Lamps with one oil source and a number of wicks increased the intensity of the light. The use of polished metal reflectors began in the mid 1600’s. The spherical and parabolic mirrors, with their curved or egg-shaped interiors, gather and intensify the weak flame produced by the oil lamp wick and project it forward. The reflecting system was called the “catoptrical” system. A reflector-equipped light is on display at the West Point Lighthouse Museum.

Francois Pierre Aime Argand developed a system of concentric wicks in 1782, which became known as the Argand oil lamp. He also invented the use of a chimney to provide additional air flow over the wick and protect the flame from drafts. This increased the brightness of the flame.

Robert Stevenson improved Argand’s lamp in the early 19th century with a design that made it easier to replace the wicks and polish the reflectors. This version was widely used, either singly or in a grouping like at Cape Bonavista Lighthouse in Newfoundland.

The simple catoptrical systems used mirrored reflectors. Augustin Fresnel invented the dioptric lens system which employs only the reflective property of glass to make the equivalent of a large lens with concentric rings of small prisms. He also created a catadioptric system which uses both reflection and refraction. The Fresnel lens is like a bulls-eye surrounded by a number of concentric rings of glass. Barbier, Renard and Turenne of France and the Chance Brothers in England produced most of the Fresnal lenses in use today. The Fresnel lenses range from very small to the enormous hyper radials like the one at Cape Race, Newfoundland.