Screwpiles: The Forgotten Lighthouses

The First Fresnel Lenses Fresnel, under contract with the French Commission des Phares, installed his original first-order lens in the Cordouan Lighthouse, first exhibited on July 25, 1823. By his calculations, the light was equivalent to 38 of the best reflecting lights but it consumed only half as much oil. The lens was produced by François Soliel with glass from Saint Gobain. 17

In 1893, the MacBeth Company produced the first optical-quality glass in the United States. It was not until 1910 that the first fifth-order Fresnel lens was produced in the United States. The Fresnel lens was universally adopted only after the U.S. Lighthouse Establishment was reorganized by Congress in 1851.

The first Fresnel lenses installed in the United States were at the Navesink Twin Lights in New Jersey. A first-order and a second-order lens supplied by Henry-Lepaute

The sixth-order lenses used in screwpile lighthouses were termed beehive lenses.

of France were first exhibited in 1841.

In 1858, the Brooklyn Flint Glass Company started producing railroad lanterns and some sixth order Fresnel pressed glass lenses. They were not capable of making the optical-quality crown glass made in Europe. In 1890, the U.S. government imposed a tariff of 45 percent on

all imported optical quality glass, which continued until 1910.

First-order Fresnel lens, Cordouan Lighthouse, 1823 Photograph from Musee des Phares et Balises, Ouessant, France

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