US708188A - Lightning-rod. - Google Patents

Description

Patented Sept. 2, I902.

J. 0. WILSON. LIGHTNING ROD.

(Application filed Jan. 6, 1902.)

2 Sheets Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

zed

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES O. \VILSON, OF CANTON, MISSOURI.

LlGHTNlNG-ROD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 708,188, dated September 2, 1902. Application filed January 6,1902- Serial No. 88,654. (No model.)

1'0 a zultom it may concern.-

Be it known thatl, JAMES O. \VILSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Canton, in the county of Lewis and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Lightning- Rod, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in lightning rods or conductors, and has for its principal object to provide for a construction and system of electrical conductors whereby a convective discharge may be more effectually provided for than in devices of the class in ordinary use; and a further object is to provideefficient means for-grounding the current and in a measure establishing the flow of a current through the conductors when an electrical storm is in progress, thereby rendering the conductor more sensitive and facilitating the discharge from the cloud.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view illustrating a building provided with a lightning-rod system arranged in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one of the grounding-plates. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of the same.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

1 indicates a building provided with a system of conductors which are preferably stranded, although solid tape or wire conductors of copper, iron, or other metal may be employed for the purpose. The conductor 2 is preferably extended for the full length of the building and at convenient points is provided with upwardly-extended arched or looped portions 3, which may extend for a height proportionate to the size of the building and the surrounding conditions, or in some cases I may employ the usual points either as auxiliaries to the loops or may dispense entirelywith said loops. If the building be provided with a chimney, a portion of the conductor is wound around the top of the chimney, as indicated at 4. The conductors are connected, as in accordance with the best practice, with any metallic cornicework, spouting, or other metallic objects on the building and lead to two or more grounding connections, as illustrated in Fig. l, the conductors being branched at a point above the ground, as shown at 5, in order to facilitate the discharge. At a suitable point below the groundsay at a distance of three feet, more or less-I place a bed of charcoal or similar material which will absorb and retain the moisture from the earth, and in each of these beds is placed a ground-plate 6, through which the branched conductors extend and to which they are electrically connected, the ends of the conductors extending down into the moist earth for a considerable distance below the plates. Each ground-plate is formed of a series of plates of the character shown more clearly in Fig. 3, the plates being of copper,

lead, zinc, and galvanized iron arranged in the order named and each, except the galvanized-iron plate, being of the same size. The iron plate is of somewhat-larger diameter in order that its edges may be folded over the edges of the other plates and hold the compound plate firmly together. As the materials which enter into the composition of the ground-plate are non-corrosive, the plates will last for a considerable length of time without requiring any attention or renewal and owing to their electrical conductivity will quickly discharge the current to the charcoal and thence to the earth.

Owing to the employment of two or more ground-plates each possessing elements of differing electrical properties, a current will be established throughout the entire system on the approach of a charged cloud or from a nearby stationary cloud gradually receiving a charge from an approaching cloud, and the current will be gradually drawn from the cloud by a continuous or a series of convective discharges before a sufficient quantity of electrical energy can accumulate for a disruptive discharge, the flow of current through the conductor rendering the latter much more sensitive than an uncharged conductor and more likely to attract and receive the charge from the cloud.

The arrangement of parts may be modified in a variety of ways, and the ground-plates may be set vertically in order to the better establish a circuit, and various other changes in the minor details of construction may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. Alightning-rod comprisinga continuous conductor extending from an elevated point to a plurality of ground connections, and compound ground-plates to which the terminals of the conductor are electrically connected.

2. A lightning-rod comprising a continuous conductor having a plurality of ground connections, loops connected continuously to the conductor and extending thereabove to form attractive points, and compound groundplates to which the terminals of said conductor are electrically connected.

3. A lightning-rod comprising a continuous conductor extending from an elevated point to a groundplate, said conductor being branched or divided, and a ground-plate to which the branched or divided portions of the conductor are connected.

4:. A grounding connection fora lightningrod comprising a bed of charcoal arranged below the surface of the ground, and a composite plate embedded in the charcoal and electrically connected to the conductor.

A grounding-plate for a lightning-rod, comprising superposed sheets of galvanized iron, zinc, lead and copper, arranged in the order named.

6. A grounding-plate for lightning-rods, comprising a series of superposed plates of different electrical properties, the outer of said plates having its edge portions folded over the edges of the remaining plates and binding the same together.

7. The combination with a lightning-rod, of a ground-plate to which said rod is connected, the terminals of said rod extending through and below said plate, substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I havehereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES 0. WILSON.

Witnesses:

H. O. CHINN, T. E. RALEIGH.

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