Episode 74 - Mercury Floats

WEBVTT

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Hi everybody, I'm Emily and I'm Vince and this

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is the lighthouse lowdown Vince it's Vince's

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turn now to have the Lucky Charms latte. It's

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delicious. It's absolutely delicious I just laugh

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every time I'm editing and it just comes up every

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time so good. It's just exceptional And so, yeah,

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I made Vince break his diet in order to consume

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the drink of choice for the past month or so.

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Yep. It's a regular latte and a burrito. Anyway,

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I am doing something a little different for this

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episode. I briefly mentioned it to you, Vince,

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but our listeners don't know. I did a listener

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lighthouse and it was very short, very little

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amount of information because it's a. late term

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lighthouse i should say short not in stature

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but in duration yes in like very late to the

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game and so it ended up being really short so

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i was like okay well i'll just do a long history

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buoy and ended up being like four times as long

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of a history buoy as a lighthouse and so i was

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like maybe i'll swap them and i'll do the lighthouse

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for the history buoy yeah and the history of

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buoy will be the main part of the episode so

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that's what i'm going to do Very good. That's

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what I've decided. Let's go. Okay. So, like I

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said. Stretching out. All right. Now I'm ready.

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This is a listener lighthouse. I want to thank

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you. Send a thank you to Vince's mom for sending

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this one in with a picture. No way. Let's go.

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Vince's mom. She was traveling about and sent

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us a picture of Hasita. Hasita head, I think.

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Yeah. And then she sent another lighthouse. I

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figured out what it was. Funny enough, my mom's

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like, man, I'm featured on a lot of these episodes.

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Really? Yeah, we're mentioning my mom a lot.

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So shout out. She's one of our biggest fans.

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I promise we actually have a lot more Listener

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Lighthouses to cover, but this one, obviously,

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it was November, so it's time to put it in the

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list. So yeah, it ended up not having a lot of

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information behind it, but I'm going to cover

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it. So we are going south of San Jose, California.

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And it's on the same stretch of coastline as

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the Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Oh, nice.

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Which doesn't mean anything to me. Redwoods?

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I mean, I know of Redwoods. Is this where, like,

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they are? Some of them, yes. So it's like a lot,

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a cluster of Redwoods and people go and visit?

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A preserved area of Redwoods. Okay, I would see,

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I would go and see Redwoods. They're not that

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different from White House. Oh, you would be

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fascinated. They're, it's beautiful. Like, what

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do you mean? Have you been there? California

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a little bit, and then Washington has some as

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well. Okay. Yeah. Well, cool. I figured that

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if there was a state park or something, you would

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know what I was talking about. And probably a

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lot of our listeners as well. Anyway, this lighthouse

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is called the Santa Cruz Breakwater Lighthouse.

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And the official name being Walton Lighthouse.

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Nice. But people refer to it as Santa Cruz Breakwater.

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Kind of like Walton. That's a nice name. Yeah.

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And you'll see why in just a moment. This harbor

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that it marks, Santa Cruz Harbor, is a haven

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for fishing craft and vessels. So while it has

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heavy traffic in this aspect, it was never like

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industrial or like heavy in trade or anything

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like that. So it's a small craft harbor area.

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And so the need for a lighthouse wasn't super

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prevalent. So it wasn't until 1964 that a box

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light was built and served until 1996. No history

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on that. No pictures. What is a box like? Don't

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know. Thank you for asking. 1964 is late to the

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game as far as lighthouses go. Yeah, it's crazy.

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It's interesting though. This is mostly private

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use, like smaller vessels, like individuals moving

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their boats around better than need in this area

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rather than merchant ships or large trade operations.

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I looked at box lighthouse and it's showing me,

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Crafts. Box -style lighthouse. I couldn't find

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it before, so I just decided I was going to put

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the information in there for people that know,

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and that's the best I can do on information.

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Don't ask questions, Vincent. Yeah, I just knew

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it, too. I always have to reread my notes and

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be like, where is Vince going to ask the inconvenient

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questions, and I need to have something prepared.

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Actually, I did one of that this morning, and

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I'm going to see if you ask the question. Well.

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In a quick Google search, I have also not found

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the answer. Okay, yeah. I don't know. It was

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mentioned, so I'm going to leave it at that.

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But anyway, after 1996, that was like a solid

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30 -something years of whatever this box light

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was. After this, it was replaced with an allegedly

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ugly metal cylinder lighthouse nicknamed the

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Water Heater. So like not well loved by the people

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of Santa Cruz. And so in 1998, the community

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came together to discuss ridding themselves of

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this super ugly lighthouse and replacing it with

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one of classic design to more closely align with

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the characteristics of the town. And I've never

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been to Santa Cruz, but I've heard that it's

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like very homey, I guess. I think it's a really

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nice area. Like a lot of California, right? Yeah,

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I don't know how to describe it. Like cottagecore

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is kind of what I have in my mind. Oh, yeah.

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Colorful buildings. Yeah, just beautiful area.

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Okay. Yeah, that's... Currently, it's 65 degrees

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there. Definitely needed a classic lighthouse

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and not an ugly metal thing. So it's south of,

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for those of you who are not California people,

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south of San Francisco, north of Monterey. So

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very much closer to San Fran than Los Angeles.

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Yeah. As far as... There's kind of a change in

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the layout. You get from... Obviously, it's still

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beachy, but... from Southern to Northern California,

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more sand to more woods. So generally. Cool.

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Very pretty. Thank you for the insight. I've

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only went to California once. I went to Los Angeles

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for a bachelorette party. We got to go back.

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Yeah, we'll go back. I mean, I wasn't there with

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you at the bachelorette party. We've already

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discussed that I'm an East Coast gal. Loss. You

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still want to marry me? Yeah. Okay. Anyway, move

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on here. So they wanted to replace it with a

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classic design lighthouse. And from 1999 to 2002,

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a simple pipe structure held light as they began

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fundraising. So they got rid of the water heater

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like immediately and replaced it with just like

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bare minimum. Do you think the pipe structure

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was worse looking than the water heater? I bet

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it was just like a stick with the light on top.

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I think that would be better than whatever you

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would describe a water heater lighthouse as.

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If I was getting into fundraising, I'd be like,

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look how ugly this is. Oh, true. Maybe everybody

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already knew that it was so bad. But majority

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of the donation, $60 ,000 was donated by Charles

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Walton, which is the name of our lighthouse.

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Charles or Charles? Charles. Sorry. I was going

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to say, Charles is an awesome name. So is Charles.

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You think so? I mean, maybe. Never heard it though.

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Charles Walton. Who gave this money in memory

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of his late brother who was a merchant seaman.

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Nice. So very touching. Good for you, Charles.

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I know. Heck yeah. And by 2001, enough money

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was raised and construction began with the 41

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and a half foot tall white. conical lighthouse

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lit on june 9th 2002 and named walton lighthouse

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after the late derrick walton so that's actually

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a pretty tall lighthouse 40 feet 41 and a half

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feet yeah it's kind of crazy for like at the

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end of a breakwater you know like they like the

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one that i saw um rehoboth beach uh rehoboth

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breakwater yeah yeah i guess that was actually

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pretty tall too that was definitely at least

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four stories so i don't know why i assume that

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like this late in the game marking the end of

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a breakwater you wouldn't need that tall of a

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lighthouse but yeah why not pretty cool if you

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raise the money do you know how much money they

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needed because if he he said a majority was donated

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by charles walton yeah sixty thousand dollars

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yeah i mean that's a lot of money at least it

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was the largest donation okay i don't mean to

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minimize such a big gift right but also we know

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lighthouses are Very expensive. Very expensive.

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Even modern decorative lighthouses. Yeah, for

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sure. Yeah, I don't know. I think it was just

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the biggest donation, like very sizable compared

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to like other people being able to give, you

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know, like we would give $100 or something. It's

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the best we can do. We're planning a wedding,

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so cut us some slack. So the light has a cylindrical

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core with a spiral staircase to the lantern room.

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And it has shotcrete walls, which I believe...

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We've mentioned before, but it's concrete that

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you spray on, which is something I had to look

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up. I was like, shotcrete. And a weather -resistant

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white coating and a copper roof, which is kind

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of fun. Ooh, I love copper roofs. I know. The

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light characteristic is a green light that flashes

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every four seconds. Nice. That's unique. A little

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picture up here of a little detail of the lighthouse

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door and what the lighthouse looks like on the

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end of the breakwater. Yeah, so our first image.

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walton lighthouse i want to describe the door

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because it's awesome how would you i don't even

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like a bookcase door it's weirdly medieval the

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door part but then the door frame is not medieval

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it's very new england lighthouse door frame yeah

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but the door itself is like wood slats with the

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really heavy metal bar that goes across and bolts

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and stuff and then it has an arched top so Very

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cool. I love the text Walton Lighthouse. I will

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probably borrow that for the cover image. Oh,

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that's a good idea. But very cool. And then you

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see some water breaking in an image here with

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some birds flying. Yeah. What is that off on

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the right? There's a really. Oh, it's engineered

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riprap, it looks like. So precast concrete forms

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that kind of build up the structure. Yeah, true.

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We haven't seen that in a while with our lighthouses.

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Especially in the U .S. Usually we have rock.

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Yeah. I mean, and one side of the breakwater

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appears to be rock and the other side appears

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to be engineered. So maybe that's the side that

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takes the most hits. Maybe they replaced some

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of the falling away rock over time. That's so

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cool. Yeah, it's interesting. But beautiful lighthouse.

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I can't believe it's such a recent build. It

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looks... Very historically accurate to some of

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the more adored lighthouses we know. I'd like

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to know if it was designed specifically for this

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or if they borrowed another lighthouse's design.

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Oh, and who's designing lighthouses in the year

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2000? Oh my gosh, that's a great question. There's

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got to be somebody. There's got to be. I mean,

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I'm pretty sure they mentioned the engineer somewhere.

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Engineer, architects as well. I'll have to look.

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Hate giving architects their due. Oh, oh no.

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As an engineer. Is there some feud I don't know

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about? No. It's just hard to work with sometimes.

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We're going to be hearing from architects. Yeah,

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that's all right. We'd like to hear from people.

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We make people angry so that we get more. No.

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We get more interactions. No rage bait here.

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But so notice in this picture that it has a band

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of red just below the lantern room. Yeah. And

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this is its day mark. And apparently, Seaman

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argued that a green light should have a green

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day mark. Like, they just go together. Why would

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you have a red day mark with a green flashing

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light? That's actually a fair point. I know.

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So then they changed it to green in 2003. And

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so this is the picture that your mom sent us.

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Oh, cool. Yeah. Wow. So we're looking at an image

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again. The green day mark has changed. There's

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some folks standing out by the lighthouse. It

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is fair weather. Beautiful out there. Lots of

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clouds in the distance. Sunrise -ish. I will

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say in this photo, maybe it's the photo, the

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paint, the white paint looks a little aged. Yeah,

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it's slightly aged. In just a couple years. They

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didn't build it four years before this, right?

