THE UNERRING SUN
It Is Uncle Sam’s Most Reliable
Lighthouse Keeper.
NEVER FALTERS IN ITS WORK.
By the Aid of the Wonderful Sun Valve
It Lights the Acetylene Beacons as It
Sets at Night and Extinguishes Them
as It Rises In the Morning.
The sun is the most trustworthy of
lighthouse keepers. The sun or the
heat from it lights many hundreds of
beacons along our coasts and water
ways eveuing after evening and ex
tinguishes them punctually every morn
ing. They are guides on land and sea
that are never touched by human hands
from one month’s end to another. The
way in which the Tuited States go\
ernment, through its lighthouse board,
has utilized the services of the sun and
made that great lamp of heaven a
faithful and unerring servant is most
interesting.
The discovery of acetylene gas was
the first step toward retiring the lonely
keepers of the little lights in faroff
places. Modern magic was not slow
in recognizing the fact that by the ap
plication of certain well known scien
tific principles the lighting of the great
chains of beacons that girdle the coasts
of the two seas and the gulf and cover
the great lakes and every navigable
stream in our huge country could be
much simplified.
The United States did not become in
terested in the acetylene light and its
automatically generating gas buoy until
about the year lUOfi and did not adopt
it until 1908. Then the engineers of
the lighthouse board devised some
wonderful improvements, among them
the utilization of the sun.
The self lighting and self extinguish
ing acetylene beacon is a very simple
thing, but it depends almost entirely
on the “sun valve,” which is one of the
most wonderful but least complex of
the achievements of modern science.
In the first place, the source of light
for these lone beacons is dissolved
acetylene, which is stored under pres
sure iu steel cylinders. One of these
cylinders can be charged with enough
gas to last a small beacon throe years.
Usually, however, in the case of float
ing buoys, a six months* supply is all
that is necessary, as such buoys are
overhauled and painted twice a year.
Knowing the size of the flame and its
hourly consumption of gas. it is very
easy to compute how long a cylinderful
will last and how often it will need to
be visited. That is all the care the
light will need. The sun valve does
the rest.
The scientific principle upon which
the sun valve depends is that light
waves become transformed in different
degrees, according to the nature of the
intercepting body. Sunlight upon dark
surfaces is converted into heat, and
heat produces expansion. This expan
sion is especially perceptible in certain
metals. \
In a carefully sealed and substantial
ly mounted glass jar nearly a foot
high and about one-fourth that in di
ameter a thick black rod is placed per
pendicularly through the center. It is
supported by three slenderer rods of
highly polished copper. The big black
'tod is of copper also and is coated with
lampblack to make it absorb light to
the greatest possible degree. The sup
porting rods reflect light without ab
sorbing it and do not expand or con
tract to the same extent as the largest
rod.
The thick black niece of Conner in
In the District Court for the Territory of
Alaska, Third Division.
In the matter of the change of name of Ole
in compliance with an order issued out of the
above-named Court on the ninth day of
August. 1913, in the above-entitled matter.
Notice is hereby given that the above-named
applicant. Ole Hoole. has applied to the said
Court for an order changing his name to Oliver
Hawley, This matter will be brought up for
hearing in the above-named Court at Valdez.
Alaska, on the first day of November. 1913. or
as soon thereafter as the Court will hear the
same; and all persons on or before the said
date of hearing, to-wit. November 1. 1913.
shall offer and show- cause. If they have any,
why the order applied for changing She name
of applicant shall not be granted.
ANTHONY J. DIMOND.
Attorney for Applicant,
First publication, Sept. 6.19i3.
Last publication. Oct. 19, 1913.
Hi
the center of the jar is extremely sen
sitive to light and heat. As the sun
appears and the atmosphere grows
warmer In the morning this rod length
ens. It pushes down into the metal
chamber in which the glass jar rests
and touches the cud of a lever. It
presses down on this lever, which is
controlled by a spring and cuts off the
flow of the gas to the lamp.
When the sun disappears from view
in tlie evening and the temperature of
the air falls the process Is reversed.
The rod contracts and releases its pres
sure on the lever, allowing the gas to
flow upward to the lamp. The gas is
Ignited by a little pilot flame that is
never extinguished. Thus the beacon
is lighted at the proper time and is put
out when it is no longer needed, al
though along desolate coasts it may
never gladden the human eye for
months at a time.
The engineers of the lighthouse board
say that the precision of this device is
almost incredible. It can he used with
equal certainty in equatorial heat and
in polar cold, for it responds with the
utmost accuracy to small variations in
temperature. It is used on lonely i*
lands in the Pacific. There are nearly
a hundred of these sun valve beacons
in Alaska. In summer they are aids
to navigation, and in winter they guide
the travelers on dog sledges over the
frozen wastes.—Harper’s Weekly.
