Tesla was
famous at
the turn
of the
century
for
inventing
the
alternating
current
system
still in
use today.
But his
later
inventions,
documented
in some 30
U.S.
patents
between
1890 and
1921, have
never been
utilized
as Tesla
intended
despite
their
obvious
potential
for
advancing
in
fundamental
ways the
technology
of modern
civilization.
Among
these lost
inventions:
The
disk-turbine
rotary
engine,
Free
energy
receiver
The
Tesla-Coil
electric
energy
magnifier,
High-frequency
lighting
systems,
Fluorescent
Lighting
The
magnifying
transmitter,
Wireless
power,
Turbine
Aircraft
Free
Energy
Receiver
Electric
Flight
Antigravity
High
Frequency
Railway
Transport
Father
of Radio?
Tesla
Vs Hertz
The
free-energy
receiver.
Tesla
was
eloquent
in
English.
This shows
in his
patents.
But
Tesla's
patents,
like all
patents,
make tough
reading,
because
they are
not
written
for the
curious
but are
defensive,
legalistic
exercises
designed
to protect
the
inventor's
interests.
TESLA,.
Worked as
telephone
engineer
in Prague
and Paris.
Conceived
new type
of
electric
motor
having no
commutator,
as d.c.
motors
have, but
works on
principle
of
rotating
magnetic
field
produced
by
polyphase
alternating
currents.
Constructed
prototype.
Found
nobody
interested
in
Europe.
Emigrated
to U.S.
(1884).
Worked
briefly
and
unhappily
with
Thomas
Edison.
Established
own lab
and
obtained
patents on
polyphase
motors,
dynamos,
transformers
for a
complete
a.c. power
system.
Formed
alliance
with
George
Westinghouse,
who bought
polyphase
patents
for $1
million
plus
royalty.
With
Westinghouse,
engaged in
struggle
against
Edison to
convince
public of
efficiency
and safety
of a.c.
over d.c.
Succeeded
in getting
a.c.
accepted
as the
electric
power
system
worldwide.
Also with
Westinghouse,
lit the
Chicago
World's
Fair,
built
Niagara
Falls
hydro-power
plant, and
installed
a.c.
systems at
Colorado
silver
mines,
other
industries.
By turn
of the
century
was lifted
to
celebrity
status
comparable
to
Edison's
as media
promoted
him along
with the
expanding
electric
power
industry.
Experimenting
independently
in
Manhattan
lab,
developed
and
patented
electric
devices
based on
superior
capabilities
of
high-potential,
high-frequency
currents: Tesla
coil,
Radio,
High-frequency
lighting,
X-rays,
Electrotherapy.
Built huge
magnifying
transmitter.
Experimented
with
wireless
power,
radio,
earth
resonance.
Studied
lightning.
Created
lightning.
With
encouragement
of
financier J.P.
Morgan,
promoted a
World
System of
radio
broadcasting
utilizing
magnifying
transmitters.
Built huge
tower for
magnifying
transmitter
at
Wardencliff,
Long
Island as
first
station in
World
System.
Received
enough
from
Morgan to
bring
station
within
sight of
completion,
then funds
cut off,
project
collapsed.
Continued
to invent
into the
1920's,
but flow
of patents
meager
compared
to earlier
torrent
which
amounted
to some
700
patents
worldwide.
High-frequency
inventions
ignored by
established
technology,
as were
disk
turbine,
free
energy
receiver,
other
inventions.
Shut out
by media
except for
birthday
press
conferences.
At these
predicted
microwaves,
TV, beam
technologies,
cosmic-ray
motor,
interplanetary
communications,
and
wave-interference
devices
that since
have been
named the
"Tesla
howitzer"
and the
"Tesla
shield."
Died
privately
and
peacefully
at 87 in
New York
hotel room
from no
apparent
cause in
particular.
Personal
papers,
including
copious
lab notes,
impounded
by U.S.
Government,
surfaced
many years
later at a
Tesla
Museum in
Belgrade
Yugoslavia.
Of these
notes,
only a
fragment,
Colorado
Springs
Notes, has
been
published
by the
Museum.
Disk-Turbine
Rotary
Engine
:
Tesla
called it
a
"powerhouse
in a
hat."
One
version
developed
110 h.p.
at 5000
RPM and
was less
than ten
inches in
diameter.
Tesla
believed
larger
turbines
could
achieve
1000 h.p.
The
disk-turbine
rotary
engine
runs
vibration
free. It
is cheap
to
manufacture
because
nothing
but the
rotor
bearings
needs to
be fitted
to close
tolerances.
It
requires
little
maintenance.
If
necessary,
the rotor
can be
replaced
with ease.
The
turbine
can run on
steam,
compressed
air,
gasoline,
or oil.
How
it works:
Unlike
conventional
turbines
that use
blades or
buckets to
catch the
flow,
Tesla's
uses a set
of rigid
metal
disks
that,
instead of
battling
the
propelling
stream at
steep
angles,
runs with
smooth
efficiency
in
parallel
with the
flow. What
drives the
disks is a
peculiar
adhesion
that
exists
between
the
surface of
a body and
any moving
fluid.
This
adhesion,
a hinder
vehicles,
is, in
Tesla's
words,
caused by
"the
shock of
the fluid
against
the
asperities
of the
solid
substance"
(simple
resistance)
and
"from
internal
forces
opposing
molecular
separation"
(a
sticking
phenomenon).
The
propellent
enters the
intake and
is nozzled
onto the
disks at
their
perimeter.
It travels
over the
spinning
disks in a
spiral
fashion,
exiting at
the disks'
central
openings
and is
exhausted
from the
casing.
Tesla
notes in
his patent
that, in
an engine
driven by
a fluid,
"changes
in the
velocity
and
direction
of
movement
of the
fluid
should be
as gradual
as
possible."
This, he
observes,
is not the
case,
though, in
existing
engines
where
"sudden
changes,
shocks,
and
vibrations
are
unavoidable."
"The
use of
pistons,
paddles,
vanes and
blades,"
notes
Tesla,
"necessarily
introduces
numerous
defects
and
limitations
and adds
to the
complication,
cost of
production,
and
maintenance
of the
machines."
We who are
stuck with
the piston
engine
know this
all too
well. The
Tesla
turbine is
vibration-free
because
the
propelling
fluid
moves
"in
natural
paths or
stream
lines of
least
resistance,
free from
constraint
and
disturbance."
The
turbine is
easily
reversed
by
conducting
the
propellent
through
the intake
valve on
the other
side.
Internal
combustion:
A hollow
casting is
bolted to
the top of
the
turbine
for the
internal
combustion
mode. A
glow plug
or spark
plug
screws
into the
top of
this
chamber.
Sticking
out of the
sides are
the intake
valves.
Interesting
thing
about
these
valves,
there are
no moving
parts.
They work
on a
fluidic
principle.
The Tesla
turbine's
only
moving
part is
its rotor.
Imagine, a
powerful
internal
combustion
engine
with only
one moving
part.
Fluidics:
The
fluidic
valve,
which
Tesla
calls a
valvular
conduit,
allows
easy flow
in one
direction
but in the
other the
flow gets
hung up in
dead-end
chambers
(buckets)
where it
gets spun
around 360
degrees,
thus
forming
eddies, or
counter-currents
that stop
the flow
as surely
as if a
mechanical
valve were
moved into
the shut
position.
The
spinning
rotor
creates
plenty of
suction to
pull fuel
and air
into the
combustion
chamber.
Tesla
notes that
"after
a short
lapse of
time the
chamber
becomes
heated to
such a
degree
that the
ignition
device may
be shut
off
without
disturbing
the
established
regime."
In other
words, it
diesels.
The
disk-turbine
motor
principle
in reverse
becomes a
very
efficient
pump.
(Tesla's
Patent No.
1,061,142).
Fluid
drive:
The disk
turbine
principle
is
employed
in the
speedometer,
which
presents
the
problem of
having to
turn the
rotary
motion of
a
vehicle's
wheels to
angular
motion in
order to
push a
spring-loaded
indicator
needle
over a
short
arc.
Tesla's
solution:
The
speedometer
cable
connects
to a disk
which
spins in
interface
with a
second
disk,
imparting
spin to
the fluid
in between
and,
hence, to
the second
disk which
moves the
needle.
Interface
two disks
of
different
sizes in a
fluid
medium and
"any
desired
ratio
between
speeds of
rotation
may be
obtained
by proper
selection
of the
diameters
of the
disks,"
observes
Tesla in
his
patent,
thus
anticipating
in 1911
the
fluid-drive
automatic
transmission.
Tesla
First
worked on
his
turbine
early in
his
career,
believing
it would
be a good
prime
mover for
his
alternating-current
dynamos,
far
superior
to the
reciprocal
steam
engines
that were
the work
horses of
that era.
But he did
not get
down to
perfecting
and
patenting
it until
after the
collapse
of his
global
broadcasting
scheme
(1909). By
this time
the
internal-combustion
piston
engine was
firmly
rooted in
Western
power
mechanics.
Tesla
referred
to
"organized
opposition"
to his
attempts
to
introduce
the
superior
engine,
and so
have
others who
have made
the
attempt
since. But
Tesla
still saw
a glorious
future for
his
turbine.
To his
friend,
Yale
engineering
professor
Charles
Scott,
Tesla
predicted,
"My
turbine
will scrap
all the
heat
engines in
the
world."
Replied
Scott,
"That
would make
quite a
pile of
scrap."
2.
Spark-Gap
Oscillator:
Tesla
was
central in
establishing
the
60cycle
a.c. power
system
still in
use today.
Yet he
suspected
that the
more
striking
phenomena
resided in
the higher
frequencies
of
electric
vibration.
To reach
these
heights,
he first
tried
dynamos
spun at
higher
speeds and
having a
greater
number of
poles than
any that
had
existed
before.
One having
as an
armature a
flat,
radially
grooved
copper
disk
achieved
30,000
cycles,
but Tesla
wanted to
go into
the
millions
of cycles.
It
occurred
to him
that this
vibratory
capability
was to be
found in
the
capacitor.
With a
capacitor
circuit,
the
spark-gap
oscillator,
he did
indeed
achieve
the higher
frequencies,
and he did
so by
non-mechanical
means.
The
circuit
was
promising
enough for
him to
patent it
as "A
Method of
and
Apparatus
for
Electrical
Conversion
and
Distribution,"
for Tesla
saw in it
the
possibility
of a whole
new system
of
electric
lighting
by means
of high
frequencies.
Though it
was
quickly
succeeded
by the
tesla coil
and is not
numbered
among the
more
famous of
the lost
inventions,
the
spark-gap
oscillator
is pivotal
for Tesla
as the
invention
that
launched
him into
his career
in high
frequencies.
How
it works:
The
capacitor
There are
only a few
basic
building
blocks of
electrical
circuitry.
The
capacitor
is one of
them.
Tesla
didn't
invent it,
it had
been
around for
some time,
arguably
for
millennia,
but he did
improve
upon it in
three of
his
patents.
Also
called
condenser,
the common
capacitor
is just a
sandwich
of
conductive
and
nonconductive
layers
that
serves the
purpose of
storing
electrical
charge.
The
simplest
capacitor
has just
two
conductive
sheets
separated
by a
single
sheet of
insulation.