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Two decades. What am I thinking of? Your mom

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sent us this picture last year in 2004. Oh, I

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thought this was 2003. They said 1999 and then

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03. And I was like, damn. Yeah, 03 was when they

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changed it to green. So now it's. Okay, two decades

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later, I must apologize. Right on the ocean front.

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It's like only a couple of years. I'm like a

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couple decades. Here I am insulting the lighthouse

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one slide after. I'm like, wow, this is great.

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And presumably they still have the green flash

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on a beacon up there. Yes, they do. I can't tell

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in our photo. So the copper roof, always love

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those, copper cupola. I don't think there's any

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glass between the beacon. It doesn't look like

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it. And I guess you don't need it anymore, really.

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The beacons are, I'm sure they're designed to

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be outside. Yeah, I bet so. So why would you

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have glass if someone's going to shoot at it?

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Yes, if someone's going to throw rocks. Turds.

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For those of you who don't know, that's happened

00:13:22.629 --> 00:13:25.870
in many of our stories on past lighthouses. Yeah,

00:13:25.929 --> 00:13:28.990
yeah. It's the curse of lighthouses. They draw

00:13:28.990 --> 00:13:32.100
attention from the good and the bad. The rotten

00:13:32.100 --> 00:13:38.580
eggs and the delicious eggs. So my last note

00:13:38.580 --> 00:13:40.600
is just that there's another Santa Cruz lighthouse

00:13:40.600 --> 00:13:45.879
just 1 .5 miles west of this one. And so we'll

00:13:45.879 --> 00:13:47.759
cover that at another time. But it's not to be

00:13:47.759 --> 00:13:49.539
confused with that lighthouse, which is actually

00:13:49.539 --> 00:13:51.200
quite beautiful. It's like pretty sure it's like

00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:53.860
an integral lighthouse. The Santa Cruz, the other.

00:13:53.899 --> 00:13:56.059
And this one is still referred to as Walton.

00:13:56.409 --> 00:13:58.730
Yes, Walton Lighthouse. But most places that

00:13:58.730 --> 00:14:01.269
I see it, it's Santa Cruz Breakwater Lighthouse.

00:14:01.330 --> 00:14:03.389
So that's kind of where the distinction comes

00:14:03.389 --> 00:14:06.230
into play is the breakwater. Cool. Yeah, that

00:14:06.230 --> 00:14:10.070
is Walton Lighthouse. Therefore, I will be moving

00:14:10.070 --> 00:14:13.009
on to our history buoy, which is actually the

00:14:13.009 --> 00:14:20.190
guts of our episode today. The meat. And I actually

00:14:20.190 --> 00:14:23.269
find it very interesting, little bit of science,

00:14:23.750 --> 00:14:26.789
little bit of engineering, some fun. Oh, my gosh.

00:14:26.909 --> 00:14:31.250
And that is Mercury floats. Let's go. We've talked

00:14:31.250 --> 00:14:33.070
about Mercury floats, but we don't know much

00:14:33.070 --> 00:14:35.730
about them. We did not cover them officially,

00:14:35.850 --> 00:14:38.350
but they have popped up, obviously, because lighthouses

00:14:38.350 --> 00:14:42.070
have Mercury floats. So I'm excited to get into

00:14:42.070 --> 00:14:45.389
the details of how they came to be and the fall

00:14:45.389 --> 00:14:50.000
of Mercury floats. Let's do it. Are you intrigued?

00:14:50.259 --> 00:14:53.240
I am. Okay. Mercury float systems were first

00:14:53.240 --> 00:14:57.740
proposed by Augustin Fresnel in 1825. And so

00:14:57.740 --> 00:15:00.059
that was only, I think, two years after they

00:15:00.059 --> 00:15:02.379
put the first Fresnel lens into a lighthouse

00:15:02.379 --> 00:15:06.070
in France. And so he wrote, quote, I propose

00:15:06.070 --> 00:15:08.809
to float our rotating devices of the first order

00:15:08.809 --> 00:15:10.929
in a bath of mercury instead of placing them

00:15:10.929 --> 00:15:13.529
on rollers. This project won't present many difficulties.

00:15:13.870 --> 00:15:16.450
Nevertheless, as I have never put it into execution,

00:15:16.649 --> 00:15:18.490
I won't require you to adopt it for your first

00:15:18.490 --> 00:15:20.629
lighthouse. So I don't know who he was talking

00:15:20.629 --> 00:15:22.629
to specifically, like first lighthouse. That

00:15:22.629 --> 00:15:25.850
was some recorded. Yeah. In some probably other

00:15:25.850 --> 00:15:29.659
country that was about to put in. the first Fresnel

00:15:29.659 --> 00:15:32.360
lens or something he was saying in my mind this

00:15:32.360 --> 00:15:34.179
is a great idea but I've never tried it so like

00:15:34.179 --> 00:15:35.980
I won't say that you have to do that but it's

00:15:35.980 --> 00:15:40.159
a good idea it wasn't until 1890 that it was

00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:43.139
designed and put into effect by the chief engineer

00:15:43.139 --> 00:15:45.700
of the French lighthouse service and so that

00:15:45.700 --> 00:15:49.200
was like almost 70 years later and the reason

00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:52.759
for that is that ships weren't very fast and

00:15:52.759 --> 00:15:56.179
so the fact that the rotation of the flashing

00:15:56.179 --> 00:15:59.139
lens was slow didn't matter because the average

00:15:59.139 --> 00:16:01.019
was like one flash every minute or something,

00:16:01.139 --> 00:16:02.700
which wouldn't matter if your ship was moving

00:16:02.700 --> 00:16:05.620
really slow. But then they started to have more

00:16:05.620 --> 00:16:08.700
steam powered ships, which went way faster than

00:16:08.700 --> 00:16:12.120
like wind, you know, sails and everything. And

00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:15.240
so suddenly the flash pattern was too slow. They

00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:17.600
couldn't wait for one flash every minute to know.

00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:19.919
To slow down the ship to use the lighthouse.

00:16:20.139 --> 00:16:24.539
They put into effect the Mercury float. So I'm

00:16:24.539 --> 00:16:30.039
going to have a. So, okay. questions but you

00:16:30.039 --> 00:16:33.159
keep going okay no you can ask me well i had

00:16:33.159 --> 00:16:36.399
assumed that so we're going to talk about in

00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:39.299
detail but just maybe i'm jumping ahead a mercury

00:16:39.299 --> 00:16:43.679
float is a system in which mercury as a liquid

00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:48.019
it's metal but as a liquid is used as a barrier

00:16:48.019 --> 00:16:50.679
and a lubricant between two surfaces it's lubricant

00:16:50.679 --> 00:16:55.179
yeah it's a super dense yeah so so this system

00:16:55.179 --> 00:17:00.200
is effectively frictionless and so then you can

00:17:00.200 --> 00:17:03.360
start the rotation of something that's a couple

00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:06.319
tons with like the push of a finger and that's

00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:09.019
how they get a lens that weighs thousands of

00:17:09.019 --> 00:17:12.380
pounds can rotate with basically no energy because

00:17:12.380 --> 00:17:15.259
it's on a frictionless surface but you mentioned

00:17:15.259 --> 00:17:18.640
speed so speed of the rotation was that the primary

00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:21.720
motivation you found wow so interesting i know

00:17:21.720 --> 00:17:24.220
i had thought it would be You know, most lighthouses

00:17:24.220 --> 00:17:26.940
operate off of clockwork, so they have a weight

00:17:26.940 --> 00:17:28.900
that falls. And you still need it, because you

00:17:28.900 --> 00:17:31.660
need to power the rotation of the lens and control

00:17:31.660 --> 00:17:34.480
how fast it's moving. I'm stepping on your material,

00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:37.980
clearly. Yeah, obviously. I'm very excited, and

00:17:37.980 --> 00:17:41.420
coffee's getting to me. Well, good. So basically,

00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:43.980
the clockwork mechanism that they had at the

00:17:43.980 --> 00:17:46.779
time couldn't be optimized further than what

00:17:46.779 --> 00:17:50.250
they had. to increase the speed of rotation,

00:17:50.430 --> 00:17:53.109
the power required to be supplied was impossible.

00:17:53.450 --> 00:17:56.710
So that they had reached the end of the limits

00:17:56.710 --> 00:17:59.369
for what they had available. And so then this

00:17:59.369 --> 00:18:02.309
mercury float just kind of like blew past what

00:18:02.309 --> 00:18:04.630
they were capable of doing with just the clockwork

00:18:04.630 --> 00:18:07.150
mechanism. Cool. And so added an extra aspect

00:18:07.150 --> 00:18:09.710
of like engineering that made it possible to

00:18:09.710 --> 00:18:11.970
rotate at a faster, as faster speed when your,

00:18:12.009 --> 00:18:17.109
your lens is 18 feet tall and 6 ,000 pounds.

00:18:17.799 --> 00:18:20.000
It has to be something revolutionary in order

00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:23.480
to get it to move. Revolutionary. Revolutionary.

00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:29.140
We saw a first -order lens at the Maritime Museum.

00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:33.599
Oh, my gosh, yeah. What? It was in Cape Cod.

00:18:33.740 --> 00:18:36.099
Martha's Vineyard. Martha's Vineyard. Was it

00:18:36.099 --> 00:18:38.799
Gay Head Light? Vineyard Haven. Yeah, Gay Head

00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:41.220
first -order lens. Of course. We got a stamp

00:18:41.220 --> 00:18:46.000
for that. It is a huge piece of machinery. It

00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:49.869
takes up. two floors and some extra space in

00:18:49.869 --> 00:18:52.970
this museum which is built around especially

00:18:52.970 --> 00:18:54.849
even the bottom part and i'm going to show a

00:18:54.849 --> 00:18:58.109
picture of a first order lens including the bottom

00:18:58.109 --> 00:19:01.470
like mercury float and the mechanism that rotates

00:19:01.470 --> 00:19:04.029
it and all that stuff yeah it's crazy i would

00:19:04.029 --> 00:19:06.170
not have believed that existed if you hadn't

00:19:06.170 --> 00:19:08.710
shown it to me like a first order lens like standing

00:19:08.710 --> 00:19:11.619
in front of it is like Oh my gosh. Some book

00:19:11.619 --> 00:19:14.079
you're reading, like a piece of glass, 12 feet

00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:16.900
tall, 18 feet tall in assembly. You wouldn't

00:19:16.900 --> 00:19:18.779
be able to think about it. I'd be like, wow,

00:19:18.900 --> 00:19:20.740
that'd be like as big as this room. And then,

00:19:20.819 --> 00:19:23.279
no, actually it's bigger. It's twice as big as

00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:26.420
this room. Super cool. Kind of wild. So you have

00:19:26.420 --> 00:19:29.740
those assemblies on mercury floats. Yes. So I'm

00:19:29.740 --> 00:19:34.940
going to describe a little bit about it. Like

00:19:34.940 --> 00:19:37.240
I said, you dramatically increase the speed of

00:19:37.240 --> 00:19:39.759
lens rotation while decreasing wear and tear

00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:42.500
because of near frictionless mechanism and a

00:19:42.500 --> 00:19:44.319
huge decrease in power needed to get the lens

00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:47.480
rotating. So it worked with four essential parts,

00:19:47.559 --> 00:19:51.220
which varied a little bit between manufacturers

00:19:51.220 --> 00:19:54.500
because, of course, nobody's trying to make the

00:19:54.500 --> 00:19:56.559
exact same thing. They're trying to get it right.

