Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1901-04-21

initiates almost exactly the intermit-
tent flashes of lightning discharges and
produces the same decorating effects
that we are accustomed to hear when
fierce thunderstorms are in progress.
The apparatus is charged with high
tension alternating currents, which will
produce a display or halo about u
inches long about the letters placed on
the surface Of a large sheet Of glass.
When the potential is low, each letter
of the sign is surrounded by a violet
frings of brush discharge, and as the
voltage is raised lively, strange and
brilliant wriggling steamers of light
ming shoot out about the letters like a
lot of roots, an effect faithfully portray
ed in the illustrations. These vary in
length as the voltage is increased and
form a truly dazzling halation and eff
feet. AT this period of the operation
each flame or streak of lightning is
about a foot in length. It is when the
full voltage is on that the display be-
comes exceedingly lively. Then the
number of complete discharges is 250
a second, a complete discharge being
portrayed in each of the darts of light
ming surrounding the word Niagara
in the illustration. Just think of $50
flashes of lightning every second! Con
ceive, if you cam, witnessing such a
display by nature and then think of
what man has done to develop such a
condition for the safe entertainment
and enlightenment of the people,
Humanity is not given to standing
out in the storm to witness a thunder
and lightning display, but this Pan
American exhibition of artificial thun-
der and lightning will not be accompa-
MED by a rainstorm unless, of course,
nature adds to the reality Of the spec
tacle by furnishing a down pour.
Thunder is understood to be a COM
motion of the air brought about by the
passage of electricity. When storms
are in progress, people standing at diff
ferent points hear different sounds. A
person close to a flash of lightning
hears only one sharp report. while per-
sons at a distance hear the same report
as a prolonged peal. The prolonged
rolling of the thunder and the rise and
fall of the sound are hard to account
for.
All of these storm effects are appar-
ent in the device of MI. Skinner, but
never yet have human eyes looked
upon such a fierce display of lightning
as he has made possible of development
through his wizardlike machine. Be-
fore the electric current is turned on
the apparatus appears like a simple
sheet of glass, peaceful and quiet. But
when the current is furnished there is
a wonderful transformation The let
tiers become surrounded with a hue re-
sembling the effect of sheet lightning
snakelike bolts of lightning shoot out
here and there. They dart hither and
thither, and the fierce, frightfully real
istic, full discharges of lightning occur
with a frequency that is tremendously
appalling. 1t is so weird, so fascinat-
ing, so grand, that one becomes accus
toned to the sharp flashes of lightning
and the thunder peals and in fancy
feels the wind sweeping, roaring along,
%uprooting sturdy oaks by their stormy
blasts. Surely this artificial thunder
and lightning will demonstrate thor
oughly how Niagara has electrified the
Pan-American Exposition.