Farol da Ponta do Topo - en — Made in PT bringing 560.web3 content to the world.

Farol da Ponta do Topo - en

Made in PT bringing 560.web3 content to the world.

August 8th, 2023

GPS 38.54907818451613, -27.75479439065382

The General Plan of 1883 included the creation at Ponta do Topo of a 4th order lighthouse, producing fixed light with flashes, whose luminous range in average state should be 13.5 miles for fixed light and 19 for flashes.

The lighthouse project dates, however, only from 1925, being designed by engineer José Joaquim Peres. The work would be budgeted at 330 contos, while the apparatus and lantern would cost 745,000 French francs.

The building of the lighthouse was preceded, in 1923, by the purchase for sixteen thousand escudos of land from the respective owners, Jerónimo Pereira Cardoso, Francisco Pimentel de Noronha, Maria Inez Soares and António Joaquim dos Reis.

The lighthouse came into operation on July 15, 1927, at Ponta do Topo, southeastern tip of the island of S. Jorge. It has a tower 16 meters high and 58 meters high. It was equipped with a 3rd order lenticular apparatus, large model (500 mm focal length), of rotation, the light source being a BBT gas eclipser and it had as a reserve the incandescence by oil vapor and a constant level lamp. The rotation of the optics was produced through the watchmaking machine.

It was electrified in 1957, using generating sets, and for some time supplied electricity to the church in the parish of Topo, «without harming the lighthouse». The light source then became a 3000 Watt electric lamp, which was intended to guarantee a luminous range of 44 miles. Despite the entry of the lighthouse into the electricity age, the rotation of the optics continued to be ensured by the old clockwork machine, whose weight took seven hours to reach the end of its course.

This lighthouse was one of those where the effects of the earthquake on January 1, 1980 were most felt: the engine room and one of the dwellings completely collapsed, burying all the contents, leaving the optics seriously damaged due to having been torn off. the corresponding pedestal. It therefore became necessary to replace it entirely, assembling a fixed optic that had once equipped the Esposende lighthouse.

In 1987, a modern system consisting of a rotating pedestal with sealed optics (PRB-46) was installed, which could run on batteries in the event of failure of the electric motors.

The lighthouse was electrified in 1989 with power from the public grid.

The PRB-46 was eventually withdrawn in 2001 and a new device (TRB-400) was installed in its place, becoming automated with this system.