The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1435 
Farm Mechanics 
Lightning Protection 
I am about to put lightning tods on my 
buildings. Would iron water pipe 2%-in., 
with tee coupling, act as point? c. T. J. 
New York. 
Since the day when Benjamin Franklin 
succeeded in coaxing an electric spark to 
the earth along the path of his kite-string, 
much thought and effort has been put into 
wavs and means of securing protection 
from the lightning flash. That lightning 
a r eal menace, both to life and proper- 
tv, must be admitted by all who take the 
time to read insurance and governmental 
reports. The property and life loss is 
heavy through the Summer months, and 
this loss is largely confined to the rural 
districts. 
Working on this need for a satisfactory 
means of protection, and the general lack 
of knowledge concerning the nature of the 
lightning discharge, various unscrupulous 
manufacturers and dealers have, in the 
past, put upon the market high-priced 
articles of doubtful value, the great need 
for protection and the general air of mys¬ 
tery surrounding the whole that has been 
mentioned enabling them to do this. The 
result is the making of “hard sledding,” 
if this term may he used in connection 
with lightning rods, for the honest manu¬ 
facturer and dealer, and there are many 
of this class. At the present time, how¬ 
ever. popular knowledge of the subject is 
such that there is less opportunity for 
this kind of work, and many of the pro¬ 
tection systems are put out with a definite 
guarantee of protection when installed 
and maintained according to instructions 
given. 
While there are a number of theories 
regarding the generation of the electricity 
that becomes visible to us as lightning; it 
is pretty generally agreed that the clouds 
carry what is known as a positive charge, 
while the earth and objects upon it re¬ 
ceive a negative charge. This positive and 
negative electricity have a great attrac- 
toin for each other, much as the north and 
south poles of the magnet attract each 
other. The blanket of air separating the 
clouds from the earth, however, tends to 
prevent the escape of this cloud or posi¬ 
tive electricity to the earth, much in the 
same way that the inner tube of an auto 
tire prevents the escape of air. Finally 
the electrical pressure will become great 
enough to burst through this layer of air, 
just as the auto tire would burst when 
the pressure became great enough, and a 
lightning flash is the result. 
The purpose of the lightning rod is to 
conduct this cloud electricity to the earth 
before the pressure becomes great enough 
to create a destructive flash, and many 
homemade devices are said to give excel¬ 
lent results in this way. Strands of 
barbed wire nailed over the edges and 
angles of a building with extensions to 
protect the chimneys, etc., if well ground¬ 
ed, are said to give excellent protection to 
small buildings. Metal roofs on buildings, 
if well connected to down spouts and 
other metal parts, and well grounded to 
permanently damp earth, are also excel¬ 
lent protectors. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 
367. obtainable from your Congressman, 
gives detailed instructions regarding light¬ 
ning protection for farm buildings. While 
galvanized iron seems to be a fairly sat¬ 
isfactory material for a cheap protective 
system, it seems that the same cannot be 
said about galvanized iron piping, as the 
difficulty of getting joints that will be free 
from rust and corrosion is great. When 
the possibly disastrous results of a poorly 
designed or improperly installed system 
are considered, it would seem the best 
policy to use standard equipment, in¬ 
stalled according to the specifications of 
some of the manufacturers advertising in 
the reliable farm papers, and enjoy the 
protection of their guarantee on the prop¬ 
erty as well as the life protection afford¬ 
ed by properly rodded buildings. R. H. s. 
Kerosene Engine 
of compression, thus doing away with the 
carburetor and electric ignition device. 
Tests have shown that the efficiency of 
an engine is increased by raising the com¬ 
pression pressure, i. e., a greater power 
output is possible from a given amount 
of fuel when burned under high compres¬ 
sion. A high compression pressure simply 
means that more air is packed or squeezed 
into the cylinder to expand and deliver 
energy when heated by the burning fuel. 
In the regular gas engine the compression 
is between 60 and 70 lbs. per square inch. 
While-a higher pressure is desirable, it is 
impossible to secure it without firing the 
charge in the cylinder from the heat of 
compression, for, as is well known, com¬ 
pressing a gas makes it hot. An auto¬ 
mobile or bicycle pump furnishes ready 
proof of this after use. This difficulty 
is encountered because the fuel is mixed 
with the air in a vaporized condition— 
a highly inflammable state. 
In the engine under discussion the air 
is compressed alone to a pressure of 
around 400 lbs. per square inch, which 
gives a temperature ranging from 900 to 
1,000 degrees F.. but as only air is pres¬ 
ent. no combustion can take place. The 
fuel is introduced-as a liquid, and at the 
proper time is gasified and ignited by the 
high compression heat noted. The engine 
uses the cheaper grades of fuel, and is said 
to be very economical in fuel consumption. 
It operates in a manner very similar to 
the Diesel type of engine, which is a very 
efficient motor where a heavy stationary 
type is required. As to defects, the 
writer has never heard of but one com¬ 
plaint: one operator had difficulty in re¬ 
taining his cylinder head gasket, but was 
otherwise very enthusiastic over the en¬ 
gine. He has since remedied this trouble. 
