Tesla's Latest - Wireless Transmission of Power

A gigantic scheme of electric-power transmission has been conceived by Nikola Tesla, the well-known electrician. At Wardenclyffe, Long Island, New York, there has been erected a huge tower with a mushroom-like dome. From this tower will radiate electric currents which will, according to the inventor's theory, do all that electricity is to-day called upon to do. It will send out wireless impulses that will carry the latest doings on the Stock Exchanges to little receivers carried by interested persons in their vest pockets, much as one carries a watch. The electric receivers will tell the wearer at a glance the condition of the markets he is concerned with. Another little watch-like instrument, with a dial-face, by means of which he can transmit a message to a distant friend, is also contrived, and these watches may be so attuned that no interference can be made by the possessor of similar watches.

From this tower of Tesla's, millions upon millions of bolts can be launched upon their errands. New York can be illuminated from Long Island by power transmitted without wires; trains, trams, and ferryboats supplied with the necessary power for their propulsion.

The possibilities of Tesla's amazing scheme are boundless, and its versatility even the inventor himself is not able to realise. The Wardenclyffe tower, of which we give an illustration, is 185ft. high. It is octagon in shape, and the cupola is reached both by a staircase and lift. It is from this cupola that the wireless vibrations are received and shot out again in the voltage desired to given points, scattered over a very wide radius.

The inventor proposes to distribute 10,000 horse-power, under a tension of a hundred million volts. One of the chief uses will be the illumination of residences. It takes very little power to light a dwelling with vacuum tubes, operated by high-frequency currents, and in each instance a terminal, a little above the roof will be sufficient.