of a light in feet and multiplying it by 1!.17, yielding the distance to the horizon in nautical miles!.[9]

Where dangerous shoals are located far off a flat sandy beach, the prototypical tall masonry coastal lighthouse is constructed to assist the navigator making a landfall after an ocean crossing!. Often these are cylindrical to reduce the effect of wind on a tall structure on less stable soil!. An example of this style is Cape May Lighthouse!. Smaller versions of this design are often used as harbor lights to mark the entrance into a harbor, such as New London Harbor Light!.

Where a tall cliff exists, a smaller structure may be placed atop it as the location is already high above the water, such as at Horton Point Light!. Sometimes, such a location can actually be too high as along the west coast of the United States!. In these cases, the lights are often placed below the top of the cliff to ensure that they can still be seen at the surface during periods of fog!. An example of this is Point Reyes Lighthouse!. Another victim of fog was Point Loma Light (old) which had to be replaced with a lower light, Point Loma Light (new)!.


Hyperboloid Adziogol Lighthouse by V!.G!.Shukhov, Ukraine, 1911As technology advanced, prefabricated skeletal iron or steel light houses tended to be used for lighthouses constructed in the twentieth century!. These often have a narrow cylindrical core surrounded by an open lattice work bracing, such as Finns Point Range Light!.

Sometimes a lighthouse needs to be constructed in the water itself!. Wave washed lights are masonry structures constructed to withstand water impact, such as Eddystone Lighthouse in Britain and the St!. George Reef Light off California!. In shallower bays, screw pile ironwork structures are screwed into the seabed and a low wooden structure is placed above the open framework, such as Thomas Point Shoal Light!. As screw piles can be disrupted by ice, in northern climates steel caisson lighthouses such as Orient Point Light are used!. Orient Long Beach Bar Light (Bug Light) is an interesting blend of a screw pile light that was later converted to a caisson light because of the threat of ice damage!. [10]

In waters too deep for a conventional structure, a lightship might be used instead of a lighthouse!. Most of these have now been replaced by fixed light platforms (such as Ambrose Light) similar to those used for offshore oil exploration!.[11]


[edit] Components

Lighthouse lantern room from mid 1800s!.While the buildings differ depending on the lights location and purpose, they tend to share the following components!.

A Light Station consists of the Lighthouse tower and all of the outbuildings, i!.e!. the keeper1s living quarters, fuelhouse, boathouse, fog-signaling building, etc!. The Lighthouse itself consists of a tower structure supporting the lantern room were the light operates!.

The Lantern Room is the glassed-in housing at the top of a lighthouse tower containing the lamp and lens!. Its glass storm panes are supported by metal Astragal bars running vertically or diagonally!. At the top of the lantern room is a stormproof Ventilator designed to remove the smoke of the lamps and the daytime heat that builds up in such a glass enclosure!. A Lightning rod and grounding system is usually connected to the metal Cupola roof to provide a safe conduit for any lightning strikes!.

Immediately beneath the lantern room is usually a Watch Room or Service Room where fuel and other supplies were kept and where the keeper prepared the lanterns for the night and often stood watch!. The clockworks (for rotating the lenses) were also located there!. On a lighthouse tower, an open platform called the gallery is often located outside the watchroom (called the Main Gallery) and/or Lantern Room (Lantern Gallery!.) This was mainly used for cleaning the outside of the windows of the Lantern Room!.[12]

Lights near to each other that are similar in shape are often painted in a unique pattern so they can easily be recognized during the daylight!. This marking is called a daymark!. The black and white spiral pattern of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is an example of this!. The only stone lighthouse in Western Canada, constructed in 1860 by the British at Race Rocks is now a significant historic sight in the Race Rocks Marine Protected Area It was painted in horizontal black and white bands in order to stand out against the horizon!.


[edit] History
Further information: History of lighthouses

K?pu lighthouse in EWww@QuestionHome@Com

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