T

he Tes
la
C
ontroversy
I
t i
s not doubted today t hat Tes
la's na me r
anks w ith t
he major early
r
esearchers into t
he n ature of e
lectr
icity but so me people c
laim that
much ofhis work h as never been made pub lic
. We look at h
is li
fe and
c
areer
BY THE B EG INN ING o f the 1 880s , electr
ica l mach ines
we re f inding t heir way i nto b oth t he com merc ial a nd
domes t
ic fields. Although t he n ature of AC was u nde r
-
s
tood , p ractical
ly a l
l mo tors a nd g enerators we re DC
E
l ec t
ricity was b ecom ing a ccep ted a nd arc-la mps, elec-
t
r
ic l i
fts, pho to-
flood l amps a nd a w ide v ar
ie ty of other
dev ices we rea appearing .
I
n 1 882 h oweve r
, ay oung man N ikola T esla who h ad
been b orn in Sm ijan in wha t isn ow Y ugos lav ia, s
tarted
t
o d evo te his u ndoub ted t a
len ts to inves tigating AC .
T
es la h ad the u nusua l fl
air f o
r men ta
l v isua l
isation o f F
ig. 1
. D
iagra m u
sed by T
esla i
n -T
he E
lectr
ician" t
o e
xpla
in
h
igh ly c omp lex ideas, av irtue s hared b y F araday who h
o w ar
otat
ing f
ield may be p
roduced by a po
ly -phase s
yste m
.
was a lso wo rking a tthat time.
A
t t he end of 1 883 . Tesla exh ibi
ted awo rking mode l (
see Fig
. 2)ofeno rmous propo r
tion at Niagara F
al
ls.
T
esla was a man ofgreat generosity. Iti
ssa
id he to
re
u
p ac ont
ract binding Wes t
inghouse t o p
ay him $12
m
ill
ion — s aying t ha
t it was mo re i mpor
tant for t
he
N
iaga ra p
lant t
o keep the home -l
ights b urn
ing than for
Westinghouse to become bankrup t b ecause o
f adebt to
h
im.

TESLA AND RA DIO

Notw ithstand ing h is already s i
gn ifican t wo rk i n p ower
e
lectrical e nginee r
ing T esla t u
rned t ot hough ts of higher
F
ig. 2
. Sketch o f turb
ine and f
requency ( RF) currents — h ighe r b y fa
r than t he t yp
ical
dyna mo instal
led a t Niagara
Fal
ls — 5000 horsepo wer a t
100 H z limit of power g ene rators o f that time .
2000 V. Ten units were instal- T
he p ionee rs of radio h ad s hown h ow a s park d is
-
l
ed. T hey consu med 26 , 000 charge p roduced w ith a n i nduc tor a nd c apac itor
l
bs of water per second . Turb- (
L eyden j a
rs t o begin w i
th ) was f ina
lly p roven t o be an
i
ne (TS) s haft was 1 40 f eet
osci
llatory p rocess l y
ing t ypically i nt he radio f requency
l
ong o f 38 in dia meter. Pen -
s
tock ( P
) del
ivers water t o the band . Rigs t hat produced s uch d ischarges c on t
inued t o
t
urb
ine (
T). be d eve loped . T he a dd i
tion o f av ibrating b e
ll-
like
contac t or spark-gap d ischa rge a rrangemen ts p roduced
o
fa n AC mach ine i nP ar
is. ( F
igure 1i so ne o fT esla's own ac on t
inuous t r
ain of d ischarges . When s tep -up t rans
-
p
ictures.) H e t hen b egan a c a mpa ign h ope fu lly to f
o rme r action was a l
so i nco rpora ted, t he T esla c o
il was
p
ersuade t he eme rging e lectr
ica l gian ts. s uch a s the f
o rmed . ( Ano ther na me i sthe R uh mko rf
f coil.) Figure 3
Cont
inen tal Edison C ompany , t hat AC t ransm iss ion was i
sa 1
910 T
esla a
ppara
tus
.
more ef
ficient than DC a nd this r esul
ted i n ajob o ffer t
o
work wi
th E d
ison i n Ame rica. Ac hance s oon c a me , t
he
r
epair of DC g ene rators i n t he o cean -go ing s tea mer
"Oregon ," for him t o show h is skil
ls.
H
is wo rk mus t h ave b een g ood a s h e s oon b ecame
Ed
ison's c h
ief a ssis
tan t.
Afew y ears laterT esla s e
t u p his own l aborato ry from
which he final
ly r epo r
ted ( i
n 1 888 ) the e lectromagne t
ic
r
otary fi
eld wh ich e nabled t hree -phase p owe r transm is-
s
ion t o b e i mple men ted . S ho rt
ly a fter t his, Geo rge
Westinghouse , o f Wes t
inghouse E lectric C o
. b ough t
F
ig. 3
. Modern (
at l
east i
n 1
910
) T
esla c
oil a
pparatus
.
i
nto Tesla's i n
te rests a nd b ui
lt ah ydro-e lectric s yste m

Hobby E
lectron
ics
, Dece mber 1978
7
0
•
I
t was t
he spectacu
lar t
hings Tesla d
id with hi
s radio
f
requency extremely h
igh vol
tage generators t
hatg a
ined
h
im so much f ame. At ale
cture to t
he Ame r
ican Inst
itu-
t
i
on o f Elec
trica
l E ng
ineers, given around 1 891. h e
made a memo rable impression being reported at the
t
ime as

"
his work p laces Tes
la among t he g
reates
t of our
p
resent
-day s c
ientis
ts and inven
tors
, s
uch as E
dison,
Graha m B
el
la nd Thomson."

