Nikola Tesla was born at midnight on July 9, 1856, in the village of
Smiljan, in the province of Lika, Croatia—then part of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire. His father was a Serbian Orthodox priest. His mother descended from
eight generations of Serbian Orthodox priests. Tesla was the genius who ushered
in the age of alternating-current electrical power.
Tesla had a vivid imagination and an intuitive way of developing scientific
hypotheses. After seeing a demonstration of the "Gramme dynamo" (a
machine that when operated in one direction is a generator, and when reversed
is an electric motor), Tesla visualized a rotating magnetic field and developed
plans for an induction motor applying the concept. This electric motor was the
first step toward the successful application of alternating-current. Tesla used
his imagination to prove and apply his hypotheses. Here is how he explained his
creative process:
“Before I put a sketch on paper, the whole idea is worked out mentally. In my mind I change the construction, make improvements, and even operate the device. Without ever having drawn a sketch I can give the measurements of all parts to workmen, and when completed all these parts will fit, just as certainly as though I had made the actual drawings. It is immaterial to me whether I run my machine in my mind or test it in my shop. The inventions I have conceived in this way have always worked. In thirty years there has not been a single exception. My first electric motor, the vacuum wireless light, my turbine engine and many other devices have all been developed in exactly this way.”
Tesla completed his elementary education in
Croatia. He continued his schooling in the Polytechnic School in Graz and
finished at University of Prague. He worked as an electrical engineer in
Germany, Hungary and France before emigrating to the United States in 1884.
Arriving in New York City with four cents in his pocket, Tesla found employment
with Thomas Edison in
New Jersey. Differences in style between the two men soon led to their
separation. In 1885, George Westinghouse, founder of the Westinghouse Electric
Company, bought patent rights to Tesla's system of alternating-current. The
advantages of alternating-current over Edison's system of direct-current became
apparent when Westinghouse successfully used Tesla's system to light the World
Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893.
Tesla established a laboratory in New York City in 1887. His experiments ranged
from an exploration of electrical resonance to studies of various lighting
systems. To counter fears of alternating-current, Tesla gave exhibitions in his
laboratory in which he lighted lamps without wires by allowing electricity to
flow through his body.
When Tesla became a United States citizen in 1891, he was at the peak of his
creative powers. He developed in rapid succession the induction motor, new types
of generators and transformers, a system of alternating-current power
transmission, fluorescent lights, and a new type of steam turbine. He also
became intrigued with wireless transmission of power.
In 1900, Tesla began construction on Long Island of a wireless broadcasting
tower. The project was funded with $150,000 capital from financier J. Pierpont
Morgan. The project was abandoned when Morgan withdrew his financial support.
Tesla's work shifted to turbines and other projects, but his ideas remained on
the drawing board due to a lack of funds. Tesla's notebooks are still examined
by engineers in search of unexploited ideas.
Tesla allowed himself few close friends, although one was humorist and author, Mark Twain.
However, when he died in New York City on January 7, 1943, hundreds of admirers
attended his funeral services, mourning the loss of a great genius. At the time
of his death Tesla held over 700 patents.
My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla
Chapter 1—Early Life
The progressive
development of man is vitally dependent on invention. It is the most important
product of his creative brain. Its ultimate purpose is the complete mastery of
mind over the material world, the harnessing of the forces of nature to human
needs. This is the difficult task of the inventor who is often misunderstood
and unrewarded. But he finds ample compensation in the pleasing exercises of
his powers and in the knowledge of being one of that exceptionally privileged
class without whom the race would have long ago perished in the bitter struggle
against pitiless elements. Speaking for myself, I have already had more than my
full measure of this exquisite enjoyment; so much, that for many years my life
was little short of continuous rapture. I am credited with being one of the
hardest workers and perhaps I am, if thought is the equivalent of labor, for I
have devoted to it almost all of my waking hours. But if work is interpreted to
be a definite performance in a specified time according to a rigid rule, then I
may be the worst of idlers.
Every effort under compulsion demands a sacrifice of life-energy. I never paid
such a price. On the contrary, I have thrived on my thoughts. In attempting to
give a connected and faithful account of my activities in this story of my
life, I must dwell, however reluctantly, on the impressions of my youth and the
circumstances and events which have been instrumental in determining my career.
Our first endeavors are purely instinctive prompting of an imagination vivid
and undisciplined. As we grow older reason asserts itself and we become more
and more systematic and designing. But those early impulses, though not
immediately productive, are of the greatest moment and may shape our very
destinies. Indeed, I feel now that had I understood and cultivated instead of
suppressing them, I would have added substantial value to my bequest to the
world.
But not until I had attained manhood did I realize that I was an inventor. This
was due to a number of causes. In the first place I had a brother who was
gifted to an extraordinary degree; one of those rare phenomena of mentality
which biological investigation has failed to explain. His premature death left
my earth parents disconsolate. (I will explain my remark about my "earth
parents" later.) We owned a horse which had been presented to us by a dear
friend. It was a magnificent animal of Arabian breed, possessed of almost human
intelligence, and was cared for and petted by the whole family, having on one
occasion saved my dear father's life under remarkable circumstances.
My father had been called one winter night to perform an urgent duty and while
crossing the mountains, infested by wolves, the horse became frightened and ran
away, throwing him violently to the ground. It arrived home bleeding and
exhausted, but after the alarm was sounded, immediately dashed off again,
returning to the spot, and before the searching party were far on the way they
were met by my father, who had recovered consciousness and remounted, not
realizing that he had been lying in the snow for several hours. This horse was
responsible for my brother's injuries from which he died. I witnessed the
tragic scene and although so many years have elapsed since, my visual
impression of it has lost none of its force. The recollection of his
attainments made every effort of mine seem dull in comparison. Anything I did
that was creditable merely caused my parents to feel their loss more keenly. So
I grew up with little confidence in myself.
But I was far from being considered a stupid boy, if I am to judge from an
incident of which I have still a strong remembrance. One day the Aldermen were
passing through a street where I was playing with other boys. The oldest of
these venerable gentlemen, a wealthy citizen, paused to give a silver piece to
each of us. Coming to me, he suddenly stopped and commanded, "Look in my
eyes." I met his gaze, my hand outstretched to receive the much valued coin,
when to my dismay, he said, "No, not much; you can get nothing from me.
You are too smart." They used to tell a funny story about me. I had two
old aunts with wrinkled faces, one of them having two teeth protruding like the
tusks of an elephant, which she buried in my cheek every time she kissed me.
Nothing would scare me more then the prospects of being by these affectionate,
unattractive relatives. It happened that while being carried in my mother's
arms, they asked who was the prettier of the two. After examining their faces
intently, I answered thoughtfully, pointing to one of them, "This here is
not as ugly as the other."
Then again, I was intended from my very birth, for the clerical profession and
this thought constantly oppressed me. I longed to be an engineer, but my father
was inflexible. He was the son of an officer who served in the army of the
Great Napoleon and in common with his brother, professor of mathematics in a
prominent institution, had received a military education; but, singularly
enough, later embraced the clergy in which vocation he achieved eminence. He
was a very erudite man, a veritable natural philosopher, poet and writer and
his sermons were said to be as eloquent as those of Abraham a-Sancta-Clara. He
had a prodigious memory and frequently recited at length from works in several
languages. He often remarked playfully that if some of the classics were lost
he could restore them. His style of writing was much admired. He penned
sentences short and terse and full of wit and satire. The humorous remarks he
made were always peculiar and characteristic. Just to illustrate, I may mention
one or two instances. Among the help, there was a cross-eyed man called Mane,
employed to do work around the farm. He was chopping wood one day. As he swung the
axe, my father, who stood nearby and felt very uncomfortable, cautioned him,
"For God's sake, Mane, do not strike at what you are looking but at what
you intend to hit."
On another occasion he was taking out for a drive, a friend who carelessly
permitted his costly fur coat to rub on the carriage wheel. My father reminded
him of it saying, "Pull in your coat; you are ruining my tire." He
had the odd habit of talking to himself and would often carry on an animated
conversation and indulge in heated argument, changing the tone of his voice. A
casual listener might have sworn that several people were in the room. Although
I must trace to my mother's influence whatever inventiveness I possess, the
training he gave me must have been helpful. It comprised all sorts of exercises
- as, guessing one another's thoughts, discovering the defects of some form of
expression, repeating long sentences or performing mental calculations. These
daily lessons were intended to strengthen memory and reason, and especially to develop
the critical sense, and were undoubtedly very beneficial. My mother descended
from one of the oldest families in the country and a line of inventors. Both
her father and grandfather originated numerous implements for household,
agricultural and other uses. She was a truly great woman, of rare skill,
courage and fortitude, who had braved the storms of life and passed through
many a trying experience. When she was sixteen, a virulent pestilence swept the
country. Her father was called away to administer the last sacraments to the
dying and during his absence she went alone to the assistance of a neighboring
family who were stricken by the dread disease. She bathed, clothed and laid out
the bodies, decorating them with flowers according to the custom of the country
and when her father returned he found everything ready for a Christian burial.
My mother was an inventor of the first order and would, I believe, have
achieved great things had she not been so remote from modern life and its multi
fold opportunities. She invented and constructed all kinds of tools and devices
and wove the finest designs from thread which was spun by her. She even planted
seeds, raised the plants and separated the fibbers herself. She worked
indefatigably, from break of day till late at night, and most of the wearing
apparel and furnishings of the home were the product of her hands. When she was
past sixty, her fingers were still nimble enough to tie three knots in an
eyelash. There was another and still more important reason for my late
awakening. In my boyhood I suffered from a peculiar affliction due to the
appearance of images, often accompanied by strong flashes of light, which
marred the sight of real objects and interfered with my thoughts and action.
They were pictures of things and scenes which i had really seen, never of those
imagined. When a word was spoken to me the image of the object it designated
would present itself vividly to my vision and sometimes I was quite unable to
distinguish weather what I saw was tangible or not. This caused me great
discomfort and anxiety. None of the students of psychology or physiology whom i
have consulted, could ever explain satisfactorily these phenomenon. They seem
to have been unique although I was probably predisposed as I know that my
brother experienced a similar trouble. The theory I have formulated is that the
images were the result of a reflex action from the brain on the retina under
great excitation. They certainly were not hallucinations such as are produced
in diseased and anguished minds, for in other respects i was normal and
composed. To give an idea of my distress, suppose that I had witnessed a
funeral or some such nerve-wracking spectacle. The, inevitably, in the
stillness of night, a vivid picture of the scene would thrust itself before my
eyes and persist despite all my efforts to banish it. If my explanation is
correct, it should be possible to project on a screen the image of any object
one conceives and make it visible. Such an advance would revolutionize all human
relations. I am convinced that this wonder can and will be accomplished in time
to come. I may add that I have devoted much thought to the solution of the
problem.
I have managed to reflect such a picture, which i have seen in my mind, to the
mind of another person, in another room. To free myself of these tormenting
appearances, I tried to concentrate my mind on something else I had seen, and
in this way I would often obtain temporary relief; but in order to get it I had
to conjure continuously new images. It was not long before I found that I had
exhausted all of those at my command; my 'reel' had run out as it were, because
I had seen little of the world -- only objects in my home and the immediate
surroundings. As I performed these mental operations for the second or third
time, in order to chase the appearances from my vision, the remedy gradually
lost all its force. Then I instinctively commenced to make excursions beyond
the limits of the small world of which I had knowledge, and I saw new scenes. These
were at first very blurred and indistinct, and would flit away when I tried to
concentrate my attention upon them. They gained in strength and distinctness
and finally assumed the concreteness of real things. I soon discovered that my
best comfort was attained if I simply went on in my vision further and further,
getting new impressions all the time, and so I began to travel; of course, in
my mind. Every night, (and sometimes during the day), when alone, I would start
on my journeys -- see new places, cities and countries; live there, meet people
and make friendships and acquaintances and, however unbelievable, it is a fact
that they were just as dear to me as those in actual life, and not a bit less
intense in their manifestations. This I did constantly until I was about
seventeen, when my thoughts turned seriously to invention. Then I observed to
my delight that i could visualize with the greatest facility. I needed no
models, drawings or experiments. I could picture them all as real in my mind.
Thus I have been led unconsciously to evolve what I consider a new method of
materializing inventive concepts and ideas, which is radially opposite to the
purely experimental and is in my opinion ever so much more expeditious and
efficient.
The moment one constructs a device to carry into practice a crude idea, he
finds himself unavoidably engrossed with the details of the apparatus. As he
goes on improving and reconstructing, his force of concentration diminishes and
he loses sight of the great underlying principle. Results may be obtained, but
always at the sacrifice of quality. My method is different. I do not rush into
actual work. When I get an idea, I start at once building it up in my
imagination. I change the construction, make improvements and operate the
device in my mind. It is absolutely immaterial to me whether I run my turbine
in thought or test it in my shop. I even note if it is out of balance. There is
no difference whatever; the results are the same. In this way I am able to
rapidly develop and perfect a conception without touching anything. When I have
gone so far as to embody in the invention every possible improvement I can
think of and see no fault anywhere, I put into concrete form this final product
of my brain. Invariably my device works as I conceived that it should, and the
experiment comes out exactly as I planned it. In twenty years there has not
been a single exception. Why should it be otherwise? Engineering, electrical
and mechanical, is positive in results. There is scarcely a subject that cannot
be examined beforehand, from the available theoretical and practical data. The
carrying out into practice of a crude idea as is being generally done, is, I
hold, nothing but a waste of energy, money, and time.
