{"id":547,"date":"2011-01-29T01:00:29","date_gmt":"2011-01-29T06:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/?p=547"},"modified":"2023-07-07T17:00:56","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T17:00:56","slug":"1883","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/2011\/01\/29\/1883\/","title":{"rendered":"Year 23 &#8211; 1883: A Practical Treatise on Lightning Protection by Henry W. Spang"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Published: New York, 1883<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/2011\/01\/29\/1883\/1883_badsystem\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-548\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-548 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1883_badsystem-300x222.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"222\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1883_badsystem-300x222.jpg 300w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1883_badsystem.jpg 405w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf the many worthless devices employed for the protection of buildings, etc., from lightning,\u201d the author writes, \u201cthat suggested by Mr. J.C. Chambers, of Newport, Ky., and recently introduced in the Western States, is the most unscientific and absurd.\u201d \u00a0Chambers\u2019 \u201cworthless\u201d system is pictured here. \u00a0The lightning was supposed to enter one end of the rod and be spewed out the other, dissipated into the air.<\/p>\n<p>Spang quotes a number of \u201cprominent electricians\u201d who have likewise reviewed this system: \u201cIt is a scientific humbug.\u201d \u00a0\u201cIt is absolutely useless.\u201d \u00a0\u201cWorse than useless.\u201d \u00a0And from Edison: \u201cI do not wish to be drawn into any controversy on the subject, but will simply state that the rods on my buildings all connect with the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/2011\/01\/29\/1883\/1883_front_1\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-549\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-549 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1883_front_1-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>The MIT Libraries received this book as part of the Vail Collection in 1912. \u00a0By that time, architecture had been taught at MIT for more than four decades and its students would surely have been aware of the design and construction problems posed by lightning. \u00a0At a time when lighting protection was on the rise, those making design and construction decisions would likely have welcomed these frank discussions of the best and worst protection systems on the market.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/2011\/01\/29\/1883\/1883_ill1\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-552\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-552 size-thumbnail alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1883_ill1-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/2011\/01\/29\/1883\/1883_ill2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-553\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-553 size-thumbnail alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1883_ill2-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-554 size-thumbnail alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/01\/1883_title-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/mit.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01MIT_INST\/jp08pj\/alma990017164760106761\">Find it in the library<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Published: New York, 1883 \u201cOf the many worthless devices employed for the protection of buildings, etc., from lightning,\u201d the author writes, \u201cthat suggested by Mr. J.C. Chambers, of Newport, Ky., and recently introduced in the Western States, is the most unscientific and absurd.\u201d \u00a0Chambers\u2019 \u201cworthless\u201d system is pictured here. \u00a0The lightning was supposed to enter one end of the rod and be spewed out the other, dissipated into the air. Spang quotes a number of \u201cprominent electricians\u201d who have likewise reviewed this system: \u201cIt is a scientific humbug.\u201d \u00a0\u201cIt is absolutely useless.\u201d \u00a0\u201cWorse than useless.\u201d \u00a0And from Edison: \u201cI do [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":false,"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4223,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547\/revisions\/4223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}