[AT] Discharge Chains

Fri Apr 1 15:20:20 PDT 2016

I used to use a kid, who lived next door, to test magnetos. Does that count?
	Dave

On Apr 1, 2016, at 5:42 PM, Richard Fink Sr wrote:

> Did you ever change a condenser then load it and just lay it down some 
> where. Surprise
> R Fink Sr
> PA
> 
> On 4/1/2016 4:30 PM, tmehrkam at sbcglobal.net wrote:
>> I always liked to connect a chain or wire to a spark plug wire and wait for someone to come over and lean against the Truck.
>> :-}
>> Do this at your own risk. Some folks will take exception to this.
>> 
>>       From: Indiana Robinson <robinson46176 at gmail.com>
>>  To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>>  Sent: Friday, April 1, 2016 3:11 PM
>>  Subject: Re: [AT] Discharge Chains
>> 
>> Check the grounds.
>> Check the grounds.
>> Check the grounds.
>> :-)
>> Those were ground straps made of conductive rubber, some had fine wire in
>> them and I think some just had a lot of conductive carbon in the rubber.
>> Many that you bought at a parts store or the old J. C. Whitney catalog had
>> a lightning bolt painted on one face of them. They started putting them on
>> cars around 1950 or as little ealier when they were switching from cloth
>> seats to plastic seat covers. Those dang things could really nail you when
>> your feet touched the ground or you reached over and touched another person
>> who had just slid into the car.
>> I don't really recall the trucks here ever dragging chains or a strap... I
>> do recall always grounding a tractor when doing flat belt work usually with
>> a steel bar or sometimes a chain. I did normally drag a chain from the rear
>> axle of my SP combines for two reasons. One was for a ground to keep the
>> windshield cleaner and the other was when dragging about a 6' piece of well
>> secured fairly heavy chain when running corn in wet weather it saved
>> crawling under a combine in the freshly churned mud to hook a chain or tow
>> strap to the axle to tow it out backward if you get stuck.
>> As far as lightning goes the best explanation I ever read was by a weather
>> scientist (I can't spell meterihffjikist right now) who said that a bolt of
>> lightning may well have traveled over 20 miles across the sky... It is
>> silly to think it is now going to stop for 4 inches of rubber.  :-)
>> As to metal skins or wire cages you can Google Faraday Cage Effect.
>> In wood working we often use plastic pipe on dust collectors and it is bad
>> about building static. You can ground it either by running a bare wire
>> inside or outside and to a ground. You don't need a wire for metal pipe as
>> long as a ground connection is maintained at one end or the other. That
>> mostly applies to commercial woodshops and sawmills etc. In a home shop you
>> just don't want the plastic to be zapping you all of the time.
>> In commercial shops there can be risk of fire or dust explosion from static
>> sparks. In spite of a lot of wild stories floating around on the web I have
>> read that there is no statistical record of a home shop explosion or fire
>> in a dust collection system unless there were flammable solvents being
>> used. Still better safe than sorry I guess. As they say "It couldn't hurt
>> anything".  :-)
>> 
>> 
>> .
>> 
>> On Fri, Apr 1, 2016 at 7:58 AM, Henry Miller <hank at millerfarm.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> Won't male any difference to lightning. Remember, lightning has already
>>> traveled a mile or more through the air, nothing you can do in a few feet
>>> will stop it. All you can do is provide a better path than you to ground.
>>> Metal car bodies are ideal as the lightning can travel around you and then
>>> jump the last few inches to the ground.
>>> 
>>> I don't put much faith in tires as a discharge path for static buildup. It
>>> probably doesn't matter much while the truck is moving though. Static
>>> electricity is on the outside and anything flammable is inside. It is only
>>> when loading or unloading that you need to worry, as that is when the
>>> contents are on the outside for a moment. So connect the ground wire.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On March 31, 2016 11:33:43 PM CDT, Ralph Goff <alfg at sasktel.net> wrote:
>>>> On 3/31/2016 10:51 AM, Ray Trimble wrote:
>>>>> Growing up in Northern Louisiana in the early 50's I would see trucks
>>>> dragging a chain with sparks flying, Dad said that this was to keep a
>>>> static charge from building up. What has been done to eliminate the
>>>> need for these?
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> AT mailing list
>>>>> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>>>>> 
>>>> Probably something to do with preventing static electricity build up.
>>>> I've tried it with the combine when harvesting. The theory being that
>>>> the straw passing through the moving parts of the combine builds up
>>>> static electricity and it causes dust to stick to the machine and
>>>> windows. I can't say for sure if it helps all that much.
>>>> Not sure if it would be such a good thing during a lightning storm.
>>>> 
>>>> Ralph in Sask.
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>>> --
>>> Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
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>> 
>> 
> 
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