Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1895-09-11
LIGHTNING'S DANGERS
HOW TO AVOID THEM
Easily Remembered Pointers bu an EleC-
triGal Engineer as 10 How to Protect
Your House and Yourself,

rious ways In which its disastrous
effect on human life and habita-
tons may be avoided. During the
past six months a large humber
~ OF persons all over the country
nave been struck by lightning, Many of
,hese have been killed outright and o;herr
nave been more or less severely injured.
Thousands of buildings have been struck,
sna the loss from a pecuniary stand
rolnt must have been considerable.
The energy OF the lightning Hash is
mainly spent In overcoming the resist
snce of the air, otherwise It's destructive
Effects upon objects that lie In its path
and impede its passage, s'ich rs houses,
trees or animals would be fearful. From
his fact we may deduce the following.
The destructive effects of lightning are
caused by the resistance 1t meets In its
path.
Provide m easy path for lightning, and
II meets with little or no resistance.
when II meets with no resistance Il
does no work.
When II does no work 1t does no har1n.
Every one connected with telegraph or
telephone work knows that lines rum
ming across the country receive static
charges from the air frequently strong
enough to interfere with the working
Of the lines. In the telephone the disturb
anoe IL indicated by sharp clicking
sound. on construction work men are
some times severely shocked by these
discharges which have followed the lines
for, perhaps, fifty miles, Telephone oper-
ators can tell when a storm is brewing
W the strength and frequency Of these
charges .r
when lightning strikes a telegraph line
the fash disappears. showing that the
cause OF the flash was the intense heat.
developed by the resistance of the air.
The charge will often follow n line for
miles till It enters some office, when It
will distribute Itself over the board and
20 to tho ground without doing harm.
VALUE OF A GOOD CONDUCTOR.
The lesson to be learned from these
facts, therefore, is to provide good con-
duotor, in order to protect your property.
We can not extend conductors to the
clouds nor Is this necessary, for the In
slant that lightning strikes a good cnr-
duetor. the flash disappears, and II tho
connection to tho earth be good one, II
leaves no further traces OF Its work.
Lightning as we have seen before, can
be carried on silently before It has time
TO accumulate In dangerous quantities. An
unusually heavy discharge is apt TO be-
split. OF the half dozen streams that
start from the cloud only one may reach
the earth entire, the others being 80 di-
,lded that they become harmless to ter
restrl1l objects. Therefore. we should
provide more than ono path for the dis-
charge that comes In our direction. BY
dividing the flash we greatly lessen the
chances for mischief.
There exists u general notion that a
hghtning conductor Will protect a certain
number of square feet. This notion Is a
false one. The best way to arrange u COM
ductor. Is to have It provided with points |
every few feet, and then 10 extend It
OYER every prominent part Of your house,
ihe Idea bOing to throw a shield around !
The house rather than trust TO some mi.,-
nellc quality Of the points TO draw" |
Nghtang out of .ts course.
ihere are many WAYS OF protecting |
bulldings A house surrounded by green |
tres H. fairly we'll protected, as tie sap |
N we trees and the points on the leaves |
facilitate the rapid dispersion OF slatic |
ei@rses' sappy. green tree IS rarely |
struck by lightning on this account. still, |
you should have a conductor on your
mouse IN order TO make sure. A barbci |
Nlfe stretched from tree to tree ten to |
hileen feet above the roof and connected /
WIN the ground Mt each end would be- |
very eiilcent. Barbcd wire is best en- ac- |
count OF Its numerous points.
ADVICE FOR HOUSE OWNERS.
house with metal roof, with metal |
water conductors leading to the drain |
protection, except that point should |
run up alongside Of each chimney. |
parbed wire extended over the chlm-
.es and down each side and aodered |
" the roof answers the same purpose.
~ your conductor pipes end in u tile !,
erHh drive sharp-pointed rod at least
~ ieet into the ground and connect a
rie strip from this to your conductor |
e' ana rivct or solder them together. |
.lo'lued the metallic connection is con-
.Auous This method is absolutely safe as |
w w whole roof Is covered with metal |
,.niviu Ihis explains why we have so i
Aue hghtening directly over a city, eN-
1 y. when some church spire is struck.
a. a matters little of what metal con-
N. n.,,is made. Experiments made by
~ ~ pTllhant DIR. Oliver Louge seem TO
,.sN mat contrary TO all previous op!n-
Ky KY, IRON Is better conductor for static
SIC than copper. Practically there Is
sseoauly little. II any. difference. Copper
49, 49, not rust easily. and Is on that &c
~. 70 DC preferred; but In the coun-
y ~ salVanized iron or steel often lasts
G '''' ""u - ''''Sh eie@P-
:, ne wonderful alloys and combinations
ma '"esal sometimes offered by Tightening
* ss.esmen are simply excuses for
',h~sns nigh price and are no better
~ Il, pam iron or copper
ehr,,'s uue that electric light and power
, - sometimes use a special alloy
f., her Tightening arresters. but they
49, special conditions to deal with and
~ special object IN using IL.
,nrss. Volect TO be attained IN lightning
a. -seetofs Is 10 expose as much surface
Al. posslb.e. The impact OF a lightning
rena..se IS so sudden that II does not
eanS.se much below the surface OF the
lnrhsN Hence strip OF tin two
h,,g Wile ~ better than solid rod
ah inch In diameter for IL presents
a. s,.er surface. A conductor made MP
IA ahued wires is better than a SOLID
,es Ut the same reason, as well as on
te. o. It's lower self-inductlon.
fnca urinary two-story dSelIin; houses
tert,o" wire Is heavy enough 10 afford pro-
ths out something heavier Is prefer
t,oL prevent ruHtlnR out or getting
s,rsnss = conductor consisting OF seven
shieh ~ no. u steel galvanized wire
tnsws, any hardware dealer can procure.
sos,, sS the purpose very Well. This
aoout cents a foot
,'oM TO MAKE A CONDUCTOR.
,srs 'r'er to put up lightning conductor
lioun5 oar and work n hole into tho
fstlr ~ ~ one corner OF your house, about
We, !, u the ground is Try get a
tolntsa saiVanizel three eightL-inch pipe.
inr az one end, at least eight feet
ineh.. ,u dfive II down to within three
10 ~ III 81 the surface Of the ground. row
eg,h. Ve opposite corner at tho Other end
ref,. nsuse and drive anuther piue IN the