Light House Cyclopedia

Question 7 ：Structure of tower tops

A:
Tower tops contain the lantern glass, lantern room, and roof (coping).
1.Lantern glass (glass curtain wall)
Lantern glass is used to protect lamps inside from storms, winds, sunbath rain and salty air. The frames of the glass can strengthen the structure against strong winds. Frames shapes consist of V-shape, lattice, diamond grid, rectangular grid, rhomb and irregular shapes. In the morning, the glass curtains are usually closed to avoid lenses not to be burnt from condensed light. The curtains are only opened at night when shining light.

2. Lantern Room
The size of the lantern room depends on the tower size and lamp types. Generally speaking, larger-sized lantern rooms are domed and equipped with complete facilities. The cylinder part is paneled with twelve cast-iron plates, designed with one door, along with vents and insect-repellant net masks inside. The top layer is fixed with surrounding glass by copper bands. Copings, the roof of the lighthouse, to prevent from the corrosion from humid and salty air, are mostly made by copper plates. Keelung Lighthouse and Kaohsiung Lighthouse were exceptional before. Copings of those two lighthouses were made of iron plates, and changed to copper plates as well in 1962 and 1972 respectively. The roofs are usually equipped with air vents, exhaust holes , lightning rods, rudders, and maintenance balcony. ·
T he roof is a black dome equipped with a weather vane, a rudder and a lightning rod.

3.Coping
The coping, roof of the tower, functions as a shield. Copings are equipped with ventilation balls to release light rapidly. Its shape is usually like umbrella, dome or conical.

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