00:19:56.599 --> 00:19:58.380
Yeah, but there's just four main components.

00:19:58.660 --> 00:20:01.880
A bowl and all... describe a little bit more

00:20:01.880 --> 00:20:04.579
of this so there's a bowl or like a basin that

00:20:04.579 --> 00:20:06.839
holds a mercury bath so that's our second component

00:20:06.839 --> 00:20:10.839
and a float which fits into this bowl on top

00:20:10.839 --> 00:20:13.460
of the mercury bath and then there's a ball needle

00:20:13.460 --> 00:20:15.839
or roller bearings to keep the lens vertical

00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:19.579
because you don't like it's so heavy and top

00:20:19.579 --> 00:20:23.240
heavy that if there's any sort of tilt then you're

00:20:23.240 --> 00:20:26.079
losing doing. Yeah. Just you're, we would destroy

00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:28.200
it because, so the shape for people that can't

00:20:28.200 --> 00:20:30.559
see the photos that I've pulled up it, the mercury

00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:33.819
bath is shaped like a donut. And so you have

00:20:33.819 --> 00:20:36.980
a basin shaped like a donut. And if you do a

00:20:36.980 --> 00:20:39.359
cross section cut, then it's like a U shape.

00:20:39.640 --> 00:20:42.119
And then the mercury, there's just very little

00:20:42.119 --> 00:20:44.420
that goes into the bottom of this donut shaped

00:20:44.420 --> 00:20:48.200
basin. And then the float is the exact same shape

00:20:48.200 --> 00:20:52.079
and goes. and fits into that donut shape. And

00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:54.859
so it's like two matching. Yeah, like a key into

00:20:54.859 --> 00:20:58.299
a slot. Yeah, but a donut. A donut. A donut -shaped

00:20:58.299 --> 00:21:02.079
key. So do the bearings go on the vertical walls

00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:05.160
of the basin to keep? I'm trying to picture where

00:21:05.160 --> 00:21:08.339
those would be because I was confused when we

00:21:08.339 --> 00:21:10.839
talked about floats in the past. Yeah. And, you

00:21:10.839 --> 00:21:14.640
know, I know that you can just use bearings underneath

00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:16.980
a lighthouse assembly. Yeah. And then this was

00:21:16.980 --> 00:21:20.019
the improvement here. was to use a float but

00:21:20.019 --> 00:21:22.240
i'm going to pull up a picture where you can

00:21:22.240 --> 00:21:24.940
see the mechanism okay we'll describe what we

00:21:24.940 --> 00:21:27.579
and yeah and because i haven't really like looked

00:21:27.579 --> 00:21:29.839
at where they join and stuff but the mechanism

00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:33.380
that rotates it is usually off to the side and

00:21:33.380 --> 00:21:36.000
then connects to the float system and that is

00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:39.400
what rotates so the the float part is connected

00:21:39.400 --> 00:21:41.279
to the you can see in this photo the lens support

00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:43.779
ring and that's directly connected to the fresnel

00:21:43.779 --> 00:21:46.809
lens so it's like all tightly joined and then

00:21:46.809 --> 00:21:50.349
you rotate the top half of the bath cool looks

00:21:50.349 --> 00:21:54.190
very heavy yeah a properly formed float would

00:21:54.190 --> 00:21:57.450
have only 1 16th of an inch space between the

00:21:57.450 --> 00:21:59.390
sides and this is the part that would be filled

00:21:59.390 --> 00:22:01.910
with mercury the mercury would cover the bottom

00:22:01.910 --> 00:22:04.289
and go about halfway up the sides if you had

00:22:04.289 --> 00:22:06.690
the perfect amount of mercury in there so like

00:22:06.690 --> 00:22:09.630
once the float settles in to your bowl then the

00:22:09.630 --> 00:22:12.529
mercury would go halfway up yeah to the sides

00:22:12.529 --> 00:22:15.130
and they found that if they added more than that

00:22:15.130 --> 00:22:17.589
or a little less it didn't have any effect on

00:22:17.589 --> 00:22:21.069
the speed of rotation so they really they optimized

00:22:21.069 --> 00:22:24.910
it yeah interesting a 16th of an inch by the

00:22:24.910 --> 00:22:27.490
way for perspective i don't know if this will

00:22:27.490 --> 00:22:30.130
mean anything to anyone but an eighth of an inch

00:22:30.130 --> 00:22:33.750
is the width of a saw blade known as the kerf

00:22:33.750 --> 00:22:35.670
yeah so if you're cutting through wood you have

00:22:35.670 --> 00:22:38.130
to account for an eighth of an inch being taken

00:22:38.130 --> 00:22:42.490
away so half of that is epically tight yeah for

00:22:43.339 --> 00:22:46.900
I mean, in modern day manufacturing, all the

00:22:46.900 --> 00:22:48.740
time you're going to see tolerances that are

00:22:48.740 --> 00:22:52.539
way tighter than that. Yeah, for sure. But that

00:22:52.539 --> 00:22:55.119
is very difficult to make. Yeah. And you think

00:22:55.119 --> 00:22:59.200
about such tight, specific measurements on something

00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:04.599
so giant. Yeah. Normally there's some give here

00:23:04.599 --> 00:23:06.420
and there when it comes to like measurements

00:23:06.420 --> 00:23:09.660
with something so enormous. Yeah. But very, very

00:23:09.660 --> 00:23:13.210
specific. So they would also have a small motor

00:23:13.210 --> 00:23:15.930
or clockwork system that would still be used

00:23:15.930 --> 00:23:17.869
to run the rotation, but they would be under

00:23:17.869 --> 00:23:20.069
minuscule stress and therefore last considerably

00:23:20.069 --> 00:23:23.450
longer because it's not having to like really

00:23:23.450 --> 00:23:27.369
strain to be constantly to get it started. It

00:23:27.369 --> 00:23:30.890
would of course need to have a little more power.

00:23:31.529 --> 00:23:34.250
Yeah. But then after that it's based, it's frictionless.

00:23:34.289 --> 00:23:37.049
So it's just kind of like no strain. Interesting.

00:23:37.089 --> 00:23:41.920
I wonder I'm, I'm coffeed up. I wonder if there

00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:44.940
was additional weight they put on to start the

00:23:44.940 --> 00:23:48.079
rotation and then they took that weight off or

00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:50.940
something like that. It would have to be a crazy

00:23:50.940 --> 00:23:53.440
amount of weight to make any difference to like

00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:56.059
6 ,000 pounds. Yeah. Well, I mean, you know,

00:23:56.059 --> 00:23:58.339
force is mass times acceleration. So if you have

00:23:58.339 --> 00:24:01.400
this huge mass, that won't change. But going

00:24:01.400 --> 00:24:06.099
from a velocity of zero to your consistent velocity

00:24:06.099 --> 00:24:08.440
is the only time in which you're going to accelerate.

00:24:08.819 --> 00:24:11.599
So that's the loading. the force on the gearing,

00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:14.700
whatever other components there might be. Once

00:24:14.700 --> 00:24:17.480
you're up to speed, effectively you're frictionless,

00:24:17.480 --> 00:24:19.700
assuming you're maintaining that speed. You're

00:24:19.700 --> 00:24:21.559
just fighting the tiny amount of friction that

00:24:21.559 --> 00:24:24.319
would come from the mercury, from any contact,

00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:28.440
from air resistance, so on, so on. Cool. Also,

00:24:28.440 --> 00:24:32.500
keep in mind that this, the functioning of the

00:24:32.500 --> 00:24:35.859
lens was virtually silent because you'd have

00:24:35.859 --> 00:24:37.980
the sound of the motor running and that's it.

00:24:38.250 --> 00:24:40.269
And what you think about when we went to Nauset

00:24:40.269 --> 00:24:43.450
Lighthouse and how loud that lantern room was.

00:24:43.589 --> 00:24:45.549
That's electric motor. That's modern day. So

00:24:45.549 --> 00:24:47.309
obviously there's some differences there, but

00:24:47.309 --> 00:24:49.769
think about how much worse it probably was back

00:24:49.769 --> 00:24:52.009
then, how loud it was. And now it's just like

00:24:52.009 --> 00:24:56.390
silent. Well, what would, what would be, I mean,

00:24:56.390 --> 00:25:00.509
like, okay. So the rolling action itself was

00:25:00.509 --> 00:25:05.650
loud versus a float. That would be loud. We saw

00:25:05.650 --> 00:25:10.250
a. I want to say it was 1980s technology at NASET.

00:25:10.309 --> 00:25:15.269
It was very large. I'll put in a photo here or

00:25:15.269 --> 00:25:18.690
maybe in a video without noise. Maybe I'll add

00:25:18.690 --> 00:25:25.430
noise. But they were large, like can -shaped

00:25:25.430 --> 00:25:29.869
lights that were rotating about one another.

00:25:30.109 --> 00:25:33.130
They had little vents on them for heat. But we

00:25:33.130 --> 00:25:35.880
stuck our head up there, and it was... It was

00:25:35.880 --> 00:25:37.839
an electric motor doing the rotation. They didn't

00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:40.680
have any clockwork there. And a 1980s electric

00:25:40.680 --> 00:25:46.200
motor in the year 2024. I know they're taking

00:25:46.200 --> 00:25:49.619
care of it, but still it was, you know, it was

00:25:49.619 --> 00:25:51.960
like you're under the hood of a car. Yeah. Yeah.

00:25:52.380 --> 00:25:54.359
It was crazy. I do have a video on my phone if

00:25:54.359 --> 00:25:57.180
we wanted to. Well, I'll put one in. I'll take

00:25:57.180 --> 00:25:59.319
a little pause on our audio and everything. Very

00:25:59.319 --> 00:26:02.720
good. Cool. So, and I also, in the picture that

00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:05.539
I have pulled up, you can see the float. was

00:26:05.539 --> 00:26:09.660
always stationary. Well, actually, okay. The

00:26:09.660 --> 00:26:14.079
float usually was stationary and connected to

00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:16.440
the lens while the bowl would be lowered with

00:26:16.440 --> 00:26:18.940
an enormous screw, like when you had to access

00:26:18.940 --> 00:26:21.380
it. So you can see in the picture that I pulled

00:26:21.380 --> 00:26:23.940
up, it's actually reversed, that the float is

00:26:23.940 --> 00:26:26.180
raised up and the bowl is stationary. You can

00:26:26.180 --> 00:26:29.539
see there's stairs bolted to it. I'm not sure

00:26:29.539 --> 00:26:32.440
what would decide whether or not they have...