My early affliction had however, another compensation. The incessant mental
exertion developed my powers of observation and enabled me to discover a truth
of great importance. I had noted that the appearance of images was always
preceded by actual vision of scenes under peculiar and generally very
exceptional conditions, and I was impelled on each occasion to locate the
original impulse. After a while this effort grew to be almost automatic and I
gained great facility in connecting cause and effect. Soon I became aware, to
my surprise, that every thought I conceived was suggested by an external
impression. Not only this but all my actions were prompted in a similar way. In
the course of time it became perfectly evident to me that I was merely an
automation endowed with power of movement responding to the stimuli of the
sense organs and thinking and acting accordingly. The practical result of this
was the art of tele-automatics which has been so far carried out only in an
imperfect manner. Its latent possibilities will, however be eventually shown. I
have been years planning self-controlled automata and believe that mechanisms
can be produced which will act as if possessed of reason, to a limited degree,
and will create a revolution in many commercial and industrial departments. I
was about twelve years of age when I first succeeded in banishing an image from
my vision by willful effort, but I never had any control over the flashes of
light to which I have referred. They were, perhaps, my strangest and [most]
inexplicable experience. They usually occurred when I found myself in a
dangerous or distressing situations or when i was greatly exhilarated. In some
instances i have seen all the air around me filled with tongues of living
flame. Their intensity, instead of diminishing, increased with time and
seemingly attained a maximum when I was about twenty-five years old.
While in Paris in 1883, a prominent French manufacturer sent me an invitation
to a shooting expedition which I accepted. I had been long confined to the
factory and the fresh air had a wonderfully invigorating effect on me. On my
return to the city that night, I felt a positive sensation that my brain had
caught fire. I was a light as though a small sun was located in it and I passed
the whole night applying cold compressions to my tortured head. Finally the
flashes diminished in frequency and force but it took more than three weeks
before they wholly subsided. When a second invitation was extended to me, my
answer was an emphatic NO!
These luminous phenomena still manifest themselves from time to time, as when a
new idea opening up possibilities strikes me, but they are no longer exciting,
being of relatively small intensity. When I close my eyes I invariably observe
first, a background of very dark and uniform blue, not unlike the sky on a
clear but starless night. In a few seconds this field becomes animated with
innumerable scintillating flakes of green, arranged in several layers and
advancing towards me. Then there appears, to the right, a beautiful pattern of
two systems of parallel and closely spaced lines, at right angles to one
another, in all sorts of colors with yellow, green, and gold predominating.
Immediately thereafter, the lines grow brighter and the whole is thickly
sprinkled with dots of twinkling light. This picture moves slowly across the
field of vision and in about ten seconds vanishes on the left, leaving behind a
ground of rather unpleasant and inert grey until the second phase is reached.
Every time, before falling asleep, images of persons or objects flit before my
view. When I see them I know I am about to lose consciousness. If they are
absent and refuse to come, it means a sleepless night. To what an extent
imagination played in my early life, I may illustrate by another odd
experience.
Like most children, I was fond of jumping and developed an intense desire to
support myself in the air. Occasionally a strong wind richly charged with
oxygen blew from the mountains, rendering my body light as cork and then I
would leap and float in space for a long time. It was a delightful sensation
and my disappointment was keen when later I undeceived myself. During that
period I contracted many strange likes, dislikes and habits, some of which I
can trace to external impressions while others are unaccountable. I had a violent
aversion against the earing of women, but other ornaments, as bracelets,
pleased me more or less according to design. The sight of a pearl would almost
give me a fit, but I was fascinated with the glitter of crystals or objects
with sharp edges and plane surfaces. I would not touch the hair of other people
except, perhaps at the point of a revolver. I would get a fever by looking at a
peach and if a piece of camphor was anywhere in the house it caused me the
keenest discomfort. Even now I am not insensible to some of these upsetting
impulses. When I drop little squares of paper in a dish filled with liquid, I
always sense a peculiar and awful taste in my mouth. I counted the steps in my
walks and calculated the cubical contents of soup plates, coffee cups and
pieces of food, otherwise my meal was unenjoyable. All repeated acts or
operations I performed had to be divisible by three and if I missed I felt
impelled to do it all over again, even if it took hours. Up to the age of eight
years, my character was weak and vacillating. I had neither courage or strength
to form a firm resolve. My feelings came in waves and surges and variated
unceasingly between extremes. My wishes were of consuming force and like the
heads of the hydra, they multiplied. I was oppressed by thoughts of pain in
life and death and religious fear. I was swayed by superstitious belief and
lived in constant dread of the spirit of evil, of ghosts and ogres and other
unholy monsters of the dark. Then all at once, there came a tremendous change
which altered the course of my whole existence.
Of all things I liked books best. My father had a large library and whenever I
could manage I tried to satisfy my passion for reading. He did not permit it
and would fly in a rage when he caught me in the act. He hid the candles when
he found that I was reading in secret. He did not want me to spoil my eyes. But
I obtained tallow, made the wicking and cast the sticks into tin forms, and
every night I would bush the keyhole and the cracks and read, often till dawn,
when all others slept and my mother started on her arduous daily tasks . On one
occasion I came across a novel entitled 'Aoafi,' (the son of Aba), a Serbian
translation of a well known Hungarian writer, Josika. This work somehow
awakened my dormant powers of will and I began to practice self-control. At
first my resolutions faded like snow in April, but in a little while I
conquered my weakness and felt a pleasure I never knew before -- that of doing
as I willed.
In the course of time this vigorous mental exercise became second to nature. At
the outset my wishes had to be subdued but gradually desire and will grew to be
identical. After years of such discipline I gained so complete a mastery over
myself that I toyed with passions which have meant destruction to some of the
strongest men. At a certain age I contracted a mania for gambling which greatly
worried my parents. To sit down to a game of cards was for me the quintessence
of pleasure. My father led an exemplary life and could not excuse the senseless
waste of my time and money in which I indulged. I had a strong resolve, but my
philosophy was bad. I would say to him, 'I can stop whenever I please, but it
it worth while to give up that which I would purchase with the joys of
paradise?' On frequent occasions he gave vent to his anger and contempt, but my
mother was different. She understood the character of men and knew that one's
salvation could only be brought about through his own efforts. One afternoon, I
remember, when I had lost all my money and was craving for a game, she came to
me with a roll of bills and said, 'Go and enjoy yourself. The sooner you lose
all we possess, the better it will be. I know that you will get over it.' She
was right. I conquered my passion then and there and only regretted that it had
not been a hundred times as strong. I not only vanquished but tore it from my
heart so as not to leave even a trace of desire. Ever since that time I have
been as indifferent to any form of gambling as to picking teeth. During another
period I smoked excessively, threatening to ruin my health. Then my will
asserted itself and I not only stopped but destroyed all inclination. Long ago
I suffered from heart trouble until I discovered that it was due to the
innocent cup of coffee I consumed every morning. I discontinued at once, though
I confess it was not an easy task. In this way I checked and bridled other
habits and passions, and have not only preserved my life but derived an immense
amount of satisfaction from what most men would consider privation and
sacrifice. After finishing the studies at the Polytechnic Institute and
University, I had a complete nervous breakdown and while the malady lasted I
observed many phenomena, strange and unbelievable...
Chapter 2—Extraordinary Experiences
I
shall dwell briefly on these extraordinary experiences, on account of their
possible interest to students of psychology and physiology and also because
this period of agony was of the greatest consequence on my mental development
and subsequent labors. But it is indispensable to first relate the
circumstances and conditions which preceded them and in which might be found
their partial explanation. From childhood I was compelled to concentrate
attention upon myself. This caused me much suffering, but to my present view,
it was a blessing in disguise for it has taught me to appreciate the
inestimable value of introspection in the preservation of life, as well as a
means of achievement. The pressure of occupation and the incessant stream of
impressions pouring into our consciousness through all the gateways of
knowledge make modern existence hazardous in many ways. Most persons are so
absorbed in the contemplation of the outside world that they are wholly
oblivious to what is passing on within themselves. The premature death of
millions is primarily traceable to this cause. Even among those who exercise
care, it is a common mistake to avoid imaginary, and ignore the real dangers.
And what is true of an individual also applies, more or less, to a people as a
whole.
Abstinence was not always to my liking, but I find ample reward in the
agreeable experiences I am now making. Just in the hope of converting some to
my precepts and convictions I will recall one or two. A short time ago I was
returning to my hotel. It was a bitter cold night, the ground slippery, and no
taxi to be had. Half a block behind me followed another man, evidently as
anxious as myself to get under cover. Suddenly my legs went up in the air. At
the same instant there was a flash in my brain. The nerves responded, the
muscles contracted. I swung 180 degrees and landed on my hands. I resumed my
walk as though nothing had happened when the stranger caught up with me.
"How old are you?" he asked, surveying me critically. "Oh, about
fifty-nine," I replied, "What of it?" "Well," said he,
"I have seen a cat do this but never a man." About a month ago I
wanted to order new eyeglasses and went to an oculist who put me through the
usual tests. He looked at me incredulously as I read off with ease the smallest
print at considerable distance. But when I told him I was past sixty he gasped
in astonishment. Friends of mine often remark that my suits fit me like gloves
but they do not know that all my clothing is made to measurements which were
taken nearly fifteen years ago and never changed. During this same period my
weight has not varied one pound. In this connection I may tell a funny story.
One evening, in the winter of 1885, Mr. Edison, Edward H. Johnson, the
President of the Edison Illuminating Company, Mr. Bachelor, Manager of the
works, and myself, entered a little place opposite 65 Firth Avenue, where the
offices of the company were located. Someone suggested guessing weights and I
was induced to step on a scale. Edison felt me all over and said: "Tesla
weighs 152 lbs. to an ounce," and he guessed it exactly. Stripped I
weighed 142 pounds, and that is still my weight. I whispered to Mr. Johnson;
"How is it possible that Edison could guess my weight so closely?"
"Well," he said, lowering his voice. "I will tell you
confidentially, but you must not say anything. He was employed for a long time
in a Chicago slaughter- house where he weighed thousands of hogs every day.
That's why."
My friend, the Hon. Chauncey M. Dupew, tells of an Englishman on whom he sprung
one of his original anecdotes and who listened with a puzzled expression, but a
year later, laughed out loud. I will frankly confess it took me longer than
that to appreciate Johnson's joke. Now, my well-being is simply the result of a
careful and measured mode of living and perhaps the most astonishing thing is
that three times in my youth I was rendered by illness a hopeless physical
wreck and given up by physicians. MORE than this, through ignorance and
lightheartedness, I got into all sorts of difficulties, dangers and scrapes
from which I extricated myself as by enchantment. I was almost drowned,
entombed, lost and frozen. I had hairbreadth escapes from mad dogs, hogs, and
other wild animals. I passed through dreadful diseases and met with all kinds
of odd mishaps and that I am whole and hearty today seems like a miracle. But
as I recall these incidents to my mind I feel convinced that my preservation
was not altogether accidental, but was indeed the work of divine power. An
inventor's endeavor is essentially life saving. Whether he harnesses forces,
improves devices, or provides new comforts and conveniences, he is adding to
the safety of our existence. He is also better qualified than the average
individual to protect himself in peril, for he is observant and resourceful. If
I had no other evidence that I was, in a measure, possessed of such qualities,
I would find it in these personal experiences. The reader will be able to judge
for himself if I mention one or two instances. On one occasion, when about
fourteen years old, I wanted to scare some friends who were bathing with me. My
plan was to dive under a long floating structure and slip out quietly at the
other end. Swimming and diving came to me as naturally as to a duck and I was
confident that I could perform the feat. Accordingly I plunged into the water
and, when out of view, turned around and proceeded rapidly towards the opposite
side. Thinking that I was safely beyond the structure, I rose to the surface
but to my dismay struck a beam. Of course, I quickly dived and forged ahead
with rapid strokes until my breath was beginning to give out. Rising for the
second time, my head came again in contact with a beam. Now I was becoming
desperate. However, summoning all my energy, I made a third frantic attempt but
the result was the same. The torture of suppressed breathing was getting
unendurable, my brain was reeling and I felt myself sinking. At that moment,
when my situation seemed absolutely hopeless, I experienced one of those
flashes of light and the structure above me appeared before my vision. I either
discerned or guessed that there was a little space between the surface of the
water and the boards resting on the beams and, with consciousness nearly gone,
I floated up, pressed my mouth close to the planks and managed to inhale a
little air, unfortunately mingled with a spray of water which nearly choked me.
Several times I repeated this procedure as in a dream until my heart, which was
racing at a terrible rate, quieted down, and I gained composure. After that I
made a number of unsuccessful dives, having completely lost the sense of
direction, but finally succeeded in getting out of the trap when my friends had
already given me up and were fishing for my body. That bathing season was
spoiled for me through recklessness but I soon forgot the lesson and only two
years later I fell into a worse predicament.
There was a large flour mill with a dam across the river near the city where I
was studying at the time. As a rule the height of the water was only two or
three inches above the dam and to swim to it was a sport not very dangerous in
which I often indulged. One day I went alone to the river to enjoy myself as usual.
