The advances described are the result of my research carried on for many years with the chief object of transmitting electrical energy to great distances. The first important practical realization of these efforts was the alternating current power system now in universal use. I then turned my attention to wireless transmission and was fortunate enough to achieve similar success in this fruitful field, my discoveries and inventions being employed throughout the world. In the course of this work, I mastered the technique of high potentials sufficiently for enabling me to construct and operate, in 1899, a wireless transmitter developing up to twenty million volts. Some time before I contemplated the possibility of transmitting such high tension currents over a narrow beam of radiant energy ionizing the air and rendering it, in measure, conductive. After preliminary laboratory experiments, I made tests on a large scale with the transmitter referred to and a beam of ultra-violet rays of great energy in an attempt to conduct the current to the high rarefied strata of the air and thus create an auroral such as might be utilized for illumination, especially of oceans at night. I found that there was some virtue in the principal but the results did not justify the hope of important practical applications although, some years later, several inventors claimed to have produced a "death ray" in this manner. While the published reports to this effect were entirely unfounded, I believe that with the new transmitter to be built, this and many other wonders will be achieved. Much time was devoted by me to the transmission of radiant energy, in various forms, by reflectors and I perfected means for increasing enormously the intensity of the effects, but was baffled in all my efforts to materially reduce dispersion and became fully convinced that this handicap could only be overcome by conveying the power through the medium of small particles projected, at prodigious velocity, from the transmitter. Electro-static repulsion was the only means to this end and apparatus of stupendous force would have to be developed, but granted that sufficient speed and energy could be realized with a single row of minute bodies then there would be no dispersion whatever even at great distance. Since the cross section of the carriers might be reduced to almost microscopic dimensions an immense concentration of energy, irrespective of distance, could be attained.
When I undertook to carry out this plan in practice, the difficulties seemed insurmountable. In the first place, a closed vacuum tube could not be employed as no window could withstand the force of the impact. This made it absolutely necessary to project the particles in free air which meant that each could hold only an insignificant charge. Thus, no matter how high the potential of the terminal, the force of repulsion would be necessarily too small for the purpose contemplated. . . . But by the application of my discoveries and inventions it is possible to increase the force of repulsion more than a million times and what was heretofore impossible, is rendered easy of accomplishment. The successful carrying out of the plan involves a number of more or less important improvements but the principal among these include the following:
1. A new form of high vacuum tube open to the atmosphere.
2. Provisions for imparting to a minute particle an extremely high charge.
3. A new terminal of relatively small dimensions and enormous potential.
4. An electro-static generator on a new principle and of very great power.
FIG. 1
ILLUSTRATING OPEN VACUUM TUBE
These devices and methods of operation will be explained by reference to the attached drawings in which Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 represent forms of the new open tube.
In Fig. 1, the device consists of an inner cylindrical conduit 1, cemented to a metallic socket 3, and an outer conduit 2, which is tightly screwed to the socket by a nut 4, and has on the open side a taper with a cylindrical end 9, of the same inside diameter as conduit 1. The socket 3, is bored out to provide a large chamber around the inner conduit and carries a pipe 7, through which thoroughly desiccated air or other gas under suitable pressure is supplied. The open end of the inner and the tapering part of the outer conduit are ground to form an expanding nozzle 8, through which the air escapes into the atmosphere thereby creating a high vacuum in the inner conduit. The socket 3 has a small central hole and is provided with an inside extension 5, and a threaded outside projection 6, the latter serving for connection to a container supplying automatically suitable particles or material for same while the former fulfill the purpose of charging them as they emerge from the hole. The conduit 1 and 2, may be made of fused quartz, pyrex glass or other refractory material and it is obviously desirable that all the parts of the apparatus have small and nearly equal coefficients of thermal expansion especially when the working medium, which might also be superheated steam,
is at an elevated temperature.
