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Rulings on Marine oe UUTVMV0VKIIRT £m iiitUT100 T0365100UHWwHtIii tive” itt tTTT:TTTtTzT ttt TimrTE:. HE new light marking the out- [ er end of the west. break- water in Limon bay, is the fifth of the aids to navigation con- nected with the Panama canal to be equipped with a sun valve. The sun valve, acting on the principle of the thermostat, causes the shutting off of the supply of gas by the expansion of a cylinder, following the appearance of daylight. Conversely, as daylight fails, the cooling cylinder contracts and opens a valve which allows a flow of gas to the burner. A small auxiliary flame, supplied through a separate connection from the gas tank and called the “pilot flame’, burns all the time and causes ignition at the main burner when the sun valve opens and after each period of darkness if the light is a flashing light, as are all of the gas lights of the canal except © one at Cristobal. Used on Larger Lights As the sun valves cost $135 each, they have been installed only on the larger lights. canal burn three-eights of a cubic foot of gas an hour, and are lighted about one-third of the time, so that the con- sumption of each is approximately three cubic feet of gas in 24 hours. The five lights now using the sun valve are the recently established aids at Cape Mala, on Bona island, and on Taboguilla island, a beacon at Bal- boa, and the west breakwater light. All of these are recent installations, made since the satisfactory conclusion of a test runnine all through the month of June, 1915, on a sun valve constructed with especial reference to the atmospheric conditions at the canal. The. first sun valves sent to the isthmus were so affected by the climate as not to operate satisfac- torily. Their troubles were studied and as a result the manufacturers pro- duced a new valve, using monel metal in some of its essential parts. This metal is a combination of copper and steel and is only slightly subject to corrosion by the moisture in the air. The valve was set up at the light- Matters un Valves The buoys along the . ee ee ee ee I Hints to Navigators house station at Gatun and its work- ings were observed carefully. This is the record, by days, of its opening and closing and of the time saved by it each day: + Dime Closed. Opened. closed Date avm. p. m. hrs. mins. Gunes cl. 6.44 6.33 11 49 June Aes: 6,57. 6.28 11 31 JUNE 3... ee. 6.46 6.25 ll. 39 June eso 7.10 6.19 li. 9 WUne 5s i vee. vee 30.08. 6.28 11 40 June 26. ine eS 6.40 6.31 iT 51 VUNG ete 7.08 6.35 11 32 JUNE Bic ices 7.14 5.00 9 46 Mune! OL ss eee 6.47 6.08 1 21 June 10.5... Weve J500.. 2.6.07 10°31 Abba EAS eae 6.38 6.10 dt a2 June 12. Ls 7.05 - 6.23 11 18 June 13.3505 eee, 6.41 6.27 11 46 Vane 140 500, 6.34 62450) Ti 80 Jane: 15ers 6.38 6:23 11. 45 Jume VO ese 7.08 6.32 11 24 Wane: 27h cee 6.34 6.29 1 355 Jone TS) o sake 6.41 6.34 di 53 Dame G9, Aa 6.43 6.31 11 48 June 2056 ee 6.47 6.38 11 51 Wune Zl. ee. 7,02 6.33 10 41 ie QO Oe 7.09 6.31 1122 UNG 23355 sus Seas 6.53 6.28 T1335 Mine 24 eee. 6.47 6.34 11 47 AMNE S297 aut ores 7506 6.44 11 3s FUNG, 260s ov. 7.08 6.39 113 \UNe 27.3 wie. 7.03 5.58 10°55 PUMe Co ae 7.06 4.34 9 28 June 29. cece. 6.53 6.38 1145 June 30) 3). c4 4. 6.47 5.05 10 18 The aggregate saving during the month, that is, the tirne when the light was not burning’ on account of the sun valve, was 340 hours and 22 minutes. This is equivalent to 14.18 days, or slightly over 47 per cent of the entire month. Considering the consumption of gas by the small pilot’ flame, which burns continuously to keep a spark for the main burner, it has been accepted as the rule in the lighthouse section that the sun valve saves 45 per cent of the gas used by a similar light not equipped with a sun valve. The saving of gas at the west break- water light is typical. This’is a single- burner, first order light, having a lens 500 millimeters or 19.7 inches in diam- eter, developing 1,010 candlepower of white light and rated at 300 candle- power through the red shade. It uses 114 cubic feet of gas per hour of actual burning. It is a flashing light, alternating one second of light with four seconds of darkness. It flashes 12 times in a minute, which is to say it is burning 12 seconds in a minute, In 24 hours Being or one-fifth of the time. it would burn* 288 minutes. 451 Improvements to Waterways = ‘basis “of calculation, I I =] shut off, however, for 45 per cent of the time by the sun valve, the light actually burns during 55 per cent of the 288 minutes. This is 158.4 min- utes, or two hours, 38% minutes of - . the 24. At 1% cubic feet of gas per hour, the daily consumption is 3.3 cubic feet. The gas costs anywhere from 1.6 cents to 3 cents per cubic foot, and is produced at the oxyacety- lene plant at the Balboa shops. At 2.3 cents, it makes the consumption of the west breakwater light come to about 7.06 cents per 24 hours, or about $2.28 per month. On the same the sun valve saves $1.86 per month on the west breakwater light. Open Section of Canal Another section of the barge canal has just been put into operation. The completed section is a portion of the Cayuga and Seneca canal,-the fourth branch of the barge canal system and diverges from the Erie canal near the point where the Clyde river enters the Seneca river. Following the chan nel of the Seneca river south, it reaches the foot of Cayuga lake and there divides, one branch continuing south for several miles until deep water in Cayuga lake is reached, and the other turning to the west and following in general the course of the Seneca river to its source at the foot of Seneca lake, In. this: new canal there are four locks and these do the work of 11 in the old canal. The first is located just north of the branches at Cayuga lake, near what has been known as Mud lock on the old canal. This raises the canal sur- face to the Cayuga lake level. The — second and third locks are placed end to.end ina fight at Seneca Falle, while the fourth is located at Water- loo, where the Seneca lake level is attained. It was the completion of the work at Seneca Falls that effected the opening of the canal. As the new dam at Seneca Falls is built across the channel of the old canal, navigation through the whole