00:26:32.650 --> 00:26:36.190
a movable float or a movable bowl, but usually

00:26:36.190 --> 00:26:38.630
it was the bowl because the float was connected

00:26:38.630 --> 00:26:41.809
to so much weight that you couldn't lift. I mean,

00:26:41.809 --> 00:26:44.349
it took more effort to lift the float than it

00:26:44.349 --> 00:26:47.470
would to lower the bowl. So the example I have

00:26:47.470 --> 00:26:49.410
up here is from White Shoal Lighthouse, which

00:26:49.410 --> 00:26:51.890
we've already covered. And I think I only briefly

00:26:51.890 --> 00:26:53.690
mentioned that I had a mercury float. Michigan?

00:26:54.289 --> 00:26:58.089
In the White Shoal's lake. I can't remember.

00:26:59.210 --> 00:27:03.420
Out in the middle of Lake... Superior? Okay.

00:27:03.500 --> 00:27:06.380
One of the Great Lakes. Yeah. I do remember.

00:27:06.440 --> 00:27:10.319
It was Northside, I think. Lake Superior. Yeah.

00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:15.079
Right outside of Mackinac. Mackinac City. I'd

00:27:15.079 --> 00:27:16.799
have to look. You probably got it right. I don't

00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:20.680
know. So my question is, you have a screw, like

00:27:20.680 --> 00:27:23.079
literally like a screw. Giant, yeah. And you

00:27:23.079 --> 00:27:26.700
have, you would rotate around the screw to lower

00:27:26.700 --> 00:27:30.279
or raise for maintenance only. Yes. And then

00:27:30.279 --> 00:27:35.059
let's say the bowl came up. The basin rose and

00:27:35.059 --> 00:27:37.480
the lens support ring and float stayed in place.

00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:39.660
That was the typical installation. The bowl would

00:27:39.660 --> 00:27:42.819
lower, yeah. So you lowered it. Now you've maintained

00:27:42.819 --> 00:27:45.180
it. I don't know what that means yet. But now

00:27:45.180 --> 00:27:46.660
you're going to put it back into place. You did

00:27:46.660 --> 00:27:49.440
an oil change, right? Exactly. You would rotate

00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:53.119
around the screw. You'd rotate the basin. And

00:27:53.119 --> 00:27:58.460
it would rise to a level at which the load would

00:27:58.460 --> 00:28:02.019
leave the screw and the load would enter. the

00:28:02.019 --> 00:28:03.940
mercury bath, so the float would take effect.

00:28:04.680 --> 00:28:07.960
So like right now the lens in this image is suspended

00:28:07.960 --> 00:28:12.400
for maintenance. The lens can't spin. But it

00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:16.000
can spin once it's lifted into this bath of mercury.

00:28:17.940 --> 00:28:23.380
You think? I don't know. I think so, which I'm

00:28:23.380 --> 00:28:26.900
fascinated by. The mechanics behind it. People

00:28:26.900 --> 00:28:30.630
were smarter in the past. At least smarter than

00:28:30.630 --> 00:28:32.569
me. They didn't want opportunities to appear

00:28:32.569 --> 00:28:35.509
smart. Now everything's being figured out, so

00:28:35.509 --> 00:28:37.990
the things that have to be figured out are like,

00:28:38.049 --> 00:28:42.049
you know, physics of like black holes and stuff.

00:28:42.470 --> 00:28:44.190
Yeah, I guess so. A little different than...

00:28:44.190 --> 00:28:46.950
I don't think I could have figured this out,

00:28:47.049 --> 00:28:48.750
but I would love to have worked for the guy who

00:28:48.750 --> 00:28:52.049
did. I'm not an inventor, so... What's that?

00:28:52.309 --> 00:28:55.210
I was always fascinated by old -timey mechanical

00:28:55.210 --> 00:29:00.130
engineers. Yeah, you're... What's the, that you

00:29:00.130 --> 00:29:02.950
did a couple of history buoys over? The patents.

00:29:03.029 --> 00:29:06.289
Yeah. Some of the patents on the US LHS website

00:29:06.289 --> 00:29:11.210
for different foghorn and other mechanisms, float

00:29:11.210 --> 00:29:14.190
mechanisms. This is cool. Very cool. The next

00:29:14.190 --> 00:29:16.250
picture that I'm going to show may be familiar

00:29:16.250 --> 00:29:20.109
to you if you remember and listened to our Minot's

00:29:20.109 --> 00:29:23.180
Ledge Lighthouse episode. So this is very interesting.

00:29:23.279 --> 00:29:26.299
Cape Charles Lighthouse and Minot's Ledge Lighthouse

00:29:26.299 --> 00:29:29.519
had the first mercury floats installed in America

00:29:29.519 --> 00:29:36.279
in 1895. And I mentioned that these lenses were

00:29:36.279 --> 00:29:38.160
the first and only of their kind to have a numbered

00:29:38.160 --> 00:29:40.700
flash pattern called the Mahan system. Mahan

00:29:40.700 --> 00:29:44.160
system. Yes. Yeah. And evidently, they were also

00:29:44.160 --> 00:29:47.259
at the convention showing off America's first

00:29:47.259 --> 00:29:50.660
mercury floats. So it's so crazy that I covered...

00:29:51.449 --> 00:29:55.109
this happening and didn't know like it really

00:29:55.109 --> 00:29:56.630
just goes to show that there's always like more

00:29:56.630 --> 00:30:00.329
to learn where if i had known that mercury floats

00:30:00.329 --> 00:30:04.829
came to america in like the 1890s then i may

00:30:04.829 --> 00:30:07.690
have seen that these lenses were at a convention

00:30:07.690 --> 00:30:09.849
and been like oh it says they're mercury floats

00:30:09.849 --> 00:30:11.490
i wonder if these were the first ones but i'm

00:30:11.490 --> 00:30:13.930
just like oh and they were mercury float and

00:30:13.930 --> 00:30:15.809
here you are yeah and i just like move on but

00:30:15.809 --> 00:30:17.769
then i'm like oh my gosh they were also the first

00:30:17.769 --> 00:30:20.940
ones i just Talked a whole history buoy over

00:30:20.940 --> 00:30:23.680
these lenses being at this convention without

00:30:23.680 --> 00:30:26.359
noticing that it was revolutionary in two different

00:30:26.359 --> 00:30:30.759
aspects. Historical. So anyway, I have a picture

00:30:30.759 --> 00:30:37.880
of our Cape Charles. Oh, okay. I forgot I have

00:30:37.880 --> 00:30:40.640
this also, this picture. This is an example of

00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:44.200
where the float lowers in the screw. Yeah. And

00:30:44.200 --> 00:30:47.180
so you can kind of see the top lip of this. The

00:30:47.180 --> 00:30:49.619
float system and the rest of it is just the basin

00:30:49.619 --> 00:30:53.119
that holds everything. So you would lower the

00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:56.019
basin on this one screw and then raise it back

00:30:56.019 --> 00:30:58.920
up. So do you think the plaque that shows Grays

00:30:58.920 --> 00:31:02.599
Harbor is part of the bowl? Yes. Okay. So those

00:31:02.599 --> 00:31:07.380
high walls are the trough that is the bowl. Yeah.

00:31:07.460 --> 00:31:10.359
Okay. Really cool. Just an example there. Even

00:31:10.359 --> 00:31:12.779
old iron work used to be so cool. I know. Everything

00:31:12.779 --> 00:31:17.920
looked so nice. Ornate. So this is the picture

00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:19.720
that I was going to pull up. So this is our Cape

00:31:19.720 --> 00:31:26.380
Charles. You can see the float is that it's hiding

00:31:26.380 --> 00:31:29.539
behind the clockwork mechanism. So you can just

00:31:29.539 --> 00:31:32.119
see the edges of the top of the float. So all

00:31:32.119 --> 00:31:35.680
the rest of this was just the mechanism to rotate

00:31:35.680 --> 00:31:39.539
probably the shaft that goes up to the lens and

00:31:39.539 --> 00:31:42.380
connects to the bottom of it. I'm sure the examples

00:31:42.380 --> 00:31:45.059
that I saw before this were like fourth order.

00:31:47.329 --> 00:31:50.170
Fourth order lenses. Some smaller. Yes. Assemblies.

00:31:50.250 --> 00:31:54.130
So this one obviously has a lot more like metal

00:31:54.130 --> 00:31:56.470
work around the bottom of it, probably because

00:31:56.470 --> 00:31:59.250
it has to distribute weight and like. I would

00:31:59.250 --> 00:32:01.829
guess with such a long distance between the bowl

00:32:01.829 --> 00:32:04.490
and the lens, especially at the top of the lens.

00:32:04.609 --> 00:32:06.829
Yeah. That's where you're going to need some

00:32:06.829 --> 00:32:09.670
bearings. Yeah. Because I had thought, well,

00:32:09.690 --> 00:32:11.630
how are they going to work with a mercury float?

00:32:11.809 --> 00:32:14.349
I would guess they're probably above it to stabilize,

00:32:14.390 --> 00:32:16.960
like you said, to keep. Keep upright. Because

00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:20.099
otherwise, that's quite a bit of loading. Yeah,

00:32:20.160 --> 00:32:22.980
for sure. Really cool. So yeah. So there's a

00:32:22.980 --> 00:32:26.079
little bit of friction there. But yeah, in areas

00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:30.339
that aren't related to the Mercury. From 1893

00:32:30.339 --> 00:32:34.539
to 1914, the U .S. purchased three first -order

00:32:34.539 --> 00:32:37.759
float lenses, five second -order, nine third

00:32:37.759 --> 00:32:41.000
-order, five third -and -a -half orders, and

00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:46.049
17 fourth -order float lenses. So that was the...

00:32:46.049 --> 00:32:48.009
They were buying them. Yeah, that was when we

00:32:48.009 --> 00:32:52.289
were sourcing them from overseas instead of making

00:32:52.289 --> 00:32:55.390
them ourselves. And it wasn't until 1915 that

00:32:55.390 --> 00:32:57.549
a float was tested and built in the U .S. of

00:32:57.549 --> 00:33:00.849
our own design. And this was at Ashtabula Light

00:33:00.849 --> 00:33:04.809
Station. Ashtabula. Ashtabula. Any more info

00:33:04.809 --> 00:33:07.470
on that? No. Maybe I'll cover it some other time.