In the
capacitor
the
conductive
elements
are two
metal
plates.
The
insulation
between
them is
oil. In
the
official
vocabulary,
the plates
are indeed
called
"plates"
and the
insulative
layer
(oil,
glass,
mica, or
whatever)
is called
the
"dielectric."
Connect
the two
terminals
of a
capacitor
into a
circuit
where
there is
plus-minus
electrical
potential,
and charge
builds on
the
plates,
positive
on one,
negative
on the
other. Let
this
charge
build for
a while,
then
connect
the two
plates
through
some
resistance,
a coil,
say, and
the
capacitor
discharges.
Tesla
said that
"the
explosion
of
dynamite
is only
the breath
of a
consumptive
compared
with its
discharge."
He went on
to say
that the
capacitor
is
"the
means of
producing
the
strongest
current,
the
highest
electrical
pressure,
the
greatest
commotion
in the
medium."
The
capacitor's
discharge
is not
necessarily
a single
event. If
it
discharges
into a
suitable
resistance,
there is a
rush of
current
outward,
then back
again, as
if it were
bouncing
off the
resistance,
then out,
and back
and so
forth
until it
peters
out.
The
discharge
is
oscillatory,
a
vibration.
The
vibration
can be
sustained
by
recharging
the
capacitor
at
appropriate
intervals.
When Tesla
talks of
the
capacitor's
discharge
causing
"commotion
in the
medium,"
he means a
vibration
or mix of
vibrations.
The
character
of this
vibration
is
determined
in part by
the
capacity
of the
capacitor,
that is,
how much
charge it
will hold.
This is a
function
of it
size, the
distance
between
plates,
and the
composition
of the
dielectric.
Upon
discharge
there
would be,
typically,
a
fundamental
vibration,
some
harmonics,
and
perhaps
other
commotion,
maybe
musical,
maybe not.
Additional
circuitry
can tame
the
vibration
to a
"pure"
tone.
The
"medium":
When Tesla
speaks of
"commotion
in the
medium,"
what is
the
"medium?"
In Tesla's
time it
was an
article of
faith that
there
existed a
unified
field that
permeated
all being
called the
"ether."
The ether
as the
electric
medium
still is
an article
of faith
in some
circles,
but in
official
science
its
existence
is
presumed
to have
been
disproved
in the
laboratory.
Nevertheless,
this
conviction
about an
ether ran
very deep,
not only
among
scientists
but among
all
thinkers,
until only
about
forty-some
years ago
when
particle
theory,
E=MC^2,
and,
finally
Hiroshima
firmly
established
the new
faith.
Tesla
said the
electron
did not
exist. The
materialistic
concept of
these
little
particles
running
through
conductors
is alien
to Tesla
electric
theory.
Here is
the Quaker
writer
Rufus
Jones on
the ether
in 1920:
"An
intangible
substance
which we
call ether
-
luminiferous
(light-bearing)
ether -
fills all
space,
even the
space
occupied
by visible
objects,
and this
ether
which is
capable of
amazing
vibrations,
billions
of times a
second, is
set
vibrating
at
different
velocities
by
different
objects.
These
vibrations
bombard
the minute
rods of
the
retina...
It is
responsible
also for
all the
immensely
varied
phenomena
of
electricity,
probably,
too of
cohesion
and
gravitation...
The
dynamo and
the other
electrical
mechanisms
which we
have
invented
do not
make or
create
electricity.
They
merely let
it come
through,
showing
itself now
as light,
now as
heat, now
again as
motive
power. But
always it
was there
before,
unnoted,
merely
potential,
and yet a
vast
surrounding
ocean of
energy
there
behind,
ready to
break into
active
operation
when the
medium was
at hand
for
it."
Jones, who
was not a
scientist
but a
religious
thinker
and
communicator,
was making
a point
about the
nearness
of God's
power and
could do
so by
invoking
the
physics of
his
time.
This
would be
difficult
using the
Einsteinian
physics in
fashion
today,
which W.
Gordon
Allen has
called
"atheistic
science."
Although
the ether
is
intangible,
it is
assumed to
have
elastic
properties,
so that
Tesla can
say
"a
circuit
with a
large
capacity
behaves as
a slack
spring,
whereas
one with a
small
capacity
acts as a
stiff
spring
vibrating
more
vigorously."
This
elastic
character
of the
ether,
which you
experience
palpably
when you
play with
a pair of
magnets,
is due to
the
medium's
lust for
equilibrium.
Distorted
by
electrical
charge (or
by
magnetism
or by the
gravity of
a material
body), the
ether
seeks to
restore a
perfect
balance
between
the
polarities
of
positive-negative,
plus-minus,
yangyin.
Voltage
is the
measure of
ether
strain or
imbalance,
called
potential
difference,
or just
potential.
Balance is
not
restored
from this
strained
condition
in one
swing-back.
As we have
seen with
the
capacitor,
the
disturbed
electric
medium,
like a
plucked
guitar
string,
over-swings
the center
line of
equilibrium
to one
side, then
to the
other,
again and
again, and
this we
know as
vibration.
In this
way of
looking at
nature,
vibration
is energy,
energy is
vibration.
So you
could say
that the
commotion
in the
medium
caused by
the
capacitors
discharge
is energy
itself.
Thus, you
can speak
of the
capacitor
as an
energy
magnifier.
Even
though a
feeble
potential
may charge
it, the
sudden
blast of
the
capacitor's
release
plucks the
medium
mightily.
The
capacitor
is common
in modern
circuitry,
but Tesla
used it
with much
greater
emphasis
on its
capability
as an
energy
magnifier
and on a
scale
almost
unheard of
today.
It's
difficult
to find
commercial
capacitors
that meet
Tesla
specifications.
Builders
of tesla
coils and
other
high-voltage
devices
usually
must
construct
their own
capacitors.
Fortunately,
this can
be done
using
readily
available
materials.
How
it works:
The spark
gap:
A simple
way to
discharge
a
capacitor
is through
a spark
gap. The
spark-gap
oscillator
is just a
capacitor
firing
into a
circuit
load
(lamps or
whatever)
through
the spark
gap. The
opening
between
the
spark-gap
electrodes
determines
when the
capacitor
will fire.
This
setting is
one
determinant
of the
frequency
of the
circuit.
The others
are
capacity
and the
reactance,
or bounce
characteristics,
of the
load. The
potential
needed to
bridge the
gap is in
the tens
of
thousands
of volts.
It takes a
potential
of about
20,000
volts to
break down
the
resistance
of just a
quarter of
an inch of
air. The
gap
doesn't
necessarily
have to be
air.
Tesla
has
referred
to a gap
consisting
of a
"film
of
insulation."
A spark
gap is a
switching
device, a
semiconductor
in fact.
But the
spark gap
is
problematic,
particularly
the common
two-electrode
air-gap
version.
Heating
and
ionizing
of the air
cause
irregularities
in
conduction
and
premature
firing.
This
arcing
must be
quenched.
It can be
to a great
degree by
using a
series of
small gaps
instead of
one larger
one, or by
using a
rotary
gap.
Tesla
also
emersed
the gap in
flowing
oil, used
an air
blow-out,
and even
found that
a magnetic
field
helps to
quench.
For the
gap Tesla
substituted
high-speed
rotary
switches
which he
called
"circuit
controllers."
One has a
rotor that
dips into
a pool of
mercury,
and
another
uses
mercury
jets to
make
contact.
You can
operate a
spark gap
without a
capacitor
by
connecting
it
directly
to a
source of
sufficient
voltage.
This is,
of course,
how our
automotive
spark
plugs
work,
directly
off the
coil. (The
capacitor
in that
circuit is
used to
juice the
ignition
coil
primary.)
The auto
distributor,
incidentally,
is a
rotary
gap, pure
Tesla.
Early
radio
amateurs
used
spark-gap
oscillators
as
transmitters.
The
capacitor
was, more
often than
not, left
out of the
circuit,
but with
it the
transmitter
could
create a
greater
"commotion
in the
medium."
Tesla
Coil:
Tesla's
best-known
invention
takes the
spark-gap
oscillator
and uses
it to
vibrate
vigorously
a coil
consisting
of few
turns of
heavy
conductor.
Inside of
this
primary
coil sits
another
secondary
coil with
hundreds
of turns
of slender
wire.
In the
tesla coil
there is
no iron
core as in
the
conventional
step-up
transformer,
and this
air-core
transformer
differs
radically
in other
ways.
Recounting
the birth
of this
invention,
Tesla
wrote,
"Each
time the
condenser
was
discharged
the
current
would
quiver in
the
primary
wire and
induce
corresponding
oscillations
in the
secondary.
Thus, a
transformer
or
induction
coil on
new
principles
was
evolved
Electrical
effects of
any
desired
character
and of
intensities
undreamed
of before
are now
easily
producible
by
perfected
apparatus
of this
kind."
Elsewhere
Tesla
wrote,
"There
is
practically
no limit
to the
power of
an
oscillator."
The
conventional
step-up
transformer
(short
primary
winding,
long
secondary
on an iron
core)
boosts
voltage at
the
expense of
amperage.
This is
not true
of Tesla's
transformer.
There is a
real gain
in power.
Writing of
the
powerful
coils he
experimented
with at
his
Colorado
Springs
lab, coils
with
outputs in
excess of
12 million
volts,
Tesla
wrote,
"It
was a
revelation
to myself
to find
out that
... a
single
powerful
streamer
breaking
out from a
well
insulated
terminal
may easily
convey a
current of
several
hundred
amperes!
The
general
impression
is that
the
current in
such a
streamer
is
small."
How
it works:
A
Tesla-coil
secondary
has its
own
particular
electrical
character
determined
in part by
the length
of that
slender
coiled
wire. Like
a guitar
string of
a
particular
length, it
wants to
vibrate at
a
particular
frequency.
The
secondary
is
inductively
plucked by
the
primary
coil. The
primary
circuit
consists
of a
pulsating
high-voltage
source (a
generator
or
conventional
step-up
transformer),
a
capacitor,
a spark
gap, and
the
primary
coil
itself.
This
circuit
must be
designed
so that it
vibrates
at a
frequency
compatible
with the
frequency
at which
the
secondary
wants to
vibrate.
The
primary
circuit's
frequency
is
determined
by the
frequency
and
voltage of
the
source,
the
capacity
of the
capacitor,
the
setting of
the spark
gap, and
the
character
of the
primary
coil,
determined
in part by
the length
of its
winding.
Now when
all these
primary-circuit
components
are tuned
to work in
harmony
with each
other, and
the
circuit's
resulting
frequency
is right
for
plucking
the
secondary
in a
compatible
rhythmic
manner,
the
secondary
becomes at
its
terminal
end
maximally
excited
and
develops
huge
electrical
potentials,
which if
not put to
work, boil
off as a
corona of
bluish
light or
as sparks
and
streamers
that jump
to nearby
conductors
with
crackling
reports.
Unlike
the
conventional
iron-core
step-up
transformer,
whose core
has the
effect of
damping
vibrations,
the
secondary
of the
Tesla
transformer
is
relatively
free to
swing
unchecked.
The
pulsing
from the
primary
coil have
the effect
of pushing
a child in
a swing.