When I was a short distance from the masonry, however, I was horrified to
observe that the water had risen and was carrying me along swiftly. I tried to
get away but it was too late. Luckily, though, I saved myself from being swept
over by taking hold of the wall with both hands. The pressure against my chest
was great and I was barely able to keep my head above the surface. Not a soul
was in sight and my voice was lost in the roar of the fall. Slowly and
gradually I became exhausted and unable to withstand the strain longer. Just as
I was about to let go, to be dashed against the rocks below, I saw in a flash
of light a familiar diagram illustrating the hydraulic principle that the
pressure of a fluid in motion is proportionate to the area exposed and
automatically I turned on my left side. As if by magic, the pressure was
reduced and I found it comparatively easy in that position to resist the force
of the stream. But the danger still confronted me. I knew that sooner or later
I would be carried down, as it was not possible for any help to reach me in
time, even if I had attracted attention. I am ambidextrous now, but then I was
left-handed and had comparatively little strength in my right arm. For this
reason I did not dare to turn on the other side to rest and nothing remained
but to slowly push my body along the dam. I had to get away from the mill
towards which my face was turned, as the current there was much swifter and
deeper. It was a long and painful ordeal and I came near to failing at its very
end, for I was confronted with a depression in the masonry. I managed to get
over with the last ounce of my strength and fell in a swoon when I reached the
bank, where I was found. I had torn virtually all the skin from my left side
and it took several weeks before the fever had subsided and I was well. These
are only two of many instanced, but they may be sufficient to show that had it
not been for the inventor's instinct, I would not have lived to tell the tale.
Interested people have often asked me how and when I began to invent. This I
can only answer from my present recollection in the light of which, the first
attempt I recall was rather ambitious for it involved the invention of an
apparatus and a method. In the former I was anticipated, but the later was
original. It happened in this way. One of my playmates had come into the
possession of a hook and fishing tackle which created quite an excitement in
the village, and the next morning all started out to catch frogs. I was left
alone and deserted owing to a quarrel with this boy. I had never seen a real
hook and pictured it as something wonderful, endowed with peculiar qualities,
and was despairing not to be one of the party. Urged by necessity, I somehow
got hold of a piece of soft iron wire, hammered the end to a sharp point
between two stones, bent it into shape, and fastened it to a strong string. I
then cut a rod, gathered some bait, and went down to the brook where there were
frogs in abundance. But I could not catch any and was almost discouraged when
it occurred to me dangle the empty hook in front of a frog sitting on a stump.
At first he collapsed but by and by his eyes bulged out and became bloodshot,
he swelled to twice his normal size and made a vicious snap at the hook.
Immediately I pulled him up. I tried the same thing again and again and the
method proved infallible. When my comrades, who in spite of their fine outfit
had caught nothing, came to me, they were green with envy. For a long time I
kept my secret and enjoyed the monopoly but finally yielded to the spirit of
Christmas. Every boy could then do the same and the following summer brought
disaster to the frogs.
In my next attempt, I seem to have acted under the first instinctive impulse
which later dominated me, -- to harness the energies of nature to the service
of man. I did this through the medium of May bugs, or June bugs as they are
called in America, which were a veritable pest in that country and sometimes
broke the branches of trees by the sheer weight of their bodies. The bushes
were black with them. I would attach as many as four of them to a crosspiece,
rotably arranged on a thin spindle, and transmit the motion of the same to a
large disc and so derive considerable 'power.' These creatures were remarkably
efficient, for once they were started, they had no sense to stop and continued
whirling for hours and hours and the hotter it was, the harder they worked. All
went well until a strange boy came to the place. He was the son of a retired
officer in the Austrian army. That urchin ate Maybugs alive and enjoyed them as
though they were the finest blue-point oysters. That disgusting sight
terminated my endeavors in this promising field and I have never since been
able to touch a Maybug or any other insect for that matter.
After that, I believe, I undertook to take apart and assemble the clocks of my
grandfather. In the former operation I was always successful, but often failed
in the latter. So it came that he brought my work to a sudden halt in a manner
not too delicate and it took thirty years before I tackled another clockwork
again.
Shortly thereafter, I went into the manufacture of a kind of popgun which
comprised a hollow tube, a piston, and two plugs of hemp. When firing the gun,
the piston was pressed against the stomach and the tube was pushed back quickly
with both hands. The air between the plugs was compressed and raised to a high
temperature and one of them was expelled with a loud report. The art consisted
in selecting a tube of the proper taper from the hollow stalks which were found
in our garden. I did very well with that gun, but my activities interfered with
the window panes in our house and met with painful discouragement.
If I remember rightly, I then took to carving swords from pieces of furniture
which I could conveniently obtain. At that time I was under the sway of the
Serbian national poetry and full of admiration for the feats of the heroes. I
used to spend hours in mowing down my enemies in the form of cornstalks which
ruined the crops and netted me several spankings from my mother. Moreover,
these were not of the formal kind but the genuine article. I had all this and
more behind me before I was six years old and had passed through one year of
elementary school in the village of Smiljan where my family lived. At this
juncture we moved to the little city of Gospic nearby. This change of residence
was like a calamity to me. It almost broke my heart to part from our pigeons,
chickens and sheep, and our magnificent flock of geese which used to rise to the
clouds in the morning and return from the feeding grounds at sundown in battle
formation, so perfect that it would have put a squadron of the best aviators of
the present day to shame. In our new house I was but a prisoner, watching the
strange people I saw through my window blinds. My bashfulness was such that I
would rather have faced a roaring lion than one of the city dudes who strolled
about. But my hardest trial came on Sunday when I had to dress up and attend
the service. There I met with an accident, the mere thought of which made my
blood curdle like sour milk for years afterwards. It was my second adventure in
a church. Not long before, I was entombed for a night in an old chapel on an
inaccessible mountain which was visited only once a year. It was an awful
experience, but this one was worse.
There was a wealthy lady in town, a good but pompous woman, who used to come to
the church gorgeously painted up and attired with an enormous train and
attendants. One Sunday I had just finished ringing the bell in the belfry and
rushed downstairs, when this grand dame was sweeping out and I jumped on her
train. It tore off with a ripping noise which sounded like a salvo of musketry
fired by raw recruits. My father was livid with rage. He gave me a gentle slap
on the cheek, the only corporal punishment he ever administered to me, but I
almost feel it now. The embarrassment and confusion that followed are
indescribably. I was practically ostracized until something else happened which
redeemed me in the estimation of the community.
An enterprising young merchant had organized a fire department. A new fire
engine was purchased, uniforms provided and the men drilled for service and
parade. The engine was beautifully painted red and black. One afternoon, the
official trial was prepared for and the machine was transported to the river.
The entire population turned out to witness the great spectacle. When all the
speeches and ceremonies were concluded, the command was given to pump, but not
a drop of water came from the nozzle. The professors and experts tried in vain
to locate the trouble. The fizzle was complete when I arrived at the scene. My
knowledge of the mechanism was nil and I knew next to nothing of air pressure,
but instinctively I felt for the suction hose in the water and found that it
had collapsed. When I waded in the river and opened it up, the water rushed
forth and not a few Sunday clothes were spoiled. Archimedes running naked
through the streets of Syracuse and shouting Eureka at the top of his voice did
not make a greater impression than myself. I was carried on the shoulders and
was hero of the day.
Upon settling in the city I began a four years course in the so-called Normal
School preparatory to my studies at the College or Real-Gymnasium. During this
period my boyish efforts and exploits as well as troubles, continued. Among
other things, I attained the unique distinction of champion crow catcher in the
country. My method of procedure was extremely simple. I would go into the
forest, hide in the bushes, and imitate the call of the birds. Usually I would
get several answers and in a short while a crow would flutter down into the
shrubbery near me. After that, all I needed to do was to throw a piece of
cardboard to detract its attention, jump up and grab it before it could
extricate itself from the undergrowth. In this way I would capture as many as I
desired. But on one occasion something occurred which made me respect them. I
had caught a fine pair of birds and was returning home with a friend. When we
left the forest, thousands of crows had gathered making a frightful racket. In
a few minutes they rose in pursuit and soon enveloped us. The fun lasted until
all of a sudden I received a blow on the back of my head which knocked me down.
Then they attacked me viciously. I was compelled to release the two birds and
was glad to join my friend who had taken refuge in a cave.
In the school room there were a few mechanical models which interested me and
turned my attention to water turbines. I constructed many of these and found
great pleasure in operating them. How extraordinary was my life an incident may
illustrate. My uncle had no use for this kind of pastime and more than once
rebuked me. I was fascinated by a description of Niagara Falls I had perused,
and pictured in my imagination a big wheel run by the falls. I told my uncle
that I would go to America and carry out this scheme. Thirty years later I was
my ideas carried out at Niagara and marveled at the unfathomable mystery of the
mind. I made all kinds of other contrivances and contraptions but among those,
the arbalests I produced were the best. My arrows, when short, disappeared from
sight and at close range traversed a plank of pine one inch thick. Through the
continuous tightening of the bows I developed a skin on my stomach much like
that of a crocodile and I am often wondering whether it is due to this exercise
that I am able even now to digest cobblestones! Nor can I pass in silence my
performances with the sling which would have enabled me to give a stunning
exhibit at the Hippodrome. And now I will tell of one of my feats with this
unique implement of war which will strain to the utmost the credulity of the
reader.
I was practicing while walking with my uncle along the river. The sun was setting,
the trout were playful and from time to time one would shoot up into the air,
its glistening body sharply defined against a projecting rock beyond. Of course
any boy might have hit a fish under these propitious conditions but I undertook
a much more difficult task and I foretold to my uncle, to the minutest detail,
what I intended doing. I was to hurl a stone to meet the fish, press its body
against the rock, and cut it in two. It was no sooner said than done. My uncle
looked at me almost scared out of his wits and exclaimed "Vade retra
Satanae!" and it was a few days before he spoke to me again. Other
records, however great, will be eclipsed but I feel that I could peacefully
rest on my laurels for a thousand years.
Chapter 3—The Rotary Magnetic Field
At
the age of ten I entered the Real gymnasium which was a new and fairly well
equipped institution. In the department of physics were various models of
classical scientific apparatus, electrical and mechanical. The demonstrations
and experiments performed from time to time by the instructors fascinated me
and were undoubtedly a powerful incentive to invention. I was also passionately
fond of mathematical studies and often won the professor's praise for rapid
calculation. This was due to my acquired facility of visualizing the figures
and performing the operation, not in the usual intuitive manner, but as in
actual life. Up to a certain degree of complexity it was absolutely the same to
me whether I wrote the symbols on the board or conjured them before my mental
vision. But freehand drawing, to which many hours of the course were devoted,
was an annoyance I could not endure. This was rather remarkable as most of the
members of the family excelled in it. Perhaps my aversion was simply due to the
predilection I found in undisturbed thought. Had it not been for a few
exceptionally stupid boys, who could not do anything at all, my record would
have been the worst.
It was a serious handicap as under the then existing educational regime drawing
being obligatory, this deficiency threatened to spoil my whole career and my
father had considerable trouble in railroading me from one class to another. In
the second year at that institution I became obsessed with the idea of
producing continuous motion through steady air pressure. The pump incident, of
which I have been told, had set afire my youthful imagination and impressed me
with the boundless possibilities of a vacuum. I grew frantic in my desire to
harness this inexhaustible energy but for a long time I was groping in the
dark. Finally, however, my endeavors crystallized in an invention which was to
enable me to achieve what no other mortal ever attempted. Imagine a cylinder
freely rotatable on two bearings and partly surrounded by a rectangular trough
which fits it perfectly. The open side of the trough is enclosed by a partition
so that the cylindrical segment within the enclosure divides the latter into
two compartments entirely separated from each other by airtight sliding joints.
One of these compartments being sealed and once for all exhausted, the other
remaining open, a perpetual rotation of the cylinder would result. At least, so
I thought.
A wooden model was constructed and fitted with infinite care and when I applied
the pump on one side and actual observed that there was a tendency to turning,
I was delirious with joy. Mechanical flight was the one thing I wanted to
accomplish although still under the discouraging recollection of a bad fall I
sustained by jumping with an umbrella from the top of a building. Every day I
used to transport myself through the air to distant regions but could not
understand just how I managed to do it. Now I had something concrete, a flying
machine with nothing more than a rotating shaft, flapping wings, and; - a
vacuum of unlimited power! From that time on I made my daily aerial excursions
in a vehicle of comfort and luxury as might have befitted King Solomon. It took
years before I understood that the atmospheric pressure acted at right angles
to the surface of the cylinder and that the slight rotary effort I observed was
due to a leak! Though this knowledge came gradually it gave me a painful shock.
I had hardly completed my course at the Real Gymnasium when I was prostrated
with a dangerous illness or rather, a score of them, and my condition became so
desperate that I was given up by physicians. During this period I was permitted
to read constantly, obtaining books from the Public Library which had been
neglected and entrusted to me for classification of the works and preparation
of catalogues.
One day I was handed a few volumes of new literature unlike anything I had ever
read before and so captivating as to make me utterly forget me hopeless state.
They were the earlier works of Mark Twain and to them might have been due the miraculous
recovery which followed. Twenty-five years later, when I met Mr. Clemens and we
formed a friendship between us, I told him of the experience and was amazed to
see that great man of laughter burst into tears... My studies were continued at
the higher Real Gymnasium in Carlstadt, Croatia, where one of my aunts resided.
She was a distinguished lady, the wife of a Colonel who was an old war-horse
having participated in many battles, I can never forget the three years I
passed at their home. No fortress in time of war was under a more rigid
discipline. I was fed like a canary bird. All the meals were of the highest
quality and deliciously prepared, but short in quantity by a thousand percent.
The slices of ham cut by my aunt were like tissue paper. When the Colonel would
put something substantial on my plate she would snatch it away and say
excitedly to him; "Be careful. Niko is very delicate." I had a
voracious appetite and suffered like Tantalus. But I lived in an atmosphere of
refinement and artistic taste quite unusual for those times and conditions. The
land was low and marshy and malaria fever never left me while there despite the
enormous amounts of quinine I consumed. Occasionally the river would rise and
drive an army of rats into the buildings, devouring everything, even to the
bundles of fierce paprika. These pests were to me a welcome diversion. I
thinned their ranks by all sorts of means, which won me the unenviable
distinction of rat-catcher in the community. At last, however, my course was completed,
the misery ended, and I obtained the certificate of maturity which brought me
to the crossroads.