00:33:07.569 --> 00:33:11.269
But that was the site for the first... test mercury

00:33:11.269 --> 00:33:13.609
float and this was for smaller lenses and they

00:33:13.609 --> 00:33:16.369
found that to get the 4 000 pound lens moving

00:33:16.369 --> 00:33:19.569
it required 2 000 pounds force and with a float

00:33:19.569 --> 00:33:22.309
system that weight was reduced to 75 pounds to

00:33:22.309 --> 00:33:25.650
get it moving wow yeah so very significant change

00:33:25.650 --> 00:33:30.670
to getting it getting it going i bet the skepticism

00:33:30.670 --> 00:33:33.869
around this was so high because it's so it's

00:33:33.869 --> 00:33:36.630
such an obscure where do you get mercury from

00:33:36.940 --> 00:33:39.079
In the first place. Like if you had told me this

00:33:39.079 --> 00:33:40.579
whole thing and you're like, yeah, and they used

00:33:40.579 --> 00:33:43.900
oil in the basin instead of mercury, I'd be like,

00:33:43.980 --> 00:33:45.859
oh yeah. That's tools that everyone's familiar

00:33:45.859 --> 00:33:49.680
with. Mercury. This is like so obscure. I have

00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:53.599
no idea where it comes from. It's, there's, I'm

00:33:53.599 --> 00:33:55.380
pretty sure you mine it. I don't think there's

00:33:55.380 --> 00:33:58.759
a lot of places where mercury is in its liquid

00:33:58.759 --> 00:34:03.039
form on the earth, but you mine it and then like,

00:34:03.059 --> 00:34:06.920
I guess. As maybe you purify or extract it, it's

00:34:06.920 --> 00:34:09.420
liquid? I don't know. You can freeze. I don't

00:34:09.420 --> 00:34:11.400
know the properties. You can freeze mercury pretty

00:34:11.400 --> 00:34:16.079
easily, I think. Give me one moment. I can't

00:34:16.079 --> 00:34:22.139
help myself. I was wrong. What is it? Mercury

00:34:22.139 --> 00:34:25.960
freezes at a temperature of negative, almost

00:34:25.960 --> 00:34:28.880
38 degrees Fahrenheit. Oh. Okay, that's not that.

00:34:30.059 --> 00:34:33.079
that's not that cold i mean we but i that's the

00:34:33.079 --> 00:34:35.380
temperature you can achieve in america just in

00:34:35.380 --> 00:34:39.599
the air but with yeah it's tough though with

00:34:39.599 --> 00:34:41.619
refrigerant for sure you can do that well what

00:34:41.619 --> 00:34:45.159
about um like dipping dots because we came across

00:34:45.159 --> 00:34:47.059
those yesterday liquid nitrogen is typically

00:34:47.059 --> 00:34:50.940
used keep dipping dots frozen at like a temperature

00:34:50.940 --> 00:34:54.099
that's not achievable in a freezer what well

00:34:54.099 --> 00:34:57.079
you can't so i work in refrigeration and hvac

00:34:57.079 --> 00:34:59.519
you can use different refrigerants with different

00:35:00.240 --> 00:35:03.800
and different rates to achieve certain heat transfer

00:35:03.800 --> 00:35:06.719
and stay at a certain temperature. See, Dippin'

00:35:06.760 --> 00:35:08.639
Dots requires storage at a temperature of negative

00:35:08.639 --> 00:35:12.980
40 Fahrenheit. So you can freeze mercury in a

00:35:12.980 --> 00:35:20.539
Dippin' Dots freezer. And the other side of the

00:35:20.539 --> 00:35:25.219
equation, mercury doesn't boil until 674 Fahrenheit.

00:35:25.260 --> 00:35:28.599
The important part is that you can have it in

00:35:28.599 --> 00:35:31.670
a lantern room. Because you know how hot lantern

00:35:31.670 --> 00:35:34.030
rooms get. And I actually am going to cover some

00:35:34.030 --> 00:35:36.909
more interesting details about it. Okay. I'll

00:35:36.909 --> 00:35:39.809
keep this up just in case. So the Ashtabula Light

00:35:39.809 --> 00:35:41.389
Station was the first one to have this float

00:35:41.389 --> 00:35:43.469
design. And we made several more after that.

00:35:43.809 --> 00:35:47.389
But in 1920, the largest float system ever was

00:35:47.389 --> 00:35:49.789
built in the U .S. for Cape Fear Lighthouse,

00:35:49.949 --> 00:35:53.550
which is no longer. So it's kind of sad. It's

00:35:53.550 --> 00:35:56.349
a cool, cool name. I know. Well, it made me think

00:35:56.349 --> 00:35:58.739
of Cape Disappointment. I'm like, how many? Other

00:35:58.739 --> 00:36:02.119
like emotions are, we should like cover all the

00:36:02.119 --> 00:36:06.139
lighthouse emotions. It had an enormous first

00:36:06.139 --> 00:36:08.380
order lens that weighed 6 ,000 pounds. So this

00:36:08.380 --> 00:36:11.199
was my example for like the heaviest. Every time

00:36:11.199 --> 00:36:14.139
I talked about something being the heaviest is

00:36:14.139 --> 00:36:17.679
Cape Fear that I was referring to. And the float

00:36:17.679 --> 00:36:19.960
was also the last put into service in the US.

00:36:20.760 --> 00:36:25.300
So 1920 was the end of like new lighthouse float

00:36:25.300 --> 00:36:30.860
systems. And this was because while it was a

00:36:30.860 --> 00:36:32.760
lot more efficient and we all know it now, it's

00:36:32.760 --> 00:36:35.480
also a lot more expensive. So that's our first,

00:36:35.559 --> 00:36:38.340
there's two strikes against mercury. Engineers

00:36:38.340 --> 00:36:41.320
hate to hear that. I know. One of them being

00:36:41.320 --> 00:36:43.679
that it's very expensive. So what could be achieved

00:36:43.679 --> 00:36:48.179
with a $15 ball bearing was replaced with $100

00:36:48.179 --> 00:36:52.239
worth of mercury. So obviously it's, you're paying

00:36:52.239 --> 00:36:55.300
the price for the efficiency that you're seeking.

00:36:55.929 --> 00:36:58.769
As an example, a second -order lens with a chariot

00:36:58.769 --> 00:37:02.769
cost $4 ,000 in 1880, which I need to cover clockwork,

00:37:02.849 --> 00:37:06.610
but I'm like, I'm intimidated. I thought Mercury

00:37:06.610 --> 00:37:09.210
floats were going to be a short history buoy.

00:37:09.429 --> 00:37:10.949
And here we are. And then I started researching.

00:37:11.030 --> 00:37:12.309
I was like, wow, look at all this information.

00:37:12.590 --> 00:37:14.650
My main source of information being from the

00:37:14.650 --> 00:37:18.130
USLHS had a... Shout out. I think Jim Woodward

00:37:18.130 --> 00:37:21.309
is his name. It sounds familiar. We've talked

00:37:21.309 --> 00:37:25.550
about him before. Yeah, James Woodward. He did

00:37:25.550 --> 00:37:28.650
a whole paper on Mercury float rotation. Awesome.

00:37:28.809 --> 00:37:30.329
That's what I used for most of this information.

00:37:30.550 --> 00:37:33.210
Thank you, James. Yeah, that's in our show notes,

00:37:33.210 --> 00:37:35.309
a link, so that you guys can check it out too.

00:37:35.389 --> 00:37:37.170
It's very good. I didn't include all the information.

00:37:37.750 --> 00:37:42.409
Anyway, I only cover chariots and clockwork rotation

00:37:42.409 --> 00:37:45.150
and all that in other history movies or other

00:37:45.150 --> 00:37:48.909
episodes. $4 ,000 in 1880 for one of those, and

00:37:48.909 --> 00:37:51.449
then a second order floating lens was $12 ,500.

00:37:52.110 --> 00:37:56.260
Yeah. significant price difference and we learned

00:37:56.260 --> 00:37:58.960
more about mercury over time i mean mercury used

00:37:58.960 --> 00:38:03.019
to be readily in every thermostat yeah like i

00:38:03.019 --> 00:38:05.639
remember when i broke one when i was a kid in

00:38:05.639 --> 00:38:08.900
my mom's bathroom and the little beads went between

00:38:08.900 --> 00:38:12.119
all the tiles and i just moved them around and

00:38:12.119 --> 00:38:14.860
then my mom saw like found me like playing with

00:38:14.860 --> 00:38:20.969
mercury she's like don't touch that It's so funny.

00:38:21.010 --> 00:38:23.570
I totally forgot about that until I was researching

00:38:23.570 --> 00:38:25.329
this. And I was like, wait a minute, I've touched

00:38:25.329 --> 00:38:28.349
mercury before. Like, that's crazy. It's so funny.

00:38:28.429 --> 00:38:35.289
I had my dorm room at KU. So year 2015 had a

00:38:35.289 --> 00:38:37.449
thermostat in the room that was no longer active,

00:38:37.530 --> 00:38:40.090
but it was abandoned in place. Wow. And took

00:38:40.090 --> 00:38:42.849
off the cover because I'm an engineer. And underneath

00:38:42.849 --> 00:38:45.539
there's a mercury vial. And I would just touch

00:38:45.539 --> 00:38:49.320
it. Like it was contained. It's a vacuum. But

00:38:49.320 --> 00:38:51.179
I would just, you know, as if the thermostat

00:38:51.179 --> 00:38:53.119
was turning on and off. Yeah. I would flip it

00:38:53.119 --> 00:38:55.380
and it would watch it. Ooh, this way. Back that

00:38:55.380 --> 00:38:58.019
way. It was like a dime amount of mercury. Yeah.

00:38:58.340 --> 00:39:02.039
Always just a little. As we learned in time that

00:39:02.039 --> 00:39:04.639
we should try to avoid toxic things. Yes. Should

00:39:04.639 --> 00:39:08.119
never touch it. Everyone don't touch it. There's

00:39:08.119 --> 00:39:11.219
still people having lots of mercury indigestion

00:39:11.219 --> 00:39:15.909
or. Indigestion. Ingestion. There were, I think

00:39:15.909 --> 00:39:17.909
this is the thing still. People make watches

00:39:17.909 --> 00:39:21.349
using mercury as like they paint it on. What?

00:39:21.469 --> 00:39:23.949
And they like lick the, it's worth looking into.

00:39:24.070 --> 00:39:25.809
We'll look at it maybe outside of this episode.

00:39:25.929 --> 00:39:28.050
Oh, are you talking about the women who would

00:39:28.050 --> 00:39:30.309
lick the paintbrushes as they were doing the

00:39:30.309 --> 00:39:32.449
watches? That was uranium, I think, or something.

00:39:32.750 --> 00:39:34.909
Something that glows. Something radioactive,

00:39:35.010 --> 00:39:38.170
yeah. I can't remember exactly. I can't remember

00:39:38.170 --> 00:39:40.510
either. They use it in a lot of like firearms

00:39:40.510 --> 00:39:45.170
stuff as well. Really? Like tritium. like night

00:39:45.170 --> 00:39:47.190
sights. Yeah. Things that are radioactive that

00:39:47.190 --> 00:39:50.769
glow. Yeah. They still, I mean, mercury is, it's

00:39:50.769 --> 00:39:53.690
dangerous, but it's used in a lot of stuff today.

