US1437613A - Lightning-grounding device - Google Patents

Description

E. H. PETERSEN. LIGHTNING snounnme DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 3,19I9- Patented Dec. 5, 1922..

ZI msTZPe r Patented Dec. 5, 1922.

UNITED STATES 1,437,613 PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST H. PETERSEN, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO EMIL' C. ANDERSON, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

LIGHTNING-GROUNDING DEVICE.

Application filed October 3, 1919. Serial 1T0. 328,117.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST H. PETERSEN, a citizen of the United States, residin at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and tate of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Lightning-Grounding Devices, of which the following is a specification.

It often happens during electric storms in the country that cattle are killed by lightning which is attracted to the strands of wire fences and carried along by the same to a point where cattle are grouped together. It seems that lightning is easily attracted to cattle through which it is inclined to ground itself.

My invention consists in a grounding device which is of a peculiar and very simple construction, thus allowing it to be made economically and not making its use prohibitive on account of the cost of the same. In the use of a device of this nature it is obvious that quite a number of these devices are necessary to ground an ordinary fence at intervals close enough together to be effective and if the cost of the device is too great it would prohibit the general use of the same.

An-important feature of my invention is in securing the end of the grounding wire, which is adapted to be inserted into the ground far enough to reach the moist earth, at or near the point of the stake, while the body portion of the driving stake is entirely free from the grounding wire. This construction allows the use of a simple, inexpensive driving stake, which is only necessary for the purpose of easily inserting the grounding wire the proper depth into the ground without making it necessary to dig a hole to bury the grounding end of the wire. The ground wire is securely fastened near the point of the driving stake against disengagement therefrom to insure the same being drawn into the ground by the stake.

A further object of this invention is in allowing the use of a twisted cable conductor formed of copperwire or other suitable material which is inclined to carry or attract the lightning and carry it into the moist ground, independently of the metallic connection of the driving stake, thereby giving a most eflicient grounding device.

In the drawings forming part of this specification Figure 1 is a side view of a section of a fence, illustrating my device attached thereto.

Figure 2 is a detail of one of the driving stakes.

Figure 3 is a detail of the lower end'of the driving stake, illustrating the grounding wire attached thereto.

Figure 4 illustrates an alternative form of driving stake with a split lower end which is ada ted to receive the strands of the groun wire.

Figure 5 is a detail of the stake illustrated in Figure 4 after the driving end has been compressed into a point, illustrating the strands squeezed between the split ends of the same.

Figure 6 illustrates aside view of the stake illustrated in Figures 4 and 5, illustrating a. grounding cable attached thereto.

In the drawing, the grounding device A is of a very simple, inexpensive construction, being provided with a grounding cable 2 formed of twisted strands of copperwire or of any other material which is adapted to easily conduct lightning current.

One end 3 of the grounding cable or wire 2 is rigidly secured to the point 4 of the driving stake 5 so as to hold the end 3 against disengagement from the stake 5. A simple, inexpensive method of securing the end 3 is illustrated in Figures 2 and 3. The point 4 is formed on the stake rod 5 by flattening the same in an ordinary manner and by means of the hole'6, the end 3 of the cable 2 can be inserted in the stake and then the stake compressed in a suitable manner so as to squeeze the strands tightly in the hole 6 of the pointed end 4, as illustrated in Figure 3. In this manner the end 3 is is securely attached against disengagement from the pointed end 4 of the stake 5.

.The stake 5 is formed of any suitable material, it being preferably a steel rod of suitable diameter and its pointed end being adapted to allow it to be easily driven into the ground, drawing the end 3 deep enough into into the earth so as to always be in contact with the moisture in the same. The driving stake 5 allows the conducting cable 2 to be quickly inserted into the ground with a small amount of labor and the end of the cable projecting out of the ground is twisted about the strands 7 of the wire fence, to which the device A is being attached, in a suitable manner so that the cable 2 is held in strands of the cable, as illustrated in Figures 5 and 6. At the same time the ends 9 are formed into point to form a suitable driving end on the stake 8. Inboth this and the construction illustrated in Figure 3, the strands of the conducting cable 2 are tightly pinched and held in the pointed end of thestakes against disens'a ement Q therefrom so that they can be driveh into the ground to draw one end of the conducting cable 2 into the moist earth and thereby form an efficient lightning groundingdevice. i V t It will be readily seen that with the simple grounding device A, a fence can be equipped with a sufficient number of devices to insure grounding the strands '7 of the same so that in case of an electrical storm there would be practically little or no danger to the cattle which may come close to the fence unless they were at the point of attraction. It is very desirabl in this device to have the body portion of the stake entirely free and independent of contact with the conducting cable 9;, except at the sharp end 4 of the stake, to allow the cable 2 to be most eiiicient in grounding the lightning current. This peculiar connection of the cable 2 with the stake insures the grounding of the lightning without being diffused at the point of contact with the ground by connection withthe driving stake and also allowing the use of a good sized conducting cable made up of a series'o'f twisted strands, such as 2, which in practice has proved to be the most satisfactory lightning rod or conducting cable. It is obvlous that the device A can be removed from the ground and strands 7 of the fence so as to be used in any other place, if it is desired.

The cable 2 can be attached in any suitable manner to the pointed end of the driving stake but it is an essential feature that it be connected as near to the point as practical so as to carry the end 3 of the'cable deep enough into the ground to reach'the moisture in the same and it is also important that the body portion otthe driving stake be independent andfree of the grounding cable. I

In accordance with the patent statutes 1 have described the principles of operation of by invention, together with the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but I desire to have'it understood that theconstruction shown is only. 'illustrativeandthat the invention can be carried out by other means and applied to uses other than those above set forth within the scope of the following claims:

1. A lightning grounding-device, comarisin a drivin stake havin a bifurcated end a, conducting cable, a piercing point formed on said bifurcated end by compressing said bifurcated end about one end of said conducting cable and bringing, the ends thereof together to securely attach one end of said cable to said stake only at the point thereof for the purposes specified.

2. A lightning grounding device comprising a driving stalre vhaving a pair of normally spaced pointed arms at the end thereof, said arms being adapted to be forced together to form a driving point having an aperture between the same at the juncture thereof, and a. conductor adapted to be clamped between said arms Within said aperture.

ERNEST HI Partners.

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