Report on European ships of war, their armament, naval administration and economy, marine construction and appliances, dock yards, etc., etc.: By John W. King, U. S. N., Washington, 1877. Gov't Printing Office
✍ Scribed by K.
- Book ID
- 103087886
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1877
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 122 KB
- Volume
- 104
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0016-0032
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The author begins the work with an effort to instruct the reader upon the subject of electricity in its various phases, but more especially in its static condition, and as displayed in the phenomenon of thunderstorms. This occupies 68 pages, and while reasonably correct in its bearing on lightning protection, it contains some strange statements. For instance, on page 47, in speaking of electrical accumulations in the air and earth, he says: "In the earth it (the ~'electricity) is principally spread out over the subterranean water "bed" . . . While all will agree that moist earth is a much better conductor than dry, we know of no evidence that the electricity in the earth is localized.
Then follows a description of the various means employed for protection from lightning, including conductors, air and earth terminals, attachments to buildings, etc., in which the best methods are very clearly pointed out.
While several varieties of conductors, and methods of making good connections and attachments to buildings are approved, all of them are based upon the requirement that the conductors shall be of ample cross-section of metal, and that they shall terminate in a large metallic surface, planted in constantly moist ground.
Only on the subject of earth terminals does there seem to be any bias of judgment.
All the earth terminals now offered for sale by "Lightning Rod Men," are, without exception, condemned, but one devised by the author is pronounced pre-eminently effective, although having no more surface exposed, nor sunk deeper in the soil, than some others mentioned. This, together with the last seven pages, headed "Reform in the Lightning Protection Business," are certainly blemishes in an otherwise real}y useful book.
K.