If it's
done in a
rhythmic
manner at
just the
right
moment at
the end of
a cycle,
the swing
will
oscillate
up to
great
heights.
Similarly,
with the
right
timing,
the
electrical
vibration
of the
secondary
can be
made to
swing up
to
tremendous
amplitudes,
voltages
in the
millions.
This is
the power
of
resonance.
man-made
earthquake
Tesla
was
fascinated
with the
power of
resonance
and
experimented
with it
not only
electrically
but on the
mechanical
plane as
well. In
his
Manhattan
lab he
built
mechanical
vibrators
and tested
their
powers.
One
experiment
got out of
hand.
To a
steel
pillar
Tesla
attached a
powerful
little
vibrator
driven by
compressed
air.
Leaving it
there, he
went about
his
business.
Meanwhile,
down the
street, a
violent
quaking
built up,
shaking
down
plaster,
bursting
plumbing,
cracking
widows,
and
breaking
heavy
machinery
off its
anchorages.
Tesla's
vibrator
had found
the
resonant
frequency
of a deep
sandy
layer of
subsoil
beneath
his
building,
setting up
an
earthquake.
Soon
Tesla's
own
building
began to
quake,
and, just
at the
moment the
police
burst into
the lab,
Tesla was
seen
smashing
the device
with a
sledge
hammer,
the only
way he
could
promptly
stop it.
In a
similar
experiment,
on an
evening
walk
through
the city,
Tesla
attached a
battery-powered
vibrator,
described
as being
the size
of an
alarm
clock, to
the steel
framework
of a
building
under
construction
and,
adjusting
it to a
suitable
frequency,
set the
structure
into
resonant
vibration.
The
structure
shook, and
so did the
earth
under his
feet.
Later
Tesla
boasted
that he
could
shake down
the Empire
State
Building
with such
a device,
and, as if
this claim
were not
extravagant
enough, he
went on to
state that
a
large-scale
resonant
vibration
was
capable of
"splitting
the Earth
in
half."
No details
of Tesla's
vibrators
are
available,
but they
probably
resembled
one of
Tesla's
reciprocating
engines
(such as
Patent No.
511,916).
These
exploited
the
elasticity
of gases,
just as
his
electrical
vibrators,
like the
tesla
coil,
exploit
the
elasticity
of the
electric
medium.
A
new power
system:
Tesla
invented
his
resonant
transformer.
as the
tesla coil
is
sometimes
called, to
power a
new type
of
high-frequency
lighting
system, as
his 1891
patent
drawing
shows.
This was
the first
tesla coil
patent.
There
followed a
series of
other
patents
developing
the
device.
All of
these are
for
bipolar
coils:
both ends
of the
secondary
are
connected
to the
working
circuit
(usually
lamps), as
opposed to
the
monopolar
format
favored by
today's
basement
builders
in which
the top is
connected
to a ball
or other
terminal
capacitor,
the bottom
to
ground.
The
monopolar
format
emerges
later in
patents
for radio
and
wireless
power,
including
Tesla's
magnifying
transmitter.
The 1896
patent
drawing
shows an
evolved
bipolar
coil using
tandem
chokes to
store
energy for
sudden
release
into the
capacitor,
enabling
the device
to be
powered by
relatively
modest
inputs.
Chokes are
coils
wound on
iron
cores.
They store
energy as
magnetism.
When the
charging
current is
interrupted,
the
magnetic
field
collapses
inducing
current in
the coils
which
rushes in
to charge
the
capacitors.
super-conductive
Alternating
currents
can be
sent over
long
distances
with
relatively
low
losses.
This is
why
Tesla's
early
60-cycle
system
triumphed
over
Edison's
direct
current.
The
high-frequency,
high-potential
output of
a tesla
coil can
travel
over
relatively
light
conductors
for vastly
greater
distances
than
conventional
60-cycle
a.c.
Losses
occur to
some
degree
from
coronal
discharge
but hardly
at all
from ohmic
resistance.
This type
of current
also
renders
conductive
materials
that are
normally
nonconductive,
rarefied
gases, for
example.
You might
say these
currents
make a
medium
"super-conductive."
Although
super-magnetism
is not in
the
picture
because
high-frequency
vibrations
would be
severely
damped by
an
electromagnet's
iron core,
it is
revealing
to reflect
upon the
unexploited
superconductivity
of Tesla
energy
these days
when
science is
congratulating
itself on
new
advances
in the
field.
Prior to
recent
breakthroughs,
superconductivity
and
super-magnetism
were
low-temperature
(cryogenic)
phenomena,
occurring
when
circuits
were
cooled
down to
near
absolute
zero. The
new
superconductivity
at less
drastically
reduced
temperatures
developed
out of the
cryogenic
work of
the last
twenty
years, and
this may
be in debt
to Tesla,
who
patented a
similar
idea way
back in
1901.
Tesla's
patent
obsenes
that the
deep
cooling of
conductors
with
agents
like
liquid air
"results
in an
extraordinary
magnification
of the
oscillation
in the
resonating
circuit."
Imagine
the
performance
of a
super-cooled
tesla
coil.
No
electrocution
Since we
tend to
associate
high
voltage
with
possibly
fatal
electric
shock it
may be
puzzling
to learn
that the
output of
a
well-tuned
tesla
coil,
though in
the
millions
of volts,
is
harmless.
This is
customarily
thought to
be because
the
amperage
is low
(it's not)
or it's
explained
in terms
of
something
called the
"skin
effect,"
which
means that
the
current
travels
over you
instead of
through.
But the
real
reason is
a matter
of human
frequency
response.
Just as
your ears
cannot
respond to
vibrations
over about
30,000
cycles, or
the eyes
to light
vibrations
at or
above
ultra
violet,
your
nervous
system
cannot be
shocked by
frequencies
over about
2,000
cycles.
Electrotherapy
Now that
you know
it's
harmless,
would you
believe
these
currents
are even
good for
you? Fact
is that a
whole
branch of
medicine
was
founded on
the
healing
effects of
certain
tesla-coil
frequencies.
Tesla
understood
the
therapeutic
value of
high-frequency
vibrations.
He never
patented
in the
area but
did
announce
his
findings
to the
medical
community,
and a
number of
devices
were
patented
and
marketed
by others.
Patients,
by
focusing
certain
frequencies
on
afflicted
areas, or,
in some
cases,
just
sitting in
the
vicinity
of
vibrations
from a
device
like the
Lakhovsky
Multiwave
Oscillator,
which
produced a
blend of
specific
frequencies,
were said
to have
experienced
relief
from
rheumatism
and other
painful
conditions.
It was
even
considered
a cure for
certain
types of
paralysis.
Such
radiations
increase
the supply
of blood
to the
area with
a warming
effect
(diathermy).
They
enhance
the
oxygenation
and
nutritive
value of
the blood,
increase
various
secretions,
and
accelerate
the
elimination
of waste
products
in the
blood. All
this
promotes
healing.
Electrotherapists
even spoke
of
"broadcasting
vitamins"
to the
body.
Reversals
of cancer
tumor
growths
have been
documented.
Lakhovsky
predicated
that
"science
will
discover,
some day,
not only
the nature
of
microbes
by the
radiation
they
produce,
but also a
method of
killing
disease
within the
body by
radiations."
Electrotherapy
devices
were sold
directly
to the
public via
ads in
popular
magazines
and in the
Sears
catalogs.
Self-treatment
was
widespread.
This easy
access to
treatment
of all
sorts of
conditions
led to the
eventual
suppression
of the
technology
by the
medical
establishment.
Electrotherapy,
however,
is making
a big
comeback.
In
chiropractic
and sports
medicine,
low-frequency
a.c. and
d.c.
pulses are
being used
to kill
pain and
exercise
muscles.
High-frequency
electrotherapy
is coming
back in
alternative
healing
practices.
There
is an
increasing
appreciation
of the
electrical
nature of
biological
functioning
and that
some
electric
vibrations
in the
environment
are
harmful
while
others are
healing.
Reprints
of
Lakhovsky's
works are
widely
read.
There is a
growing
conviction
that
cancer can
be
effectively
treated
with
high-frequency
therapies.
In his
experimenting
over an
eight-year
period,
Tesla made
no fewer
than 50
types of
oscillating
coils. He
experimented
with
lighting
and other
vacuum
effects,
including
x-rays. He
also
experimented
with novel
shapes for
the
normally
cylindrical
coils,
getting
satisfying
results
from cone
shapes and
flat
spirals.
At
Colorado
Springs
Tesla
achieved
phenomenally
increased
outputs by
using a
third coil
resonantly
tuned to
the
secondary.
Observing
the
tremendous
magnification
this
achieved,
he gave
much of
his
attention
to
integrating
this
"extra
coil,"
as he
called it,
into an
evolved
outsize
tesla coil
called the
magnifying
transmitter.
Magnifying
Transmitter
I
Wireless
Power
In 1893
Tesla told
a meeting
of the
National
Electric
Light
Association
that he
believed
it
"practical
to
disturb,
by means
of
powerful
machines,
the
electrostatic
conditions
of the
earth, and
thus
transmit
intelligible
signals,
and,
perhaps,
power".
He said,
"It
could not
require a
great
amount of
energy to
produce a
disturbance
perceptible
at a great
distance,
or even
all over
the
surface of
the
earth."
The
ultimate
"powerful
machine"
for these
tasks is
Tesla's
magnifying
transmitter.
How
it works:
An extra
coil gives
the
resonant
boost of a
tesla coil
secondary
but has
the
advantage
of being
more
independent
in its
movement.
A
secondary,
being
closely
slaved to
the
primary,
is
inhibited
somewhat
by it, its
oscillations
slightly
damped.
The extra
coil is
able to
swing more
freely.
"Extra
coils,"
writes
Tesla,
"enable
the
obtainment
of
practically
any emf,
the limits
being so
far remote
that I
would not
hesitate
to produce
sparks of
thousands
of feet in
this
manner."
The
engineering
challenge
of the
magnifying
transmitter,
then,
becomes
one of
containing
and
properly
radiating
its
"immense
electrical
activities,
measured
in the
tens and
even
hundreds
of
thousands
of
horsepower,"
as Tesla
put it.
Containment
and
effective
radiation
of this
power is
the whole
point of
the design
shown, for
which
Tesla
applied
for patent
in
1902.
The
heavy
primary is
wound on
top of the
secondary
at the
base of
the tower.
The extra
coil
extends
upward
through a
hooded
connection
to a
conductive
cylinder.
The
antenna is
a toroid,
a
donut-shaped
geometry
that
allows for
a maximum
of surface
area with
a
comparative
minimum of
electrical
capacity.
Since this
is a
high-frequency
device, a
relatively
low
capacity
is
desirable.
To
increase
the area
of the
radiating
surface,
the
outside of
the toroid
is covered
with
half-spherical
metal
plates.
A
subtlety
of the
design is
that the
conductive
cylinder
is of
larger
radius
than the
radius of
curvature
of these
plates,
since a
tighter
curve
would
allow
escape of
energy.
The
cylinder
is
polished
to
minimize
losses
through
irregularities
in the
surface.
At the
center of
the top
surface
sits a
pointy
plate that
serves as
a safety
valve for
overloads
so
"the
powerful
discharge
may dart
out there
and lose
itself
harmlessly
in the
air."
