Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent 645,576 - System of Transmission of Electrical Energy Patent Wrapper Page 66

184 q WHAT I NOW CLAIM IS: 1: The method hereinbefore described of transmitting electrical energy through the natural media, which consists of producing at a generating station a very high electrical pressure, causing thereby a propagation or flow of electrical energy, by conduction, through the earth and the air strata, and collecting or receiving at a distant point the electrical energy so propagated or caused to flow. 2: The method hereinbefore described of transmitting electrical energy, which consists in producing at a generating station a very high electrical pressure, conducting the current caused thereby to earth and to a terminal at an elevation at which the atmosphere serves as a conductor therefor, and collecting the current by a second elevated terminal at a distance from the first. 3: The method hereinbefore described of transmitting electrical energy through the natural media, which consists in producing between the earth and a generator terminal elevated above the same, at a generating station, a sufficiently high electro-motive force to render elevated air strata conducting, causing thereby a propagation or flow of electrical energy, by conduction, through the air strata, and collecting or receiving at a point distant from the generating station the electrical energy so propagated or caused to flow. 4: The method hereinbefore described of transmitting -17This page retyped from microfilm for better readability - Ed.]