Below is a listing of the major changes in the Fresnel lens through time and in most cases who the creator of each change was.
Chronology of the Development of the Fresnel Lighthouse Lens | |
Year | Major Change or Improvement |
1823 | Fresnel's First 1st Order Flashing Lens Installed at Cordouan France |
1824 | Fresnel's First 4th Order Fixed Lens |
1825 | Fresnel's First 4th Order Fixed-Flashing Lens |
1826 | Fresnel's First Catadioptric Lens |
1835 | Introduction of the Fresnel Lens into the Lighthouses in Scotland |
1836 | First 1st Order Cylindrical Fixed Lens with Upper and Lower Prisms By Cookson in Scotland for Isle of May Lighthouse |
1840 | First use of Lower Prisms (Lower Catadioptric Panels) in a Flashing lens by Alan Stevenson in Scotland - Skerryvore Lens |
1841 | First use of the Fresnel Lens in America at Navesink |
1842 | First lens design that equalized the power of the Red and White Panels by Alan Stevenson in Scotland |
1848 | Letourneau Proposes and Uses Split Flash Panels to Lengthen the Duration of the Flash in France |
1849 | First Holophotal Lens with Prisms above and below the Flash Panels by Thomas Stevenson in Scotland |
1849 | First Dioptric Spherical Mirror by Thomas Stevenson in Scotland |
1850 | Letourneau Designs Lenses with Alternating Flash and Fixed Panels in France |
1851 | First use of the Apparent Light Lens by Thomas Stevenson in Scotland |
1855 | Design and First use of Condensing Lenses by Thomas Stevenson in Scotland |
1858 | Proposal to develop Bi-Form Lenses - By J. W. D. Brown in Britain |
1859 | Design and First Use of the Bi-Valve Lens by Thomas Stevenson in Scotland |
1869 | Proposal for the Hyper-radial Lens by Thomas Stevenson |
1872 | Design and Use of Bi-Form Lenses in Ireland by John Wigham |
1872 | Proposal for Hyper-radial Lens By John Wigham in Ireland |
1877 | Design and Use of Tri-Form and Quadri-Form Lenses in Ireland by John Wigham |
1877 | First Hyper-radial Lens Drawings by Barbier & Fenestre in France |
1884 | Invention of the Group Flashing Lens By Dr. John Hopkinson of Chance Brothers in Britain |
1885 | First Hyper-radial Lens Panels Built by F. Barbier Tested at South Foreland Trials |
1887 | First Hyper-radial Lens Built by F. Barbier and installed at Tory Island, Ireland |
1887 | First Hyper-radial Lens Built by Chance Brothers Britain Installed at Bishop Rock, Britain |
1892 | Design and First Use of Equiangular Prisms by Charles Stevenson in Scotland |
1892 | Proposal and Construction of a Single "Giant Lens" Panel Proposed by John Wigham, Ireland Built by F. Barbier, France |
1910 | The Lighthouse Bureau in America requests that Macbeth-Evans Glass Company develop Fresnel Lenses of the 4th and 5th order made in America |
1913 | Macbeth-Evans produces the first 4th order American made Fresnel Lens |