The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1916-01-30

uuC-Illlu pei SCul VI al uIc iOoSCo IA
the United States. Expressed in
terms Of actual dollars. this means
about $S,5O0,00O per annrlm There
are in the United States about TO-
100000 rural dwellings. Add the barns
and other structures, and the total Of
rural buildings may be reckoned at
H20.0O0D00. To rod all OF sthese, at
an average cost of $50 apiece, would
not pay. . saae$ q q gtiN
Nevertheless, It would be not only
worth while. but highly profitable to
rod all buildings Of certain classes
which, as experience has shown, are
specially liable to be struck by light
ming. Among these barns come first.
Twenty-one per cent Of all barn fires
are caused by lightning. Churches
come next, with eighteen per cent and
school houses next. with five per cent.
Oil Tanks Great Danger.
When a barn is burned, lightning
has set the fire in one cast out Of FIVE.
When a church is. burned, lightning
is the cause of one instance out Of
every six. When a school house is
burned, 1t is lightning that does the
mischief in one of every twenty cases.
There is one kind Of structure, how
ever, that far SURPRISES the barn in
point OF liability to destruction by
lightning. This is the oil tank. Four
out Of every ten fires that destroy oil
tanks are caused by lightning.
A remarkable fact in this connection
is that no satisfactory way to protect
oil tanks against lightning has as yet
been discovered. No lightning rod Of
any kind devised up. to date seems to
accomplish the purpose. In fact, the
Standard OIL Corporation has been in
clined to think that such rods actually
attract the skyfre to their stored prod
uct. The problem at the present time
remains unsolved.
Slate Roofs Help.
With structures OF other kinds,
however, 1t is different. The judgment
of the bureau of standards is that q
barn properly rodded Is practically
safe from attack by lightning. 1t reck-
ons the degree of safety at ninety
nine per cent. For dwellings the eff
ficlency Of the lightning rod is esti-
mated at eighty to ninety per cent,
because chimneys and masses OF metal
complicate the problem.
A slate roof on q house helps a lot
to protect 1t from lightning. Sheet
metal roofs, metal ornaments Of size
and gas or water pipes. IL close to the
rod, are bad. They may divert the
course of the lightning bolt. In all
such cases the rod system should be
connected with the roof or with in
terror metal work. even though the
latter be only a telephone wire.
Comfort in Rods.
Masses of metal on the outside Of a
building should be made part Of the
protective system. Roof cutters should
be connected with down spouts and
the latter well "earthed.y Metal porch
roofs. should be connected with the
nearest rod. With this sort Of pre-
caution taken the sheet metal roof Of
a house may be one OF the most eff
icient possible projections against
lightning.
The cost OF roddlng a house is very
small relatively to the value Of the
protection gained. 1t is money well
spent, il only for the sake Of comfort
of mind 1t gives to the inmates, es-
peclally to people-not a few-who are
afflicted with a chronic and ineradi-
cable terror Of thunderstorms. Many
are the farmers today who sleep COM
posedly through such disquiets Of ma
ture, because they know their houses
and barns are rodded, where former
ly, when they enjoyed no such pro-
lection they lay broad awake for
hours wondering il something dread
full was going to happen.
Intensity, Not Quantity.
At the same time it is plainly made
clear by the bureau of standards that
the average man who has his house
or barn rodded pays entirely too much
for the service. The lightning rod
agent is no longer the dishonest and