^.M5^ ENGLAND FARMER. 



I'UBI.ISIIKU liY \V1M,1A.M NK.lilH.H. ROGF.IIS' BUILDINGS, CONGRKETiirRUVviKj^ 



i'oS. 



Vol. III. 



SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, i«21. 



CToriTs^Jontfrncc. 



I 



LKillTNlNG HODS. 

 To the Editor nf tht AVw England Farmer, 



Sia, — I ;uii alicul piiltingf up liijlilnina;' rods 

 to my buildings, and wisli lo be inloirned in 

 wliat manii<;r it is most sale and l>t;st to fas- 

 ten tiieni. Some of my neis>;hl)Oiiis pass the rod 

 tlirougli a small ledg-e ot wood, wliicli is nailed 

 fast 10 the btiildino;. Others make nse of an 

 iron sla[)le with a piece of horn inserted into 

 the ringp, which receives the rod. I am inform- 

 ed the latter is the method sfcnerally adojited 

 in the sonthern Slate?. Is the liorn a noncon- 

 ductor ? and is there no danger that the fluid 

 may leave tfie rod and take the staple notwilli- 

 standin;;; this piece of horn ? Mow deep should 

 the nxl he inserted into the ground? and how 

 far horizontally should it extend ? There are 

 a great many notions prevailing on this subject, 

 ami we farmers, who have neither time nor op- 

 porluuily, lo study into the matter, must depend 

 on the opinion of gentlemen, who have made it 

 their particular concern by study and observa- 

 tion to inlbrm themselves correctly on the sub- 

 ject, such, no doubt are many of your corres- 

 pondents and should they feel willing fully to ex- 

 press their sentiments and opinions through the 

 medium of your most useful paper, it would be 

 doing an essential benelit to the public. If 

 lightning rods are of use to protect us against 

 injury from this most powerful fluid, it is time 

 they were placed upon the buildings — and the 

 sooner it shall be ascertained in what n^ inner 

 we had best have them erected, the bener it 

 c . ivJ^" t ' '^v Your;, .'x.c. 



' ^ AN OLD COLONY FARMER. 

 July 26, 1824. 



REMARKS BY THE EDITOR. The suhject of the 

 above communication is of great iniporlante, and we 

 hasten to give such inlormation respecting it as we can 

 convtuiently furnish. We indulge a liopt, however, 

 that some of our correspondents will resume it; and 

 give us such further particulars and directions as may 

 promote the best security against an agent, which, al- 

 though one of the most powerful in nature may be easi- 

 ly guided and disarmed by art. 



" Buildings that have their roofs coverf d with lead 

 or other metal, and spouts of metal continued from the 

 roof into the ground to carry off the water, are never 

 hurt by lightning, as, whenever it falls on such a build- 

 ing, it passes in the metals and not in the walls. 



" When other buildings happen to be within strik- 

 ing distance from such clouds, [as contain the electric 

 fluid] the fluid passes in the walls whether of wood, 

 brick, or stone, quitting the walls only when it can find 

 better conductors near them, as metal rods, bolts, and 

 hinges of windows or doors, gilding on wainscoat, or 

 frameset pictures, the silvering on the backs of looking 

 glasses, the wires for bells, and the bodies of animals, 

 as containing watery fluids. And in passing through 

 the house it follows the direction of these conductors 

 taking as many in its way as can assist it in its passage, 

 whether in a straight or ciooked line, leaping from one 

 to the other, if not f:»r distant from each other, only 

 rending the wall in the spaces where these partial 

 good conductors are too distant from each other. 



" An iron rod being placed on the outside of a build- 



ing, from the highest part continued down into the 

 moist earth, in any direction, straight or crooked, fol- 

 lowing the form of the roof or other parts of the build- 

 ing, will receive the lightning at its upper end, attract- 

 ing it so as to prevent its striking any other part ; and 

 aflording it a good convcyai?ce to the earth, will pre- 

 vent i(3 damaging any part of the building. 



" A small qu antity of nittal is found able to conduct 

 a great quantity of this fluid. A wire no bigger, than a 

 goose-quill has been known to conduct (with safety to 

 the building so far as the wire was continued) a 

 quantity of lightning that did prodigious damage both 

 above and below it, and probably longer rods are not 

 necessary, though it is common in America lo make 

 (hem of halfan inch, some of them three quarters or an 

 inch diameter. 



" The rod may be fastened to the wall, chimnej', kc. 

 tcith stnples of iron. The lightning will not leave the 

 rod, (a good conductor) to pass into the wood (a bad 

 conductor) through those staples— It would rather, if 

 any were in the wall, pass out of it into the rod to get 

 more readily by that conductor into the earth. 



" If the building be very large and extensive, two or 

 more rods may be placed at difl^ercnt parts, Ibr greater 

 security. 



" Small ragged parts of clouds, suspended in the air 

 between the great body of clouds and the earth (like 

 !■ afgold in electrical experiments) often serve as par- 

 tial conductors for the lightning, which proceeds from 

 - ot them to another, and by their help comes within 

 Jriking distance to the earth or a buildin- II 

 "-) forf^ strikes through those conductors, a budding 

 tl .^t would otherwise be out of striking distance. 



