It's unusual to find a lighthouse with the Fresnel lens still in use but this lens is in the West Point lighthouse. The Fresnel lens was invented by Augustine Fresnel in 1822 and most of these lenses have been removed from lighthouses and placed in museums. The Fresnel lenses were hand made and shipped to lighthouses around the world. The largest lenses were called first order and placed in the largest coastal lights with the smaller lenses placed in harbor lighthouses.
--Gannon with a Canon
2 comments:
Funny you should mention that! A few weeks ago, my brother, who is now in Erie, said there's a Fresnel lens at one of the lighthouses on Presque Isle! So you should go visit your brother in Erie too.
Carol and I went to Niagara Falls, the Dunkirk New York lighthouse and Presque Isle in July 2005. The Presque Isle lighthouse is fenced off so I didn't get a good picture so I couldn't tell the Fresnel lens was still in the lighthouse. I'll have to check more closely the next time I'm in Erie.
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