During all those years my parents never wavered in their resolve to make me
embrace the clergy, the mere thought of which filled me with dread. I had
become intensely interested in electricity under the stimulating influence of
my Professor of Physics, who was an ingenious man and often demonstrated the
principles by apparatus of his own invention. Among these I recall a device in
the shape of a freely rotatable bulb, with tinfoil coating, which was made to
spin rapidly when connected to a static machine. It is impossible for me to
convey an adequate idea of the intensity of feeling I experienced in witnessing
his exhibitions of these mysterious phenomena. Every impression produced a
thousand echoes in my mind. I wanted to know more of this wonderful force; I
longed for experiment and investigation and resigned myself to the inevitable
with aching heart. Just as I was making ready for the long journey home I
received word that my father wished me to go on a shooting expedition. It was a
strange request as he had been always strenuously opposed to this kind of
sport. But a few days later I learned that the cholera was raging in that
district and, taking advantage of an opportunity, I returned to Gospic in
disregard to my parent's wishes. It is incredible how absolutely ignorant
people were as to the causes of this scourge which visited the country in
intervals of fifteen to twenty years. They thought that the deadly agents were
transmitted through the air and filled it with pungent odors and smoke. In the
meantime they drank infested water and died in heaps. I contracted the dreadful
disease on the very day of my arrival and although surviving the crisis, I was
confined to bed for nine months with scarcely any ability to move. My energy
was completely exhausted and for the second time I found myself at Death's
door.
In one of the sinking spells which was thought to be the last, my father rushed
into the room. I still see his pallid face as he tried to cheer me in tones
belying his assurance. "Perhaps," I said, "I may get well if you
will let me study engineering." "You will go to the best technical
institution in the world," he solemnly replied, and I knew that he meant
it. A heavy weight was lifted from my mind but the relief would have come too
late had it not been for a marvelous cure brought through a bitter decoction of
a peculiar bean. I came to life like Lazarus to the utter amazement of
everybody. My father insisted that I spend a year in healthful physical outdoor
exercise to which I reluctantly consented. For most of this term I roamed in
the mountains, loaded with a hunter's outfit and a bundle of books, and this
contact with nature made me stronger in body as well as in mind. I thought and
planned, and conceived many ideas almost as a rule delusive. The vision was
clear enough but the knowledge of principles was very limited.
In one of my invention I proposed to convey letters and packages across the
seas, through a submarine tube, in spherical containers of sufficient strength
to resist the hydraulic pressure. The pumping plant, intended to force the
water through the tube, was accurately figured and designed and all other
particulars carefully worked out. Only one trifling detail, of no consequence,
was lightly dismissed. I assumed an arbitrary velocity of the water and, what
is more, took pleasure in making it high, thus arriving at a stupendous
performance supported by faultless calculations. Subsequent reflections,
however, on the resistance of pipes to fluid flow induced me to make this
invention public property.
Another one of my projects was to construct a ring around the equator which
would, of course, float freely and could be arrested in its spinning motion by
reactionary forces, thus enabling travel at a rate of about one thousand miles
an hour, impracticable by rail. The reader will smile. The plan was difficult
of execution, I will admit, but not nearly so bad as that of a well known New
York professor, who wanted to pump the air from the torrid to temperate zones,
entirely forgetful of the fact that the Lord had provided a gigantic machine
for this purpose.
Still another scheme, far more important and attractive, was to derive power from
the rotational energy of terrestrial bodies. I had discovered that objects on
the earth's surface owing to the diurnal rotation of the globe are carried by
the same alternately in and against the direction of translatory movement. From
this results a great change in momentum which could be utilized in the simplest
imaginable manner to furnish motive effort in any habitable region of the
world. I cannot find words to describe my disappointment when later I realized
that I was in the predicament of Archimedes, who vainly sought for a fixed
point in the universe. At the termination of my vacation I was sent to the
Poly-Technic School in Gratz, Styria (Austria), which my father had chosen as
one of the oldest and best reputed institutions. That was the moment I had
eagerly awaited and I began my studies under good auspices and firmly resolved
to succeed. My previous training was above average, due to my father's teaching
and opportunities afforded. I had acquired the knowledge of a number of
languages and waded through the books of several libraries, picking up
information more or less useful. Then again, for the first time, I could choose
my subjects as I liked, and free-hand drawing was to bother me no more.
I had made up my mind to give my parents a surprise, and during the whole first
year I regularly started my work at three o'clock in the morning and continued
until eleven at night, no Sundays or holidays excepted. As most of my
fellow-students took things easily, naturally I eclipsed all records. In the course
of the year I passed through nine exams and the professors thought I deserved
more than the highest qualifications. Armed with their flattering certificate,
I went home for a short rest, expecting triumph, and was mortified when my
father made light of these hard-won honors. That almost killed my ambition; but
later, after he had died, I was pained to find a package of letters which the
professors had written to him to the effect that unless he took me away from
the Institution I would be killed through overwork. Thereafter I devoted myself
chiefly to physics, mechanics and mathematical studies, spending the hours of
leisure in the libraries. I had a veritable mania for finishing whatever I
began, which often got me into difficulties. On one occasion I started to read
the works of Voltaire, when I learned, to my dismay that there were close to
one hundred large volumes in small print which that monster had written while
drinking seventy-two cups of black coffee per diem. It had to be done, but when
I laid aside that last book I was very glad, and said, "Never more!"
My first year's showing had won me the appreciation and friendship of several
professors. Among these, Professor Rogner, who was teaching arithmetical
subjects and geometry; Professor Poeschl, who held the chair of theoretical and
experimental physics, and Dr. Alle, who taught integral calculus and
specialized in differential equations. This scientist was the most brilliant
lecturer to whom I ever listened. He took a special interest in my progress and
would frequently remain for an hour or two in the lecture room, giving me
problems to solve, in which I delighted. To him I explained a flying machine I
had conceived, not an illusory invention, but one based on sound, scientific
principles, which has become realizable through my turbine and will soon be
given to the world. Both Professors Rogner and Poeschl were curious men. The
former had peculiar ways of expressing himself and whenever he did so, there
was a riot, followed by a long embarrassing pause. Professor Poeschl was a
methodical and thoroughly grounded German. He had enormous feet, and hands like
the paws of a bear, but all of his experiments were skillfully performed with
clock-like precision and without a miss. It was in the second year of my
studies that we received a Gramoe Dyname from Paris, having the horseshoe form
of a laminated field magnet, and a wire wound armature with a commutator. It
was connected up and various effects of the currents were shown. While
Professor Poeschl was making demonstrations, running the machine was a motor,
the brushes gave trouble, sparking badly, and I observed that it might be
possible to operate a motor without these appliances. But he declared that it
could not be done and did me the honor of delivering a lecture on the subject,
at the conclusion he remarked, Mr. Tesla may accomplish great things, but he
certainly will never do this. It would be equivalent to converting a steadily
pulling force, like that of gravity into a rotary effort. It is a perpetual
motion scheme, an impossible idea. But instinct is something which transcends
knowledge. We have, undoubtedly, certain finer fibbers that enable us to
perceive truths when logical deduction, or any other willful effort of the
brain, is futile.
For a time I wavered, impressed by the professor's authority, but soon became
convinced I was right and undertook the task with all the fire and boundless
confidence of my youth. I started by first picturing in my mind a
direct-current machine, running it and following the changing flow of the
currents in the armature. Then I would imagine an alternator and investigate
the progresses taking place in a similar manner. Next I would visualize systems
comprising motors and generators and operate them in various ways. The images I
saw were to me perfectly real and tangible. All my remaining term in Gratz was
passed in intense but fruitless efforts of this kind, and I almost came to the
conclusion that the problem was insolvable. In 1880 I went to Prague, Bohemia,
carrying out my father's wish to complete my education at the University there.
It was in that city that I made a decided advance, which consisted in detaching
the commutator from the machine and studying the phenomena in this new aspect,
but still without result. In the year following there was a sudden change in my
views of life.
I realized that my parents had been making too great sacrifices on my account
and resolved to relieve them of the burden. The wave of the American telephone
had just reached the European continent and the system was to be installed in
Budapest, Hungary. It appeared an ideal opportunity, all the more as a friend
of our family was at the head of the enterprise. It was here that I suffered
the complete breakdown of the nerves to which I have referred. What I
experienced during the period of the illness surpasses all belief. My sight and
hearing were always extraordinary. I could clearly discern objects in the
distance when others saw no trace of them. Several times in my boyhood I saved
the houses of our neighbors from fire by hearing the faint crackling sounds
which did not disturb their sleep, and calling for help. In 1899, when I was
past forty and carrying on my experiments in Colorado, I could hear very
distinctly thunderclaps at a distance of 550 miles. My ear was thus over
thirteen times more sensitive, yet at that time I was, so to speak, stone deaf
in comparison with the acuteness of my hearing while under the nervous strain.
In Budapest I could hear the ticking of a watch with three rooms between me and
the timepiece. A fly alighting on a table in the room would cause a dull thud
in my ear. A carriage passing at a distance of a few miles fairly shook my
whole body. The whistle of a locomotive twenty or thirty miles away made the
bench or chair on which I sat, vibrate so strongly that the pain was
unbearable. The ground under my feet trembled continuously. I had to support my
bed on rubber cushions to get any rest at all. The roaring noises from near and
far often produced the effect of spoken words which would have frightened me
had I not been able to resolve them into their accumulated components. The sun
rays, when periodically intercepted, would cause blows of such force on my
brain that they would stun me. I had to summon all my will power to pass under
a bridge or other structure, as I experienced the crushing pressure on the
skull. In the dark I had the sense of a bat, and could detect the presence of
an object at a distance of twelve feet by a peculiar creepy sensation on the
forehead. My pulse varied from a few to two hundred and sixty beats and all the
tissues of my body with twitchings and tremors, which was perhaps hardest to
bear. A renowned physician who have me daily large doses of Bromide of
Potassium, pronounced my malady unique and incurable.
It is my eternal regret that I was not under the observation of experts in
physiology and psychology at that time. I clung desperately to life, but never
expected to recover. Can anyone believe that so hopeless a physical wreck could
ever be transformed into a man of astonishing strength and tenacity; able to
work thirty-eight years almost without a day's interruption, and find himself
still strong and fresh in body and mind? Such is my case. A powerful desire to
live and to continue the work and the assistance of a devoted friend, an
athlete, accomplished the wonder. My health returned and with it the vigor of
mind in attacking the problem again, I almost regretted that the struggle was
soon to end. I had so much energy to spare. When I understood the task, it was
not with a resolve such as men often make. With me it was a sacred vow, a
question of life and death. I knew that I would perish if I failed. Now I felt
that the battle was won. Back in the deep recesses of the brain was the
solution, but I could net yet give it outward expression.
One afternoon, which is ever present in my recollection, I was enjoying a walk
with my friend in the City Park and reciting poetry. At that age, I knew entire
books by heart, word for word. One of these was Goethe's "Faust." The
sun was just setting and reminded me of the glorious passage, "Sie ruckt
und weight, der Tag ist uberlebt, Dort eilt sie hin und fordert neues Leben.
Oh, da kein Flugel mich vom Boden hebt Ihr nach und immer nach zu streben! Ein
schsner Traum indessen sie entweicht, Ach, au des Geistes Flygein wird so
leicht Kein korperlicher Flugel sich gesellen!" As I uttered these
inspiring words the idea came like a flash of lightening and in an instant the
truth was revealed. I drew with a stick on the sand, the diagram shown six
years later in my address before the American Institute of Electrical
Engineers, and my companion understood them perfectly. The images I saw were
wonderfully sharp and clear and had the solidity of metal and stone, so much so
that I told him, "See my motor here; watch me reverse it." I cannot
begin to describe my emotions. Pygmalion seeing his statue come to life could
not have been more deeply moved. A thousand secrets of nature which I might
have stumbled upon accidentally, I would have given for that one which I had
wrested from her against all odds and at the peril of my existence...
Chapter 4—Tesla Coil and Transformer
For
a while I gave myself up entirely to the intense enjoyment of picturing
machines and devising new forms. It was a mental state of happiness about as
complete as I have ever known in life. Ideas came in an uninterrupted stream
and the only difficulty I had was to hold them fast. The pieces of apparatus I
conceived were to me absolutely real and tangible in every detail even to the
minutest marks and signs of wear. I delighted in imagining the motors
constantly running, for in this way they presented to the mind's eye a
fascinating sight. When natural inclination develops into a passionate desire,
one advances towards his goal in seven-league boots. In less than two months I
evolved virtually all the types of motors and modifications of the system which
are now identified with my name, and which are used under many other names all
over the world. It was, perhaps, providential that the necessities of existence
commanded a temporary halt to this consuming activity of the mind.
I came to Budapest prompted by a premature report concerning the telephone
enterprise and, as irony of fate willed it, I had to accept a position as
draughts man in the Central Telegraph Office of the Hungarian Government at a
salary which I deem it my privilege not to disclose. Fortunately, I soon won
the interest of the Inspector-in-Chief and was thereafter employed on
calculations, designs and estimates in connection with new installations, until
the Telephone exchange started, when I took charge of the same. The knowledge
and practical experience I gained in the course of this work, was most valuable
and the employment gave me ample opportunities for the exercise of my inventive
faculties. I made several improvements in the Central Station apparatus and
perfected a telephone repeater or amplifier which was never patented or
publicly described but would be creditable to me even today. In recognition of
my efficient assistance the organizer of the undertaking, Mr. Puskas, upon
disposing of his business in Budapest, offered me a position in Paris which I
gladly accepted.
