Nikola Tesla's Wonder Shop

QUEER-LOOKING APPARATUS IN OPERATION ON LONG ISLAND.

STRANGERS UNWELCOME

TREMENDOUS FORCE AT THE COMMAND OF THE GREAT INVENTOR.

Nikola Tesla of wireless-telegraph fame has established at Wardenclyffe, L. I., an immense electric plant, says the Brooklyn Times. The strange looking tower is part of the plant.

To the natives of this part of the country the big tower and plant have long been a source of mystery. Many have tried to discover what it was to be used for, but all have been turned away with scant information. The plant and grounds are carefully guarded and a close watch is kept on persons with cameras.

The queer tower has been taken for some new-fangled kind of a lighthouse, a wireless telegraph station and a pumping station.

A tremendous force is at Tesla's command at the Wardenclyffe plant and its possibilities as outlined by the famous electrician are truly marvelous.

Before the plant was established Mr. Tesla made some experiments among the mountains of Colorado. There, with an apparatus which was a mere toy as compared with that in use at Wardenclyffe, he was able to produce electrical energy exceeding in power that displayed by the average lighting plant. It was one of the wonders of the time when he was able to produce an electric spark between poles 100 feet apart. That was nothing, he says, compared with the possibilities of the apparatus at Wardenclyffe.

Refuse to Talk.

But that apparatus; what is it? He won't tell. Possibly few would understand if he did. This much is known: there is a great well dug in the ground with a spiral stairway extending down 150 feet toward the center of the earth. Just above it is a mass of steel, forming a curiously shaped tower, 150 feet high. Anyone who has been in or near Wardenclyffe since it was constructed, must have noticed the tall structure with its open dome far above the nearby treetops. Near its base is a low brick building, in which, a considerable amount of machinery is installed. A powerful boiler and steam engine supply motive power for the shop.

Does Not Court Publicity.

From the time that Tesla secured the large tract of woodland, where the electrical plant is now situated, up to the present date, he has maintained rigid privacy about his methods and plans. He does not court publicity as to the details of his work, and newspaper men who call to see him are not likely to get overloaded with technical information about the plant. The visitor who walks into the grounds and approaches either the machine shop or the tower and well is met by an employe, who explains in polite but forceful language, that it is private property, and that Mr. Tesla does not care to have visitors at that place.

Dozens of Tesla's inventions and discoveries in connection with electrical work have been patented. Some of them embody the ruling principles which enable most useful modern electrical apparatus to be used with commercial success. The inventor positively asserts that there are many infringements of his patents in daily use in connection with wireless telegraphy and other modern conveniences. He says he has met with an immense amount of opposition along various lines and that difficulties which would have put most men out of the race have been successfully overcome. He has implicit faith in the future of his many appliances.

Electricity in Infancy.

He unhesitatingly claims that it is today possible to communicate between any two points on earth, using the earth itself as a conductor, so that the human voice will be carried as successfully as in the common telephone. He says he can transmit power by the same agency. From his plant at Wardenclyffe he could run the electric motors and the big printing presses in the Brooklyn Times office. He considers that the use of electricity is as yet in its infancy and predicts that marvelous changes are in store for the next generation.

Some years ago Mr. Tesla stated that in his opinion it was possible to utilize the power expended by the sun for heat and light in the world's industries as a motive power. He also said that he intended developing some ideas in this connection that he had found practicable. Since then he has never referred to the subject in his voluminous contributions to scientific literature, and it may be possible that a signal success in experimenting has induced him to build this huge structure for this very purpose. The enormous height of the tower predisposes to the belief that he is dealing with a force that could very well be solar rays.

When Ideas Are Realized.

When the ideas of Tesla are realized the vaunted improvements of the nineteenth century will pale into insignificance. The electrical apparatus which has proved to be so far in advance of appliances previously in use will seem crude. It is so, for he himself hath said it. Today, if you and the rest of the populace enjoyed his full confidence, some feats which would seem to be no less than miraculous could be performed successfully and with ease. The difficulty is that humanity as a whole is not yet ready for the adoption of Tesla's inventions. He finds difficulty in expressing his thoughts in terms simple enough for even people of high education to fully grasp the meaning. Some of his discoveries are quite out of the conception of ordinary mortals.

This one gathers from occasional meetings with the wizard of Wardenclyffe. He talks freely of his work to those who have his confidence and to such he is a wonderfully interesting man. His thought is concentrated almost solely upon electrical work and he is sufficiently human to enjoy discussing his work with those who have a fair comprehension of his accomplishments, of the difficulties which he has met and of how he overcomes them.