Page 129 - James Rodger Fleming - Fixing the sky

electrified Sand

on the basis of Lodge’s theory, a U.S. patent was awarded in 1918 to John Graeme
Balsillie of Melbourne, Australia, for a “process and apparatus for causing precip-
7
itation by coalescence of aqueous particles contained in the atmosphere.” Balsil-
lie claimed to be able to ionize a volume of air and switch the polarity of the elec-
trical charges in the clouds “by means of suitable ray emanations,” making them
more attractive to one another and thus producing artificial rain. His apparatus,
complete with a schematic diagram, consisted of an array of tethered balloons
or kites linked to an electrical power supply on the ground. His patent claimed
that Röntgen rays from a tube carried aloft and beamed to reflect off a metallic-
coated balloon would ionize the surrounding air. In an age in which mysterious
X-rays could penetrate flesh to reveal bone, the development of a rainmaking ray
gun might be just around the corner. Balsillie’s balloons were charged to 320,000
volts—or at least he said they should be—and the ionization, he claimed, would
extend outward for a good 200 to 300 feet from each balloon or kite—to be
flown in formation (more or less) during a brewing storm. There is no evidence,
however, that this patent was anything more than the inventor’s flight of fancy—
except for its influence on L. Francis Warren and his associates.

round 1: dayton, ohio

“Fliers Bring Rain with Electric Sand,” the New York Times headline announced
on February 12, 1923. The story itself, however, was quite underwhelming.
Between 1921 and 1923, field trials conducted in Dayton, ohio, at McCook Field
seemed to show that electrified sand could dissipate clouds and might someday
both dispel fog and generate artificial rain. The demonstrations were the brain-
child of Luke Francis Warren (fl. 1930), a self-styled and self-taught independent
inventor and dreamer who frequently misstated his credentials as “Dr. Warren
of Harvard University.” Credibility and financial support came from Wilder D.
Bancroft (1867–1953), a well-ensconced but controversial chemistry professor at
Cornell University. Technical assistance came from Emory Leon Chaffee (1885–
1975), a Harvard University electrophysicist, and the U.S. Army Air Service
provided aircraft facilities (and a patina of respectability). Although the hope
of making rain and driving mists from cities, harbors, and flying fields was great,
the hype was even greater. Little is known about Warren, save for a few press
clippings, but his story can be told through documents in the Bancroft Papers
at Cornell.

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