Inventions & Experiments
of Nikola Tesla
Under construction
Testing or Laboratory room
"Courtesy of Tesla Collection." - http://teslacollection.com/
---
- 7 Rheostats.
- 4 Desks.
- 2 Safes.
- 3 Motors.
- 1 Set of storage batteries and tanks.
- 1 Submarine boat.
- 1 Westinhouse motor nº 28292.
- 1 Westinhouse motor, type C, 5 H.P. nº 62320.
- 1 Westinhouse motor, type C, 5 H.P. nº 22070.
- 4 High tension transformers in tanks; and switchboards.
- Wiring drums
- Drafting boards and tools.
- 24 Chairs.
- 2 Clocks
- 14 Radiators.
![Figure 39. Apparatus furnishing direct currents of high tension, producing undamped electrical oscillations of high frequency. (This is also shown in [Fig. 27]). Apparatus built in 1895.](https://image.jimcdn.com/app/cms/image/transf/dimension=420x10000:format=jpg/path/s40c423127565d23a/image/i23aa873925a2a564/version/1396714727/image.jpg)
"Courtesy of Tesla Collection." - http://teslacollection.com/
http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/nt_on_ac.htm
"[Fig. 39] shows a four-phase machine which was furnished me by the Westinghouse Electric Company at the close of 1895. My laboratory burned out in May, and I urged my friend, Mr. Albert Schmidt, who was the Superintendent, to give me this alternator as soon as possible. He worked day and night until he got it out, and he certainly did notable work because while the machine was rated at 30 horsepower, I have run it at 150 horsepower".
"By the way, and this is a painful reflection, it was Schmidt and I who developed this type of frame and this general arrangement which is universally adopted now—a base, with the magnets cast below, split at the center line, and a corresponding upper part. That is now used everywhere. I remember years ago, some of my friends, Messrs. Crocker and Wheeler, started with those long magnets and I told them, "The sooner you throw these away and adopt this construction, the better it will be for you." They have got it now; it is all right".
Counsel:
"How is this machine [Fig. 39] shown in connection with that?"
Tesla:
"This dynamo [Fig. 39], you see, is a two-phase machine; that is, I develop from it currents of two-phase. Now, there are four transformers. You see them down here [lower left of Fig. 39] that furnish the primary energy. From these two phases I develop four phases. [However,] this involves something else which I have referred to before; namely, an arrangement which enables me to produce from these alternating currents direct currents and undamped—absolutely undamped—isochronous oscillations of any period I like".
"This is accomplished in the following manner: The secondaries of the four transformers could each develop 44,000 volts. They were specially built for me by the Westinghouse Company. They could, however, be connected in such a way that each would give 11,000 volts, and then I would take these 11,000 volts and these four phases and commutate them by a commutator consisting of aluminum plates, or aluminum segments, which were rotated in synchronism with the alternator. Then I obtained a continuous pressure; that is, direct current of a tension of 44,000 volts, and with these 44,000 volts I charged my condensers. Then by discharging the condensers, either through a stationary gap or through a gap with a mechanical interrupter, I obtained any frequency I desired, and perfectly undamped waves. This arrangement was installed in 1901 in my wireless plant at Long Island, with which I was to telephone around the world".
Counsel:
"Who built that machine?"
Tesla:
"The Westinghouse Company, [under direction of] Mr. Albert Schmidt, Superintendent. It was especially built for me and furnished to my laboratory on Houston Street".
"While I was with the Westinghouse Company, I did two things in addition to bringing my motors to them. I had discovered that Bessemer steel was a much better material for transformers and motors than the soft iron which was previously used. When I came to Pittsburgh, my motors gave results which their motors could not at first produce, and I told them that I had used Bessemer steel. I discovered, in following up the analysis of the steels which were used, that the Bessemer was not steel but really soft iron. The Westinghouse people then adopted my suggestion. At first, Mr. Shallenberger and other electricians there objected very much, but I persuaded them and when the transformers were built we found that we could get 2 1/2 times the output we got before".