The high compression carried perhaps 
calls for a little more care in lubrication, 
and there may be some difficulty in turn¬ 
ing them rapidly enough to start when 
the cylinder walls are coated with thick¬ 
ened oil in the Winter, although hot water 
poured into the jacket should remedy this, 
and where this is not available a little 
fuel poured into the empty hopper and 
burned should warm the engine up. Also 
it may not be possible to get quite as close 
an adjustment on the firing time as with 
an engine which is ignited electrically. 
The valves are. however, mechanically 
operated, and may be adjusted very close¬ 
ly. On the whole the principle of opera¬ 
tion seems to be excellent. In these days 
of high-priced gasoline, an engine that i 
will burn low-grade fuels successfully is ' 
desirable. b. h. s. I 
Selection of Water Wheel 
I have a prospect in water power, a 
fall of 35 ft. I want the pipe 100 ft. 
long, to carry 300 cu. ft. per minute to a 
wheel of the spouting variety. How large 
an opening at the wheel or nozzle? How 
large a pipe? Can it be smaller at the 
lower half? s. D. 
Arlington, Vt. 
Under the conditions outlined in the 
inquiry it would seem that a small turbine 
or an overshot wheel would be preferable 
to an impulse wheel of the type described. 
Wheels, of this class are usually associ¬ 
ated with installations carrying a high 
head and having a limited water supply. 
A leading manufacturer of this type of 
wheel recommends the use of a 14-in. pipe 
for leading the water to the wheel, the 
water being fed to the wheel through two 
governor-controlled nozzles, approximate¬ 
ly 3U> in. in diameter each. The wheel 
which would be carried on a masonry or 
concrete mounting would be about. 4 ft. 
in diameter, and would make approxi¬ 
mately 100 revolutions per minute, devel¬ 
oping about 16 horsepower. While the 
above described plant would, no doubt, 
make a very satisfactory installation, it 
is the opinion of the writer that a wheel 
of the overshot type or a small turbine 
would give excellent service as a farm 
power, and at a lower cost of installation 
than the outfit described. r. it. s. 
I wish to buy a kerosene engine. I 
am used to operating gas engines, tractors, 
automobiles, etc., but never ran an engine 
of.this kind. What are the objections to 
this kind of an engine, and what are its 
advantages? They must be wonderful 
machines, if they are what the sellers 
claim. h. j. K. 
Leominster, M : ass. 
In the ordinary gasoline engine, th 
one with which we are all more or les 
familiar, the operation or cycle is divide 
into four strokes or events. On the firs 
outward stroke of the piston air, mixei 
}vith fuel in a vaporized form, is drawl 
into the. cylinder. This mixture of ga 
and ai r . is then compressed or “squeezed 
py the incoming piston as it returns, am 
ignited by an electric spark at the prope 
nme The resulting expansion, caused b; 
tie heat of combustion, forces the pistol 
ottt on the power stroke, after which tli 
exhaust valve opens and the piston sweep 
ng back on the exhaust stroke, crowd 
1° burned gases from the cylinder, givinj 
• s ’ 10 f°ur events of suction, compres 
^ on, power and exhaust occurring in th 
o iter named. This cycle is repeated a 
i* ie engine continues to operate. 
i, one ' n '' about which inquiry i 
tde the method of operation is slight! 
hinged. Fuel is admitted to the cylin 
•' * ln tne. form of a liquid instead of be 
g vaporizqfl. and is ignited by the hea 
Size of Parachute 
What is the size of a parachute used to 
allow one person to descend from a bal¬ 
loon safely: that is, the diameter? 
Pennsylvania. p. w. S. 
Correspondence with the office of Di¬ 
rector of Air Service, War Department, 
Washington. D. C„ has brought Bulletin 
No. 954. “Parachute Manual for Bal¬ 
loons.” from which the following is 
gleaned : 
French parachutes are in the form of 
a spherical cap. with a vent in the center, 
to permit the escape of air during descen*'. 
They are designed to retard the speed of 
descent to an average of 10 to 15 feet 
per second, and in the one-man size aver¬ 
age about 970 square feet in area, which 
is enuivnlent to a diameter of approxi¬ 
mately 25 feet. The basket type has an 
area of approximately 1.425 square feet, 
or a diameter of approximately 30 feet. 
Correspondence with the department 
named above will bring their bulletin, 
which gives much other interesting and 
valuable information. r. h. s. 
Mike (to chemist! : “The doctor said. 
‘Take one of these pills three times a day.’ 
I took one of them wanst, but the man 
doesn’t, live that kin take wau of thim 
three times.”—Credit Lost. 
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WILSON FEED MILL 
For grinding corn in the ear and 
small grain. 
Has special crusher attachment 
which first breaks the ears of 
corn, which can be shoveled right 
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1WHITING-ADAMS 
Established 1810 
110 Years of Making 
Good Brushes 
Replaced foreign brushes in the 
U.S. in 1812, and became soon the 
leading manufacturers of Brushes in 
the United States. Later, and now, 
the largest manufacturers of Brushes 
in the world. Excellent quality; in¬ 
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Send for Illustrated Literature 
John LWhiting-J.J.AdamsCo-, Boston, U.S. A. 
Brush Manufacturers for Over 110 Years and 
the Largest in the World 
