Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 264, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 November 1918 — LIGHTNING RODS. [ARTICLE]

LIGHTNING RODS.

Weather Bureau Gives Specifications For Installing Protective Devices on Farm Buildings. Lightning rods, according to the Weather Bureau of the United States Department of Agriculture, are worth while for much more than just to make fearful folks feel comfortable during a thunderstorm. It goes on to say that with good lightning-rod installation they not only feel but are more secure, and that protection against lightning is general thoroughly Justified for farm buildings. In a . bulletin just published the department gives specifications for installing lightning rods. These specifications are meant not so much to euable the householder to construct his own protective system as to make it possible for him to understand and inspect adequately the work of- installation as done by an expert. ; Copper-cable installation is recoin mended as the .best, but it costs the most Competitive bids should be secured if the installation is to be extensive. \ A few of the main point to be considered are: Conductors should be installed in straight runs, and when bends are necessary they should, if practicable, not be abrupt Changes of direction should preferably be made In large radius curves—that . is--on ' curves with a radius of a foot or more. Insulators should not be employed, because a - good electrical connection with the wet roof and walls of a building helps to conduct the discharge to the ground harmlessly. Along ridges and flat roofs the aerials, or upward pointing conductors, should be not more than 25 feet feet apart; steeples and towers, because of their prominence, should be given extra protection. The most important part of the work is the grounding of the conductors, or their electrical connection to permanently moist earth. Ample metal plates, or pipes, etc., ate buried in the earth and permanently and thor- ■ oughly connected to the conductors on the building, and this metalate the ground should be of a noncorrosive typte, such as copper, bronze or aluminum. Steel towers, such as those which support windmills, do not require special protection, as a rule, because they are constructed of metal and are well--grounded through the pump. Deep- ; rooted trees are some /protection to j buildings near which they grow; on 1 the other hand, it is recommended that especially valuable large trees might wqil be rodded.