"The Westinghouse people kept it a secret for a long time and no one understood how they could make such fine transformers, but all they did was to use the Bessemer steel, on my suggestion, instead of the soft iron the General Electric and other people used. Mr. Westinghouse especially requested me to join efforts with Mr. Schmidt and improve the design of his machines, and we did so. We evolved this design, introduced the ready-made coils, which are pressed on the armature, and other improvements. I took a couple of patents out with Mr. Schmidt, and Mr. Westinghouse was very nice about it. I think he compensated me with $10,000, or something like that, for my suggestions".
Counsel:
"You have spoken of the use of that machine at Houston Street. In what way was it used?"
Tesla:
"I used this machine, as I said, either to produce alternating currents and then interrupt them with a mechanical break at the high peaks of the wave; or, I used alternating currents and interrupted them with an independent rotating break having a great number of teeth. Or, I generated continuous currents by commutating the high tension alternating currents of the transformer. At that time I had two transformers from which I obtained a constant pressure, charged the condenser, and produced undamped waves of any frequency I wanted. As to the machine here [Fig. 39], that is the way it was arranged. It was for the generation of continuous electromotive force and production of undamped waves—from 1895 and on".
Counsel:
"What sort of apparatus was it connected up to for the purpose of absorbing these waves?"
Tesla:
"It was the same as shown here [Fig. 38]. It was connected to the condensers, and these condensers were discharged through a primary which excited the secondary; the antenna was included in the secondary. At other times we discharged the condensers directly so that I could use the antenna without the secondary".
Counsel:
"In the same way did you note the operation of these waves?"
Tesla:
"We did, of course, only in most cases the instrument of reception was different. When I operated with these continuous, or undamped, waves, generated in this way, I usually went to high frequencies. I did operate [at] a very few thousand, but that gave me a smaller output. Such a machine you have to operate at high frequencies to get power".
Counsel:
"What do you mean by high frequencies?"
Tesla:
"I mean frequencies of 30,000, 40,000, 50,000, or something like that".
Counsel:
"And by means of that machine, you put undamped waves of frequency about 50,000 into that antenna at Houston Street in 1895?"
Tesla:
"No, not in 1895. Late in 1895 the machine was furnished and I began to operate in early 1896. That is when I began to operate".
Counsel:
"Then you did this, that I speak of, in 1896?"
Tesla:
"Yes, from 1896 to 1899, right along".
Counsel:
"When you used frequencies like that in your antenna, was your antenna tuned or untuned?"
Tesla:
"I could not use it untuned. That would be absurd".
Counsel:
"What form of device did you use, and where did you use it, for noting the generation of these oscillations or waves in the antenna?"
Tesla:
"I suppose I had hundreds of devices, but the first device that I used, and it was very successful, was an improvement on the bolometer. I met Professor Langley in 1892 at the Royal Institution. He said to me, after I had delivered a lecture, that they were all proud of me. I spoke to him of the bolometer, and remarked that it was a beautiful instrument. I then said",
"Professor Langley, I have a suggestion for making an improvement in the bolometer, if you will embody it in the principle."
"I explained to him how the bolometer could be improved. Professor Langley was very much interested and wrote in his notebook what I suggested. I used what I have termed a small-mass resistance, but of much smaller mass than in the bolometer of Langley, and of much smaller mass than that of any of the devices which have been recorded in patents issued since. Those are clumsy things. I used masses that were not a millionth of the smallest mass described in any of the patents, or in the publications. With such an instrument, I operated, for instance, in West Point—I received signals from my laboratory on Houston Street in West Point".
Counsel:
"This was then the machine that you used when working with West Point?"
Tesla:
"I operated once or twice with it at that distance, but usually as I was investigating in the city. My work at that time was to prepare for the development of a commercial plant, and with me the question was not to transmit signals, but to see what intensity I could get to put me in position to calculate out my apparatus, the dimensions and the forms, before I began the undertaking. It was nothing but preparatory work for the construction of a commercial plant, and I demonstrated its practicability through my experiments, a plant which was to accomplish much more than all others".
Counsel:
"What was the horsepower activity in the oscillating circuits when you used this machine?"
