Radioed Light, Heat and Power Perfected by Tesla

INVENTOR ANNOUNCES FINAL SUCCESS OF EXPERIMENTS BEGUN THIRTY YEARS AGO

By James S. Caulfield
Assoc., A. I. E. E.

Copyright, 1924 (New York Evening World), Press Publishing Company.

Light, heat and power without the aid of wires is nearing the stage of completion. Prof. Nikola Tesla breaks silence of many years to announce his perfection of his system for transmitting power without wires. By means of this power it will be possible to light homes, offices and streets; furnish electrical machinery. He is now making preparation for the erection of his revolutionizing power plant.

Prof. Tesla was born in Serbia and received his education at the University of Prague, and received honorary degrees from Yale and Columbia Universities and from the Polytechnic in Vienna. He came to this country in 1884 and took out naturalization papers. He is the son of a Greek clergyman and Miss Georgia Mandic, who was the only woman inventor in that part of the country, where she had studied with her father, also an inventor. Nikola inherited his mother's talent for inventing and began his practical career in Budapest, Hungary, in 1881, where he made the first telephone repeater.

After an interview with Prof. Tesla in his apartment on Park Avenue the writer can confidently state that the famous inventor is one of those few productions of nature that have been termed geniuses. His individuality is assertive and his mind is the embodiment of concentrated and continuous thinking. Thinking is his life work and his pleasure. He is always thinking, and in his fights of imagination there is nothing which is impossible, nothing which cannot at some time be realized.

His passion for the new is intense. Naturally of an extremely emotional disposition, his nerves are constantly at a fearful tension. His will power is also enormous. Mr. Tesla's power of concentration makes him desire solitude, and his laboratory and workshop are sealed books to the outer world. His experiments are carried on at his own expense, and to the layman they would seem, as they really are, the essence of originality.

At one time many of his friends demonized him as a dreamer and others called his schemes ridiculous. On close inspection his ideas will be found to be twenty-five to one hundred years ahead of time. Here is an example: Back in 1893 The Evening World printed an exclusive interview with Tesla, at which time as stated that the power of Niagara Falls would be developed. The public thought light of it and in a short time it was forgotten. However, some score years later the Falls were developed and at the present time plans are being made to transmit power from Niagara to supply the New England States.

In the same year Tesla, through the medium of this paper, announced that he had developed a system of communication for ships at sea. This was three years earlier than the famous Marconi's experiments. Other inventions of the master electrician made it possible to transmit an alternating current of electricity. The development of motors for trolley cars and subways and electric drive on cruisers all owe their being to Tesla.

The X-ray, which is an important factor in the medical profession to-day, was one of the early researches of Tesla. He has reached fame and fortune through some fifty patents on electrical machines which at this date have expired. In the early part of 1900 he was a member of a patent pool trust which had a monopoly on the electrical industry.

Transmission of energy without wires has been the life aim of the inventor. This aim he now claims to have achieved at the age of sixty-seven. For years he has virtually secluded himself in New York, living a life of solitude so as to be able to devote all his time and energy to the perfection of his wireless system of power transmission. In discussing the system which is capable of operating aircraft, ships and all kinds of machines, he said: "Not only is this possible, but I am confidently expecting that by far the largest amount of energy will be transmitted in this manner. The system has been fully developed and demonstrated experimentally, but most of the experts are still puzzled. They claim that the power would be transmitted in all directions and consequently most of it would be lost, the same as in the operation of radio receivers. That is a fundamental mistake.

"It is true that my transmitter produces an effect all over the globe, but it is only force that is conveyed to every point and not energy. To make this understandable to the layman, suppose that the earth were a hollow reservoir into which water is forced by a pump. It does not require much scientific knowledge to perceive that the pressure will exist everywhere, yet no energy will be consumed. But the moment this reservoir is tapped and the water permitted to drive an engine, energy is derived from the pump. In my system energy is released by something like a combination lock, and only those who have the combination can draw from the source.

"In my original experimental demonstrations I have made great improvements and I can now definitely announce that the loss in the transmission to the greatest terrestrial distance — say 12,000 miles — will not amount to more than one-quarter of 1 per cent. This, of course, does not take into account certain unavoidable losses in the transmitter and receiver, which will amount to about 4 per cent in the aggregate. In the present method of conveying energy through wires the loss amounts often to 20 per cent, or more and the distances are limited."

The writer asked Prof. Tesla if it was possible to construct such a plant and actually operate it. He replied: "Most certainly, for I have developed all the details." He also stated that he expected to commence construction very shortly and will rely on his own resources. He was asked if the energy transmission was accomplished by the use of radio waves, which are sometimes called Hertzian waves. He answered:

"It is quite impossible to transmit any appreciable amount of energy by such means if it were not but for one reason — that waves such as Hertz thought to have discovered do not exist. It is true that some kind of energy is radiated from the wires, but it is not in the form of transverse waves in the ether. Moreover, this energy is irretrievably lost.

"I will illustrate by an example: Suppose that two wires are led from a generator of alternating currents and used to light an incandescent lamp at some distance. If the alternations of the current are very slow there will be virtually no energy radiated from the conductors. Imagine now that the current is made to pulsate faster and faster. Then in the same measure more and more of the so-called Hertz waves will be emitted and it will be found that ever so much more power will be required to light the lamp. But the lamp is only operated by the currents which pass through the filaments, and all the energy that is radiated in the form of Hertzian waves is entirely lost and useless for the purpose.

"The first departure I made in my investigations was to use one wire instead of two. My first demonstration at Columbia University in 1891 excited considerable attention. Further work in this direction led me to consider the idea of substituting the earth for the wire, and then my real work in the transmission of energy without wires began. At that time it was believed that there was above the insulating air stratum surrounding the earth a shell of rarefied atmosphere which was highly conductive; and if such was the case then this planet was an electrical condenser of enormous capacity, through which only very slow impulses could be transmitted and to a small distance, precluding extensive commercial application, especially for such purposes as the radio telephone.

"I made the marvelous discovery that the planet responded to the currents impressed upon it exactly, as though it were completely insulated in space without any conducting envelope whatever. In other words, whatever be the electrical properties of the air at high altitudes, there was no heavy side-layer, a name given to the outer gaseous envelope of the earth, supposed to be rendered conductive through ionization caused by the sun's rays. This discovery showed that the most complex and rapid electrical oscillations — human speech and even power — could be transmitted through the earth far better than through any artificial cable or conductor. Experiments proved this to be the case." Tesla was asked if the wireless system would eventually supplant cables. "I would say, yes, eventually, but so long," he added smilingly, "as the art develops along the present lines, my friend Mackay needn't worry about his cables."

The illustrations show the ultimate Tesla Wireless Power Plant. In his early endeavors the inventor erected the tower shown in the photograph primarily to prove his theory. However, the war was upon us and the Government requested that it come down. After the war Prof. Tesla again started to prove his theory, but this time he chose Colorado Springs as the location of his laboratory. It was while at the "Springs" that he first demonstrated power transmitted without the aid of wires.