It will be observed that in this tube I do away with the solid wall or window indispensable in all types heretofore employed, producing the high vacuum required and preventing the inrush of the air by a gaseous jet of high velocity. Evidently, to secure this result, the dynamic pressure of the jet must be at least equal to the external static pressure.
Expressed in symbols:
V2w/2g = P
Assuming equality:
V = √2g P/w
in which equation V is the speed of the jet at its entrance to channel 8 in meters, g the acceleration of gravity likewise in meters, P the external pressure in kilograms per square meter and w the normal weight of the air in kilograms per cubic meter. Now
g = 9.81 meters
P = 10332.9 kilograms
w = 1.2929 kilograms
These values give
V = 396 meters
FIG. 2
SHOWING A MODIFIED FORM OF OPEN VACUUM TUBE
Some allowance should be made for the frictional loss in the nozzle and the outlet channel and also for the deflection of the jet. For most purposes, the velocity need not be much greater, but as the degree of rarefaction depends on the square of V, it is desirable to obtain as high a value as practicable. Usually, vacuums obtained by a mercury vapor pump are considered very high. In those, the velocity is only 280 meters per second but the vapor is 6.9 times heavier than air. Therefore to get the same vacuum in the air jet, its speed should be 280 x [6.9]1/2 = 735 meters. With a working medium at high temperature and pressure, both within practicable limits, this value can be attained and even exceeded. Thus, a gaseous jet of very high velocity affords a means for closing the end of the tube, more perfectly than any window that can be made while at the same time permitting and facilitating the exit of the particles. Referring to fig. 2., it shows schematically a modified form of my tube intended for various scientific and practical uses when it may be preferable or necessary not to discharge the jet through the open end. The construction of the device will be easily understood in view of the foregoing description like parts being similarly designated. A cylindrical conduit 1, is provided as in fig. 1, but the outer cone is replaced by a block 2, of lava or other insulating material shaped as indicated and firmly cemented to the conduit 1, which is hermetically joined by a nut 4, to a metallic plug 3, having a central hole, and extensions 3 and 6, serving the purpose stated above. The working fluid, as compressed desiccated air, is supplied by means of a pipe 7, to a large annular space around conduit 1, and escapes through an expanding nozzle 8, formed by the tapering part of the block and the end of the conduit, into a chamber connected by a pipe 10, to a vacuum pump of large capacity - not shown on the drawing - for carrying off not only the air issuing from the nozzle but also that rushing in from the outside through the open end 9. In order to minimize the volume of the latter, I avail myself of an invention of mine known as the "valvular conduit" by providing the wall of the open end 9, with recesses as indicated giving rise to whirls and eddies which use up some of the energy of the stream and reduce its velocity. In this way, a pressure of about 100 millimeters of mercury can be readily maintained in the chamber increasing greatly the expansion ration of the air and its speed through the nozzle.
It is hardly necessary to remark that my open vacuum tubes require mechanical power for operation which may range from 10 to 20 h.p., but this drawback is insignificant when considering the important advantages they offer and I anticipate that they will be extensively employed.
It remains to be explained how such a tube is utilized for imparting to a particle to be projected a very great charge. Imagine that the small spherical body be placed in a nearly perfect vacuum and electrically connected to the large sphere forming the high potential terminal of the transmitter. By virtue of the connection, the small sphere will then be at the potential of the large one no matter what its distance from the same but the quantity of electricity stored on the small sphere will vary greatly with the distance and be proportionate to the difference of its potential and that of the adjacent medium. If the small sphere is very close to the large one, this difference will be insignificant and so to the charge; but if the small sphere is at a great distance from the large one where the potential imparted by the same to the medium approximates zero, the quantity of electricity stored on the small one will be relatively enormous and equal to Qr/R. To illustrate, if r = 1/100 e.s. and R = 1000 e.s. and Q = 108 e.s. units, as before assumed, then Q =1000 e.s. units which is a hundred thousand times more than previously obtainable. At a distance 2R from the center of the terminal, at which the difference between the potential of the small sphere and the adjacent medium will be half of the total, or 15,000,000 volts, Q will be 500 e.s. units and from theoretical considerations, it appears that the best results will be secured if the particle is charged in high vacuum at that distance. It can be accomplished all the more easily the smaller the radius of the terminal and this is one of the reasons why my improvement, illustrated in Fig. 3, is of great practical importance.
