Nikola Tesla and His Works - On the Occassion of the Eightieth Anniversary Page 9

that job, I met Edison on Fifth Street. He was going home with Batchelor and other engineers. “Here is our Parisian, who wanders at night,” said Edison. I told him that I came from Oregon and had fixed both machines. He just looked at me and walked away without a word. When he had moved away a bit, I heard him say, “Batchelor, this man is truly extraordinary.” From then on, I had complete freedom to work in the factory. For a whole year, I worked every day without interruption, from 10:00 in the morning to 5:00 the next morning. “I had quite a few unusually diligent colleagues,” Edison told me, “but you surpass them all.” During that time, I perfected about 24 types of electric machines. The department manager promised me fifty thousand dollars for that work, but when I finished the job, it turned out that the promise was just a rough joke. That hurt me deeply, and I left Edison’s factory [1].

2. Lighting System with Arc Lamps

Tesla was already known in New York as a talented engineer. Some technicians and financiers suggested that he establish Tesla Electric Light and Manufacturing Company, which he immediately accepted. He thought it was time to construct his new alternating current motors. But when he mentioned it to his companions, they replied, “No, we want a lighting system with arc lamps. We are not interested in your alternating currents.” Tesla had no other choice. He gave in and in 1886 perfected arc lamps and created a practical system for factory and street lighting (patents: No. 335786 and 335787, November 6, 1886, No. 336961 and 336962, March 2, 1886, No. 350954, October 19, 1886). He gained no material benefit from this work, only “nicely engraved shares of the company bearing his name, but whose values were hypothetical.”

3. Machines with Rotating Fields

Finally, in 1887, Tesla Electric Company was founded. There, Tesla was given the opportunity, eagerly awaited for so long, to put into practice his earlier discoveries. In the laboratories of that company, Tesla immediately constructed, according to his earlier ideas, alternating currents motors. In the same year, 1887, he filed seven patents*) in New York, presenting new methods for

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*) On October 12, 1887, he filed 2 patents: Electromagnetic motor No. 381,968 and Electrical transmission of Power) No. 382,280; on November 30, 1887, 3 patents: Electromagnetic motor No. 381,696 and No. 382,279, and Transmission of electric