Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent 645,576 - System of Transmission of Electrical Energy Patent Wrapper Page 31

( ( J ( ( infinitesimal amount of the total energy to a small terminal located at say, a distance of one hundred miles from the source of the disturbance. In my instance I expect that such energy might be, if not integrally, so at least in a large proportion recovered at the remote point, the air simply taking the place of a copper wire To make used in the established system of energy transmission. this more clearly understood, suppose that power were transmitted by my method from Niagara. Buffalo over two terminals maintained. Where can the current at a height of 40 000 feet, for example. from the transmitting terminal pass unless to the receiving terminal? The current might leak to the tops of high mountains, but these may be hundreds of miles away and, besides, their highest peaks are not protruding out of the fairly insulating air strata. But manifestly these strata, while insulating, are not absolutely so, and therefore some leaking to the earth will take place, especially in mountainous regions, because of the large cross section. of the air stratum laying between the Earth's surface and the conducting layer at a great height, and this is one of the reasons which make it desirable to elevate the terminals as high as possible; not. that it were an absolute necessity as with ordinary currents. As to the frequency of the currents, it will receive in my system the same consideration as in the ordinary system of electrical power transmission. The higher the frequency, the shorter (7) This page retyped from microfilm for better readability - Ed. 149