FIG. 3
NEW TERMINAL FOR EXCEEDINGLY HIGH POTENTIALS
CONSISTING OF SPHERICAL FRAME ATTACHMENTS
[See Fig. 4 for TERMINAL.]
DIAGRAM INDICATING DISTRIBUTION OF CHARGES
As will appear from the inspection of the drawing, the spherical frame of the terminal is equipped with devices, one of which is shown in the enlarged view below and comprises a bulb 2, of glass or other insulating material and an electrode of thin sheet suitable rounded. The latter is joined by a supporting wire to a metallic socket adapted for fastening to the frame 1, by means of nut 3. The bulb is exhausted to the very highest vacuum obtainable and the electrode can be charged to an immense density. Thus, it is made possible to raise the potential of the terminal to any value desired, so to speak, without limit, and the usual losses are avoided. I am confident that as much as one hundred million volts will be reached with such a transmitter providing a tool on inestimable value for practical purposes as well as scientific research.
FIG. 4
SCHEMATIC ILLUSTRATION OF NEW HIGH POTENTIAL GENERATOR
Perhaps the most important of these inventions is the new high potential electro-static generator, schematically represented in Fig. 4, which is provided with my improved terminal consisting of a spherical metallic frame 1, with attachments 2, adapted to be fastened to the former by nuts 3, as above described. The terminal has a platform 4, in the interior of the frame intended for supporting machinery, instruments and observers, and is carried to a suitable elevation on insulating columns omitted from the drawing for the sake of simplicity. To energize the terminal, air under pressure is driven at high speed through a hermetically closed channel comprising a turbo compressor 5, with intake and outlet connections, conduits 7 and 8, special fittings 9 and 10,and a short pipe 11. The conduits 7 and 8, are preferably composed of pieces of glazed porcelain bolted tightly together, the joints being made airtight by suitable packing and are corrugated on the outside to minimize electrical leakage. The fittings 9 and 10 and pipe 11, may also be of the same kind of material. The air before entering and after leaving the compressor, as well as all apparatus within the airtight enclosure 6, is effectively cooled and maintained at a constant temperature by means as ordinarily employed which was not thought necessary to illustrate. The operation of the machine will be understood most readily by likening the moving column of air to a running belt. When the air, leaving the compressor, reaches the device 12, containing discharge points electrified by a direct current of high tension, it is ionized and the charge imparted to it is carried upward to the special fitting 9, where it is drawn off by sucking points and charges the terminal. On the return to the compressor the air passes through special fitting 10, where it receives electricity of the opposite sign conveying it to the device 13, and from there to the ground. These actions are repeated with great rapidity. The generator can be made self-exciting by suitable connections. For several reasons, I estimate that a machine as described will have an output of many times greater than a belt generator of the same size and, besides, it has several other important construction and operative advantages.
