The Thunderhouse Legacy

Tracing Back To Benjamin Franklin

ThunderHouse traces its brand heritage to the greatest of all American innovators, Benjamin Franklin. His focus was the practical application of science to solving everyday problems and making peoples' lives better. Franklin created the postal system, the lending library, the first fire department, the Franklin stove, bifocals and most relevant to ThunderHouse, he discovered the connection between lightning and electricity.

Invented the Lightning Rod… But No One Was Buying

In the mid-1700s, Franklin applied what he learned from his kite-flying experiments to the invention of the lightning rod, to prevent the destruction of buildings and lives. But as with many innovations, before and after, Franklin could not sell the concept: lightning was considered a divine act and interfering with it was sacrilege.

The First Marketing "Demo"

Franklin was undeterred. He built a ThunderHouse, a brilliant "demo" to communicate the benefit of his lightning rod and break the barriers to its acceptance. The "ThunderHouse" - a three-dimensional wooden model house, equipped with a lightning rod, hinged walls and a detachable roof. Inside, Franklin placed a small charge of gunpowder.

When an electric charge was applied to the lightning rod, electricity would pass safely through the rod and grounding wire to the earth with no effect. However, when a wooden block was positioned to break the grounding circuit, a spark across the block would ignite the gunpowder with convincing and entertaining effects - the roof and walls literally blew off!