engineering

Point Robinson Light

Point Robinson Light is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Point Robinson Light rather than just read about it. In short: The Point Robinson Light is an operational aid to navigation and historic lighthouse on Puget Sound, located at Point Robinson, the easternmost point of Maury Island, King County, in the U.S. state of Washington. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

Key takeaways

Point Robinson Light belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Point Robinson Light to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Point Robinson Light from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Point Robinson Light is an operational aid to navigation and historic lighthouse on Puget Sound, located at Point Robinson, the easternmost point of Maury Island, King County, in the U.S. state of Washington. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

History Development of a navigational aid at Point Robinson began in 1884, when the Lighthouse Service purchased 24 acres there for $1,000. Construction of a fog signal station began that year with the facility seeing dedication on July 1, 1885. The original boiler and 12-inch steam whistle came from Oregon's Point Adams Light. A one-and-a-half-story keeper's house was built nearby. A second keeper's quarters was constructed in 1907. The point's first light arrived in 1887, when a lens lantern, shining persistent red, was attached to a 25-foot (7.6 m) post. In 1894, the post was replaced by an open wooden tower which held the light at 31 feet (9.4 m). The current lighthouse was built in 1915, a twin of the Alki Point Lighthouse. With its 38-foot (12 m) tower and fifth-order Fresnel lens, the light could be seen 10 nautical miles; 19 kilometres (12 mi). The flashing pattern is on for three seconds, off for one second, on for another three seconds, and off for five seconds. The light was automated in 1978, using the original fifth-order Fresnel lens. In 2008, the Coast Guard replaced the original Fresnel light with a replaceable plastic beacon mounted outside the lantern room. The original Fresnel lens remains in the lantern room where it can be viewed by visitors. A 100-foot radar tower was built at the point as part of the Puget Sound Vessel Traffic Control System at a cost of US$4 million in 1989. GPS facilities were added in the 1990s.

Last uniformed keeper The last Coast Guardsman stationed at Robinson Point Light Station was Jerry Bolstad in 1989. He and his family occupied one of the lighthouse keeper's houses. In addition to the station's general maintenance, the last keeper restored the original Daboll three-trumpet fog signal, air compressor, and diesel engines as part of a historical display and conducted tours. One of the vintage Daboll trumpets was attached to a bottle of compressed air so visitors could experience its powerful sound.

Park In the early 1990s, local residents learned of plans to lease land for commercial purposes on Point Robinson. With the whiff of a potential seafood-processing plant in the air, the organization Keepers of Point Robinson was created and, coupled with the Vashon-Maury Island Park and Recreation District, negotiated a 15-year lease on the property with the Coast Guard. The site is now a 10-acre (4.0 ha) shoreline park and historical and marine conservancy managed by Vashon Park District. The park district owns the upland part of the park, with the remainder on long-term lease from the Coast Guard. Keepers of Point Robinson work with the park district to maintain the site and offer the two keepers' dwellings as weekly rentals.

References

External links

Point Robinson Vashon Park District

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Point Robinson Light

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Point Robinson Light claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Point Robinson Light before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Point Robinson Light ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Point Robinson Light

In research: Point Robinson Light appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Point Robinson Light in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Point Robinson Light is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Buildings and structures completed in 1885, Colonial Revival architecture in Washington (state), Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state), so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Point Robinson Light outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Point Robinson Light in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Point Robinson Light means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Point Robinson Light out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Point Robinson Light in simple terms?

Why does Point Robinson Light matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Point Robinson Light?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Point Robinson Light.