Nikola Tesla Patents
Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent 1,061,206 - Turbine Patent Wrapper Page 36
900 patent to Thrupp, No.699,636, dated May 6, 1902 or the corresponding British patent No.6422 of 1901, inasmuch as in the latter the conversion of heat into mechanical power takes place in the nozzle only, while the Tesla turbine works as an expansion engine, the rotor deriving mechanical power from the expansion of the steam therein. So far as I have any knowledge of the matter the Tesla turbine is the first engine utilizing the expansion of steam without the use of pistons, blades or veins, The 600 HP Tesla turbine, illustrated in photograph D hereto annexed, was of the same design as that above described, the steam entering at the circumference of the rotor, which consisted of plane disks, and leaving the same at the center through the openings provided. This turbine was coupled directly to a Tesla pump, the construction of which is substantially the same as that of the turbine, and the output was measured by the hydraulic performance of the pump. This 600 HP Tesla turbine had a rotor 6 feet in diameter, and in the test which I witnessed was run from 1400 to 1600 J R.P.H. The set equipped with steam and hydraulic gages which were used for taking measurements in which I assisted Mr.Tesla on two different occasions. I recognize in photograph D this 600 HP turbo-pump. I have assisted in a number of tests with another 100 HP Tesla turbine, which was installed in the spring of 1911 in the large power house, called the Waterside Plant of the New York Edison Company, located at 38th St. and First Avenue, New York City, and I have also witnessed the installation and preliminary tests of two other pesla turbines of 200 HP each. -5335 1