I never can forget the deep impression that magic city produced on my mind. For
several days after my arrival, I roamed through the streets in utter
bewilderment of the new spectacle. The attractions were many and irresistible,
but, alas, the income was spent as soon as received. When Mr. Puskas asked me
how I was getting along in the new sphere, I described the situation accurately
in the statement that "The last twenty-nine days of the month are the
toughest." I led a rather strenuous life in what would now be termed
"Rooseveltian fashion." Every morning, regardless of the weather, I
would go from the Boulevard St. Marcel, where I resided, to a bathing house on
the Seine; plunge into the water, loop the circuit twenty-seven times and then
walk an hour to reach Ivry, where the Company's factory was located. There I
would have a wood-chopper's breakfast at half-past seven o'clock and then
eagerly await the lunch hour, in the meanwhile cracking hard nuts for the
Manager of the Works, Mr. Charles Bachelor, who was an intimate friend and
assistant of Edison. Here I was thrown in contact with a few Americans who
fairly fell in love with my because of my proficiency in Billiards! To these
men I explained my invention and one of them, Mr. D. Cunningham, foreman of the
Mechanical Department, offered to form a stock company. The proposal seemed to
me comical in the extreme. I did not have the faintest conception of what he
meant, except that it was an American way of doing things. Nothing came of it,
however, and during the next few months I had to travel from one place to
another in France and Germany to cure the ills of the power plants.
On my return to Paris, I submitted to one of the administrators of the Company,
Mr. Rau, a plan for improving their dynamos and was given an opportunity. My
success was complete and the delighted directors accorded me the privilege of
developing automatic regulators which were much desired. Shortly after, there
was some trouble with the lighting plant which had been installed at the new
railroad station in Strasbourg, Alsace. The wiring was defective and on the
occasion of the opening ceremonies, a large part of a wall was blown out
through a short-circuit, right in the presence of old Emperor William I. The
German Government refused to take the plant and the French Company was facing a
serious loss. On account of my knowledge of the German language and past
experience, I was entrusted with the difficult task of straightening out
matters and early in 1883, I went to Strasbourg on that mission.
Some of the incidents in that city have left an indelible record on my memory.
By a curious coincidence, a number of the men who subsequently achieve fame,
lived there about that time. In later life I used to say, "There were
bacteria of greatness in that old town." Others caught the disease, but I
escaped!" The practical work, correspondence, and conferences with
officials kept me preoccupied day and night, but as soon as I was able to
manage, I undertook the construction of a simple motor in a mechanical shop
opposite the railroad station, having brought with me from Paris some material
for that purpose. The consummation of the experiment was, however, delayed
until the summer of that year, when I finally had the satisfaction of seeing
the rotation effected by alternating currents of different phase, and without
sliding contacts or commutator, as I had conceived a year before. It was an
exquisite pleasure but not to compare with the delirium of joy following the
first revelation. Among my new friends was the former Mayor of the city, Mr.
Sauzin, whom I had already, in a measure, acquainted with this and other
inventions of mine and whose support I endeavoured to enlist. He was sincerely
devoted to me and put my project before several wealthy persons, but to my
mortification, found no response. He wanted to help me in every possible way
and the approach of the first of July, 1917, happens to remind me of a form of
"assistance" I received from that charming man, which was not
financial, but none the less appreciated. In 1870, when the Germans invaded the
country, Mr. Sauzin had buried a good sized allotment of St. Estephe of 1801
and he came to the conclusion that he knew no worthier person than myself, to
consume that precious beverage. This, I may say, is one of the unforgettable
incidents to which I have referred. My friend urged me to return to Paris as
soon as possible and seek support there. This I was anxious to do, but my work
and negotiations were protracted, owing to all sorts of petty obstacles I
encountered, so that at times the situation seemed hopeless. Just to give an
idea of German thoroughness and "efficiency," I may mention here a
rather funny experience.
An incandescent lamp of 16 c.p. was to be placed in a hallway, and upon
selected the proper location, I ordered the "monteur" to run the
wires. After working for a while, he concluded that the engineer had to be
consulted and this was done. The latter made several objections but ultimately
agreed that the lamp should be placed two inches from the spot I had assigned,
whereupon the work proceeded. Then the engineer became worried and told me that
Inspector Averdeck should be notified. That important person was called, he
investigated, debated, and decided that the lamp should be shifted back two
inches, which was the placed I had marked! It was not long, however, before
Averdeck got cold feet himself and advised me that he had informed
Ober-Inspector Hieronimus of the matter and that I should await his decision.
It was several days before the Ober-Inspector was able to free himself of other
pressing duties, but at last he arrived and a two hour debate followed, when he
decided to move the lamp two inches further. My hopes that this was the final
act, were shattered when the Ober-Inspector returned and said to me,
"Regierungsrath Funke is particular that I would not dare to give an order
for placing this lamp without his explicit approval." Accordingly,
arrangements for a visit from that great man were made. We started cleaning up
and polishing early in the morning, and when Funke came with his retinue he was
ceremoniously received. After two hours of deliberation, he suddenly exclaimed,
"I must be going!," and pointing to a place on the ceiling, he
ordered me to put the lamp there. It was the exact spot which I had originally
chosen! So it went day after day with variations, but I was determined to
achieve, at whatever cost, and in the end my efforts were rewarded.
By the spring of 1884, all the differences were adjusted, the plant formally
accepted, and I returned to Paris with pleasing anticipation. One of the
administrators had promised me a liberal compensation in case I succeeded, as
well as a fair consideration of the improvements I had made to their dynamos
and I hoped to realize a substantial sum. There were three administrators, whom
I shall designate as A, B, and C for convenience. When I called on A, he told
me that B had the say. This gentleman thought that only C could decide, and the
latter was quite sure that A alone had the power to act. After several laps of
this circulus viciousus, it dawned upon me that my reward was a castle in
Spain. The utter failure of my attempts to raise capital for development was
another disappointment, and when Mr. Bachelor pressed me to go to America with
a view of redesigning the Edison machines, I determined to try my fortunes in
the Land of Golden Promise. But the chance was nearly missed. I liquefied my
modest assets, secured accommodations and found myself at the railroad station
as the train was pulling out. At that moment, I discovered that my money and
tickets were gone. What to do was the question. Hercules had plenty of time to
deliberate, but I had to decide while running alongside the train with opposite
feeling surging in my brain like condenser oscillations. Resolve, helped by
dexterity, won out in the nick of time and upon passing through the usual
experience, as trivial and unpleasant, I managed to embark for New York with
the remnants of my belongings, some poems and articles I had written, and a
package of calculations relating to solutions of an unsolvable integral and my
flying machine. During the voyage I sat most of the time at the stern of the
ship watching for an opportunity to save somebody from a watery grave, without
the slightest thought of danger. Later, when I had absorbed some of the
practical American sense, I shivered at the recollection and marveled at my
former folly. The meeting with Edison was a memorable event in my life. I was
amazed at this wonderful man who, without early advantages and scientific
training, had accomplished so much. I had studied a dozen languages, delved in
literature and art, and had spent my best years in libraries reading all sorts
of stuff that fell into my hands, from Newton's "Principia" to the
novels of Paul de Kock, and felt that most of my life had been squandered. But
it did not take long before I recognized that it was the best thing I could
have done. Within a few weeks I had won Edison's confidence, and it came about
in this way.
The S.S. Oregon, the fastest passenger steamer at that time, had both of its
lighting machines disabled and its sailing was delayed. As the superstructure
had been built after their installation, it was impossible to remove them from
the hold. The predicament was a serious one and Edison was much annoyed. In the
evening I took the necessary instruments with me and went aboard the vessel
where I stayed for the night. The dynamos were in bad condition, having several
short-circuits and breaks, but with the assistance of the crew, I succeeded in
putting them in good shape. At five o'clock in the morning, when passing along
Fifth Avenue on my way to the shop, I met Edison with Bachelor and a few
others, as they were returning home to retire. "Here is our Parisian
running around at night," he said. When I told him that I was coming from
the Oregon and had repaired both machines, he looked at me in silence and
walked away without another word. But when he had gone some distance I heard
him remark, "Bachelor, this is a good man." And from that time on I
had full freedom in directing the work. For nearly a year my regular hours were
from 10:30 A.M. until 5 o'clock the next morning without a day's exception.
Edison said to me, "I have had many hard working assistants, but you take
the cake." During this period I designed twenty-four different types of
standard machines with short cores and uniform pattern, which replaced the old
ones. The Manager had promised me fifty thousand dollars on the completion of
this task, but it turned out to be a practical joke. This gave me a painful
shock and I resigned my position.
Immediately thereafter, some people approached me with the proposal of forming
an arc light company under my name, to which I agreed. Here finally, was an
opportunity to develop the motor, but when I broached the subject to my new
associates they said, "No, we want the arc lamp. We don't care for this
alternating current of yours." In 1886 my system of arc lighting was
perfected and adopted for factory and municipal lighting, and I was free, but
with no other possession than a beautifully engraved certificate of stock of
hypothetical value. Then followed a period of struggle in the new medium for
which I was not fitted, but the reward came in the end, and in April, 1887, the
TESLA Electric Co. was organized, providing a laboratory and facilities. The
motors I built there were exactly as I had imagined them. I made no attempt to
improve the design, but merely reproduced the pictures as they appeared to my
vision and the operation was always as I expected.
In the early part of 1888, an arrangement was made with the Westinghouse
Company for the manufacture of the motors on a large scale. But great
difficulties had still to be overcome. My system was based on the use of low
frequency currents and the Westinghouse experts had adopted 133 cycles with the
objects of securing advantages in transformation. They did not want to depart
with their standard forms of apparatus and my efforts had to be concentrated
upon adapting the motor to these conditions. Another necessity was to produce a
motor capable of running efficiently at this frequency on two wire, which was
not an easy accomplishment. At the close of 1889, however, my services in
Pittsburgh being no longer essential, I returned to New York and resumed
experimental work in a Laboratory on Grand Street, where I began immediately
the design of high-frequency machines. The problems of construction in this
unexplored field were novel and quite peculiar, and I encountered many
difficulties. I rejected the inductor type, fearing that it might not yield
perfect sine waves, which were so important to resonant action. Had it not been
for this, I could have saved myself a great deal of labour. Another
discouraging feature of the high-frequency alternator seemed to be the
inconstancy of speed which threatened to impose serious limitations to its use.
I had already noted in my demonstrations before the American Institution of
Electrical Engineers, that several times the tune was lost, necessitating
readjustment, and did not yet foresee what I discovered long afterwards, a
means of operating a machine of this kind at a speed constant to such a degree
as not to vary more than a small fraction of one revolution between the
extremes of load. From many other considerations, it appeared desirable to
invent a simpler device for the production of electric oscillations.
In 1856, Lord Kelvin had exposed the theory of the condenser discharge, but no
practical application of that important knowledge was made. I saw the
possibilities and undertook the development of induction apparatus on this
principle. My progress was so rapid as to enable me to exhibit at my lecture in
1891, a coil giving sparks of five inches. On that occasion I frankly told the
engineers of a defect involved in the transformation by the new method, namely,
the loss in the spark gap. Subsequent investigation showed that no matter what
medium is employed, be it air, hydrogen, mercury vapour, oil, or a stream of
electrons, the efficiency is the same. It is a law very much like the governing
of the conversion of mechanical energy. We may drop a weight from a certain
height vertically down, or carry it to the lower level along any devious path;
it is immaterial insofar as the amount of work is concerned. Fortunately
however, this drawback is not fatal, as by proper proportioning of the resonant,
circuits of an efficiency of 85 percent is attainable. Since my early
announcement of the invention, it has come into universal use and wrought a
revolution in many departments, but a still greater future awaits it. When in
1900 I obtained powerful discharges of 1,000 feet and flashed a current around
the globe, I was reminded of the first tiny spark I observed in my Grand Street
laboratory and was thrilled by sensations akin to those I felt when I
discovered the rotating magnetic field.
As I review the events of my past
life I realize how subtle the influences that shape our destinies are. An
incident of my youth may serve to illustrate. One winter's day I managed to
climb a steep mountain, in company with other boys. The snow was quite deep and
a warm southerly wind made it just suitable for our purpose. We amused
ourselves by throwing balls which would roll down a certain distance, gathering
more or less snow, and we tried to outdo one another in this sport. Suddenly a
ball was seen to go beyond the limit, swelling to enormous proportions until it
became as big as a house and plunged thundering into the valley below with a
force that made the ground tremble. I looked on spellbound incapable of
understanding what had happened. For weeks afterward the picture of the
avalanche was before my eyes and I wondered how anything so small could grow to
such an immense size.
Ever since that time the magnification of feeble actions fascinated me, and
when, years later, I took up the experimental study of mechanical and
electrical resonance, I was keenly interested from the very start. Possibly,
had it not been for that early powerful impression I might not have followed up
the little spark I obtained with my coil and never developed my best invention,
the true history of which I will tell. Many technical men, very able in their
special departments, but dominated by a pedantic spirit and nearsighted, have
asserted that excepting the induction motor, I have given the world little of
practical use. This is a grievous mistake. A new idea must not be judged by its
immediate results. My alternating system of power transmission came at a
psychological moment, as a long sought answer to pressing industrial questions,
and although considerable resistance had to be overcome and opposing interests
reconciled, as usual, the commercial introduction could not be long delayed.
