ELECTRIC NIAGARAS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XLIII, Issue 2337, 27 January 1913, Page 7

ELECTRIC NIAGARAS.

SCHEME FOR DRAINING THE CLOUDS OF ELECTRICITY. Assuming that electricity in the clouds is (he sole cause of the production of bail, experiments are now being made in Franco with apparatus designated as “electric Niagaras’’ to “drain” the clouds of electricity.

In installing the apparatus, huge copper points, bound together by bands of the same metal. a re placed on the summit of a high tower or chimney, very much in the same way as lightning rods. These arc connected with a copper band, which leads to the ground and ends in a reservoir filled with, water. By this route, says ‘''Popular Mechanics.” the atmospheric electricity flows down into the earth. The first sudden change is replaced by a permanent one, which empties the clouds, so to speak.

The experiments with “electric Niagaras” have been carried on for some time, but M. Viollc., a member of the French Academy of Sciences, delegated to judge the results, reports that it is still too early to estimate the practical value. A test on a far larger scale was considered necessary, and quite recently the installation of an apparatus of exceptional capacity was completed cn the Eiffel Tower. Almost at the summit of the tower has been placed a group of points that resemble a huge garden rake. They are bound together with hands of pure copper, and a heavy copper baud leads to a tank of water in the ground. During the summer this apparatus, it is hoped, will prove the practicability of the idea, but three or four years will probably be required before it is possible to place an exact estimate on the true value of the system.