Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1857-08-20
1t is the nature Of electricity or lightning
to follow the best conductor. It will never

TO 1OllOW the pest conductor. 1t Will never
leave good one for poor or less perfect
one, therefore if a lightning rod be of suffi-
cient size and perfect in all It's appoint
ments, it may be expected to convey the e.
lectricity from the clouds. not only silently
but without any visible evidence of its pas
sage to the ground But should an explo-
sion ever occur under such circumstances,
it would probably be the result Of a peculi-
arly humid condition of the surrounding at
mosphere, and of an unusually sudden and
near approach of a cloud heavily charged
with electricity; but these conditions may
be regarded of rare occurrence. The acci-
dents from lightning then, thatso frequent
ly happen to buildings, provided with light
ming rods, must result from their defective
construction or arrangement. One great
object with some of those who travel about
the country, engaged in putting up light
ming rods, is to do the work in the cheapest
possible manners Nor is it to be expected
that many of these persons are as familiar
with the nature of the subject in which they
are engaged as they should be. Many of
the buildings throughout the country now
provided with these imperfect conductors
are less safe than if they had none. This
wonderful, mysterious agent electricity, is
not to be tanpered with, and we would adj
wise every farmer about to have conductors
erected on his buildings to see that all the
important requisites are fulfilled. a@
Hay and grain stacks, and barns, filled
with hay and grain recently cut are more
liable to strokes of lightning than dwellings,
owing to the gasses that are given off by
these substances in consequence ofthe slight
degree of fermentation which they always
undergo soon after being harvested. '..''
We have thus briefly alluded to the ma
ture and properties of electricity and the
defects in lightning rods. We will now
proceed to give the manner in which they
should be made and put up.
lightning rods, if made Of iron, may be
round, and should never be less than three
quarters Of an inch in diameter even for an,
ordinary sized house. Larger houses should
terminate with a large piece of iron firmly
secured to it, and extend into the ground in
a direction from the wall Of the house, so as
to always be in the moist earth, not less
than six feet, or if possible into well or
cistern. If it is not convenient to extend
the rod into the water, it's lower end should
be surrounded with one or two loads Of pull
verized charcoal. It is no doubt owing to
the wont of proper precaution in this respect,
that buildings are sometimes injured by
lightning. The earth in our dry seasons is
deprived of its moisture below the end Of
the rod, and it then becomes a poor conduc-
tor. ~ ~ qsfrs.E ,s#F qtr
The manner of the pointing of the rod al
so demands attention. A number of differ
ent points for lightning reds have been pa
tented, but they are entitled TO no higher
regard than the present insulators. In
France lightning conductors are made to
terminate with a single point. In Gerlna-
ny, England and America, several are fire.
quently added composed of various mate
rials, but a rod terminating with single
point is as good as more, and the taper Of
this should not exceed tuo and a halt, or at
most, three inches, on rod three-quarters
of an inch in diameter. To protect the
point from rust it should be covered with a.
good cap Of silver, well soldered on-gold
or platinum are better, however, should any
one choose to employ either. 80
Where the slender patent points are used
they heve been known to explode, or melt
for want of sufficient size. 80 - -'"-
The height to which single rod should
extend above the main body of the building,
to insure safety, is now generally admitted
to be equal to half the distance to its re-
mote point; that is, to protect barn sixty
feet long, the rod rising from the centre Of
the roof, will require to extend fifteen feet
above the ridge. 81.
A fruitful source of disaster is known to-
arise from the uses Of small square rods,
now SO common in many parts of the coun~
try where the pieces are joined. Where a
rod is too long to be welded, the best joint
is that which gives the greatest surface to
the two pieces in contact, and to secure this
object they should be spliced with a broad
fat cap, four inches long, allowing each
part where they come together to spread
something wider than the main body Of the
rod, the faces fitted smooth, and the joint
firmly secured with ring covering the point
of each piece.
In securing the rod to the building there
is no danger in using small iron staples
For it is true as Dr. Franklin said, the
lightning will never leave the rod-a large
conductor-to follow them, but the staples
more likely would serve to convey electrici-
ty from the building did it contain any, to
The rod. But should it be preferred to have
The rod greater distance from the building
he best way to secure it, is with braces
made of baked wood, and then well paint
cd. Two of these are used together, form
ng triangle, with their ends secured to
he building twelve or fifteen inches apart,
he other ends brought to point at the