Now, compare this situation with that confronting my turbines, for example. One
should think that so simple and beautiful an invention, possessing many
features of an ideal motor, should be adopted at once and, undoubtedly, it
would under similar conditions. But the prospective effect of the rotating
field was not to render worthless existing machinery; on the contrary, it was
to give it additional value. The system lent itself to new enterprise as well
as to improvement of the old. My turbine is an advance of a character entirely
different. It is a radical departure in the sense that its success would mean
the abandonment of the antiquated types of prime movers on which billions of
dollars have been spent. Under such circumstances, the progress must need be
slow and perhaps the greatest impediment is encountered in the prejudicial
opinions created in the minds of experts by organized opposition.
Only the other day, I had a disheartening experience when I met my friend and
former assistant, Charles F. Scott, now professor of Electric Engineering at
Yale. I had not seen him for a long time and was glad to have an opportunity for
a little chat at my office. Our conversation, naturally enough, drifted on my
turbine and I became heated to a high degree. "Scott," I exclaimed,
carried away by the vision of a glorious future, "My turbine will scrap
all the heat engines in the world." Scott stroked his chin and looked away
thoughtfully, as though making a mental calculation. "That will make quite
a pile of scrap," he said, and left without another word.
These and other inventions of mine, however, were nothing more than steps
forward in a certain directions. In evolving them, I simply followed the inborn
instinct to improve the present devices without any special thought of our far
more imperative necessities. The "Magnifying Transmitter" was the
product of labors extending through years, having for their chief object, the
solution of problems which are infinitely more important to mankind than mere
industrial development.
If my memory serves me right, it was in November, 1890, that I performed a
laboratory experiment which was one of the most extraordinary and spectacular
ever recorded in the annals of Science. In investigating the behavior of high
frequency currents, I had satisfied myself that an electric field of sufficient
intensity could be produced in a room to light up electrode less vacuum tubes.
Accordingly, a transformer was built to test the theory and the first trial
proved a marvelous success. It is difficult to appreciate what those strange
phenomena meant at the time. We crave for new sensations, but soon become
indifferent to them. The wonders of yesterday are today common occurrences.
When my tubes were first publicly exhibited, they were viewed with amazement
impossible to describe. From all parts of the world, I received urgent
invitations and numerous honors and other flattering inducements were offered
to me, which I declined. But in 1892 the demand became irresistible and I went
to London where I delivered a lecture before the institution of Electrical
Engineers.
It has been my intention to leave immediately for Paris in compliance with a
similar obligation, but Sir James Dewar insisted on my appearing before the
Royal Institution. I was a man of firm resolve, but succumbed easily to the
forceful arguments of the great Scotsman. He pushed me into a chair and poured out
half a glass of a wonderful brown fluid which sparkled in all sorts of
iridescent colors and tasted like nectar. "Now," said he, "you
are sitting in Faraday's chair and you are enjoying whiskey he used to
drink." (Which did not interest me very much, as I had altered my opinion
concerning strong drink). The next evening I have a demonstration before the
Royal Institution, at the termination of which, Lord Rayleigh addressed the
audience and his generous words gave me the first start in these endeavors. I
fled from London and later from Paris, to escape favors showered upon me, and
journeyed to my home, where I passed through a most painful ordeal and illness.
Upon regaining my health, I began to formulate plans for the resumption of work
in America. Up to that time I never realized that I possessed any particular
gift of discovery, but Lord Rayleigh, whom I always considered as an ideal man
of science, had said so and if that was the case, I felt that I should
concentrate on some big idea. At this time, as at many other times in the past,
my thoughts turned towards my Mother's teaching. The gift of mental power comes
from God, Divine Being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we
become in tune with this great power. My Mother had taught me to seek all truth
in the Bible; therefore I devoted the next few months to the study of this
work.
One day, as I was roaming the mountains, I sought shelter from an approaching
storm. The sky became overhung with heavy clouds, but somehow the rain was
delayed until, all of a sudden, there was a lightening flash and a few moments
after, a deluge. This observation set me thinking. It was manifest that the two
phenomena were closely related, as cause and effect, and a little reflection
led me to the conclusion that the electrical energy involved in the
precipitation of the water was inconsiderable, the function of the lightening
being much like that of a sensitive trigger. Here was a stupendous possibility
of achievement. If we could produce electric effects of the required quality,
this whole planet and the conditions of existence on it could be transformed.
The sun raises the water of the oceans and winds drive it to distant regions
where it remains in a state of most delicate balance. If it were in our power
to upset it when and wherever desired, this might life sustaining stream could
be at will controlled. We could irrigate arid deserts, create lakes and rivers,
and provide motive power in unlimited amounts. This would be the most efficient
way of harnessing the sun to the uses of man. The consummation depended on our
ability to develop electric forces of the order of those in nature.
It seemed a hopeless undertaking, but I made up my mind to try it and
immediately on my return to the United States in the summer of 1892, after a
short visit to my friends in Watford, England; work was begun which was to me
all the more attractive, because a means of the same kind was necessary for the
successful transmission of energy without wires. At this time I made a further
careful study of the Bible, and discovered the key in Revelation. The first
gratifying result was obtained in the spring of the succeeding year, when I
reaching a tension of about 100,000,000 volts—one hundred million volts -- with
my conical coil, which I figured was the voltage of a flash of lightening.
Steady progress was made until the destruction of my laboratory by fire, in
1895, as may be judged from an article by T.C. Martin which appeared in the
April number of the Century Magazine. This calamity set me back in many ways
and most of that year had to be devoted to planning and reconstruction.
However, as soon as circumstances permitted, I returned to the task.
Although I knew that higher electric-motive forces were attainable with
apparatus of larger dimensions, I had an instinctive perception that the object
could be accomplished by the proper design of a comparatively small and compact
transformer. In carrying on tests with a secondary in the form of flat spiral,
as illustrated in my patents, the absence of streamers surprised me, and it was
not long before I discovered that this was due to the position of the turns and
their mutual action. Profiting from this observation, I resorted to the use of
a high tension conductor with turns of considerable diameter, sufficiently
separated to keep down the distributed capacity, while at the same time
preventing undue accumulation of the charge at any point. The application of
this principle enabled me to produce pressures of over 100,000,000 volts, which
was about the limit obtainable without risk of accident. A photograph of my
transmitter built in my laboratory at Houston Street, was published in the
Electrical Review of November, 1898.
In order to advance further along this line, I had to go into the open, and in
the spring of 1899, having completed preparations for the erection of a
wireless plant, I went to Colorado where I remained for more than one year.
Here I introduced other improvements and refinements which made it possible to
generate currents of any tension that may be desired. Those who are interested
will find some information in regard to the experiments I conducted there in my
article, "The Problem of Increasing Human Energy," in the Century
Magazine of June 1900, to which I have referred on a previous occasion.
I will be quite explicit on the subject of my magnifying transformer so that it
will be clearly understood. In the first place, it is a resonant transformer,
with a secondary in which the parts, charged to a high potential, are of considerable
area and arranged in space along ideal enveloping surfaces of very large radii
of curvature, and at proper distances from one another, thereby insuring a
small electric surface density everywhere, so that no leak can occur even if
the conductor is bare. It is suitable for any frequency, from a few to many
thousands of cycles per second, and can be used in the production of currents
of tremendous volume and moderate pressure, or of smaller amperage and immense
electromotive force. The maximum electric tension is merely dependent on the
curvature of the surfaces on which the charged elements are situated and the
area of the latter. Judging from my past experience there is no limit to the
possible voltage developed; any amount is practicable. On the other hand,
currents of many thousands of amperes may be obtained in the antenna. A plant
of but very moderate dimensions is required for such performances.
Theoretically, a terminal of less than 90 feet in diameter is sufficient to
develop an electromotive force of that magnitude, while for antenna currents of
from 2,000-4,000 amperes at the usual frequencies, it need not be larger than
30 feet in diameter. In a more restricted meaning, this wireless transmitter is
one in which the Hertzwave radiation is an entirely negligible quantity as
compared with the whole energy, under which condition the damping factor is
extremely small and an enormous charge is stored in the elevated capacity. Such
a circuit may then be excited with impulses of any kind, even of low frequency
and it will yield sinusoidal and continuous oscillations like those of an
alternator. Taken in the narrowest significance of the term, however, it is a
resonant transformer which, besides possessing these qualities, is accurately
proportioned to fit the globe and its electrical constants and properties, by
virtue of which design it becomes highly efficient and effective in the
wireless transmission of energy. Distance is then absolutely eliminated, there
being no diminuation in the intensity of the transmitted impulses. It is even
possible to make the actions increase with the distance from the plane,
according to an exact mathematical law. This invention was one of a number
comprised in my "World System" of wireless transmission which I
undertook to commercialize on my return to New York in 1900.
As to the immediate purposes of my enterprise, they were clearly outlined in a
technical statement of that period from which I quote, "The world system
has resulted from a combination of several original discoveries made by the
inventor in the course of long continued research and experimentation. It makes
possible not only the instantaneous and precise wireless transmission of any
kind of signals, messages or characters, to all parts of the world, but also
the inter-connection of the existing telegraph, telephone, and other signal
stations without any change in their present equipment. By its means, for
instance, a telephone subscriber here may call up and talk to any other
subscriber on the Earth. An inexpensive receiver, not bigger than a watch, will
enable him to listen anywhere, on land or sea, to a speech delivered or music
played in some other place, however distant."
These examples are cited merely to give an idea of the possibilities of this
great scientific advance, which annihilates distance and makes that perfect
natural conductor, the Earth, available for all the innumerable purposes which
human ingenuity has found for a line-wire. One far-reaching result of this is
that any device capable of being operated through one or more wires (at a
distance obviously restricted) can likewise be actuated, without artificial
conductors and with the same facility and accuracy, at distances to which there
are no limits other than those imposed by the physical dimensions of the earth.
Thus, not only will entirely new fields for commercial exploitation be opened
up by this ideal method of transmission, but the old ones vastly extended. The
World System is based on the application of the following import and inventions
and discoveries:
I also proposed to make
demonstration in the wireless transmission of power on a small scale, but
sufficient to carry conviction. Besides these, I referred to other and
incomparably more important applications of my discoveries which will be
disclosed at some future date. A plant was built on Long Island with a tower
187 feet high, having a spherical terminal about 68 feet in diameter. These
dimensions were adequate for the transmission of virtually any amount of
energy. Originally, only from 200 to 300 K.W. were provided, but I intended to
employ later several thousand horsepower. The transmitter was to emit a
wave-complex of special characteristics and I had devised a unique method of
telephonic control of any amount of energy. The tower was destroyed two years
ago (1917) but my projects are being developed and another one, improved in
some features will be constructed.
On this occasion I would contradict the widely circulated report that the
structure was demolished by the Government, which owing to war conditions,
might have created prejudice in the minds of those who may not know that the
papers, which thirty years ago conferred upon me the honor of American citizenship,
are always kept in a safe, while my orders, diplomas, degrees, gold medals and
other distinctions are packed away in old trunks. If this report had a
foundation, I would have been refunded a large sum of money which I expended in
the construction of the tower. On the contrary, it was in the interest of the
Government to preserver it, particularly as it would have made possible, to
mention just one valuable result, the location of a submarine in any part of
the world. My plant, services, and all my improvements have always been at the
disposal of the officials and ever since the outbreak of the European conflict,
I have been working at a sacrifice on several inventions of mine relating to
aerial navigation, ship propulsion and wireless transmission, which are of the
greatest importance to the country. Those who are well informed know that my
ideas have revolutionized the industries of the United States and I am not
aware that there lives an inventor who has been, in this respect, as fortunate
as myself,—especially as regards the use of his improvements in the war.
I have refrained from publicly expressing myself on this subject before, as it
seemed improper to dwell on personal matters while all the world was in dire
trouble. I would add further, in view of various rumors which have reached me,
that Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan did not interest himself with me in a business way,
but in the same large spirit in which he has assisted many other pioneers. He
carried out his generous promise to the letter and it would have been most
unreasonable to expect from him anything more. He had the highest regard for my
attainments and gave me every evidence of his complete faith in my ability to
ultimately achieve what I had set out to do. I am unwilling to accord to some small-minded
and jealous individuals the satisfaction of having thwarted my efforts. These
men are to me nothing more than microbes of a nasty disease. My project was
retarded by laws of nature. The world was not prepared for it. It was too far
ahead of time, but the same laws will prevail in the end and make it a
triumphal success.
No subject to which I have ever
devoted myself has called for such concentration of mind, and strained to so
dangerous a degree the finest fibbers of my brain, as the systems of which the
Magnifying transmitter is the foundation. I put all the intensity and vigor of
youth in the development of the rotating field discoveries, but those early
labors were of a different character. Although strenuous in the extreme, they
did not involve that keen and exhausting discernment which had to be exercised
in attacking the many problems of the wireless.
Despite my rare physical endurance at that period, the abused nerves finally
rebelled and I suffered a complete collapse, just as the consummation of the
long and difficult task was almost in sight. Without doubt I would have paid a
greater penalty later, and very likely my career would have been prematurely
terminated, had not providence equipped me with a safety device, which seemed
to improve with advancing years and unfailingly comes to play when my forces
are at an end. So long as it operates I am safe from danger, due to overwork,
which threatens other inventors, and incidentally, I need no vacations which
are indispensable to most people. When I am all but used up, I simply do as the
darkies who "naturally fall asleep while white folks worry."
