Late 19th century U.S. Lighthouse Establishment/Service, Post/ Beacon Lantern with 8-Day Oil Reserve and Red Fresnel Lens. Engraved on the lantern outer rim: "Funck's Patent March 14, 1893." The brass lantern is completely original, featuring a red Fresnel lens (warning light). Incredible restored condition, retaining a weathered bronze patina and with the advancement of an eight-day oil tank reserve. Measures 12 inches in diameter. (14-inch diameter oil reserve) Overall height 23". Weighs 22 1/4 pounds.
LANTERN HISTORY:
J. Joseph Funck, Tompkinsville, New York. Mr. Joseph Funck, the foreman of the lamp shop, is the inventor of the important improvements in the lamps used for the higher order lights, which have made them the most efficient lamps for lighthouse purposes ever invented.
These post lanterns were widely used throughout the Chesapeake Bay and the North Carolina sounds. They were used just as the name implies, mounted on a post at the entrance to creeks and small rivers and to mark shoal waters. This lantern was reportedly from the Wilmington, Delaware, region.
Funck’s 8-Day Lamp (1885)
In the early 1880s, there was a great need for lanterns that could serve as beacon lights on small piers and as post lamps, functioning as warning lights for obstacles on the major inland waterways. The problem with the lamps in use at the time was their need for constant attention. In 1885, Joseph Funck developed the idea of adding a large circular tank for oil around the top of the lamp, giving it the capacity to operate for up to 8 days without attention.
The Funck-Heap Lamp (1892)
In the smaller lighthouses, a lamp called the Funck-Heap lamp was introduced in 1892. It was a standard Argand lamp with a single one-and-one-eighth-inch wick. There was a flame-spreading button in the center of the flame that got red-hot and helped to keep the flame a constant size and shape. The feeding of the wick was accomplished by a screw thread on the wick-carrying tube. The Funck-Heap lamp became the standard lamp used in all fourth-order lenses in the American Lighthouse Service and was refitted into all of the lighthouses using a fourth-order lens as quickly as it could be manufactured. The same design, with slight variations in the flame spreader and chimney, was developed for the fifth and sixth-order lamps.
Here is the link to the actual patent schematics and lantern patent on the USLHS.org site:
click here.
CONDITION:
Overall in good, original condition with one dent in the top chimney cover. A few flecks of white paint is seen on the upper cap. A fine example of this rare style of Lighthouse Establishment navigational aid. Wonderful aged patina. this is most definitely a maritime museum example!