Tesla:
"Usually something like 50 horsepower, and I would get, I should say, approximately 30 horsepower in the antenna; that is, I would get 30 horsepower in the oscillating circuit".
Counsel:
"I understood a little while ago when you made the statement of using several thousand horsepower put into a condenser, you could take out of the condenser a million horsepower. I wondered if you got the same condition with this machine".
Tesla:
"Yes; I charged the condenser with 40,000 volts. When it was charged full, I discharged it suddenly, through a short circuit which gave me a very rapid rate of oscillation. Let us suppose that I had stored in the condenser 10 watts. Then, for such a wave there is a flux of energy of (4 x 104)2, and this is multiplied by the frequency of 100,000. You see, it may go into thousands or millions of horsepower".
Counsel:
"What I wanted to get at was, did that depend upon the suddenness of the discharge?"
Tesla:
"Yes. It is merely the electrical analogue of a pile driver or a hammer. You accumulate energy through a long distance and then you deliver it with a tremendous suddenness. The distance through which the mass moves is small—the pressure immense".
Counsel:
"Did you find that that was the best condition for transmitting energy without the use of wire?"
Tesla:
"No, I did not use that method when I was transmitting energy. I used it only in the production of those freaks for which I have been called a magician. If I had used merely undamped waves, I would have been an ordinary electrician like everybody else".
Counsel:
"You have referred to some delicate receiving instruments. Did you have any trouble with those burning out on account of static?"
Tesla:
"My dear sir, I burned out so many instruments before I discovered what was the matter with them! They burned out instantly until I learned how to make them so that they could not burn out. Yes, that was a great trouble in the beginning".
Counsel:
"Did you succeed in getting them so they would not burn out?"
Tesla:
"Yes. If lightning struck close by, it would not burn out my instrument that has a millionth of the smallest mass used in the instruments of others".
"Courtesy of Tesla Collection." - http://teslacollection.com/
Interior view of Tesla's Wardenclyffe plant showing various electrical apparatus, including the large telautomaton, "Egg of Columbus," and various transformers. Circa 1902.
"Courtesy of Tesla Collection." - http://teslacollection.com/
Interior view of Tesla's Wardenclyffe plant showing various electrical apparati, including a tuning table, two-phase dynamo, various transformers and oscilators, and large spiral coil. The telautomaton and "Egg of Columbus" are in background. Circa 1902.
In June of 1902, Tesla moved out of his laboratory on Houston Street and into the Wardenclyffe building. The laboratory section was soon filled with lecture equipment, coils, X-ray machinery and other devices. In the workshop, glass blowers were busy making the electron bulbs that Tesla hoped to use in his receivers.
http://www.teslascience.org/pages/dream.htm
When it became generally known that the Wardenclyffe operation had closed, an occasional research engineer bitten with curiosity would make his way out to the laboratory. If the caretaker was still there, the visitor would be admitted for a tour of the laboratory. What he would behold was something quite beyond his expectations —intricate mechanical mechanisms, glass blowing equipment, a complete machine shop including eight lathes, X-Ray devices, many varieties of high frequency (Tesla) coils, a radio controlled boat, exhibit cases with at least a thousand bulbs and tubes, an instrument room, electrical generators and transformers, wire, cable, library and office. A strange stillness filled the building. It seemed as if it were a holiday, and the workday tomorrow would bring back all the workers to their assignments. A walk outside to the tower and up the flights of stairs—soon one caught the whisper of the wind through the spars. One believed he could perceive muted voices and clanking sounds below. But the switch had not been thrown. The dynamos stood idle.
In 1912, Westinghouse, Church, Kerr & Company obtained a judgment against Tesla for $23,500 for machinery furnished at Wardenclyffe. The equipment was subsequently removed. In order to keep a roof over his head, Tesla had given two mortgages on Wardenclyffe to George C. Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to secure payment of hotel bills amounting to $20,000. Tesla requested that they not be recorded fearing that all his project's would be destroyed if the matter became public. He was unable to make any payments at all, and in 1915 he turned the Wardenclyffe deed over to Waldorf-Astoria, Inc., through a silent intermediary.
Write a comment