Tesla
advises
bringing
the power
up slowly
and
carefully
so
pressure
does not
build at
some point
below the
antenna,
in which
case
"a
ball of
fire might
break out
and
destroy
the
support or
anything
else in
the
way,"
an event
that
"may
take place
with
inconceivable
violence."
Current in
the
antenna
could
build to
an
incredible
4000
amperes.
a.c./d.c.
Wireless
power
transmission
via the
magnifying
transmitter
was the
ultimate
development
of the
inventor
who had
earlier
brought
alternating-current
power to
the world
with his
polyphase
system.
The
predecessor
of a.c.
was a
direct-current
system
developed,
manufactured,
and
marketed
chiefly by
Thomas
Edison.
Direct
current
was
adequate
for
serving
small
areas but
was
unworkable
for long
distance
transmission.
By
contrast,
a.c. could
be
transmitted
for long
distances
over
lighter
wires and
its
voltage
could be
stepped up
for
transmission
and down
for
consumption
by means
of
transformers.
Tesla
invented
from
scratch a
new kind
of motor (polyphase)
that could
utilize
a.c., and
he greatly
evolved
earlier
concepts
of dynamos
to
generate
a.c. as
well as
transformers
to step
voltage up
and
down.
Whereas
Edison's
d.c. would
have been
suitable
for a
society of
small,
autonomous
communities,
the
evolving
system of
industrial
rule
wanted
centralized
power and
needed
a.c.'s
long
distance
capability
to serve
huge
sprawling
populations.
George
Westinghouse,
an
inventor
(the
airbrake)
who, like
Edison,
turned
industrialist
(having
found that
to profit
from an
invention
one must
undertake
manufacturing
and
marketing
as well)
saw the
promise in
Tesla's
polyphase
inventions
and formed
an
alliance
with the
young
prodigy.
Westinghouse
paid Tesla
one
million
dollars
and
contracted
to pay a
royalty of
one dollar
per
horsepower
for the
polyphase
inventions.
Later
Westinghouse
was forced
to renege
on the
royalty.
Together,
Westinghouse
and Tesla
triumphed
over
Edison's
d.c.
system and
installed
the first
a.c. power
facilities,
the most
notable
being the
hydro
plant at
Niagara
Falls.
Tesla
believed
in hydro
power. His
ultimate
energy-magnifying,
wireless
power
system
would have
been
hydro-based.
The
centralized
a.c.
electric
power
system we
have today
was forced
into
existence
on a
colossal
scale by
utility
magnates
of that
era, the
most
prominent
being
Samuel
Insull,
who became
infamous
in some
circles
for his
massive
bilking of
the
investing
public and
famous in
others for
hammering
together
the
electric
power
complex
now in
place.
This
complex
has
developed
into a
federally
protected
monopoly
with
greater
capital
wealth
than any
other
industry
in the U.
S. In the
order of
energy
sources
used,
Tesla's
hydro
power has
been left
well
behind the
burning of
fossil
fuels, a
process
that dumps
24 million
tons of
pollutants
into the
nation's
air supply
each year.
Hydro
power even
runs way
behind the
nukes in
kilowatt
hours
produced.
So went
another
Tesla
dream.
Tesla was
a
celebrity
in his
polyphase
heyday,
but today
his
celebrity
is as an
underground
cult
figure
known for
his
radically
progressive
energy-magnifying,
free-energy,
and
wireless
power
inventions,
which, of
course,
have no
place in
the
established
system.
Power
by wire:
Prior to
his
wireless
power
inventions,
Tesla
patented
in 1897 a
high
frequency
system
that
transmitted
power by
wire. The
system
used
previously
unheard of
levels of
electric
potential.
He notes
that at
these
voltages,
conventional
power
would
destroy
the
equipment,
but that
his system
not only
contains
this
energy but
is
harmless
to handle
while in
use.
This
system is
not a
circuit in
the usual
sense but
a single
wire
without
return. It
employs
the
familiar
tesla-coil
configurations
at both
sending
and
receiving
ends. The
primary
circuit
(power
source,
capacitor,
spark gap)
is
represented
in the
drawing by
the
generator
symbol.
The
secondary
coil is a
flat
spiral. An
advantage
in this
coil
design is
that the
voltage
adjacent
to the
primary,
where
arcing
across
could
occur, is
at zero
and soars
to high
values as
the coil
spirals
inward.
The same
patent
also shows
a
cone-shaped
secondary
in which
the
primary is
at the
base of
the cone,
which is
at zero
potential.
Wireless
power:
The
drawing
for
Tesla's
wireless
power
patent
looks like
the
earlier
power-by-wire
patent
except now
spherical
antennas
replace
the
transmission
lines,
which are
dropped
out of the
picture
almost as
if they
were
redundant.
The ball
antenna is
peculiarly
Tesla, as
is the
toroid,
and you
wonder why
nothing
like them
have
appeared
since.
In this
1900
patent,
wireless
power is
not
represented
as an
earth-resonant
system.
Here Tesla
talks
about
transmission
through
"elevated
strata."
The patent
contains
much
discussion
of how
rarified
gases in
the upper
atmosphere
became
quite
conductive
when there
is applied
"many
hundred
thousand
or
millions
of
volts."
Balloons
are
suggested
to send
the
antennas
aloft. Appreciate
that Tesla
in this
patent has
invented
nothing
less than
the
principles
of radio. Tesla
recognizes
only a
quantitative
difference
between
sending
radio
signals
and
broadcasting
electric
power.
Both
involve
sending
and
receiving
stations
tuned to
one
another by
means of
tesla-coil
circuits.
Tesla's
wireless
power
would be
the
ultimate
centralized
electric
system, a
capitalist
dream, but
for the
fact that
the
technology
is too
simple.
Reception
of power
could be
achieved
just by
raising an
antenna,
planting a
ground,
and
connecting
simple
tesla-coil
circuitry
in
between.
Although
Tesla
himself
patented a
couple of
electric
meters for
high
frequencies,
it would
be all too
easy for
consumers
to tune in
for free,
just as
many today
bootleg
pay tv
signals
using
illicit
equipment
far more
sophisticated.
It is no
wonder,
then, that
the
electric
power
establishment
didn't
welcome
this
invention.
This
was one
problem.
Another
was that
the
established
electric
power
system
would have
to be
relegated
to another
great pile
of scrap,
and maybe
the
established
system of
political
power as
well.
Tesla's
announced
dream was
to use
hydro
sources
where
available
and
through
wireless
power
broadcast
that
energy
around the
planet,
thus
liberating
the world
from
poverty.
Such a
scheme
would not
be readily
embraced
by powers
that
sustain
their rule
by keeping
populations
poor and
weak.
Centralized
control of
energy, as
well as
other
resources,
is, of
course,
believed
to be
essential
to
civilized
rule, at
least as
far as
thinking
on that
subject
has
progressed
in this
era.
Moreover,
no
multinational
political
system was
in
existence,
or is now
for that
matter,
that could
implement
a
technology
of such
global
implications.
Tesla was
blind to
such
considerations.
His
commitment,
his
overriding
priority
as a
technological
purist,
was to
take
machine
possibilities
to their
logical
conclusions.
Today,
if
wireless
power were
seriously
proposed,
there
would no
doubt be
at least
one
political
problem
that would
not have
arisen in
Tesla's
time:
resistance
from
environmentalists.
What would
an
environmental
impact
report
have to
say about
biologic
hazards?
A Navy
submarine
communication
system
that uses
extremely
low
frequency
(ELF)
waves,
down to
below 10
cycles,
has been
challenged
by
environmentalists,
as have
microwave
and 60
cycle
high-voltage
transmission
lines.
Engineering
details:
Patents
normally
don't give
many
quantitative
specifics,
but
Tesla's
wireless
power
patent
does give
some about
the big
prototype
power-transmission
tesla coil
(which
was,
incidentally,
used to
conduct a
demonstration
before
skeptical
patent
examiners).
A
50,000-volt
transformer
charged a
capacitor
of .004
mfd.,
which
discharged
through a
rotary gap
that gave
5,000
breaks per
second.
The
eight-foot
diameter
primary
had just
one turn
of stout
stranded
cable.
The
secondary
was 50
turns of
heavily
insulated
No. 8 wire
wound as a
flat
spiral. It
vibrated
at
230-250,000
cycles and
produced 2
to 4
million
volts.
This coil
evolved
into the
huge
experimental
magnifying
transmitter
Tesla
describes
in his
Colorado
Springs
notes.
Housed in
a
specially
built lab
110 feet
square,
the device
used a
50,000
volt
Westinghouse
transformer
to charge
a
capacitor
that
consisted
of a
galvanized
tub full
of salt
water as
an
electrolyte,
into which
he placed
large
glass
bottles,
themselves
containing
salt
water. The
salt water
in the tub
was one
"plate"
of this
capacitor,
the salt
water
inside the
bottles
the other
"plate,"
and the
bottle
glass the
dielectric.
Various
capacities
were
tried,
incremental
changes
being made
by
connecting
more or
fewer
bottles. A
variable
tuning
coil of 20
turns was
connected
to the
primary
which
consisted
of two
turns of
heavy
insulated
cable that
ran around
the base
of the
huge
fencelike
wooden
secondary
framework.
The
secondary
had 24
turns of
No. 8 wire
on a
diameter
of 51 feet
Various
extra
coils were
tried, the
final
version
being 12
feet high,
8 feet in
diameter,
and having
100 turns
of No. 8
wire. The
antenna
was a
30-inch
conductive
ball
adjustable
for height
on a
142-foot
mast. The
huge
transmitter
could
vibrate
from 45 to
150
kilocycles.
Even
with the
big
transformer,
this bill
of
materials
does not
seem
inaccessible
to
enterprising
people,
and the
technology
does not
seem so
abstruse,
so it is
no wonder
that
people
have
gotten
together
to build
magnifying
transmitters
and
experiment
with
wireless
power
without
support
from
corporations
or
government.
Earth
resonance:
Among the
appealing
features
of
Colorado
Springs
for Tesla
was the
region's
frequent
and
sensational
electrical
storms.
For Tesla,
lightning
was a
joyous
phenomenon.
Biographers
report
that,
during
storms
back East,
Tesla
would
throw open
the
windows of
his New
York lab
and
recline on
a couch
for the
duration,
muttering
to himself
ecstatically.
In
Colorado
Springs he
tuned in
and
tracked
lightning
storms
using
rudimentary
radio
receiving
equipment.
He thereby
determined
that
lightning
was a
vibratory
phenomenon
which set
up
standing
waves
bouncing
within the
earth at a
frequency
resonantly
compatible
with the
earth's
electrical
capacity.
This
earth-resonant
frequency,
he
reasoned,
was the
ideal
frequency
for
wireless
power
transmission,
and he
tuned his
ultimate
magnifying
transmitter
accordingly.
The
literature
contains
various
reports on
exactly
what this
frequency
is. Some
say 150
kilocycles,
which
would be
at the
upper
range of
the
Colorado
Springs
transmitter.
Others
give
frequencies
considerably
lower,
11.78
cycles,
6.8
cycles,
frequencies
Tesla's
transmitter
may have
achieved
harmonically.