M ADE H
IS M ARK WITH SPARKS
I
nvita t
ions p oured i n for his s pectacular d isplays w i
th
man -made l i
ghtning a nd R F discharges . His e quip men t
used t wo ki nds ofg enerato r
.
T
he f i
rst was a 3 84 p ole AC d yna mo r unning a t 5 0
r
evo lutions p erm inute tog ive 1 9.2 k Hz
. T he othe r was a
Ruh mko rff-type i nduction c o
il u sed w i
th a c ondense r
(
capac itor) a nd a s park g ap. T his produced t he then
amaz ing h alf am il
lion v ol
ts a t "sco res of thousands o f F
ig. 4
. Tesla amazed the s
cient
ific world i
n 1893 by h
old
ing
g
lo w
ing tubes a
loft w
ithout any electr
ical c
onnect
ions be
ing
c
ycles p er s econd" . It was the l a
tter that impressed h is
made to t
he t
ubes.
audiences , f o
r Tesla "brand ished f laming swords l i
ke a n
a
rchange l" — s ee Fig. 4( or shou ld itb e arc-ange l
! —
d
istance o f 26 m
iles'
. Itissa
id hi
s i
deas f
a
iled to b
e
Ed)
.
e
xploited b y c
om merce because t
he t
r
ansmitted e
lec
-
F
ortuna tely for everybody t hese R E discharges we re
t
r
ic
i ty cou
ld not b
e charged f
or
.

12
1
;1 .
, P
‘.
:
, ;I V • PO WERFUL SECRET?
T
esla died in 1 943, h is last wo rk b eing o n the u se of
•t c
osm ic rays as ene rgy s ources . T he F ree Press r eport
c
la
i med thatthe F BI se
ized h is pape rs and confisca ted a
ll
o
fh i
s reports
.
D
id T es
la h ave a u nique a nd p owe r
ful s ecret? H e
c
ertainly was a v is
ionary , p erhaps h e did d iscover
s
ome thing great that isb e
ing w i
thhe ld .
I
thas been sugges ted t hat the R ussians have r ecent
ly
f
ound o ut how h i
s way -ou t expe ri men ts were d one and
= AL

i
n d o
ing s o have t apped s ome n ew f orm o f e nergy.
F
rankly we d oubt ifthe re isa ny truth int he suppression
— or r
ediscovery — o f his wo rk b u
t al ot of p
eop le do not
.
••
•••
•••• =•
•
•• a
gree.
F
ig 5.Ac onte mporary p
rint o
fTes
la's expe
ri ments c
onducted Today he istr
uly acknowledged H is na me isused a
s
i
n Be
rlin i
n 1
894. t
he now a dopted u n
it of magnetic fi
eld insens
ity and
mos
t labo
ra to
ries possess Tes
la-coi
ls f
or ion
ising gas i
n
e
vacuated tubes
.
not lethal b u t T esla said when a bou t t o try them o ut f o
r H
E
t
he first time ( expe r
i men te rs we re n aive t osay t he l e ast)
,
"
i
t was a s i f / were p o
ised t o j ump f rom B rook lyn
Br
idge" .
D
e mons trations i ncluded d raw ing a rcs b etween a
s
tr
ing o f p eop le, a s reco rded , Fig. 5 , i n ac on tempo rary
magaz ine . A no the r was t o make Ge issle r tubes ( g
lass
t
ubes f il
led w ith r arified a ir b ut h aving n o e lec trical
c
on tac t w ith e xterna l c ircuits) g low wh ilst s uspended
be
tween , b ut we ll free o f, the p oles o f h igh h igh -vo ltage
t
ransfo rme r.
I
n hi s 1 899 h e b u
ilt ah uge e xpe ri men tal b arn a t
Co
lo rado S prings i nC o
lo rado — 3 0 me tres long a nd 7/ 2
1

metres w ide o n t op o f wh ich was a 2 5 me tre t owe r

s
uppo rting a 6 0 me tre mas t
. At t he t op was a 1 me tre
d
ia me te r coppe r b a
ll.
H
e s ubsequen t
ly p roved t he e arth i s elec trica lly
c
ha rged a t ah igh p oten t
ial. T he L os A ngeles F ree P ress
r
epo rted v isiona ry i deas n o
t y e
t e xp lo i
ted — u se o f t he
e
arth's r esonance e ne rgy a nd the l aunch ing o f waves o f
e
lectrical e ne rgy t o t ransm it p owe r t o p laces r e mo te
f
rom g ene rato rs. T he re was t alk o fc ha rging t he e arth t o
p
roduce t remendous v oltages a nd o ft e
rm ina ls toe xtrac t F
ig. 6
. Th
is pr
int of1894 s
ho ws t
he l
aboratory equ
ip ment u
sed
i
t
.T esla i ss aid t o have ' l
i
t 200 i ncandescent l amps a t a i
n Tes
la's exper
i ments
.

Hobby E
lectron
ics
, Dece mber 1978 7
1