The optical apparatus of navigation lights has undergone many improvements in the past century.  The early lights were not equipped with either reflecting or refracting apparatus.  In 1824 Drummond devised a scheme for reflecting light in order that a distant observer might make a reading upon the point where the apparatus was being operated by another person.  He was led by his experiments to suggest the application of mirrors to lighthouses.  His device was essentially a parabolic mirror similar to the reflectors now widely used in automobile head-lamps, search-lights, etc.  He employed the lime-light as a source of light and was enthusiastic over the results obtained.  His discussion published in 1826 indicates that little practical work had been done up to that time toward obtaining beams or belts of light by means of optical apparatus.  However, lighthouse records show that as early as 1763 small silvered plane glasses were set in plaster of Paris in such a manner as to form a partially enveloping reflector.  Spherical reflectors were introduced in about 1780 and parabolic reflectors about ten years later.

All the earlier lights were “fixed,” but as it is desirable that the mariner be able to distinguish one light from another, the revolving mechanism evolved.  By its agency characteristic flashes are obtained and from the time interval the light is recognized.  The first revolving mechanism was installed in 1783.  The early flashing lights were obtained by means of revolving reflectors which gathered the light and directed it in the form of a beam or pencil.  The type of parabolic reflector now in use does not differ essentially from that of an automobile head-lamp, excepting that it is larger.

Lenses appear to have been introduced in the latter part of the nineteenth century.  They were at first ground from a solid piece of glass, in concentric zones, in order to reduce the thickness.  They were similar in principle to some of the tail-light lenses used at present on automobiles.  Later the lenses were built up by means of separate annular rings.  The name of Fresnel is permanently associated with lighthouse lenses because in 1822 he developed an elaborate built-up lens of annular rings.  The centers of curvature of the different rings receded from the axis as their distance from the center increased, in such a manner as to overcome a serious optical defect known as spherical aberration.  Fresnel devised many improvements in which he used refracting and reflecting prisms for the outer elements.

The optical apparatus of lighthouses usually aims (1) to concentrate the rays of light into a pencil of light, (2) to concentrate them into a belt of light, or (3) to concentrate the rays over a limited azimuth.  In the first case a single lens or a parabolic reflector suffices, but in the second case a cylindrical lens which condenses the light vertically into a horizontal sheet of light is essential.  The third case is