With
reinforcement
from the
earth
resonance,
the power
would
actually
increase
in the
process of
transmission.
In one
memorable
experiment
with the
Colorado
Springs
transmitter,
Tesla shot
from the
antenna
ball
veritable
lightning
bolts of
135 feet,
producing
thunder
heard 15
miles
distant,
and, in
the
process,
pulled so
many
amperes
that he
burned out
the
municipal
generator.
In
another
experiment
he lit up
wirelessly,
at a
distance
of 26
miles from
the lab, a
bank of
10,000
watts
worth of
incandescent
bulbs. Two
years
after
Colorado
Springs,
Tesla
applied
for patent
for the
far more
refined
magnifying
transmitter
shown at
the
opening of
this
chapter, a
patent
that was
not
granted
until a
dozen
years
later.
In this
patent he
no longer
speaks of
energy
broadcast
through
the
"upper
strata"
of the
atmosphere
but of a
"grounded
resonant
circuit."
Tesla
predicted
that his
magnifying
transmitter
would
"prove
most
important
and
valuable
to future
generations,"
that it
would
bring
about an
"industrial
revolution"
and make
possible
great
"humanitarian
achievements."
Instead,
as we
shall see,
the
magnifying
transmitter
became
Tesla's
Waterloo.
Magnifying
Transmitter
II
Grounded
Radio:
With
the
backing of
J. P.
Morgan,
Tesla
began,
soon after
returning
from
Colorado
Springs,
the
construction
of a
magnifying
transmitter
tower at Wardencliff,
near
Shoreham,
Long
Island.
Though
closely
related to
a wireless
power
propagator
and
intended
for
further
experimentation
in that
area, the
tower was
built
specifically
as the
first
station in
Tesla's
proposed
World
System of
broadcasting.
The system
was to
carry
programming
for the
general
public as
well as
private
communications.
Tesla
was the
first to
suggest
the
broadcasting
of news
and
entertainment
to the
public;
only
point-to-point
signaling
had been
experimented
with up to
then. The
fully
realized
World
System was
to serve
as a
multi-frequency
wireless
interconnect
for all
existing
telephone,
telegraph,
and stock
ticker
services
around the
planet.
Exclusivity
and
noninterference
of
priority
private
communications
was to be
assured by
multiplex
techniques.
The
giant
transmitter
was also
to carry a
universal
time
register,
navigation
beacons,
and
facsimile
transmissions.
This
was in
1902. As
we shall
see,
Tesla's
massive
contribution
to radio
is still
largely
unrecognized.
The
Wardencliff
tower's
rugged
wooden
structure,
designed
by
Stanford
White,
stood at
187 feet.
It was
topped by
a
mushroom-like
terminal
68 feet in
diameter.
A separate
brick
building
at the
foot
housed
generating
and other
equipment.
The entire
project
was to
cover 200
acres and
include
housing
for 2,000
employees
of the
facility.
Tesla
estimated
that the
tower
would
"emit
a wave
complex of
a total
maximum
activity
of 10
million
horsepower."
The top of
the tower
was
outfitted
with a
platform
that may
have been
intended
to
accommodate
powerful
ultraviolet
lamps
which
Tesla
could have
used for
an
experimental
beam
system of
electric
power
transmission
that was
on his
mind. The
tower
structure
and
building
beneath
were built
and
partially
equipped,
but they
never saw
operation.
Father
of radio?
As we have
seen,
Tesla's
earliest
oscillators
were
dynamos,
but,
having
determined
that he
could not
reach the
higher
frequencies
by this
means, he
went on to
develop
the spark
gap
oscillator,
the tesla
coil, and
the
magnifying
transmitter.
But did
any of
these
devices
become the
first to
be used
for
overseas
radio
transmission?
No.
Ironically,
the first
commercial
overseas
transmitter
was a 21.8
kilocycle
GE
Alexanderson
alternator
operated
by RCA, a
design
evolved
straight
out of
Tesla's
early
dynamos.
Such
was
Tesla's
luck in
radio.
Official
histories
often
credit
Tesla with
the
polyphase
system and
either
ignore his
later
inventions
altogether
or dismiss
them as
the work
of. a
crackpot.
But among
those who
have
published
honest
research
on the
subject,
there is
one
hundred
percent
consensus
that Tesla
was
cheated
out of
his
rightful
place in
history,
particularly
his status
as the
leading
inventor
of radio
technology.
Radio
simplified:
Early
radio
devices
are
fascinating
and worthy
of study
if only
because
they
remind us
that
powerful
radio
technologies
can be so
simple and
accessible
to anyone,
the
present-day
microcomplexity
notwithstanding.
As we
have seen,
the
earliest
transmitters
in wide
use by
amateurs
were not
alternators
but
spark-gap
oscillators.
To get on
the air
all you
needed was
a battery,
a
telegraph
key, an
induction
coil, a
spark gap,
a length
of wire as
an
antenna,
and a
ground.
Of
course,
the
addition
of a
capacitor
juiced it
up
considerably.
The very
earliest
experiments
in radio
receiving
used spark
gaps as
receivers.
When you
saw an arc
across the
gap, this
was the
detection
of a
disturbance
in the
medium.
This
evolved
into a
detector
called a
coherer.
This is
just a
horizontal
glass tube
loosely
filled
with metal
chips
(iron,
nickel).
It is
placed in
series
with a
battery
and a
telegraph
sounder,
and one
side of
the
coherer
goes to
the
antenna,
the other
to
ground.
The
coherer is
a switch
(a
semiconductor,
really)
that
conducts
when there
is a
disturbance
of the
medium.
The more
easily
conducted
radio-frequency
energy
triggers
conduction
of this
almost
conductive
material.
To get the
coherer
back to a
non-conducting
state
requires a
tap that
can be
accomplished
manually
or by
mechanical
linkage to
the
telegraph
sounder.
Tesla
comes into
the
technology
about
here. He
improves
the
coherer by
putting it
into
continual
rotation
(rotating
coherer)
so it
didn't
need a tap
to
reset.
Tuned
radio:
The spark
gap
transmitter
was
indiscriminate
as to the
frequency
of the
disturbance.
It put out
a dirty
complex of
frequencies
consisting
of a rough
fundamental
determined
by width
of gap,
together
with
parasitic
oscillations,
harmonics,
splatter
what-have-you.
The
coherer
was set
off by any
disturbance.
In
Colorado
Springs,
Tesla used
a rotating
coherer to
track
electrical
storms. The
celebrated
Marconi
employed
nothing
more
evolved
than this
crash
method of
signalling.
So
why is
Marconi so
famous? Because,
like
Edison and
Westinghouse,
he built
up an
industry
around the
invention
and made
himself
famous in
the course
of
promoting
his
enterprise.
Marconi's
company
was
ultimately
incorporated
into RCA
(now
incorporated
into
General
Electric).
It owed
much of
its
technological
development
to ideas
lifted
from the
likes of
Tesla.
Tesla's
contribution
was
nothing
less than
selective
tuning. He
set forth
the
principle
of
resonantly
tuned
circuits
in his
tesla coil
patent of
1896, and
the
principles
of
transmitter-receiver
tuned
circuits a
year later
in his
wireless
power
patent.
The
tesla coil
is a
powerful
and simple
radio
transmitter.
If the
primary
circuit is
smoothly
vibrating
well above
the audio
range, its
signal can
even be
modulated
for voice
transmission
by varying
some
circuit
element.
Tesla's
few
published
notes on
modulation
describe
crude ways
of varying
spark
gaps, but,
conceivably,
an
inductance
core
mechanically
linked to
a
loudspeaker
transducer
might
modulate
the signal
with some
fidelity.
Tesla
and his
supporters
waged a
fight for
recognition
of Tesla
as the
founder of
radio. The
struggle
was
finally
won in the
Supreme
Court, but
this did
not happen
until
shortly
after
Tesla's
death.
Tesla
vs Hertz:
Tesla was
not a
theoretician
by
calling,
but he
made
plenty of
observations
on the
electrical
nature of
the
universe
that put
him at
odds with
of
official
theory. In
fashion
then (and
even now)
was the
theory of Heinrich
Hertz,
an
interpreter
of the
physics of
James
Maxwell.
Hertz
explained
radio
propagation
as
transverse
waves akin
to light.
Tesla was
convinced
that radio
disturbances
were
standing
waves in
the ether
akin to
sound.
When you
drop a
pebble
into
water, the
disturbances
you see in
the form
of
concentric
circles
are
standing
waves.
Both Tesla
and Hertz
assumed
the
existence
of an
etheric
medium,
but
differed
as to its
energy
transmitting
properties.
Tesla
believed
that the
ether was
a gaslike
medium,
that
electric
propagation
was very
much like
that of
sounds in
air,
"alternate
compressions
and
rarefactions
of the
medium,"
and that
Hertzian
waves
could only
take place
in a solid
medium.
Tesla
once said
that Hertz
waves are
"radiations"
and that
"no
energy
could be
economically
transmitted
to a
distance
by any
such
agency."
He said,
"In
my system,
the
process is
one of
true
conduction
which can
be
effected
at the
greatest
distance
without
appreciable
loss."
When
quantum
physics
and
particle
theory
came into
vogue, the
etheric
medium was
dropped
out of
electric
theory
altogether,
but
Hertz's
theory was
more
compatible
with the
new
concepts
of
propagation
and
therefore
survived.
By way
of rubbing
this in,
the unit
of
frequency,
formerly
cycles per
second
(cps), was
renamed in
honor of
Hertz (hz),
while
Tesla is
remembered
only by an
obscure
unit of
magnetic
flux
density.
It is in
respect to
Tesla that
I have
reverted
to the old
unit in
this
book.
Hertzian
radio is
straight-line,
light-like
radiations
that
bounce off
hills and
mountains.
Long
distance
Hertzian
transmissions
are
explained
in terms
of
radiations
bouncing
off a
radio
reflective
upper
layer
called the
ionosphere.
Tesla
thought
this was
all
nonsense
and
declared
in 1919
that
Hertzian
thinking
"has
stifled
creative
effort in
the
wireless
art and
retarded
it for 25
years."
Hertzian
radio is
aerial.
Most of
us are
conditioned
to
thinking
in terms
of aerial
radio;
"the
air
waves,"
"on
the
air."
Tesla's
radio is
grounded;
the lower
end of the
energized
coil is
rooted in
the earth.
Pure
Hertzian
radio has
no such
natural
load.
Tesla
doesn't
speak of
antennas
as such;
the
element he
places
aloft is
an
"elevated
capacity."
Tesla said
radio
devices
"should
be
designed
with due
regard to
the
physical
properties
of this
planet and
the
electrical
conditions
obtaining
in
same."
Grounded
radio is
indeed
more
powerful
than the
Hertzian
aerial.
But this
is true
particularly
for the.
frequencies
Tesla was
using. The
higher
frequencies
do behave
in a
Hertzian
manner.
Yet
grounding
is all but
a lost
concept in
consumer
electronics.
Up
through
the
1940's, AM
radio
receivers
customarily
had a
terminal
one was
encouraged
to connect
to a cold
water pipe
or other
deep earth
connection.
