Scientific American Volume 78 Number 03 (January 1898) . d figures on a photographic plate. They are sur-rounded by dark clouds. When the burn on the backof ones hand produced by such brush discharges isexamined by a microscope, similar centers of disturb-ance (in this case points of inflammation) are seen. Al-though the Leyden jars of my machine are carefullyinsulated on supports of vulcanite which are mountedon dry wood, which in turn is supported on rubber,I can obtain a discharge of more than two feet inlength when I bring a point connected to the steampipes to the neighborhood of one term
Scientific American Volume 78 Number 03 (January 1898) . d figures on a photographic plate. They are sur-rounded by dark clouds. When the burn on the backof ones hand produced by such brush discharges isexamined by a microscope, similar centers of disturb-ance (in this case points of inflammation) are seen. Al-though the Leyden jars of my machine are carefullyinsulated on supports of vulcanite which are mountedon dry wood, which in turn is supported on rubber,I can obtain a discharge of more than two feet inlength when I bring a point connected to the steampipes to the neighborhood of one terminal of the ma-chine. The other terminal of the machine is carefully insulated. This ex-periment shows con-clusively that it-is ofno use to insulatelightning rods. Myexperiments thus farshow that no vacu-um which I can pro-duce can resist thedischarges which arecaused by one mil-lion volts. It nowbecomes an interest-ing question whetherthere exists mechan-ical or chemicalmeans by which aso-called vacuum canbe produced whichwill resist such Fig. RHEOSTATIC MACHINE. must be more than doubled. Experiments with myapparatus show conclusively that the length of theelectric spark between points separated by more thanone inch varies directly with the electromotive spark forty-eight to fifty inches in length requires anelectromotive force of one million two hundred thou-sand volts, and a discharge of lightning one mile long According to TheLondon Electrician,a curious accident re-cently happened toa gas engine in theworks of Brothers &Thompson, to a flaw inthe shaft, it sudden-ly snapped off shortoutside the flywheel, weigh-ing 780 pounds, andthe pulley were thusdropped on the floorwhile running at arate of 300 revolu-tions per the beltremained on the pul-ley, and pulled upthe flywheel withoutany serious damage resulting. A motor company was immediately tele-phoned, and forwarded at once an alterna
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