profile of a house with lightning rod
Date: circa 1765
Inventory Number: 0017
Classification: Thunder House
Subject:
Maker: George Adams (I) ? (1709 - 1772)
Maker: George Adams (II) ? (English, 1750 - 1795)
Cultural Region:
Dimensions:
39.3 x 19 x 15 cm (15 1/2 x 7 1/2 x 5 7/8 in.)
Accessories: brass ball and fitting on top of the lightning conductor
Bibliography:
The Apparatus of Science at Harvard, 1765-1800
Description:
Mahogany silhouette of chimney and gable of gambrel-roof house mounted in mahogany base. Two disconnected lengths of brass wire imbedded in gable. Small brass ball screws to end of wire above the chimney. Removable wooden block with imbedded wire either interrupts or completes the circuit.
Signedunsigned
Inscribedon house: 6-6-6
on house: 65
on house: 65
FunctionFor demonstration with electrostatic machine. When the small block of wood, on which is imbedded a conductor, completes the circuit between the brass ball and the ground, a charge of static electricity passes harmlessly along the wire. But when the block of wood is turned 90 degrees so the electrical circuit is broken, it pops out when struck by the charge.
A video demonstration of a thunder house by the Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica in Florence is available on Youtube here.
A video demonstration of a thunder house by the Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica in Florence is available on Youtube here.
Curatorial RemarksBelieved to be one of the instruments that came over after the fire of 1764.
Primary SourcesGeorge Adams, Sr., A catalogue of optical, philosophical, and mathematical instruments, made and sold by George Adams, mathematical instrument-maker to His Majesty, at Tycho Brahe's Head, (No. 60.) Fleet-Street, London. (London, [1765]), p. 7 lists under electrical apparatus, "A thunder house / A powder house / A pyramid."
George Adams, Jr., An essay on electricity (London, 1784 and later editions), see plate 5 (steeple).
George Adams, Jr., Lectures on Natural and Experimental Philosophy, 5 vols (London, 1794), 5: plate II for vol. 4 (profile of house).
George Adams, Jr., An essay on electricity (London, 1784 and later editions), see plate 5 (steeple).
George Adams, Jr., Lectures on Natural and Experimental Philosophy, 5 vols (London, 1794), 5: plate II for vol. 4 (profile of house).
Published ReferencesDavid P. Wheatland, The Apparatus of Science at Harvard, 1765-1800 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968), 146-147.