Ground the
chassis of
any of
today's
receivers,
and,
unless
there is
some kind
of
interference
coming up
through
the ground
(from
fluorescent
circuits,
light
dimmers,
which are
oscillators,
or from
the local
tesla
coil), you
will
usually
improve
signal
strength
and
range.
Among
Tesla's
contributions
to radio
was remote
control.
Tesla
demonstrated
a
radio-controlled
boat
before
crowds at
Madison
Square
Gardens
and sent
another
robot
craft 25
miles up
the Hudson
River.
Grounded
radio
works
particularly
well
through
water.
Tesla's
basic
radio
tuning
"tank"
circuit
for
receiving
(coil plus
capacitor
between
antenna
and
ground)
is, all by
itself, a
powerful
signal
amplifier
and a
beautifully
simple
one. But
as radio
developed
over the
years, the
tank
circuit
shrank in
size and
the result
was a loss
in
gain.
This
was
compensated
for by the
addition
of stage
upon stage
of complex
amplification
circuitry.
Tesla
watched
this
development
with
bewilderment.
Tesla knew
that the
most
efficient
long-distance
radio took
place in
the lower
frequencies,
especially
those
close to
the
earth-resonant
frequency.
Frequencies
well below
the AM
broadcast
band were
the
favored
ham
frequencies
in the
early days
prior to
World War
I.
In
fact,
waves of
600 meters
(500 kc)
were
considered
"short"
while
considered
"fairly
long"
were the
waves of
1200
meters (25
kc). Like
a lot of
good real
estate,
many of
these more
radio-effective
frequencies
below the
AM
broadcast
band have
been
appropriated
for
military
use, but
also for
navigation
beacons,
weather
stations,
and time
registers.
Underground
radio:
The
mind
conditioned
by
Hertzian
aerial
radio
concepts
has
trouble
grasping
the idea
that
signaling
can take
place
without
any
above-surface
antenna,
totally
through
the
ground.
James
Harris
Rogers,
taking a
cue from
Tesla,
circa
World War
I, built a
radio
system in
which both
sending
and
receiving
antennas
were sunk
completely
into the
ground or
submerged
in bodies
of water.
He found
this
system far
more
effective
and far
less
vulnerable
to
interference
than any
aerial
radio
Signal
strength
has been
said to be
5,000
times
stronger.
The
military
is on to
this, as
evidenced
in the
Navy's ELF
and by a
U. S. Air
Force
project
underway
called
Ground
Wave
Emergency
Network.
GWEN is a
low-frequency
communications
system
designed
for used
during a
nuclear
war. The
network
will have
a
cross-continent
series of
600-foot
diameter
underground
copper
screens
connected
to
300-foot
towers
reminiscent
of Tesla's
Wardencliff.
Among the
advantages
of the
system is
its
invulnerability
to the
effects of
the
electric
pulse sent
out by
nuclear
blasts.
Such a
pulse
fries at
one stroke
any and
all
solid-state
electronics
within its
extensive
range.
(Strong
electric
vibrations
from a
tesla coil
or
magnifying
transmitter
have a
similar
effect on
solid
state and
will
scramble
or disable
such
circuitry
temporarily
or even
dud it
permanently.)
It's
revealing
that for
last-ditch
doomsday
communications,
the
government
reverts to
Tesla's
grounded
radio.
J.
P. Morgan
sinks
Tesla
Tesla's
ambitious
World
System
came to an
end when
its
principal
financier,
J. P.
Morgan
pulled the
plug on
funding.
Morgan,
the
financial
giant
behind the
formation
of many
monopolies
in
railroads,
shipping,
steel,
banking,
etc., was
a major
conduit of
European
capital
into U. S.
industrial
development
in the
Robber
Baron era.
He looms
large in
Tesla's
life.
Morgan
money was
in the
Niagara
Falls
project.
He backed
Edison,
too. It
was
Morgan's
pressure
on
Westinghouse,
whom he
also
financed,
that
caused the
cancellation
of Tesla's
dollar-a-horsepower
contract
and the
loss of
millions
in
royalties
to Tesla
for his
polyphase.
When
Tesla's
lab burned
down
(arson was
suspected),
one of
Morgan's
men
promptly
arrived
with aid,
as well as
with the
offer of a
partnership
with
Morgan
interests.
Acceptance
would have
put Tesla
firmly
under
Morgan's
control.
Tesla
refused.
And Tesla
succeeded
in
preserving
his
autonomy
until he
became
possessed
with
overwhelming
ardor to
fulfill
the dream
of his
World
system.
Tesla was
ready to
sell his
soul to
finance
Wardencliff,
and J. P.
Morgan was
right
there to
buy
it.
In 1901
Tesla
signed
over to
Morgan
controlling
interest
in the
patents he
still
owned, as
well as
all future
ones, in
lighting
and radio.
Morgan
then put
about
$150,000
start-up
funding
into
Wardencliff.
Later
he
invested
more, just
enough to
bring the
project
within
sight of
completion.
Morgan
then
became
elusive.
Tesla
tried
desperately
to
communicate
with the
investor,
but to no
avail.
When word
was out on
Wall
Street
that
Morgan had
withdrawn
support,
no one
would
touch the
project.
This
finished
Tesla as a
functioning
inventor.
Work
on the
Wardencliff
tower came
to a halt.
Left to
dereliction,
the tower
remained
only as a
curiosity
to
passersby.
During
World War
I, the
tower was
unceremoniously
dynamited
to the
ground.
Lighting
In 1891
Tesla said
that
existing
methods of
lighting
were
"very
wasteful,"
that
"some
better
methods
must be
invented,
some more
perfect
apparatus
devised."
Tesla went
and did
just that,
yet here
we are
today in a
world lit
predominantly
by the
same
Edison
bulb.
Edison's
bulb burns
with six
percent
efficiency,
the rest
going off
as heat,
while the
high
resistance
filament
cooks at
4,000
degrees
and
eventually
breaks
without
warning.
Today's
fluorescent
tube,
though
inspired
by Tesla,
is no
model of
efficiency
either.
Its inner
surfaces
are
stimulated
to
phosphorescence
by
energy-consuming
filament-like
cathodes
that also
burn out,
and the
lit-up
tube would
present a
dead short
to the
current if
it were
not for
the
so-called
"ballast
transformer,"
an
inductance
placed in
the
circuit to
oppose and
thus eat
up yet
more
current.
What
sent Tesla
into an
exploration
of high
frequency
phenomena
was his
conviction
that these
rapid
vibrations
held the
key to a
superior
mode of
lighting.
The
explorations
were not
Tesla's
first
venture
into
lighting.
His very
first U.
S. patent
(1885) is
for an
improvement
in the arc
lamp. He
used an
electromagnet
to feed
carbons to
the arc at
a uniform
rate to
produce a
steadier
light (No.
335,785).
Early arc
lamps
produced a
brilliant
blue-white
light,
good for
street
lighting
but not
for the
home, and
they
emitted
noxious
fumes.
Home
lighting
was by
gas.
Street arc
lighting
used
series
circuits.
Edison
introduced
the
parallel
circuit,
and
designed
his lamp
for such a
circuit.
Edison
introduced
the big
scale
production
and sale
of
electric
power
itself on
the model
of gas
lighting,
a major
industry
at the
time. He
wanted to
be first
in the
business
and
announced
to the
press that
he had an
operable
bulb
before he
actually
had a bulb
that
worked.
When
Tesla's
a.c.
system was
established,
it was
grafted on
to
Edison's,
greatly
extending
its range
and
efficiency.
But,
essentially,
it was
still
Edison's
parallel
circuit,
high
consumption,
incandescent
lighting
system,
and this
is what we
have to
live with
today.
A
better
way:
Tesla
patented
both his
spark-gap
oscillator
and his
tesla coil
specifically
as power
sources
for a new
lighting
system
that used
currents
of high
frequency
and high
potential.
Lest you
get the
impression
that a
lone
genius
named
Tesla
invented
this new
form of
lighting
out of the
blue, you
should
know that
others
before him
had used
high
frequencies
to
stimulate
light, and
others,
like Sir
William
Crookes,
had done
the same
with high
potentials,
but Tesla
was the
first on
record to
put the
two
together.
In
Jules
Verne's
1872 novel
A Journey
to the
Center of
the Earth,
the
narrator
tells of a
brilliant
portable
battery
lamp used
by the
underground
explorers.
It was
powered by
a Ruhmkorf
coil, a
high
voltage
buzzer-type
induction
coil
(step-up
transformer)
popular
among
early
electrical
experimenters.
The
Ruhmkorf
coil
stimulated
a lamp
(type
unspecified
but
probably a
gas tube)
which
produced
"the
light of
an
artificial
day."
The lamp
had such a
low
current
draw that
the
battery
lasted
throughout
the
subterranean
adventure.
Verne
evidently
was
drawing,
at least
in part,
on
experimental
knowledge
of his day
for what
he calls
"this
ingenious
application
of
electricity
to
practical
purposes."
Perhaps
somebody
should
reinvent
such a
high
potential
lamp to
replace
today's
flashlight
which
seems to
exist for
the
purpose of
enriching
the
Eveready
division
of Union
Carbide.
Modern
neon
lighting
is high
potential
at 2,000
to 15,000
volts.
(Neon sign
transformers
are good
for
powering
tesla
coils, but
a
low-frequency,
high
voltage
device:
caution.)
Neon, as
well as
its
cousin,
7,500 volt
"cold
cathode"
(filamentless)
fluorescent,
which is
used in
some
industrial
lighting,
is as
close as
we get to
Tesla
lighting
today.
Circa
1900 Tesla
experimented
with
luminous
tubes bent
into
alphabetic
characters
and other
shapes.
Although
today's
neon is
simplistic
Tesla,
being
driven by
60-cycle
high-voltage
transformer
power
alone
without
the
benefits
of
high-frequency
excitation,
it should
suggest to
us the
amazing
efficiency
of
high-potential
lighting,
since a
single
15,000-volt
neon
transformer
drawing
only 230
watts can
light up a
tube
extending
up to 120
feet.
How
superior
is the
economy of
Tesla high
potential,
high-frequency
lighting
over
Edison
incandescent?
Tesla
says
"certainly
20 times,
if not
more"
light is
obtained
for the
same
expenditure
of energy.
"pure
light"
Tesla
invented a
variety of
lamps, not
all of
which show
up in his
patents.
He lit up
solid
bodies
like
carbon
rods in
vacuum
bulbs, or
in bulbs
containing
various
inert
gases at
low
pressure
(rarefied).
He noted
that
"tubes
devoid of
any
electrodes
may be
used, and
there is
no
difficulty
in
producing
by their
means
light to
read
by."
But he
noted that
the effect
is
"considerably
increased
by the use
of
phosphorescent
bodies,
such as
yttria,
uranium
glass,
etc."
Here
Tesla lays
the
foundation
for
fluorescent
lighting.
Applied to
such lamps
were
currents
at
potentials
ranging
from a
lower
limit of
20,000
volts up
to
voltages
in the
millions
and
vibrations
of 15,000
cycles per
second and
up.
Tesla
dreamed of
creating
what he
called "pure
light"
or
"cold
light"
by
generating
electric
vibrations
at
frequencies
that
equalled
those of
visible
light
itself.
