In the 18th century the bar compounded the problem of silting to the extent that in 1753 a government report on Irvine Harbour stated that it was "choked up with sand banks" and vessels were sometimes unable to depart for several months.

The introduction to his application for a patent for this ATMS, states that it is to be an apparatus for automatically signalling the depth of water at harbours, docks, piers, navigable channels or the like.

The system entailed the provision of a floating chamber, or 'Tide gauge' (at NS 30369 37993) in this case made of timber, situated at some distance from the structure and calibrated in such a manner as to represent the tide depth at the harbour bar.

Adjacent to the Automatic Tide Marker Station building another signal system existed to indicate whether vessels could enter or leave the harbour.

[8] The fifty foot tower which housed the system was completed in 1906 and the external facings of the brick building are harled and painted white to make it visible for some distance from out at sea.

Although the building appears as a simple square four story tower, there is only one floor above ground level and above that is a void, housing the actual signal equipment, the balls originally being made of canvas stretched over a metal frame.

The usual speeches and presentations took place and afterwards the official party left the harbour by the steam paddle tug George Brown, travelling to Largs further up the Clyde Coast.

The tower is situated 40 yards or thereby southwards of the present green light.The Automatic Tide Marker Station achieved its objectives.

The float chamber became totally silted up, the connecting wooden trough for the cables disappeared and the signal equipment gradually decayed within the building.

The building and system have protective listing as a category 'B' structure and in 1989, Irvine Development Corporation (IDC) carried out substantial repairs.

Attempts by the Scottish Maritime Museum and others have been made to restore the unique building and system fully (it is thought however that another similar structure may have been built in Northern France).

[5] In 2013 an initiative by Coastwatch Scotland, a Voluntary Coastal Monitoring and Safety organisation, got underway in an attempt to turn the building into a watch tower for the benefit of the people of Irvine and visitors.

[10] A Royal Observer Corps watchtower was based here during WW2 as the building gave a wide panoramic view of the Firth of Clyde.