•' Long sharp points communicating with the earfh, 

 \.,<i presented to such p.irU of elonris, drawing silenily 

 from them the fluid they are charged with, they are 

 then attracted to the cloud, and may leave the dis- 

 tance so as to be beyond the reach of striking. 



■' It is therefore that we elevate the npper end of 

 the rod six or eight feet above the highest part of the 

 building, tapering it gradually to a fine point, which 

 is gilt to prevent its rusting. 



" Thus the pointed rod either prevents a stroke rom 

 the cloud, or if a stroke is made, conducts it to the 

 earth with safety to the building. 



" The lower end of the rod should enter the earth so 

 deep as to go in a horizontal line six or eight feet from 

 the wall, and then bent again downwards three or four 

 feet, it will prevent damage to any stones of the found- 

 ation." — Works of Dr. Franklin, vol. i.p. 377, Lon. edi- 

 tion of ISJG. 



In the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts 

 and Sciences, Vol. ii. Part ii. page 99, is published a 

 letter from Aaron Putnam, Esq. to the Rev. Jedidiah 

 Morse, in which the writer observes " it appears to me 

 a great mistake to place rods for conductors high in the 

 air, above the object we wish to protect, for it is well 

 kno%vn that no object will be so soon stricken as the 

 conductor. We must have a strong propensity for emp- 

 tying clouds, to run our conductor so high in (he air as 

 to empty the highestclouds that should pass, and there- 

 by expose them to the striking distance, when nine out 

 often would pass us, and not even come within attrac- 

 tive or emptying distance, provided our conductors 

 were placed but a small height above the object we 



■TIIOMAS G. FKSSKNDKN, KDnoitT 



No. .-}. 



wish to prelect. The i>rly reason I conceive, that caa 

 be offered in favour of carrying conductors high^in the 

 air, 13 io meet and empty the cloud sooner; but this 

 appears to me an inaccurate mode of ■ -asoning; for if 

 ever a conductor fails to afford protection, il is when a 

 cloud, highly charged, approaches so rapidly upon the 

 point that before there is time for it to be emptied, the 

 point is brought within striking distance, and is then 

 unable to carry off (be quantity thrown upon it ; there- 

 fore,,if the point is placed high in the air, for the sake 

 of attracting it, certainly it is in the same ratio expos- 

 ed to be stricken. From the preceding observations, I 

 conclude, that a point eighteen inches above the high- 

 est Object we wish to protect would be much more 

 safe than one of eighteen /ce/." 



"An improvement in conductors of Hshtniug was 

 made by Mr. Robert Patterson, ot I'hiladelphia, for 

 whidi the American Philosophical Society a.ljudged 

 him He prize ot a gold medal. He proposes first to in- 

 sert, in the top of the rod, a piece of the best black-lead, 

 about two inches long, and terminating in a fine point 

 which projects a little above the end of its metallic 

 aoctet; so that the black-lead point should be left 

 shari^enough to answer the purpose of a metallic con- 

 duct*. His second intention is, to facilitate the pas- 

 sage m'the electric, fluid from the lower pari of the rod 

 into *ie surrounding earth. In many ca^es it is im- 

 practicable, from the interruption of rocks and other 

 obstacles, to sink the rod so deeply as to reach moist 

 earth, or any other substance that is a tolerably good 

 condiictor of electricity. To remedy this defect Mr. 

 FaltiTson proposes to make the lower part of the rod, 

 e', .. of tfc or copper, which metals are far less lia- 

 ble to v;orft>sio*» -. »>-'st man iiuu, ** mi... i_. -...;, i_^ 



ground ; or, which will answer the purpose still better, 

 to coat that part of the conductor, of whatever metal it 

 may consist, with a thick crust of black-lead previous- 

 ly formed into a paste by being pulverized, mixed with 

 melted sulphur and applied to the rod while hot. By 

 this precaution the lower part of the rod will, in his 

 opinion last for ages, without any diminution. 



" In order to increase the surface of the subterraneous 

 part of the conductor, he directs a hole of sufficieut ex- 

 tent to be dug as deep as convenient ; into which a 

 quantity of charcoal should be put, surrounding the 

 lower extremity of the rod. Thus, the surface of that 

 part of the conductor, which is in contact with the 

 earth, may be increased with little trouble or expense ; 

 a circumstance of the first importance to security 

 against those accidents, as charcoal is an excellent 

 conductor of electricity, and will undergo little or no 

 change of property, by lying in the ground a long se- 

 ries of years." — Phil. Edi.of Willich''s Domestic En- 

 cyclopedia, Art. Conc'urtors. 



Mr. Cavallo observes that "a conductor to guard ai 

 building, as it is now commonly used in consequence of 

 several considerations and experiments. Should con- 

 sist of one iron rod, (copper would do much better, it 

 being a more perfect conductor of electricity, and at 

 the same time not being subject to contract rust so 

 soon as iron,) about three quarters of an inch thick, 

 fastened to the wall of a building not by iron cramps 

 hut hit wooden ones. If the conductor were quite de- 

 tached from the building;, and supported by woodeo 