Deadly.
“I understand that a number of wo
men have learned to smoke cigars/*
said the frivolous observer.
“I don’t believe it.” replied Mr. Meek
ton. “The kind of cigars that women
buy nobody could smoke.**—Washing
ton Star.
For reliable informal on write Can
non, Pioneer bote), Knik, Alaska, t
NOTICE.
In accordance with the provisions of Section
30 of Ordinance No. 14. of the Town of Seward,
Alaska, entitled * An ordinance relating to the
assessment, levy and collection of general taxes
for school and municipal purposes in the Town
of Seward, Alaska, and for other purposes.”
i and in accordance with the provisions of Chap
| ter 69 of the Session Laws of the Territory of
, Alaska for 1913. in so far as applicable thereto.
Notice is hereby given that the Common
Council oflthe Town of Seward, by virtue of the
authority in it vested by law lias tlxed and es
tablished the rate of tax levy for the year 1913
« at the rate of six mills on each dollar of taxa
! hie property, real and personal, within the cor
porate limits of the Town of Seward available
for municipal taxes as equalized by the said
Common Council sitting as a Hoard of
Equalization upon the assessment made as of
August 1. 1913.
That all taxes will be and become delinquent
on the fourth Friday of October, 1913, (October
84. 1913) at the hour of 6 o’clock p. m. of said
day. and that unless said taxes shall be paid
prior thereto live per centum of the amount
thereof will be added thereto.
All taxes are due and payable at the office of
J. H. Romig. Town Treasurer, at the Pioneer
Hospital in said Town of Seward, between the
hours of 10 o’clock a. m, and 3 o’clock p. m. of
each business day hereafter up to and includ
ing 6 o'clock p. m. of the 24th day of October.
1913. Frank j. Cotter.
Town Clerk of the Town of Seward. Alaska.
- --1
OLD CROW
OLD HERMITAGE
OLD WINES
ONLY MINERAL CABINET
WHERE? AT
JACK’S
J. P. Stotko - Proprietor
Location Notices
at The Gateway
FURNITURE AND HARUWARE
COAL MINER'S AND OOLD MINER’S SOmiES
Doors and Windows
Lang’s Ranges
I XL Parlor Heaters
Gasoline Stoves
Cook Stoves
Camp Stoves
Air Tight Heaters
Oil Stoves
Alcohol Stoves
Spark Plugs
Jump Coils
Batteries
Granite Ware
Aluminum Ware
Asbestos
P & B Paner
MaLhoid Roofing
Tar Paper
Deafening felt
Weather Strips
*
Gasoline Oil
Gas Engine Oil
Marine Engine Oil
Valve Oil
Elaine Oil
Floor Oil
Linseed Oil
Cup Grease
Paints
Lacqueret Paint
Asphaltum Paint
Brushes
Varnishes
Turpentine
Japan
Denatured Alcohol
Coal Tar
Lamps
Lanterns
rPpnt
PHONE BLACK 4
Rifles
Shot Guns
Ammunition
Fishing Tackle
Giant Powder
Caps
Fuse
Bench Forges
Blacksmith’s Coal
Bellows
Wheel Barrows
Cutlery
Fire Clay
Fire Brick
Lime
Cement
Glass
Rope
Mercury
Seine Twine
J. L. GRAEF
The Seattle Bar
Chas. A. Bensen & Co., Proprietors.
OLYMPIA DRAFT !AND BOTTLED BEER, LIQUORS, CIGARS
Elegantly Furnished and Steam Heated
-Booms in Connection
THE SEWARD LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY
Incorporated November 1905 under the Laws of the Territory of Alaska
S. M. GRAFF, President and General Manager
CONTRACTORS AND DEALERS IN
Electric Supplies and Appliances
Office: At the Station. TELEPHONE MAIN 123
ALA
STEAMSHIP CO.
SAFETY SERVICE SPEED
Sailings every Six Days for Valdez, Cordova, Skagway,
Juneau, Ketckikan and Seattle
(gTRight reserved to change this schedule without notice"^
F. B. TRACY, General Agent C. B. GUPTILL, Agent
ALASKA ?q°m ? AT
Steamers via the INSIDE PASSAGE cajllng at Ketchikan,
Juneau, Yakutat, Katalla, Cordova, Ellamar, Valdez,
Latouche, Seward, Cook Inlet Points and Kodiak.
S. S. Admiral Sampson
SAILINGS FROM SEATTLE
1st 15th 25th
SAMPSON calls at KNIK ANCHORAGE every trip. Will also call
at Kodiak on sailings from Seattle as follows: August 15, September o,
October 1, November 5 and December 15. .
California Connections—Alaska - Pacific Steamship Co.
Right reserved to change schedule without notice.
B. F. WATSON, General Agent. WAYNE BLUE, Agent