Nikola Tesla Patents
390 In the present case this device consists of a cylinder made partly of conducting and partly of insulating material, e and e' respectively, which is rotated at the desired rate of speed by any suitable means. ducting part e is in good electrical connection with the shaft S, and is provided with tapering segments ff, upon which slides a brush k supported on a conducting rod 1, capable of longitudinal adjustment in a metallic support m. Another brush n is arranged to bear upon the shaft S and it will be seen that, whenever one of the segments f comes in contact with the brush k, the circuit including the receiver R is completed and the condenser discharged through the same. By an adjustment of the speed of rotation of the cylinder à and a displacement of the brush k along the cylinder the circuit may be made to open and close in as rapid succession, and remain open or closed during such intervals of time, as may be desired. The conThe plates P and P', through which the electrifications are conveyed to the brushes a and a', may be at a considerable distance from each other, and both in the ground or both in the air, or one in the ground and the other in the air, preferably at some height, or they may be connected to conductors extending to some distance, or to the terminals of any kind of apparatus supplying electrical energy, which is obtained from the energy of the impulses or disturbances transmitted from a distance, through the natural media. In illustration of the operation of the devices described, let it be assumed that alternating electrical impulses from a distant generator, as G, are transmitted -11
