Nikola Tesla Patents
1 1 J and there being no, or only a very insignificant amount of, energy stored in the condenser, the periodical closure of the primary circuit of the transformer through. the operation of the device d will have no appreciable effect upon the primary coil p, and hence no currents. will be generated in the secondary coil s, at least not such as would disturb the state of delicate balance existing in the secondary circuit including the receiver, and, therefore, the latter will not be actuated by the battery B'. But when, owing to the disturbances or impulses propagated through the media from a distant source, an additional electromotive force, however small, is created between the terminals of the device a, the dielectric layers in the same, unable to support the increased strain, give way and allow the current of the battery B to pass through, thus causing a difference of potential at the terminals T and T' of the condenser. A sufficient amount of energy being now stored in this instrument during the time interval between each two succeeding operations of the device d, each closure of the primary circuit by the latter results in the passage of a sudden current impulse through the coil p, which induces a corresponding current of relatively high electromotive force in the secondary coil s. Owing to this the dielectric in the device a' gives way, and the current of the battery B' being allowed to pass, the receiver R is operated, but only for a moment, since by the rotation of the devices a, a' and a, which may be all driven from the same shaft, the original conditions are restored, assuming, of course, that the electromotive force set up. by the disturbances at the terminals of the sensitive de-17So, This page retyped from microfilm for better readability - Ed. 477