00:39:53.730 --> 00:39:57.670
Like, like medication and things. Oh really?

00:39:57.750 --> 00:40:00.150
Yeah. Something that you ingest. I can't remember

00:40:00.150 --> 00:40:03.210
what it was. I wish I'd made more. I made this,

00:40:03.230 --> 00:40:05.469
I made this less about mercury and more about

00:40:05.469 --> 00:40:08.530
mercury floats. So yeah, I pulled us off. I pulled

00:40:08.530 --> 00:40:10.909
us off track. Get us back, back in the float.

00:40:10.969 --> 00:40:13.840
Yeah. So. The first thing is that it was expensive.

00:40:13.980 --> 00:40:16.360
The second thing, obviously, the health concerns

00:40:16.360 --> 00:40:19.739
that come with handling mercury. And they actually,

00:40:19.880 --> 00:40:22.699
we've known for hundreds of years before this

00:40:22.699 --> 00:40:26.119
that mercury is dangerous. Mad as a hatter is

00:40:26.119 --> 00:40:29.239
a term that came from felt hat makers who used

00:40:29.239 --> 00:40:33.280
mercury compounds and they would have, they'd

00:40:33.280 --> 00:40:35.460
be mentally affected by their use of mercury

00:40:35.460 --> 00:40:38.280
so much so that it became a saying to be mad

00:40:38.280 --> 00:40:41.920
as a hatter. Awesome. Criminals of Rome, the

00:40:41.920 --> 00:40:44.239
worst ones, were sent to work in the Cinnabar

00:40:44.239 --> 00:40:47.840
mines in Spain with a life expectancy of three

00:40:47.840 --> 00:40:51.320
years. The mines for mercury. Cinnabar, yeah.

00:40:52.300 --> 00:40:57.659
It's mercury ore and it's bright red. So then

00:40:57.659 --> 00:41:00.440
they would use this for like lipstick and paint.

00:41:00.539 --> 00:41:05.940
Oh my God. Yeah. It's not good. That's why they

00:41:05.940 --> 00:41:07.579
always tell you never to use makeup products

00:41:07.579 --> 00:41:11.980
from... Old days? The olden days. Well, way back

00:41:11.980 --> 00:41:14.659
in the olden days, like blue was a very difficult

00:41:14.659 --> 00:41:18.599
color to find in nature to use for decoration.

00:41:18.679 --> 00:41:21.519
So blue was the color of the Royals for that

00:41:21.519 --> 00:41:23.920
reason. Not the baseball team, but those who

00:41:23.920 --> 00:41:26.139
were Royals. Yeah. And I think that's also why

00:41:26.139 --> 00:41:27.940
it's the color of the baseball team. Purple,

00:41:27.980 --> 00:41:30.840
I think, was also. Yeah. I think any bright color

00:41:30.840 --> 00:41:34.460
was difficult. Red, I'm sure. And then gold has

00:41:34.460 --> 00:41:39.670
a long history. Cool. Really cool. Yeah. We already

00:41:39.670 --> 00:41:41.849
knew that it was dangerous. But for some reason,

00:41:41.909 --> 00:41:45.449
concerns about this and like testing and research

00:41:45.449 --> 00:41:49.110
and everything didn't start until 1980s. 1980s?

00:41:49.110 --> 00:41:53.349
I was almost alive. My parents were 20 -something

00:41:53.349 --> 00:41:55.650
in the 1980s. I don't think we cared about the

00:41:55.650 --> 00:41:58.469
world too much. But how crazy. Like we already

00:41:58.469 --> 00:42:01.130
knew that it... killed criminals within three

00:42:01.130 --> 00:42:05.650
years of mining it in its natural form. Not even

00:42:05.650 --> 00:42:08.389
like it's concentrated, like elemental. Well,

00:42:08.489 --> 00:42:11.050
this may be naive to say, but I don't think that

00:42:11.050 --> 00:42:15.570
there's been a historical movement at any time

00:42:15.570 --> 00:42:19.369
on the premise of environmental preservation

00:42:19.369 --> 00:42:23.329
or climate change, any of those things until

00:42:23.329 --> 00:42:25.710
the 70s, which was the hippie movement. Well,

00:42:25.730 --> 00:42:27.630
that's not even environmental. That's just...

00:42:27.849 --> 00:42:30.889
Human health? It included, well, they did a lot

00:42:30.889 --> 00:42:33.769
of drugs. Wait, what are you talking about? 1970s,

00:42:33.769 --> 00:42:38.030
the hippie movement, and then 1980s was like,

00:42:38.070 --> 00:42:41.690
again, we weren't around, but like cocaine, cowboys

00:42:41.690 --> 00:42:45.909
decade, like Scarface. Not everybody was doing

00:42:45.909 --> 00:42:47.949
cocaine in the 80s, but I just mean like it was

00:42:47.949 --> 00:42:50.889
a different time. I don't think environmental

00:42:50.889 --> 00:42:53.869
studies really picked up until probably the 70s

00:42:53.869 --> 00:42:57.099
or 80s. But it's not environmental, it's... I

00:42:57.099 --> 00:42:59.780
mean, at all. Like any scientific research to

00:42:59.780 --> 00:43:02.280
try to. Oh, research in general. Like OSHA, like

00:43:02.280 --> 00:43:05.260
occupational safety wasn't around, I don't think

00:43:05.260 --> 00:43:08.179
at all until the 80s. Okay. Like people just

00:43:08.179 --> 00:43:11.800
died working on skyscrapers and mines. So just

00:43:11.800 --> 00:43:15.760
more awareness coming up in the 80s than before.

00:43:15.860 --> 00:43:20.110
Like, oh, maybe we should care about. Like, why

00:43:20.110 --> 00:43:22.570
mercury is a problem? Well, I mean, even like,

00:43:22.690 --> 00:43:24.889
I'm a little off track, I know, but Triangle

00:43:24.889 --> 00:43:26.909
Island Lighthouse we talked about. Yeah. And

00:43:26.909 --> 00:43:29.329
the scientific research station that was out

00:43:29.329 --> 00:43:32.349
there on Triangle Island was mostly to study

00:43:32.349 --> 00:43:37.750
birds. And all the birds, puffins, I think. I'm

00:43:37.750 --> 00:43:39.869
pretty sure you said puffins. All these birds,

00:43:40.130 --> 00:43:43.730
like 80 % of their world's population is on those

00:43:43.730 --> 00:43:47.130
islands. Yeah. Away from people and other predators.

00:43:47.389 --> 00:43:52.010
And like. We just set up a couple of stations.

00:43:52.289 --> 00:43:55.150
What are they called? Connex boxes. Those big

00:43:55.150 --> 00:43:58.110
truck steel shipping boxes. That's what they're

00:43:58.110 --> 00:44:03.010
called. Military invented them. But set up those

00:44:03.010 --> 00:44:05.570
and put some lights and desks in them and started

00:44:05.570 --> 00:44:08.150
studying birds. I think all this started happening

00:44:08.150 --> 00:44:11.929
late in the 1900s. Yeah, like a curiosity for...

00:44:11.929 --> 00:44:14.670
And with computers and technology, we could start

00:44:14.670 --> 00:44:19.119
databases. Anyways, I'm way off track. Sorry.

00:44:19.260 --> 00:44:22.679
No, you're good. Through this research, we find

00:44:22.679 --> 00:44:25.059
that mercury can get you through three different

00:44:25.059 --> 00:44:27.599
methods of exposure. And that being inhalation,

00:44:27.619 --> 00:44:29.719
absorption, and ingestion. So it's kind of like,

00:44:29.780 --> 00:44:31.980
it's tough. It's a triple whammy. You got to

00:44:31.980 --> 00:44:33.840
watch out because it can get you from any direction.

00:44:34.239 --> 00:44:37.800
You can't just not drink it. Yeah, exactly. It's

00:44:37.800 --> 00:44:42.139
like, oh no. The vapors in mercury floats were

00:44:42.139 --> 00:44:46.659
reduced by pouring a layer of motor oil. Smart.

00:44:46.739 --> 00:44:49.000
Over the top, so it kind of traps it. But obviously,

00:44:49.099 --> 00:44:51.920
that doesn't stop. It's not perfect. No, and

00:44:51.920 --> 00:44:54.820
it's so hot in the lantern rooms that the vapors

00:44:54.820 --> 00:44:56.699
are inevitable. They just kind of end up everywhere.

00:44:57.780 --> 00:45:00.760
And there were lots of stories of people being

00:45:00.760 --> 00:45:04.860
sick and working around something. Or you go

00:45:04.860 --> 00:45:07.159
into a lantern room. I can't remember which example

00:45:07.159 --> 00:45:10.300
they used. People should really go read this

00:45:10.300 --> 00:45:11.940
paper that's in our show notes because it's really

00:45:11.940 --> 00:45:15.699
good. It's just kind of a fun read. I can't remember

00:45:15.699 --> 00:45:17.280
which lighthouse it was, but it had a couple

00:45:17.280 --> 00:45:20.659
of major mercury spills. And nobody really, like,

00:45:20.719 --> 00:45:24.099
just, okay, wipe it up. So there are these tons

00:45:24.099 --> 00:45:27.199
of pools of mercury and little beads just, like,

00:45:27.199 --> 00:45:30.119
sitting in the lighthouse. Kind of crazy that

00:45:30.119 --> 00:45:32.679
they did. They were like, okay, we'll put some

00:45:32.679 --> 00:45:35.440
motor oil on there so that the vapors aren't

00:45:35.440 --> 00:45:38.320
as prevalent. But lighthouse instructions from

00:45:38.320 --> 00:45:40.360
the government made no mention of safety gloves

00:45:40.360 --> 00:45:43.420
or protection in any way from handling mercury.

00:45:44.349 --> 00:45:46.289
And it stated that keepers should remove the

00:45:46.289 --> 00:45:48.710
mercury with a teacup and squeeze it through

00:45:48.710 --> 00:45:54.150
their hands to get rid of contaminants. Or like

00:45:54.150 --> 00:45:57.289
if there's any solids or anything in the mercury.

00:45:57.570 --> 00:46:00.469
A teacup. Remove it. Yeah, just a teacup. Just

00:46:00.469 --> 00:46:03.789
use a teacup to scoop it out. Yeah, I'm sure.