Light
produced
by this
direct and
efficient
means
would
require
vibrations
of 350 to
750
billion
cycles,
but Tesla
believed
such
oscillations,
far above
those
attainable
by his
coils,
would
someday be
achieved.
Even so,
his
rarefied
gas-tube
lamps
produced a
light that
more
closely
approximated
natural
daylight
than any
other
artificial
source
Tesla's
light is
like the
"full-spectrum"
light that
is coming
to be
recognized
as far
more
healthful
than
Edison
incandescent
and
particularly
more
healthful
than
conventional
fluorescent.
Full-spectrum
lighting
is
believed
by some
health
practitioners
actually
to have
healing
properties.
No
sudden
burn-out:
Tesla's
gas tube
lamps burn
indefinitely,
as do
today's
neon
tubes, for
there is
nothing
within to
be
consumed.
Tesla's
lamps that
contain
electrodes
like
carbon
rods,
however,
do undergo
some
deterioration.
In
Tesla's
words,
"a
very slow
destruction
and
gradual
diminution
in size
always
occurs, as
in
incandescent
filaments;
but there
is no
possibility
of sudden
and
premature
disabling
which
occurs in
the latter
by the
breaking
of the
filament,
especially
when
incandescent
bodies are
in the
shape of
blocks."
In
vacuum
lamps, the
life of
the bulb
depends
upon the
degree of
exhaustion,
which can
never be
made
perfect.
Also, the
higher the
frequency
applied to
such a
lamp the
slower the
deterioration.
Electrodes
glow at
high
temperatures,
and this
raises the
problem of
how to
conduct
energy to
them since
wires or
other
metallic
elements
will melt.
The
problem
must be
addressed
in lamp
design.
For
example,
in the
incandescent
lamp shown
at the
opening of
this
chapter,
the
lead-in
wires
connect to
the hot
electrodes
via bronze
powder
contained
in a
refractory
cup. Tesla
may have
designed
his
capacitor-base
bulbs to
help
address
this same
problem.
high heat
Tesla's
search for
the ideal
electrode
is
reminiscent
of
Edison's
search for
the
long-lasting
filament:
"The
production
of a small
electrode
capable of
withstanding
enormous
temperatures,"
said
Tesla,
"I
regard as
the
greatest
importance
in the
manufacture
of
light."
One of
the
electrodes
he tried
was a
small
"button"
of carbon
which he
placed in
a near
vacuum.
Tesla
regarded
the high
incandescence
of the
button to
be a
"necessary
evil."
For
lighting
purposes,
it was the
incandescence
of the gas
remaining
in the
mostly
evacuated
chamber
that was
important.
But the
carbon-button
lamp
proved to
have some
remarkable
properties
beyond its
use for
illumination.
When the
voltage
was turned
up, the
lamp
produced
such
tremendous
heat that
the carbon
button
rapidly
vaporized.
Tesla
experimented
extensively
with this
fascinating
phenomenon.
For the
button of
carbon he
substituted
zirconia,
the most
refractory
substance
available
at the
time. It
fused
instantly.
Even
rubies
vaporized.
Diamonds,
and, to a
greater
degree,
carborundum,
endured
the best,
but these
could also
be
vaporized
at high
potentials.
Tesla
worked on
the
problem of
heating. I
have read
that he
contributed
to the
development
of a
high-frequency
induction
heating. Did
Tesla work
on the
problem of
space
heating? Certainly
the huge
current
draw of
conventional
electric
heaters
which use
resistive
elements
argues for
some
inventiveness
in this
area.
Tesla did
observe
that the
discharges
from a
tesla coil
resembled
"flames
escaping
under
pressure"
and were
indeed
hot. He
reflected
that a
similar
process
must take
place in
the
ordinary
flame,
that this
might be
an
electric
phenomenon.
He said
that
electric
discharges
might be
"a
possible
way of
producing
by other
than
chemical
means a
veritable
flame
which
would give
light and
heat
without
material
consumed."
The
behavior
of the
carbon-button
lamp
suggests
that a new
heating
mode might
be found
in the
effects of
high-frequency
currents
in a
vacuum.
Lighting
up the sky
Hold a
fluorescent
tube near
a tesla
coil and
it will
light up
in your
hand. This
is true of
any tube
or bulb
with
vacuum or
rarefied
gas. A
more
efficient
way is to
ground one
end of the
tube and
put a
length of
wire as a
sort of
antenna on
the
other.
Better
yet, put a
coil of
wire that
resonates
with the
secondary
in series
with the
tube and
ground and
you have
the
optimal
wireless
power
arrangement.
Tesla
conducted
many
experiments
with
different
arrangements
like this,
using on
some
occasions
the widely
available
Edison
filament
incandescent,
which
lighted up
more
brilliantly
than usual
because of
the
effects of
high
frequencies
on the
bulb's
rarefied
interior.
Inside
his New
York lab
Tesla
strung a
wire
connected
to a tesla
coil
around the
perimeter
of the
room.
Wherever
he needed
light he
hung a gas
tube in
the
vicinity
of this
high
frequency
conductor.
Tesla
had a bold
fantasy
whereby he
would use
the
principle
of
rarefied
gas
luminescence
to light
up the sky
at night.
High
frequency
electric
energy
would be
transmitted,
perhaps by
an
ionizing
beam of
ultraviolet
radiation,
into the
upper
atmosphere,
where
gases are
at
relatively
low
pressure,
so that
this layer
would
behave
like a
luminous
tube.
Skylighting,
he said,
would
reduce the
need for
street
lighting,
and
facilitate
the
movement
of ocean
going
vessels.
The aurora
borealis
is an
electrical
phenomenon
that works
on this
principle,
the
effects of
cosmic
eruptions
such as
those from
the sun
being the
source of
electric
stimulation.
Rotating
"brush"
Tesla took
an
evacuated
incandescent
type lamp
globe,
suspended
within it
at dead
center a
conductive
element,
stimulated
that
element
with high
voltage
currents
from an
induction
coil, and
thus
created a
beam-like
emanation,
a
"brush"
discharge
that was
so eerily
sensitive
to
disturbances
in its
environs
that it
seemed to
be endowed
with an
intelligent
life of
its own.
The device
works best
if there
is no
lead-in
wire.
In the
bulb
shown,
every
measure
has been
taken to
construct
it so it
is free
from its
own
electrical
influence.
The bulb
could be
stimulated
inductively
by
applying
energy to
metal foil
wrapped
around its
neck.
Thus
excited,
"an
intense
phosphorescence
then
spreads at
first over
the globe,
but soon
gives
place to a
white
misty
light,"
observes
Tesla. The
glow then
resolves
into a
directional
"brush"
or beam
that will
spin
around the
central
element.
So
responsive
is it to
any
electrostatic
or
magnetic
changes in
its
vicinity
that
"the
approach
of an
observer
at a few
paces from
the bulb
will cause
the brush
to fly to
the
opposite
side."
A
small,
inch-wide
permanent
magnet
"will
affect it
visibly at
a distance
of two
meters,
slowing
down or
accelerating
the
rotation
according
to how it
is held
relatively
to the
brush."
Tesla
never
patented
the
rotating
brush or
used it in
any
practical
application,
but he
believed
it could
have
practical
applications.
He saw one
use in
radio
where the
device
could
conceivably
be adapted
to being a
most
sensitive
detector
of
disturbances
in the
medium.
The
rotating
brush
appears to
be a
precursor
of the
plasma
globe toys
now in
fashion;
these are
sometimes
called
"Tesla
globes."
Tesla's
new
lighting
was famous
in its
time.
Tesla,
the
promoter,
saw to it.
He
conducted
demonstrations
at
lectures
before the
electric
industry
associations,
before
large
audiences
in rented
halls, and
before
select
groups of
influential
New
Yorkers in
his
Manhattan
lab. His
articles
about the
new
lighting
were
published
in the
popular
scientific
press and
it was
reported
in the
newspapers.
Still,
it did not
catch on
with the
powers-that-be
who no
doubt saw
in it
Tesla's
perennial
pile-of
scrap
problem.
But, I
wonder,
would the
whole
electric
distribution
system
have to be
scrapped
to
implement
the
efficiencies
of Tesla
lighting?
Conceivably,
the new
lighting
could be
run off of
local
oscillators
at the
consumer
end, the
old power
distribution
system
remaining
intact.
This is
still a
possibility,
as it has
been for
about one
hundred
years.
Transport
Tesla
speculated,"Perhaps
the most
valuable
application
of
wireless
energy,
will be
the
propulsion
of the
flying
machine,
which will
carry no
fuel and
be free
from any
limitations
of the
present
airplanes
and
dirigibles."
The
possibility
of
electric
flight
intrigued
Tesla,
though he
never did
patent an
electric
aircraft.
But he did
patent an
electric
railway
using his
high-frequency,
high-potential
electricity
in a
by-wire
mode, and
also
patented a
radical
aircraft
that,
while not
electric,
did have
an
advanced
power
plant: his
disk
turbine.
Tesla's
railway
and
aircraft
can be
numbered
among the
lost
inventions.
The
closest
transport
technology
has come
to putting
any of
Tesla into
actual
practice
is with
diesel-electric
power
using
Tesla
polyphase
motors, an
early and
notable
example of
which was
the ocean
liner
Normandie.
In the
field of
transport
Tesla is
more
commonly
identified
with
antigravity
flight and
UFO's.
Although
this
identification
is based
upon
nothing
more than
a few
public
utterances,
his
suggestions
charge the
imagination
with
possibilities.
High-frequency
railway
Tesla's
high-frequency,
high-potential
railway
picks up
its power
inductively
without
the use of
the
rolling or
sliding
contacts
used in
conventional
trolley or
third-rail
systems. A
pick-up
bar
travels
near a
cable
carrying
the
oscillating
energy.
This
cable,
which
Tesla
specifically
invented
to carry
such
currents,
is the
precursor
of the
grounded
shielded
cable used
today to
carry TV
and other
high-frequency
signals.
But
unlike
today's
cables,
which
carry
energy
only of
signal
strength
and shield
by means
of a
continuous
grounded
static
screen of
fine
braided
copper
wire,
Tesla's
high
voltage
cable uses
metal pipe
or screen
that is
broken up
into short
lengths,
"very
much
shorter,"
says Tesla
in his
patent,
"than
the wave
lengths of
the
current
used."
This
feature
reduces
loss.
Since
the
shielding
must not
be
interrupted,
the short
sections
are made
to overlap
but are
insulated
from one
another.
To further
reduce
loss to
ground, an
inductance
of high
ohmic
resistance
or a small
capacity
is placed
in the
ground
line.
Motor
mystery
A
conundrum
raised by
Tesla's
railway
patent is
that the
vehicle is
powered by
an
electric
motor, but
nowhere
among
Tesla's
inventions
is to be
found an
electric
motor that
runs off
of
high-frequency
currents.
Was
Tesla
planning
to use a
lower
frequency
here,
something
under
1,000
cycles?
Did he
have a
converter
in mind
that could
bring the
frequency
down? Or
did Tesla
invent a
high-frequency
motor that
never made
it into
patent, an
invention
that may
be among
his
unpublished
notes?
Anyway,
Tesla
proceeds
in many of
his
discussions
of
high-frequency
power as
if this
problem
were
solved.
