Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent 1,061,142 - Fluid Propulsion Patent Wrapper Page 8

808 8142 In the practical application of mechanical power based on the use of a fluid as vehicle of energy is has been demonstrated that, in order to attain the highest economy, the changes in velocity and direction of movement of the fluid should be as gradual as possible. In the present forms of such apparatus more or less sudden changes, shocks and vibrations, are unavoidable. Besides, the employment of the usual devices for imparting to, or deriving energy from a fluid, as pistons, paddles, vanes and blades., necessarily introduces numerous defects and limitations and adds to the complication, cost of production and maintenance of the machines. The object of my invention is to overcome these deficiencies and to effect the transmission and transformation of mechanical energy through the agency of fluids in a more per'fect manner, and by means simpler and more economical than those heretofore employed. I accomplish this by causing the propelled or propelling fluid to move in natural paths or stream lines of least resistance, free from constraint and disturbance such as occasioned by vanes or kindred devices, and to change its velocity and direction of movement by imperceptible degrees, thus avoiding the losses due to sudden variations while the fluid is receiving or imparting energy. It is well known that a fluid possesses, among others, two salient properties; adhesion and viscosity. Owing to these a body propelled through such a medium encounters a peculiar inpediment known as "lateral" or "skin resistance", which is two-fold; one arising from the shock of the fluid against the asperities of the solid substance, the other from internal Sub Ar