00:46:03.969 --> 00:46:06.869
If nobody ever says anything about how dangerous

00:46:06.869 --> 00:46:09.949
it is then. Wild. And they also suggested doing

00:46:09.949 --> 00:46:11.710
this during the summer months since the days

00:46:11.710 --> 00:46:15.190
were longer. It was hot, and so mercury was more

00:46:15.190 --> 00:46:20.050
volatile and produced more vapors. Man. And on

00:46:20.050 --> 00:46:22.429
top of this, mercury attacks the kidneys and

00:46:22.429 --> 00:46:24.590
the nervous system, but mostly the brain, as

00:46:24.590 --> 00:46:27.449
we saw from earlier, like Matt is a hatter. The

00:46:27.449 --> 00:46:31.250
brain is where you see the most damage from mercury

00:46:31.250 --> 00:46:34.599
poisoning. And it resulted in hard to diagnose

00:46:34.599 --> 00:46:37.519
poisoning that was impossible to reverse. If

00:46:37.519 --> 00:46:39.659
it was like some kind of acute exposure where

00:46:39.659 --> 00:46:42.159
all of a sudden you're like, then you could go

00:46:42.159 --> 00:46:45.920
and get like toxic treatment at a hospital. But

00:46:45.920 --> 00:46:48.599
if you have long -term exposure to mercury, like

00:46:48.599 --> 00:46:51.139
it just destroys you. I wonder if that plays

00:46:51.139 --> 00:46:54.820
into. So the other thing about mercury, it's

00:46:54.820 --> 00:46:59.039
shiny. And when we. I like shiny things. I would

00:46:59.039 --> 00:47:01.360
like run my fingers through it. I would put it

00:47:01.360 --> 00:47:03.280
in my teacup and I'd pour it into the thing.

00:47:03.920 --> 00:47:06.280
Like if you didn't know, you'd be like, this

00:47:06.280 --> 00:47:08.320
is awesome. Right. Every kid would want to touch

00:47:08.320 --> 00:47:11.539
a pool of liquid silver, like dripping out. Like

00:47:11.539 --> 00:47:13.760
if you, everyone would want to come see it. They

00:47:13.760 --> 00:47:16.320
show like when they drain, when they were draining

00:47:16.320 --> 00:47:19.380
the white shoals bath, it was just like, you

00:47:19.380 --> 00:47:22.639
know, this stream of silver. It's so crazy. Everybody's

00:47:22.639 --> 00:47:26.039
in. hazmat suits i saw a video on the internet

00:47:26.039 --> 00:47:29.019
yesterday of a guy draining oil out of a car

00:47:29.019 --> 00:47:32.519
and put it under his mouth ew ew what do you

00:47:32.519 --> 00:47:35.860
why i don't to make a video because he's an idiot

00:47:35.860 --> 00:47:38.739
that's gross he's an idiot and that's clearly

00:47:38.739 --> 00:47:42.199
we know that's a terrible idea and that you know

00:47:42.199 --> 00:47:48.619
so the point is the point is shiny am i so grossed

00:47:48.619 --> 00:47:52.820
out by that anything no All right, so the point

00:47:52.820 --> 00:47:54.480
is, though, you have this shiny material, which

00:47:54.480 --> 00:47:57.880
adds to our interest in touching it. Yes. Let

00:47:57.880 --> 00:48:01.699
alone drinking or breathing it. But also, so

00:48:01.699 --> 00:48:06.079
back in the day, I wonder if the toxicity and

00:48:06.079 --> 00:48:11.139
the poisoning, the brain damage, led to some

00:48:11.139 --> 00:48:14.340
of the lore around weird lighthouse keepers.

00:48:14.380 --> 00:48:16.840
Yes. Like the movie we watched, we still haven't

00:48:16.840 --> 00:48:20.179
talked about it much, The Lighthouse with...

00:48:21.630 --> 00:48:23.670
Who's the guy who plays? Robert Pattinson. And?

00:48:23.829 --> 00:48:27.889
William Dafoe. Dafoe. It's worth watching, I

00:48:27.889 --> 00:48:30.389
gotta say. You really think so? Yeah. Now, no.

00:48:30.590 --> 00:48:33.429
No from the beginning. It's strange. Yes. But

00:48:33.429 --> 00:48:36.789
if you enjoy film, if you would say you enjoy

00:48:36.789 --> 00:48:37.829
film. Like they're trying to get emotion out

00:48:37.829 --> 00:48:40.409
of you, so they do some weird stuff. Weird square

00:48:40.409 --> 00:48:43.909
shooting, black and white. But Dafoe is this

00:48:43.909 --> 00:48:47.380
crazy character, and part of it may be. From

00:48:47.380 --> 00:48:50.179
the lore of toxicity. So a new young lighthouse

00:48:50.179 --> 00:48:54.059
assistant shows up and the old guy's crazy. Well,

00:48:54.079 --> 00:48:56.199
maybe he's crazy because he's been poisoned with

00:48:56.199 --> 00:49:00.079
mercury. Yeah. Intoxication. It's not a word,

00:49:00.099 --> 00:49:03.480
I don't think, but mercury over who knows how

00:49:03.480 --> 00:49:06.019
long. And they have a lot of stories about one

00:49:06.019 --> 00:49:10.539
of the most noticeable long -term effects of

00:49:10.539 --> 00:49:13.769
mercury is depression. And so there were a lot

00:49:13.769 --> 00:49:17.250
of lighthouse keeper suicides off of lighthouses.

00:49:17.289 --> 00:49:20.690
And isolation. I'm pretty sure. Repetitiveness.

00:49:21.750 --> 00:49:23.989
I keep saying things because I didn't make notes.

00:49:24.050 --> 00:49:25.750
And so they just kind of like hung around in

00:49:25.750 --> 00:49:29.449
my brain from reading this article. But there

00:49:29.449 --> 00:49:31.630
was a lighthouse in Canada that had a mercury

00:49:31.630 --> 00:49:35.389
float. And it had like three lighthouse keeper

00:49:35.389 --> 00:49:38.730
suicides because they think of the mercury float

00:49:38.730 --> 00:49:41.550
that was in there. Yikes. So it's very interesting.

00:49:42.510 --> 00:49:46.389
That's sad. So another thing that is interesting

00:49:46.389 --> 00:49:49.210
about mercury, it was just found out kind of

00:49:49.210 --> 00:49:52.250
like as we use mercury floats, is that mercury

00:49:52.250 --> 00:49:54.530
vapors react very strongly with precious metals

00:49:54.530 --> 00:49:56.710
and like mercury itself. So like if you drop

00:49:56.710 --> 00:50:01.389
gold in mercury, it dissolves. Oh. I know. That'd

00:50:01.389 --> 00:50:04.610
be sad. Well, they'd say lighthouse keepers,

00:50:04.610 --> 00:50:06.670
you know, you'd have, I keep saying lighthouse

00:50:06.670 --> 00:50:08.650
keepers. I don't know why it's like, I don't

00:50:08.650 --> 00:50:12.099
just say keepers. anyway so it's a keepers of

00:50:12.099 --> 00:50:15.320
the light they have wedding bands right and so

00:50:15.320 --> 00:50:18.840
even coming into contact with vapors it would

00:50:18.840 --> 00:50:21.739
dull their wedding rings immediately and it just

00:50:21.739 --> 00:50:23.320
would never come back unless you can go and like

00:50:23.320 --> 00:50:25.980
polish it or whatever but yeah if you if you

00:50:25.980 --> 00:50:29.199
had any contact with gold with mercury then it

00:50:29.199 --> 00:50:31.539
would dissolve it's kind of crazy but in the

00:50:31.539 --> 00:50:35.079
early 1900s aluminum was a revolutionary new

00:50:35.079 --> 00:50:38.239
material that was used for the entirety of the

00:50:38.239 --> 00:50:41.139
white shoal lantern room Oh, no. I know. One

00:50:41.139 --> 00:50:43.780
that protected a mercury float lens. Luckily,

00:50:43.980 --> 00:50:46.679
most of the walls were painted like a protective

00:50:46.679 --> 00:50:49.739
coating in between the vapors and the aluminum.

00:50:50.019 --> 00:50:52.280
But there was an area where they didn't paint

00:50:52.280 --> 00:50:55.199
it, like towards the floor. And when they were

00:50:55.199 --> 00:51:00.199
doing a restoration, they found that the aluminum

00:51:00.199 --> 00:51:03.780
had reduced to a fine white powder. And so I

00:51:03.780 --> 00:51:05.940
have a video of what this reaction looks like

00:51:05.940 --> 00:51:09.099
between aluminum and mercury. Yeah, okay. And

00:51:09.099 --> 00:51:11.360
so I have a video. So while you're pulling that

00:51:11.360 --> 00:51:14.619
up, I'll say that's strange because aluminum

00:51:14.619 --> 00:51:21.800
today is known to be almost corrosion free. Like

00:51:21.800 --> 00:51:24.800
truck bodies and car parts that are made of aluminum

00:51:24.800 --> 00:51:27.079
are supposed to not, they don't rust because

00:51:27.079 --> 00:51:31.019
they don't oxidize naturally or they barely have

00:51:31.019 --> 00:51:34.699
any oxidation. And we use aluminum in our designs

00:51:34.699 --> 00:51:37.000
where you. want to fight oxidation instead of

00:51:37.000 --> 00:51:38.960
iron or carbon steel, things like that. Yeah.

00:51:39.940 --> 00:51:43.099
And additional to that, it's quite difficult

00:51:43.099 --> 00:51:46.019
to paint aluminum. Really? Yeah. So the fact

00:51:46.019 --> 00:51:48.739
that they had a paint coating, any protective

00:51:48.739 --> 00:51:51.099
coating on aluminum inside that lighthouse. Yeah.

00:51:51.159 --> 00:51:52.920
It's really interesting. Well, aluminum forms

00:51:52.920 --> 00:51:55.179
a protective layer itself, doesn't it? Like an

00:51:55.179 --> 00:51:58.400
oxide. Yeah. But it's, it's very slight compared

00:51:58.400 --> 00:52:01.739
to like cast iron oxidizes like crazy. Yeah.

00:52:01.739 --> 00:52:04.360
It turns to rust. But actually once you have,

00:52:04.780 --> 00:52:07.539
a cast iron piece that's covered in rust, it

00:52:07.539 --> 00:52:10.280
stops deteriorating. If you clean off all the

00:52:10.280 --> 00:52:12.900
rust, it will deteriorate again and oxidize.

00:52:13.099 --> 00:52:17.019
So anyways. Cool. We have the, oh, what? Yeah,

00:52:17.059 --> 00:52:19.179
so they put a drop of mercury down on a sheet

00:52:19.179 --> 00:52:22.179
of aluminum. And so this is just kind of a sped

00:52:22.179 --> 00:52:25.199
up view of what happens. There's this column

00:52:25.199 --> 00:52:30.980
of very fine white crap. I don't like the up

00:52:30.980 --> 00:52:34.340
close view. Four hours. What? That was four hours?

00:52:34.440 --> 00:52:36.619
What I really wish would have happened is that

00:52:36.619 --> 00:52:39.320
the person showing this video would have squished

00:52:39.320 --> 00:52:44.159
the column of white that happened. Because of

00:52:44.159 --> 00:52:50.480
over time and it being small bits of vapor, obviously

00:52:50.480 --> 00:52:54.119
it was a powder whenever they found it. But this

00:52:54.119 --> 00:52:56.460
kind of shows it as a very controlled environment.

