(autotranslated, could have mistakes)

LIGHTHOUSE MOVES AWAY FROM THE SEA

No. 11, 2000

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The lighthouse on Cape Hatteras, protruding into the ocean from the island of the same name on the Atlantic coast of the United States, was built immediately after the end of the Civil War, in 1870. Then its fire was necessary for ship captains to avoid dangerous sandbanks and sea currents (at this point the Gulf Stream seems to hit the coast of America, deviating towards the shores of Europe). From the time of European settlement of America until the advent of the lighthouse, it is estimated that about a thousand ships were lost in the area.

The ocean constantly washes away Cape Hatteras, and if in the year the construction was completed the lighthouse stood 550 meters from the water's edge, then by our time the waves began to splash only 37 meters from its foundation. For decades, engineers have tried to combat the ocean's encroachment by adding sand and building barriers. They even tried to plant artificial algae near the shore to protect them from the surf, but the experience was not successful. It became clear that the lighthouse, once considered the most important in America, but which has now lost its role to radar and satellite navigation systems, will fall after the first serious storm. The US National Academy of Sciences 10 years ago recommended moving the structure, which has become a monument to the era, away from the ocean.

At 63 meters 40 centimeters high, the lighthouse is the tallest brick lighthouse tower in the world. His weight is

43,545 tons. Two companies undertook to carry out the unique operation - International Chimney Corporation and Experienced House Movers. A massive column of brick, granite, marble, steel and bronze was sawed off from the base with a diamond cable saw, raised with hydraulic jacks by almost two meters (one hundred jacks with a lifting capacity of 50 tons each were needed) and a steel frame was slipped into place of the foundation. The frame slowly rolled on rollers under the pressure of five horizontal hydraulic jacks on seven steel rails lubricated with soap. The vertical position of the tower was maintained by computers that controlled vertical and horizontal jacks. One day, work stalled for half a day because the computer claimed that the top of the lighthouse was dangerously deviated from the vertical, but the plumb lines showed that everything was in order. It turned out that it was a computer failure. The completed section of rails was dismantled from time to time and moved forward. They moved the foundation to a new place and assembled it, and then they placed a lighthouse on it.

The move 884 meters further from the coast took 23 days, two weeks less than planned. The entire operation cost $11.8 million. Judging by the rate of coastal erosion, the lighthouse may stand in its new location for a hundred years. It still flashes once every 7.5 seconds, and its light is visible in the ocean as far as before, since the new location is slightly higher above sea level than the old one.

The materials in the section used articles and reports from the following foreign publications: “Economist” and “New Scientist” (England), “Bild der Wissenschaft” (Germany), “National Geographic”, “Popular Mechanics”, “Popular Science”, “Psychology Today” and “Smithson” (USA), “Science et Vie Junior” (France), as well as messages from the LPS agency and information from the Internet.

Source: SCIENCE AND LIFE