WIRELESS DANGER.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 250, 22 October 1928, Page 7

WIRELESS DANGER.

Electric Crane Near Broadcast

Station.

SAFETY MEASURES PROPOSED.

(United Service.) (Received 11 a.m.)

LONDON, October 21.

There is considerable surprise at the electrification of a builder's crane, which is erected on a high building in the "West End, within 120 yds of the British Broadcasting Corporation's aerial, which has provided the engineers with a new problem.

Experts who have investigated the matter now declare that there is a grave risk of fire in buildings in the vicinity of wireless transmitting stations, because it is evident that they carry a high oscillatory current which is capable of igniting escaping gas and similar matter.

Furthermore,. they say there is a possibility of the deterioration of the bolts and rivets used in modern steelframed constructions. The experts found tliat the current was so powerful during broadcasting hours that anyone who touched the hook of the crane received a burning shock, sufficient to raise a blister.

Previously the men engaged in loading and unloading in the vicinity of the crane had received severe shocks. Subsequent tests showed that the hook was electrified to the extent of 320 volts. In the course of a demonstration the crane hook lit a 30-inch Neon tube and ignited a tin of petrol, which was standing on damp ground, and set on fire a hemp sling.

A later message states that the electrified crane has now been equipped with an alarm bell which the Broadcasting Corporation rings at the commencement of broadcasting, warning the workmen to put on rubber gloves.

A "Broadcasting Company official attributes the crane's electrification to the absorption of current from the ether, the long cable acting as an aerial. He assures householders in the vicinity that there is no danger to life or property.