I've seen
references
post-Tesla
to the
existence
of such a
motor.
Free-energy
inventor,
Hermann
Plauson,
(next
chapter)
refers to
high-frequency
motors.
These
motors
have
magnetic
cores made
of very
thin
laminations
insulated
from each
other, a
design
that would
limit
damping
effects.
Turbine
aircraft:
Tesla's
only
patented
aircraft
is a
vertical
take-off
and
landing
(VTOL)
plane that
he
intended
as an
improvement
upon the
helicopter,
already
invented
at this
time
(1921):
"The
helicopter
type of
flying
machine,
especially
with large
inclination
angle of
the
propeller
axis to
the
horizontal,
at which
it is
generally
expected
to
operate,
is quite
unsuitable
for speedy
aerial
transport;
it is
incapable
of
proceeding
horizontally
along a
straight
line under
prevailing
air
conditions;
it is
subject to
dangerous
plunges
and
oscillations
... and it
is almost
certainly
doomed to
destruction
in case
the motive
power
gives
out."
Advances
in
helicopter
design may
have
mitigated
some of
these
problems,
but at
least the
last one
still
holds
true.
Tesla's
craft,
which has
a large
wing area,
is powered
by two
disk
turbines.
The
engineering
problem of
swinging
the pilot
and
passengers
around 90
degrees
after
take-off
is solved
at least
to Tesla's
satisfaction.
There have
been some
experimental
VTOL's but
nothing in
production.
Electric
flight
Tesla's
dream
electric
aircraft
would be
powered by
means of
magnifying
transmitters:
"Aerial
machines
will be
propelled
around the
earth
without a
stop."
Also, in
1900, he
predicted
a
"cold
coal"
battery
with such
output
that
"a
practical
flying
machine"
would be
possible.
Such a
battery
also
"would
enormously
enhance
the
introduction
of the
automobile."
Tesla
fantasized
a personal
"aerial
taxi"
which
could be
folded
into a
six-foot
cube, and
would
weigh
under 250
lbs:
"It
can be run
through
the
streets
and put in
a garage,
if
desired,
just like
an
automobile."
Explaining
how his
earth-resonant
wireless-power
system
could
energize
vehicles
aloft, he
said,
"power
can be
readily
supplied
without
ground
connection,
for,
although
the flow
is
confined
to earth,
an
electromagnetic
field is
created in
the
atmosphere
surrounding
it."
Tesla
believed
such a
system to
be the
ultimate
method of
man-made
flight:
"With
an
industrial
plant of
great
capacity,
sufficient
power can
be derived
in this
manner to
propel any
kind of
aerial
machine.
Antigravity
Tesla
wrote in
1900 of an
antigravity
motor:
"Imagine
a disk of
some
homogeneous
material
turned
perfectly
true and
arranged
to turn in
frictionless
bearings
on a
horizontal
shaft
above the
ground.
Now, it is
possible
that we
may learn
how to
make such
a disk
rotate
continuously
and
perform
work by
the force
of
gravity."
To do
so, he
said,
"we
have only
to invent
a screen
against
this
force. By
such a
screen we
could
prevent
this force
from
acting on
one-half
of the
disk, and
rotation
of the
latter
would
follow."
Does it
not follow
then, that
such a
gravity
screen
could also
be used to
levitate a
vehicle?
Tesla
held no
patent on
such a
device or
on any
other
antigravity
device,
and there
are no
published
notes on
experimentation
in the
area.
Nevertheless,
Tesla
inevitably
pops up in
the
literature
of
antigravity
and UFO's.
This may
be because
Tesla was
a
prominent
exponent
of a
physics in
which
antigravity
seems more
feasible
because
gravity is
better
explained.
A
researcher-theorist
of today,
Thomas
Bearden,
allows for
gravity
control in
the
physics he
calls
"the
new Tesla
electromagnetics."
Scaler
(standing)
waves
"in
time
itself can
be
produced
electrically"
and this
becomes
"a
magic tool
capable of
directly
affecting
and
altering
anything
that
exists in
time,
including
gravitational
fields,"
says
Bearden.
In
1931 the
editor of
Science
&
Mechanics,
Hugo
Gernsback
reported,
"It
is
believed
by many
scientists
today that
the force
of
gravitation
is merely
another
manifestation
of
electromagnetic
waves."
Edward
Farrow, a
New York
inventor,
reported
in 1911 an
antigravity
effect
produced
by a ring
of spark
gaps. When
the gaps
were
fired, the
device,
called a
"condensing
dynamo,"
lost
one-sixth
of its
weight.
T.
Henry
Moray
wrote that
"Frequencies
may be
developed
which will
balance
the force
of gravity
to a point
of
neutralization."
Antigravity
researcher
Richard
Lefors
Clark
places the
frequency
of
gravity's
vibrations
right at
"Nature's
neutral
center in
the
radiant
energy
spectrum,"
above
radar and
below
infrared,
at l0^12
cycles per
second.
Free-Energy
Receiver
For
starters,
think of
this as a
solar-electric
panel.
Tesla's
invention
is very
different,
but the
closest
thing to
it in
conventional
tech-nology
is in
photovoltaics.
One
radical
difference
is that
conventional
solar-electric
panels
consist of
a
substrate
coated
with
crystalline
silicon;
the latest
use
amorphous
silicon.
Conventional
solar
panels are
expensive,
and,
whatever
the
coating,
they are
manufactured
by
esoteric
processes.
But
Tesla's"solar
panel"
is just a
shiny
metal
plate with
a
transparent
coating of
some
insulating
material
which
today
could be a
spray
plastic.
Stick one
of these
antenna-like
panels up
in the
air, the
higher the
better,
and wire
it to one
side of a
capacitor,
the other
going to a
good earth
ground.Now
the energy
from the
sun is
charging
that
capacitor.
Connect
across the
capacitor
some sort
of
switching
device so
that it
can be
discharged
arrhythmic
intervals,
and you
have an
electric
output.
esla's
patent is
telling us
that it is
that
simple to
get
electric
energy.
The bigger
the area
of the
insulated
plate, the
more
energy you
get. But
this is
more than
a
"solar
panel"
because it
does not
necessarily
need
sunshine
to
operate.
It also
produces
power at
night Of
course,
this is
impossible
according
to
official
science.
For this
reason,
you could
not get a
patent on
such an
invention
today.
Many an
inventor
has
learned
this the
hard way.
Tesla had
his
problems
with the
patent
examiners,
but
today's
free-energy
inventor
has it
much
tougher.
Tesla's
free-energy
receiver
was
patented
in 1901 as
An
Apparatus
for the
Utilization
of Radiant
Energy.
The patent
refers to
"the
sun, as
well as
other
sources of
radiant
energy,
like
cosmic
rays."
That
the device
works at
night is
explained
in terms
of the
night-time
availability
of cosmic
rays.
Tesla also
refers to
the ground
as "a
vast
reservoir
of
negative
electricity."
Tesla
was
fascinated
by radiant
energy and
its
free-energy
possibilities.
He called
the
Crooke's
radiometer
(a device
which has
vanes that
spin in a
vacuum
when
exposed to
radiant
energy)
"a
beautiful
invention."
He
believed
that it
would
become
possible
to harness
energy
directly
by
"connecting
to the
very
wheelwork
of
nature."
His
free-energy
receiver
is as
close as
he ever
came to
such a
device in
his
patented
work.
But on
his 76th
birthday
at the
ritual
press
conference,
Tesla (who
was
without
the
financial
wherewithal
to patent
but went
on
inventing
in his
head)
announced
a
"cosmic-ray
motor."
When asked
if it was
more
powerful
than the
Crooke's
radiometer,
he
answered,
"thousands
of times
more
powerful."
How
it works
From the
electric
potential
that
exists
between
the
elevated
plate
(plus) and
the ground
(minus),
energy
builds in
the
capacitor,
and, after
"a
suitable
time
interval,"
the
accumulated
energy
will
"manifest
itself in
a powerful
discharge"
which can
do
work.
The
capacitor,
says Tesla
should be
"of
considerable
electrostatic
capacity"
and its
dielectric
made of
"the
best
quality
mica,"
for it has
to with
stand
potentials
that could
rupture a
weaker
dielectric.
Tesla
gives
various
options
for the
switching
device.
One is a
rotary
switch
that
resembles
a Tesla
circuit
controller.
Another
is an
electrostatic
device
consisting
of two
very
light,
membranous
conductors
suspended
in a
vacuum.
These
sense the
energy
build-up
in the
capacitor,
one going
positive,
the other
negative,
and, at a
certain
charge
level, are
attracted,
touch, and
thus fire
the
capacitor.
Tesla also
mentions
another
switching
device
consisting
of a
minute air
gap or
weak
dielectric
film which
breaks
down
suddenly
when a
certain
potential
is
reached.
The above
is about
all the
technical
detail you
get in the
patent.
In 1921
Hermann
Plauson, a
German
experimenter,
succeeded
in
obtaining
patents,
including
one in the
U. S., for
Conversion
of
Atmospheric
Electric
Energy. In
school,
every
introduction
to
electricity
touches on
the
phenomenon
of
so-called
"static"
(or
electrostatic)
electricity,
and this
is what
Plauson
means by
"atmospheric."
Static
electricity
is
built-up
charge,
electricity
in a raw
state, and
it comes
easy in
Nature, as
evidenced
by
lightning
and the
aurora
borealis.
If you
have ever
seen a
frictional
static
machine in
operation,
it's not
difficult
to imagine
the
tremendous
potential
in
artificially
produced
static. A
rotating
disk type
of static
machine or
the silk
belt type,
as in the Van
de Graff
generator,
produces
discharges
like those
from a
tesla
coil.
Unfortunately,
in school,
the
subject of
static
electricity
is briefly
touched
upon and
then
abruptly
dropped,
never to
be
mentioned
again.
Electrical
power
sources
thereafter
are
limited to
the
battery or
the wall
socket.
How
it works
In the
Plauson
drawing
the free
energy
converter
on the
left
interfaces
with a
disk type
static
machine
via
special
pick up
"combs."
When
the static
collecting
disk is
rotated,
the combs
pick up
the
charge,
one comb
going
positive,
the other
negative.
The combs,
in turn,
charge up
their
respective
capacitors
until
sufficiently
high
potential
builds to
jump the
spark
gap.
The
oscillatory
discharge
is induced
into the
transformer
primary.
This is
high-voltage,
high-frequency
electric
energy.
The
familiar
spark-gap
oscillator
has turned
charge
into
dynamic
energy.
The
transformer
steps down
the
vibrating
high
voltage to
practical
levels to
power
lighting,
heating,
and
special
high-frequency
motors.
The
Plauson
patent
drawing
shows a
device
that works
on the
same
principle
but
collects
energy by
means of
an
antenna,
as does
Tesla's
receiver.
Since
the higher
the
antenna
the
better,
and the
more area
the
better,
Plauson
favors big
metallic
helium
balloons.
Plauson
says the
safety
gap, which
has three
times the
resistance
of the
working
gap, is
absolutely
necessary
for
collecting
large
quantities
of
charge.
The
capacitors
across the
gaps in
the series
safety gap
allow for
uniform
sparking.
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