Acetylene Flasher 1961 – 1985

Manufactured by AGA Stockholm

This acetylene flasher was part of the lighthouse at Cape Ronsard in Western Australia. It was removed and replaced in 1985 when the light converted to solar.

Acetylene gas was extremely important to the development of lighthouse technology as it could be used in many applications, from domestic lighting, fog signals, buoys and beacons to the lighthouse lamp itself. This flasher is patented to the AGA company, which was responsible for many innovations in lighthouse technology, including the flashing beacon in 1905, the AGA compound in 1906 and the sun valve and Dalén mixer in 1907.

Gustaf Dalén was chief engineer at AGA and a technically ingenious inventor. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his “inventions of self-operating regulators, which in combination with gas accumulators can be used to light lighthouses and light buoys."

Acetylene flasher lamp, metal bolted to round wooden base. Overhaul equipment tag tucked between lamp and base.