To venture a theory out of my sphere, the body probably accumulates little by
little a definite quantity of some toxic agent and I sink into a nearly
lethargic state which lasts half an hour to the minute. Upon awakening I have
the sensation as though the events immediately preceding had occurred very long
ago, and if I attempt to continue the interrupted train of thought I feel
veritable nausea. Involuntarily, I then turn to other and am surprised at the
freshness of the mind and ease with which I overcome obstacles that had baffled
me before. After weeks or months, my passion for the temporarily abandoned invention
returns and I invariably find answers to all the vexing questions, with
scarcely any effort. In this connection, I will tell of an extraordinary
experience which may be of interest to students of psychology. I had produced a
striking phenomenon with my grounded transmitter and was endeavoring to
ascertain its true significance in relation to the currents propagated through
the earth. It seemed a hopeless undertaking, and for more than a year I worked
unremittingly, but in vain. This profound study so entirely absorbed me, that I
became forgetful of everything else, even of my undermined health. At last, as
I was at the point of breaking down, nature applied the preservative inducing
lethal sleep. Regaining my senses, I realized with consternation that I was
unable to visualize scenes from my life except those of infancy, the very first
ones that had entered my consciousness. Curiously enough, these appeared before
my vision with startling distinctness and afforded me welcome relief. Night
after night, when retiring, I would think of them and more and more of my
previous existence was revealed. The image of my mother was always the
principal figure in the spectacle that slowly unfolded, and a consuming desire
to see her again gradually took possession of me. This feeling grew so strong
that I resolved to drop all work and satisfy my longing, but I found it too
hard to break away from the laboratory, and several months elapsed during which
I had succeeded in reviving all the impressions of my past life, up to the
spring of 1892. In the next picture that came out of the mist of oblivion, I
saw myself at the Hotel de la Paix in Paris, just coming to from one of my
peculiar sleeping spells, which had been caused by prolonged exertion of the
brain. Imagine the pain and distress I felt, when it flashed upon my mind that
a dispatch was handed to me at that very moment, bearing the sad news that my
mother was dying. I remembered how I made the long journey home without an hour
of rest and how she passed away after weeks of agony. It was especially
remarkable that during all this period of partially obliterated memory, I was
fully alive to everything touching on the subject of my research. I could
recall the smallest detail and the least insignificant observations in my
experiments and even recite pages of text and complex mathematical formulae.
My belief is firm in a law of compensation. The true rewards are ever in
proportion to the labor and sacrifices made. This is one of the reasons why I
feel certain that of all my inventions, the magnifying Transmitter will prove
most important and valuable to future generations. I am prompted to this
prediction, not so much by thoughts of the commercial and industrial revolution
which it will surely bring about, but of the humanization consequences of the
many achievements it makes possible. Considerations of mere utility weigh
little in the balance against the higher benefits of civilization. We are
confronted with portentous problems which can not be solved just by providing
for our material existence, however abundantly. On the contrary, progress in
this direction is fraught with hazards and perils not less menacing than those
born from want and suffering. If we were to release the energy of atoms or
discover some other way of developing cheap and unlimited power at any point on
the globe, this accomplishment, instead of being a blessing, might bring
disaster to mankind in giving rise to dissension and anarchy, which would
ultimately result in the enthronement of the hated regime of force. The
greatest good will come from technical improvements tending to unification and
harmony, and my wireless transmitter is preeminently such. By its means, the
human voice and likeness will be reproduced everywhere and factories driven thousands
of miles from waterfalls furnishing power. Aerial machines will be propelled
around the earth without a stop and the sun's energy controlled to create lakes
and rivers for motive purposes and transformation of arid deserts into fertile
land. Its introduction for telegraphic, telephonic and similar uses, will
automatically cut out the static and all other interferences which at present,
impose narrow limits to the application of the wireless. This is a timely topic
on which a few words might not be amiss.
During the past decade a number of people have arrogantly claimed that they had
succeeded in doing away with this impediment. I have carefully examined all of
the arrangements described and tested most of them long before they were
publicly disclosed, but the finding was uniformly negative. Recent official
statement from the U.S. Navy may, perhaps, have taught some beguilable news
editors how to appraise these announcements at their real worth. As a rule, the
attempts are based on theories so fallacious, that whenever they come to my
notice, I can not help thinking in a light vein. Quite recently a new discovery
was heralded, with a deafening flourish of trumpets, but it proved another case
of a mountain bringing forth a mouse. This reminds me of an exciting incident
which took place a year ago, when I was conducting my experiments with currents
of high frequency.
Steve Brodie had just jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge. The feat has been
vulgarized since by imitators, but the first report electrified New York. I was
very impressionable then and frequently spoke of the daring printer. On a hot
afternoon I felt the necessity of refreshing myself and stepped into one of the
popular thirty thousand institutions of this great city, where a delicious
twelve per cent beverage was served, which can now be had only by making a trip
to the poor and devastated countries of Europe. The attendance was large and
not over-distinguished and a matter was discussed which gave me an admirable
opening for the careless remark, "This is what I said when I jumped off
the bridge." No sooner had I uttered these words, than I felt like the
companion of Timothens, in the poem of Schiller. In an instant there was
pandemonium and a dozen voices cried, "It is Brodie!" I threw a
quarter on the counter and bolted for the door, but the crowd was at my heels
with yells, "Stop, Steve!", which must have been misunderstood, for
many persons tried to hold me up as I ran frantically for my haven of refuge.
By darting around corners I fortunately managed, through the medium of a fire
escape, to reach the laboratory, where I threw off my coat, camouflaged myself
as a hardworking blacksmith and started the forge. But these precautions proved
unnecessary, as I had eluded my pursuers. For many years afterward, at night,
when imagination turns into specters the trifling troubles of the day, I often
thought, as I tossed on the bed, what my fate would have been, had the mob
caught me and found out that I was not Steve Brodie!
Now the engineer who lately gave an account before a technical body of a novel
remedy against static based on a "heretofore unknown law of nature,"
seems to have been as reckless as myself when he contended that these
disturbances propagate up and down, while those of a transmitter proceed along
the earth. It would mean that a condenser as this globe, with its gaseous
envelope, could be charged and discharged in a manner quite contrary to the
fundamental teachings propounded in every elemental textbook of physics. Such a
supposition would have been condemned as erroneous, even in Franklin's time,
for the facts bearing on this were then well known and the identity between
atmospheric electricity and that developed by machines was fully established.
Obviously, natural and artificial disturbances propagate through the earth and
the air in exactly the same way, and both set up electromotive forces in the
horizontal, as well as vertical sense. Interference can not be overcome by any
such methods as were proposed. The truth is this: In the air the potential
increases at the rate of about fifty volts per foot of elevation, owing to
which there may be a difference of pressure amounting to twenty, or even forty
thousand volts between the upper and lower ends of the antenna. The masses of
the charged atmosphere are constantly in motion and give up electricity to the
conductor, not continuously, but rather disruptively, this producing a grinding
noise in a sensitive telephonic receiver. The higher the terminal and the
greater the space encompassed by the wires, the more pronounced is the effect,
but it must be understood that it is purely local and has little to do with the
real trouble.
In 1900, while perfecting my wireless system, one form of apparatus compressed
four antennae. These were carefully calibrated in the same frequency and
connected in multiple with the object of magnifying the action in receiving
from any direction. When I desired to ascertain the origin of the transmitted
impulse, each diagonally situated pair was put in series with a primary coil
energizing the detector circuit. In the former case, the sound was loud in the
telephone; in the latter it ceased, as expected, the two antennae neutralizing
each other, but the true static manifested themselves in both instances and I
had to devise special preventives embodying different principles. By employing
receivers connected to two points of the ground, as suggested by me long ago,
this trouble caused by the charged air, which is very serious in the structures
as now built, is nullified and besides, the liability of all kinds of
interference is reduced to about one-half because of the directional character
of the circuit. This was perfectly self-evident, but came as a revelation to
some simple-minded wireless folks whose experience was confined to forms of
apparatus that could have been improved with an axe, and they have been
disposing of the bear's skin before killing him. If it were true that strays
performed such antics, it would be easy to get rid of them by receiving without
aerials. But, as a matter of fact, a wire buried in the ground which,
conforming to this view, should be absolutely immune, is more susceptible to
certain extraneous impulses than one placed vertically in the air. To state it
fairly, a slight progress has been made, but not by virtue of any particular
method or device. It was achieved simply by discerning the enormous structures,
which are bad enough for transmission but wholly unsuitable for reception and
adopting a more appropriate type of receiver. As I have said before, to dispose
of this difficulty for good, a radical change must be made in the system and
the sooner this is done the better.
It would be calamitous, indeed, if at this time when the art is in its infancy
and the vast majority, not excepting even experts, have no conception of its
ultimate possibilities, a measure would be rushed through the legislature
making it a government monopoly. This was proposed a few weeks ago by Secretary
Daniel's and no doubt that distinguished official has made his appeal to the
Senate and House of Representatives with sincere conviction. But universal
evidence unmistakably shows that the best results are always obtained in
healthful commercial competition. there are, however, exceptional reasons why
wireless should be given the fullest freedom of development. In the first
place, it offers prospects immeasurably greater and more vital to betterment of
human life than any other invention or discovery in the history of man. Then
again, it must be understood that this wonderful art has been, in its entirety,
evolved here and can be called "American" with more right and
propriety than the telephone, the incandescent lamp or the airplane.
Enterprising press agents and stock jobbers have been so successful in
spreading misinformation, that even so excellent a periodical as the
"Scientific American," accords the chief credit to a foreign country.
The Germans, of course, gave us the Hertz waves and the Russian, English,
French and Italian experts were quick in using them for signaling purposes. It
was an obvious application of the new agent and accomplished with the old
classical and unimproved induction coil, scarcely anything more than another
kind of heliography. The radius of transmission was very limited, the result
attained of little value, and the Hertz oscillations, as a means for conveying
intelligence, could have been advantageously replaced by sound waves, which I
advocated in 1891. Moreover, all of these attempts were made three years after
the basic principles of the wireless system, which is universally employed
today, and its potent instrumentalities had been clearly described and
developed in America.
No trace of those Hertzian appliances and methods remains today. We have
proceeded in the very opposite direction and what has been done is the product
of the brains and efforts of citizens of this country. The fundamental patents
have expired and the opportunities are open to all. The chief argument of the
Secretary is based on interference. According to his statement, reported in the
New York Herald of July 29th, signals from a powerful station can be
intercepted in every village in the world. In view of this fact, which was
demonstrated in my experiments in 1900, it would be of little use to impose
restrictions in the United States.
As throwing light on this point, I may mention that only recently an odd
looking gentleman called on me with the object of enlisting my services in the
construction of world transmitters in some distant land. "We have no
money," he said, "but carloads of solid gold, and we will give you a
liberal amount." I told him that I wanted to see first what will be done
with my inventions in America, and this ended the interview. But I am satisfied
that some dark forces are at work, and as time goes on the maintenance of
continuous communication will be rendered more difficult. The only remedy is a
system immune against interruption. It has been perfected, it exists, and all
that is necessary is to put it in operation.
The terrible conflict is still uppermost in the minds and perhaps the greatest
importance will be attached to the Magnifying Transmitter as a machine for
attack and defense, more particularly in connection with TELAUTAMATICS. This
invention is a logical outcome of observations begun in my boyhood and
continued throughout my life. When the first results were published, the
Electrical Review stated editorially that it would become one of the "most
potent factors in the advance of civilization of mankind." The time is not
distant when this prediction will be fulfilled. In 1898 and 1900, it was
offered by me to the Government and might have been adopted, were I one of
those who would go to Alexander's shepherd when they want a favor from
Alexander! At that time I really thought that it would abolish war, because of
its unlimited destructiveness and exclusion of the personal element of combat.
But while I have not lost faith in its potentialities, my views have changed
since. War can not be avoided until the physical cause for its recurrence is removed
and this, in the last analysis, is the vast extent of the planet on which we
live. Only though annihilation of distance in every respect, as the conveyance
of intelligence, transport of passengers and supplies and transmission of
energy will conditions be brought about some day, insuring permanency of
friendly relations. What we now want most is closer contact and better
understanding between individuals and communities all over the earth and the
elimination of that fanatic devotion to exalted ideals of national egoism and
pride, which is always prone to plunge the world into primeval barbarism and
strife. No league or parliamentary act of any kind will ever prevent such a
calamity. These are only new devices for putting the weak at the mercy of the strong.
I have expressed myself in this regard fourteen years ago, when a combination
of a few leading governments, a sort of Holy alliance, was advocated by the
late Andrew Carnegie, who may be fairly considered as the father of this idea,
having given to it more publicity and impetus than anybody else prior to the
efforts of the President. While it can not be denied that such aspects might be
of material advantage to some less fortunate peoples, it can not attain the
chief objective sought. Peace can only come as a natural consequence of
universal enlightenment and merging of races, and we are still far from this
blissful realization, because few indeed, will admit the reality that God made
man in His image in which case all earth men are alike. There is in fact but
one race, of many colors. Christ is but one person, yet he is of all people, so
why do some people think themselves better than some other people?
As I view the world of today, in the light of the gigantic struggle we have
witnessed, I am filled with conviction that the interests of humanity would be
best served if the United States remained true to its traditions, true to God
whom it pretends to believe, and kept out of "entangling alliances."
Situated as it is, geographically remote from the theaters of impending
conflicts, without incentive to territorial aggrandizement, with inexhaustible
resources and immense population thoroughly imbued with the spirit of liberty
and right, this country is placed in a unique and privileged position. It is thus
able to exert, independently, its colossal strength and moral force to the
benefit of all, more judiciously and effectively, than as a member of a league.
