Abstract
AN observation sent me by Mr. Alexander Sinclair, of Swansea, to the effect that during a thunderstorm drops of water leaking through the ceiling “assumed a pear shape and jumped 9 inches almost horizontally to the curtain rings above the window,” suggests that house-bells of the ordinary non-electric type may occasionally be rung by this means. I picture the process as follows:—The bell wires collect atmospheric electricity, by induction or otherwise, which the walls are insufficiently conducting to carry off freely; consequently the bells get charged, are attracted to a neighbouring wall or pipe, and released suddenly by a spark. This little lateral jerk rings the bell.
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LODGE, O. Occasional Unexplained Ringing of House-bells. Nature 81, 98 (1909). https://doi.org/10.1038/081098b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/081098b0
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