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Point Arena Lighthouse on The Mendocio Coast CA

The History of Lighthouse Illumination
Illumination Home Page - Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV - Part V



The Fresnel Lens Revolution
  • Fresnel's Basic Lens Designs
  • Lens Orders
  • Variations on a Theme
  • Doubly Reflecting Prisms

 

Augustin Fresnel

 

First Flashing Lens
1823

First Fixed Lens
1824

First Fixed-Flashing
1825

 


First Catadioptric Lens
1826

 

                           

FRESNEL LENS ORDERS
ORDER
Hyper-Radial*
Meso-Radial*
First-Order
Second-Order
Third-Order
Three and One-Half-Order*
Fourth-Order
Fifth-Order
Sixth-Order
Seventh-Order*
Eighth-Order*



 

 RADIUS mm.
1330 mm.
1125 mm.
920 mm.
700 mm.
500 mm.
375 mm.
250 mm.
187.5 mm.
150 mm.
100 mm.
75 mm.

 

RADIUS inches
52.3 inches.
44.2 inches.
 36.2 inches.
27.6 inches.
19.7 inches.
14.7 inches.
9.8 inches.
7.4 inches.
5.9 inches.
4.0 inches.
2.9 inches.  
* These sizes were developed in the mid to late 1800s and were extensions of Fresnel's design.

The Eight-Order lenses were used almost exclusively in Scotland. In America, the Seventh-Order lenses were called Steamer Lens Lanterns..



HYPER RADIAL
Makapu'u Point

 

FIRST ORDER

 

SECOND ORDER

 

THIRD ORDER

 

THIRD and ONE-HALF ORDER

 

FOURTH ORDER

 

FIFTH ORDER

 

SIXTH ORDER

 

VARIATIONS

 

DOUBLY REFLECTING PRISMS
Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV - Part V
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