I have dwelt on the circumstances of my early life and told of an affliction
which compelled me to unremitting exercise of imagination and self-observation.
This mental activity, at first involuntary under the pressure of illness and
suffering, gradually became second nature and led me finally to recognize that
I was but an automaton devoid of free will in thought and action and merely
responsible to the forces of the environment. Our bodies are of such complexity
of structure, the motions we perform are so numerous and involved and the
external impressions on our sense organs to such a degree delicate and elusive,
that it is hard for the average person to grasp this fact. Yet nothing is more
convincing to the trained investigator than the mechanistic theory of life
which had been, in a measure, understood and propounded by Descartes three
hundred years ago. In his time many important functions of our organisms were
unknown and especially with respect to the nature of light and the construction
and operation of the eye, philosophers were in the dark.
In recent years the progress of scientific research in these fields has been
such as to leave no room for a doubt in regard to this view on which many works
have been published. One of its ablest and most eloquent exponents is, perhaps,
Felix le Dantec, formerly assistant of Pasteur. Professor Jacques Loeb has
performed remarkable experiments in heliotropism, clearly establishing the
controlling power of light in lower forms of organisms and his latest book,
"Forced Movements," is revelatory. But while men of science accept
this theory simply as any other that is recognized, to me it is a truth which I
hourly demonstrate by every act and thought of mine. The consciousness of the
external impression prompting me to any kind of exertion, physical or mental,
is ever present in my mind. Only on very rare occasions, when I was in a state
of exceptional concentration, have I found difficulty in locating the original
impulse. The by far greater number of human beings are never aware of what is
passing around and within them and millions fall victims of disease and die
prematurely just on this account. The commonest, everyday occurrences appear to
them mysterious and inexplicable. One may feel a sudden wave of sadness and
rack his brain for an explanation, when he might have noticed that it was
caused by a cloud cutting off the rays of the sun. He may see the image of a
friend dear to him under conditions which he construes as very peculiar, when
only shortly before he has passed him in the street or seen his photograph
somewhere. When he loses a collar button, he fusses and swears for an hour,
being unable to visualize his previous actions and locate the object directly.
Deficient observation is merely a form of ignorance and responsible for the
many morbid notions and foolish ideas prevailing. There is not more than one
out of every ten persons who does not believe in telepathy and other psychic
manifestations, spiritualism and communion with the dead, and who would refuse
to listen to willing or unwilling deceivers?
Just to illustrate how deeply rooted this tendency has become even among the
clear-headed American population, I may mention a comical incident. Shortly
before the war, when the exhibition of my turbines in this city elicited
widespread comment in the technical papers, I anticipated that there would be a
scramble among manufacturers to get hold of the invention and I had particular
designs on that man from Detroit who has an uncanny faculty for accumulating
millions. So confident was I, that he would turn up some day, that I declared
this as certain to my secretary and assistants. Sure enough, one fine morning a
body of engineers from the Ford Motor Company presented themselves with the
request of discussing with me an important project. "Didn't I tell
you?," I remarked triumphantly to my employees, and one of them said,
"You are amazing, Mr. Tesla. Everything comes out exactly as you
predict."
As soon as these hardheaded men were seated, I of course, immediately began to
extol the wonderful features of my turbine, when the spokesman interrupted me
and said, "We know all about this, but we are on a special errand. We have
formed a psychological society for the investigation of psychic phenomena and
we want you to join us in this undertaking." I suppose these engineers
never knew how near they came to being fired out of my office. Ever since I was
told by some of the greatest men of the time, leaders in science whose names
are immortal, that I am possessed of an unusual mind, I bent all my thinking
faculties on the solution of great problems regardless of sacrifice. For many
years I endeavoured to solve the enigma of death, and watched eagerly for every
kind of spiritual indication. But only once in the course of my existence have
I had an experience which momentarily impressed me as supernatural. It was at
the time of my mother's death. I had become completely exhausted by pain and
long vigilance, and one night was carried to a building about two blocks from
our home. As I lay helpless there, I thought that if my mother died while I was
away from her bedside, she would surely give me a sign. Two or three months
before, I was in London in company with my late friend, Sir William Crookes,
when spiritualism was discussed and I was under the full sway of these
thoughts. I might not have paid attention to other men, but was susceptible to
his arguments as it was his epochal work on radiant matter, which I had read as
a student, that made me embrace the electrical career. I reflected that the
conditions for a look into the beyond were most favorable, for my mother was a
woman of genius and particularly excelling in the powers of intuition. During
the whole night every fibber in my brain was strained in expectancy, but
nothing happened until early in the morning, when I fell in a sleep, or perhaps
a swoon, and saw a cloud carrying angelic figures of marvelous beauty, one of
whom gazed upon me lovingly and gradually assumed the features of my mother.
The appearance slowly floated across the room and vanished, and I was awakened
by an indescribably sweet song of many voices. In that instant a certitude,
which no words can express, came upon me that my mother had just died. And that
was true. I was unable to understand the tremendous weight of the painful
knowledge I received in advance, and wrote a letter to Sir William Crookes
while still under the domination of these impressions and in poor bodily
health. When I recovered, I sought for a long time the external cause of this
strange manifestation and, to my great relief, I succeeded after many months of
fruitless effort.
I had seen the painting of a celebrated artist, representing allegorically one
of the seasons in the form of a cloud with a group of angels which seemed to
actually float in the air, and this had struck me forcefully. It was exactly
the same that appeared in my dream, with the exception of my mother's likeness.
The music came from the choir in the church nearby at the early mass of Easter
morning, explaining everything satisfactorily in conformity with scientific
facts. This occurred long ago, and I have never had the faintest reason since
to change my views on psychical and spiritual phenomena, for which there is no
foundation. The belief in these is the natural outgrowth of intellectual
development. Religious dogmas are no longer accepted in their orthodox meaning,
but every individual clings to faith in a supreme power of some kind.
We all must have an ideal to govern our conduct and insure contentment, but it
is immaterial whether it be one of creed, art, science, or anything else, so
long as it fulfills the function of a dematerializing force. It is essential to
the peaceful existence of humanity as a whole that one common conception should
prevail. While I have failed to obtain any evidence in support of the
contentions of psychologists and spiritualists, I have proved to my complete
satisfaction the automatism of life, not only through continuous observations
of individual actions, but even more conclusively through certain
generalizations. these amount to a discovery which I consider of the greatest
moment to human society, and on which I shall briefly dwell.
I got the first inkling of this astonishing truth when I was still a very young
man, but for many years I interpreted what I noted simply as coincidences.
Namely, whenever either myself or a person to whom I was attached, or a cause
to which I was devoted, was hurt by others in a particular way, which might be
best popularly characterized as the most unfair imaginable, I experienced a
singular and undefinable pain which, for the want of a better term, I have
qualified as "cosmic" and shortly thereafter, and invariably, those
who had inflicted it came to grief. After many such cases I confided this to a
number of friends, who had the opportunity to convince themselves of the theory
of which I have gradually formulated and which may be stated in the following
few words: Our bodies are of similar construction and exposed to the same
external forces. This results in likeness of response and concordance of the
general activities on which all our social and other rules and laws are based.
We are automata entirely controlled by the forces of the medium, being tossed
about like corks on the surface of the water, but mistaking the resultant of
the impulses from the outside for the free will. The movements and other
actions we perform are always life preservative and though seemingly quite
independent from one another, we are connected by invisible links. So long as
the organism is in perfect order, it responds accurately to the agents that
prompt it, but the moment that there is some derangement in any individual, his
self-preservative power is impaired.
Everybody understands, of course, that if one becomes deaf, has his eyes
weakened, or his limbs injured, the chances for his continued existence are
lessened. But this is also true, and perhaps more so, of certain defects in the
brain which drive the automaton, more or less, of that vital quality and cause
it to rush into destruction. A very sensitive and observant being, with his
highly developed mechanism all intact, and acting with precision in obedience
to the changing conditions of the environment, is endowed with a transcending
mechanical sense, enabling him to evade perils too subtle to be directly
perceived. When he comes in contact with others whose controlling organs are
radically faulty, that sense asserts itself and he feels the "cosmic"
pain.
The truth of this has been borne out in hundreds of instances and I am inviting
other students of nature to devote attention to this subject, believing that
through combined systematic effort, results of incalculable value to the world
will be attained. The idea of constructing an automaton, to bear out my theory,
presented itself to me early, but I did not begin active work until 1895, when
I started my wireless investigations. During the succeeding two or three years,
a number of automatic mechanisms, to be actuated from a distance, were
constructed by me and exhibited to visitors in my laboratory. In 1896, however,
I designed a complete machine capable of a multitude of operations, but the
consummation of my labors was delayed until late in 1897. This machine was
illustrated and described in my article in the Century Magazine of June, 1900;
and other periodicals of that time and when first shown in the beginning of
1898, it created a sensation such as no other invention of mine has ever
produced. In November, 1898, a basic patent on the novel art was granted to me,
but only after the Examiner-in-Chief had come to New York and witnessed the
performance, for what I claimed seemed unbelievable. I remember that when later
I called on an official in Washington, with a view of offering the invention to
the Government, he burst out in laughter upon my telling him what I had
accomplished. Nobody thought then that there was the faintest prospect of
perfecting such a device. It is unfortunate that in this patent, following the
advice of my attorneys, I indicated the control as being affected through the
medium of a single circuit and a well-known form of detector, for the reason
that I had not yet secured protection on my methods and apparatus for
individualization. As a matter of fact, my boats were controlled through the
joint action of several circuits and interference of every kind was excluded.
Most generally, I employed receiving circuits in the form of loops, including
condensers, because the discharges of my high-tension transmitter ionized the
air in the (laboratory) so that even a very small aerial would draw electricity
from the surrounding atmosphere for hours. Just to give an idea, I found, for
instance, that a bulb twelve inches in diameter, highly exhausted, and with one
single terminal to which a short wire was attached, would deliver well on to
one thousand successive flashes before all charge of the air in the laboratory
was neutralized. The loop form of receiver was not sensitive to such a
disturbance and it is curious to note that it is becoming popular at this late
date. In reality, it collects much less energy than the aerials or a long
grounded wire, but it so happens that it does away with a number of defects
inherent to the present wireless devices.
In demonstrating my invention before audiences, the visitors were requested to
ask questions, however involved, and the automaton would answer them by signs. This
was considered magic at the time, but was extremely simple, for it was myself
who gave the replies by means of the device. At the same period, another larger
telautomatic boat was constructed, a photograph of which was shown in the
October 1919 number of the Electrical Experimenter. It was controlled by loops,
having several turns placed in the hull, which was made entirely watertight and
capable of submergence. The apparatus was similar to that used in the first
with the exception of certain special features I introduced as, for example,
incandescent lamps which afforded a visible evidence of the proper functioning
of the machine. These automata, controlled within the range of vision of the
operator, were, however, the first and rather crude steps in the evolution of
the art of Telautomatics as I had conceived it.
The next logical improvement was its application to automatic mechanisms beyond
the limits of vision and at great distances from the center of control, and I
have ever since advocated their employment as instruments of warfare in
preference to guns. The importance of this now seems to be recognized, if I am
to judge from casual announcements through the press, of achievements which are
said to be extraordinary but contain no merit of novelty, whatever. In an
imperfect manner it is practicable, with the existing wireless plants, to
launch an airplane, have it follow a certain approximate course, and perform
some operation at a distance of many hundreds of miles. A machine of this kind
can also be mechanically controlled in several ways and I have no doubt that it
may prove of some usefulness in war. But there are to my best knowledge, no
instrumentalities in existence today with which such an object could be
accomplished in a precise manner. I have devoted years of study to this matter
and have evolved means, making such and greater wonders easily realizable.
As stated on a previous occasion, when I was a student at college I conceived a
flying machine quite unlike the present ones. The underlying principle was
sound, but could not be carried into practice for want of a prime-mover of
sufficiently great activity. In recent years, I have successfully solved this
problem and am now planning aerial machines *devoid of sustaining planes,
ailerons, propellers, and other external* attachments, which will be capable of
immense speeds and are very likely to furnish powerful arguments for peace in
the near future. Such a machine, sustained and propelled "entirely by
reaction," is shown on one of the pages of my lectures, and is supposed to
be controlled either mechanically, or by wireless energy. By installing proper
plants, it will be practicable to "project a missile of this kind into the
air and drop it" almost on the very spot designated, which may be thousands
of miles away.
But we are not going to stop at this. Telautomats will be ultimately produced,
capable of acting as if possessed of their own intelligence, and their advent
will create a revolution. As early as 1898, I proposed to representatives of a
large manufacturing concern the construction and public exhibition of an
automobile carriage which, left to itself, would perform a great variety of
operations involving something akin to judgment. But my proposal was deemed
chimerical at the time and nothing came of it. At present, many of the ablest
minds are trying to devise expedients for preventing a repetition of the awful
conflict which is only theoretically ended and the duration and main issues of
which I have correctly predicted in an article printed in the SUN of December
20, 1914. The proposed League is not a remedy but, on the contrary, in the
opinion of a number of competent men, may bring about results just the
opposite.
It is particularly regrettable that a punitive policy was adopted in framing
the terms of peace, because a few years hence, it will be possible for nations
to fight without armies, ships or guns, by weapons far more terrible, to the
destructive action and range of which there is virtually no limit. Any city, at
a distance, whatsoever, from the enemy, can be destroyed by him and no power on
earth can stop him from doing so. If we want to avert an impending calamity and
a state of things which may transform the globe into an inferno, we should push
the development of flying machines and wireless transmission of energy without
an instant's delay and with all the power and resources of the nation.