Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1884 — Efficiency of Lightning Rods. [ARTICLE]

Efficiency of Lightning Rods.

Prof. Mohn, of Christiania, Norway, having been employed by the Government to investigate the efficiency of the protection afforded to buildings by lightning rods, seems to have substantially settled the much debated question, at least for that region of country. His report shows that lighthouses, telegraph stations, and other exposed buildings, which were provided with conductors, did not by far suffer as much as churches, which in most cases were unprotected. It appears, in fact, that of about one hundred churches reported to have been struck by lightning, only three were provided with , conductors; that of these three the first had a conductor in good order, and theiJbuilding was uninjured; the second had a conductor of zinc wire, which melted, and, of course, left the structure without protection; the third had a wire which was rusty where it joined the earth, and the church was burned. More than one-half the number of

churches struck were totally destroyed. Mr. Preece, the English Government electrician, states that no damage has occurred to telegraph poles since the practice was adopted of providing them with lightning rods or earth wires.