00:52:56.460 --> 00:52:59.820
It forms this interesting column of white. That's

00:52:59.820 --> 00:53:02.849
super interesting. Such a weird reaction. I know.

00:53:02.909 --> 00:53:04.829
It's very interesting, though. This is just what

00:53:04.829 --> 00:53:07.070
happened in the lighthouse where there wasn't

00:53:07.070 --> 00:53:11.030
anything between the vapors and our aluminum

00:53:11.030 --> 00:53:13.829
surfaces. So I wonder, some scientists could

00:53:13.829 --> 00:53:17.610
probably tell us, but the off -gassing of the

00:53:17.610 --> 00:53:22.630
vapors of mercury, do they continue until all

00:53:22.630 --> 00:53:28.019
of the mercury is gone? Is it pure mercury that

00:53:28.019 --> 00:53:29.960
goes into the, maybe this is silly stupid to

00:53:29.960 --> 00:53:33.659
say, but like if you had water on a pot. Yeah.

00:53:34.179 --> 00:53:36.000
And you had the heat on under it, it's going

00:53:36.000 --> 00:53:38.079
to slowly evaporate. Yeah. Whether it's boiling

00:53:38.079 --> 00:53:40.119
or not, it's evaporating. Right. And over time

00:53:40.119 --> 00:53:43.820
you'd be left with whatever calcification or

00:53:43.820 --> 00:53:45.440
the minerals will be stuck on the inside of your

00:53:45.440 --> 00:53:48.860
pot and the water would have been gone. Is there

00:53:48.860 --> 00:53:51.300
a similar effect in mercury where there's a certain

00:53:51.300 --> 00:53:54.420
amount of fumes that come off and then it's now

00:53:54.420 --> 00:53:57.869
you're left with your. I'm not sure if there

00:53:57.869 --> 00:54:00.570
were deposits or like if that's what they mean

00:54:00.570 --> 00:54:02.670
by that when the keepers had to do maintenance

00:54:02.670 --> 00:54:06.389
that they squeeze the mercury to get out any

00:54:06.389 --> 00:54:08.530
contaminants or whatever. But they did often

00:54:08.530 --> 00:54:11.949
have to refill. And that's why the bowl was like

00:54:11.949 --> 00:54:14.010
easily accessible. It's like the keeper could

00:54:14.010 --> 00:54:17.349
do it himself. It was evaporating. Yeah. And

00:54:17.349 --> 00:54:20.130
so like they'd have some amount of mercury in

00:54:20.130 --> 00:54:24.389
the lighthouse to top off the mercury bath. Something

00:54:24.389 --> 00:54:28.039
interesting. Leads again to a high risk of exposure.

00:54:28.460 --> 00:54:31.880
Yeah, for sure. Lots of contact. Point Arena

00:54:31.880 --> 00:54:34.820
Lighthouse was the last. Could we cover Point

00:54:34.820 --> 00:54:38.300
Arena? I've heard of it. Or is it USLHS related?

00:54:39.119 --> 00:54:41.559
Point, no point, wait. I know I've heard of Point

00:54:41.559 --> 00:54:43.320
Arena, so I don't remember if that's because

00:54:43.320 --> 00:54:45.980
we've covered it or why. I think we've covered

00:54:45.980 --> 00:54:50.019
this. This was the one that was made by a guy

00:54:50.019 --> 00:54:53.059
or a company that did like industrial smokestacks

00:54:53.059 --> 00:54:56.170
or something. Okay. Very earthquake resistant.

00:54:57.530 --> 00:54:59.789
Anyway, that was the last lighthouse to get its

00:54:59.789 --> 00:55:03.349
mercury float removed in 2004 in the U .S. So

00:55:03.349 --> 00:55:05.210
officially the U .S. has no more mercury floats.

00:55:05.429 --> 00:55:08.710
However, in Canada, they had 214 lighthouses

00:55:08.710 --> 00:55:11.789
with mercury floats. And they are still in the

00:55:11.789 --> 00:55:14.530
process of taking them out of service. So there's

00:55:14.530 --> 00:55:17.530
still some mercury floats functioning in Canada.

00:55:17.690 --> 00:55:19.849
And I'm sure in other countries too, but just

00:55:19.849 --> 00:55:21.789
a close example. I wonder, I'm sure somewhere

00:55:21.789 --> 00:55:23.929
there's an exhibit you can go see. Oh, I bet.

00:55:24.460 --> 00:55:26.719
You know, isolated. Yeah, controlled. Somehow

00:55:26.719 --> 00:55:30.179
you can observe it. I mean, you can look up Mercury,

00:55:30.360 --> 00:55:33.079
but in person it'd be really cool to see a big

00:55:33.079 --> 00:55:36.179
mass rotating on Mercury. Well, I wonder if our

00:55:36.179 --> 00:55:40.579
Cape Charles lighthouse. Oh, maybe. Maybe. You

00:55:40.579 --> 00:55:44.380
never know. And also, kind of a side quest, but

00:55:44.380 --> 00:55:47.239
remediation. You know, so having a professional

00:55:47.239 --> 00:55:50.079
come in, like you talked about White Scholl,

00:55:50.239 --> 00:55:53.300
and remove Mercury and its contaminants. In the

00:55:53.300 --> 00:55:56.099
same way we do like asbestos insulation. They

00:55:56.099 --> 00:55:58.739
talked about that in Canada. A lot of their lighthouses

00:55:58.739 --> 00:56:01.739
are integral with the Keeper's Cottage. And so

00:56:01.739 --> 00:56:05.159
when they did remediation and took out the mercury

00:56:05.159 --> 00:56:08.480
floats, they would also have to gut the house

00:56:08.480 --> 00:56:10.659
and the walls, like take off panels and everything

00:56:10.659 --> 00:56:13.119
because there's mercury everywhere, like in the

00:56:13.119 --> 00:56:15.599
house. Yeah, but no one would have thought of

00:56:15.599 --> 00:56:17.300
that back in the day. No, of course not. Oh,

00:56:17.340 --> 00:56:19.280
convenient. Yeah. Let's just connect everything.

00:56:19.880 --> 00:56:21.539
So it's kind of funny that even with all the

00:56:21.539 --> 00:56:24.119
downsides and how expensive it is and all of

00:56:24.119 --> 00:56:26.800
that, we still ended up putting them everywhere.

00:56:27.019 --> 00:56:29.320
It was just like, oh, it's really, really expensive

00:56:29.320 --> 00:56:32.579
in comparison. But the payout was so positive

00:56:32.579 --> 00:56:35.239
that we ended up with mercury floats all over

00:56:35.239 --> 00:56:37.420
the place, especially in other countries. Like

00:56:37.420 --> 00:56:41.039
we started out kind of late and like didn't adopt

00:56:41.039 --> 00:56:44.360
as many. I'm pretty sure I listed all the ones

00:56:44.360 --> 00:56:46.440
that we had purchased, but I don't know exactly

00:56:46.440 --> 00:56:48.639
how many lighthouses we ended up having mercury

00:56:48.639 --> 00:56:52.940
floats for. Well, it's interesting that that's,

00:56:52.940 --> 00:56:55.280
and maybe there are other uses for mercury as

00:56:55.280 --> 00:56:58.460
a lubrication, but it's not lubrication as much

00:56:58.460 --> 00:57:01.739
as it is the floating. If it's truly a floating

00:57:01.739 --> 00:57:04.460
material that's not connected to another material.

00:57:04.519 --> 00:57:07.659
Like if you could have put mercury in a automobile

00:57:07.659 --> 00:57:10.440
and it would act as a lubricant between gears

00:57:10.440 --> 00:57:14.219
and shafts, that would have been. totally under

00:57:14.219 --> 00:57:17.239
the same force discipline that would have been

00:57:17.239 --> 00:57:20.679
a force equation that would have been like world

00:57:20.679 --> 00:57:24.320
changing, but it's not a lubricant. It's the

00:57:24.320 --> 00:57:26.599
fact that there's no contact at all. Yeah. It's

00:57:26.599 --> 00:57:28.840
really a barrier more than anything. Yeah. So

00:57:28.840 --> 00:57:31.380
pretty cool. Yeah. Lots of information there

00:57:31.380 --> 00:57:34.079
for anybody that wants to look in our references

00:57:34.079 --> 00:57:36.099
and our show notes, you can check it out yourself.

00:57:36.239 --> 00:57:39.250
It's a lot of cool stuff. Lot. Of cool history.

00:57:39.469 --> 00:57:40.730
That's what you get when you come to the Lighthouse

00:57:40.730 --> 00:57:44.090
Lowdown. Yeah. Lots of cool history. You think

00:57:44.090 --> 00:57:49.670
people skip the history buoy? Doubtful. Somebody

00:57:49.670 --> 00:57:54.110
mentioned that, didn't they? Yeah. I can't remember

00:57:54.110 --> 00:57:57.230
what they said. I went to skip the history buoy.

00:57:57.710 --> 00:57:59.789
And we must have said something about it in that

00:57:59.789 --> 00:58:01.909
one. But for the people that are going to skip

00:58:01.909 --> 00:58:04.579
this, like, oh. We have fun. Those are Mercury

00:58:04.579 --> 00:58:07.219
Floats and Walton Lighthouse. Thank you, everybody,

00:58:07.300 --> 00:58:10.059
for listening in once again. We're working our

00:58:10.059 --> 00:58:12.619
way through listener lighthouses, and I think

00:58:12.619 --> 00:58:14.059
we're going to be having an interview coming

00:58:14.059 --> 00:58:15.840
up here pretty soon. Oh, nice. It'll be pretty

00:58:15.840 --> 00:58:19.579
exciting. Next episode will be, well, I won't

00:58:19.579 --> 00:58:22.400
give away anything. It'll be number 75. Exactly.

00:58:22.800 --> 00:58:25.039
Episode number 75, and probably an interview

00:58:25.039 --> 00:58:28.800
for 76. It'll be Vince's turn once again. That's

00:58:28.800 --> 00:58:31.309
right. I've got some ideas. Okay, good. Some

00:58:31.309 --> 00:58:33.190
big ones, big ideas. I know, I need to work on

00:58:33.190 --> 00:58:36.769
them. Well, thanks for dropping in. You can check

00:58:36.769 --> 00:58:38.789
out our Instagram at thelighthouselowdown and

00:58:38.789 --> 00:58:42.170
our website, thelighthouselowdown .com, where

00:58:42.170 --> 00:58:43.989
you can watch our videos, listen to our episodes,

00:58:44.230 --> 00:58:46.809
and leave us a review. And we love reviews. We

00:58:46.809 --> 00:58:49.070
don't have a lot, so get out there and review

00:58:49.070 --> 00:58:53.050
us if you like it. That's right. And hopefully

00:58:53.050 --> 00:58:57.269
we catch you next time on The Lighthouse Lowdown.