Lego’s New Motorized Lighthouse Has a Working Fresnel Lens

in 1822Augustin Fresnel invented a lens made of ring-shaped prisms that could concentrate rays of light more effectively than reflectors or huge convex pieces of glass. Today they are used in spotlights and even in most VR headsets. But originally he designed them for lighthouses – it is the invention that is would have saved a million ships — and today Lego announced a motorized lighthouse with its own Fresnel lens.

Image: Lego

Make no mistake: it’s a toy – and at $300 for the 2,065-piece set, a pretty expensive one too! But Lego’s new glowing motorized lighthouse is packed with clever details, like most of its modern sets aimed at adult budgets. It will go on sale on September 1.

I especially love how Lego recreated the vertical dome atop the lighthouse from the sliding door elements I played with as a kid – it’s definitely reminiscent of the one on top of the Phare de Cordouan lighthouse where Fresnel originally installed his creation:

Photo by XAVIER LEOTY/AFP via Getty Images

And while Lego’s fresnel-equipped lantern is one of the rotary types (thanks to a Lego motor) rather than the giant omnidirectional variant, I’m reading that ones like Legos were in place at the turn of the century. Here is a neat vintage for sale from Chance Brothers, a glassmaker who made many different types of lighthouse lenses.

Below are a handful of high-resolution images with more neat details, such as the absolutely stuffed little lighthouse keeper’s house with a battery-operated light-up fireplace; a treasure-filled cave; and a small dock with a bird, a cat, a fish and some transparent waves lapping on the shore.

Image: Lego

Image: Lego

Image: Lego

Image: Lego

Image: Lego

Image: Lego

Image: Lego

This whole set started as a submission from Lego Ideas fans by means of Sandro Quattrinic, which goes through Roses Must Build in the community. Check out what the original looked like in action below, and here’s more of his work.