Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent 645,576 - System of Transmission of Electrical Energy Patent Wrapper Page 30

148 even slightly conducting, as by heating it, for instance, the transmission by static induction ceases, since the storing of energy at the distant terminal through the medium of the intervening air becomes impossible. Therefore, if I were to use, not entirely different means as I actually do, but exactly the same devices as have been heretofore employed, assuming that such practical transmission of power could be at all effected with the old devices, the principle I avail myself of would still be exactly the opposite of the one underlying these experiments, in so far as the latter require. for their success absolutely the absence of the very condition which in my system is essential. Furthermore, as both theory and experiment have demonstrated, by static induction no energy in any appreciable amount can be transmitted to great distances and, besides, the transmission, if ever effected, would be so uneconomical as to preclude the possibility of practical use for such purposes. The same is the case with the so called Hertzian radiations which, if they were present, would serve for no purpose whatever in my system of transmission. These are supposed to be disturbances propagating in straight lines and losing themselves in all directions through the air, but not following any particular conducting path, except in so far as radiations in general will pass through some media easier than through others, as required by the theory of such radiations. With the Hertzian waves it would require all the available energy of Niagara to convey what may be designated as an (6) This page retyped from microfilm for better readability - Ed.]