ELECTRICAL DYNAMITE

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 105, 31 October 1923, Page 12

ELECTRICAL DYNAMITE

In addition to keeping the power-cur-rent from escaping from the conductors, there is the very important, problem of keeping destructive lightning currents from the conductors, or at least discharging them harmlessly to ground when they reach.the line. This problem is also being, investigated with the lightning generator. The first lightning generator built in 1913 gave 200,000 volts. This was increased to 750,000 volts in 1916, and has just now been successfully increased to 2,000,000 volts. Power electricity flows steadily along the conductors,' increasing or decreasing with the demand as lights or motors are turned on or off. With lightning, a few million horse-power are released in a fraction of a millionth o£ a second. There is a flash and a crash, and much destruction. Lightning is the " electrical dynamite." The lightning generator gives two million-volt flashes with all the characteristics of real lightning. The light of the large flash is blinding, and is accompanied by a loud explosive report. All this takes place in a,part of a millionth part of a second, and the power may reach the enormous value of a number of millions of horse-power. Wooden posts of large size are readily shattered and blown apart- Lightning protection of villages and power-plants is now being investigated. Although lightning-waves travel along transmission lint's at 187,000 miles a second, laboratory methods have been devised for actually measuring them as they speed along.