To give an approximate estimate of performance, reference is made to diagram in Fig. 5, representing a spherical terminal and an open vacuum tube for projecting particles. Suppose that d be the distance from the center o at which a particle of radius r = 1/100 c.m. is charged in vacuum to the potential of the terminal, as before explained, and that D is the distance from center O at which the particle leaves the vacuous space, then, in passing through the distance D - d it will be accelerated to a velocity
V1 = √2Qq (D-d) / md D centimeters per second
In its transit from distance D to a very much greater distance an additional velocity of
V2 = √2Qq' / m D centimeters per second
q' being, theoretically, smaller than q. But I have found that although the particle in contact with air is neutralized rapidly yet, on account of its small surface, magnitude of the charge and prodigious speed, a very great distance is traversed without material reduction of the charge so that, without appreciable error, q' may be considered equal to q. Thus, the total velocity attained will be
V = V1+V2 = √2Qq (D-d) / md D + √2Qq' / m D centimeters per second
in which expression Q and q are in e.s. units, D and d in centimeters and m the mass of the particle in grams. But the calculation may be simplified, for if the charge is virtually constant through a great distance, the velocity finally attained will be
V = √2Qq / md centimeters per second
Assume now that the terminal is equivalent to a sphere of radius R = 250 centimeters which heretofore could only be charged to a potential of 100 x 250 = 25,000 e.s. units or 7,500,000 volts but, by taking advantage of my improvements, can be readily charged to 2 x 105 e.s. units or 6 x 107 volts in which case the quantity of electricity stored will be Q = 2 x 105 x 250 = 5 x 107 e.s. units. If, for best effect, the particle is charged in vacuum at a distance d = 2R = 500 centimeters where the difference between its potential and adjacent medium is 3 x 107 volts or 105 e.s. units, then q/r = 105 and q = 105 = 1000 e.s. units. The particle will have a volume of 4TT/3 x 106 cubic centimeters and if it be tungsten, it will weigh about 4TT x 18/3 x 106 = 7686/1011 gram. Substituting these values
V = √2 x 5 x 107 x 1000 x 1011 / 1000 x 7686 x 500 = 1,613,000 centimeters or 16,130 meters per second.
This finding may be checked by using the relation between the joule's equivalent and the kinetic energy. Here the joules are 3 x 107 x 1000 / 3 x 109 = 10 and approximately equal to 106 gram-centimeters. Consequently,
mV2 / 2 = 106
V2 = 2 x 106 x 1011 / 7686 and
V = 1,613,000 centimeters or 16,130 meters
as found above by my formula which is always applicable while the latter rule is not.
Since a joule is equivalent to about 10,000 gram-centimeters, the kinetic energy is equal to 105 gram-centimeters or 1 kilogram-meter.
In order to determine the probable trajectory the air resistance encountered by the particle has to be estimated from practical data and theoretical consideration. Very extensive ballistic tests by French experts have established conclusively that up to a velocity of 400 meters per second, the resistance increases as the square of the speed but from there on, to the highest velocities attained, the increase is directly proportional to the speed. On the other hand, it has been found in tests with rifles that an ordinary bullet, 8 millimeters in diameter and three times as long, fired at 400 meters per second, encounters a mean resistance of about 0.02 kilogram and from these facts, it can be inferred that the average resistance of the particle at the maximum speed V might be of the order of 1/64,000 of a kilogram and if so, the trajectory should be approximately 64,000 meters or 64 kilometers. Obviously, resistance data cannot be accurate, but as the mechanical effects can be increased many times, there should be no difficulty in securing the practically required range with a transmitter as described. In all probability, when the technique is perfected, results will be obtained which are thought impossible at present. Such a particle, notwithstanding its minute volume of 1/250,000 cubic centimeter, would be very destructive. It would pierce the usual protecting covering of aeroplanes, put machinery out of commission and ignite fuel and explosives. To combatants, it would be deadly at any distance well within its full range. Projected almost simultaneously in great numbers, the particles would produce intense heating effects. In action, against aeroplanes, the range would be very much greater on account of the smaller density of the air. Evidently, the smaller the particles, the greater will be their speed. For instance, if r = 1/10,000 centimeter, a velocity of 160,000 meters per second will be attained. An enormous increase in speed and range would be secured with particles of a diameter smaller than 800 times the molecular diameter.
It is important to devise a thoroughly practical and simple means for supplying particles and I have invented two which seem to meet this requirement. One is to feed tungsten or other wire from a spool in a closed container joined hermetically to the projector, the rotation of the spool being under control of the operator. Using wire 2/100 centimeters in diameter, twenty cubic centimeters of the same would provide material for 5,000,000 particles. The other device consists of a closed container fixed to the projector and filled with mercury which can be expanded by external and controllable application of heat and forced, under great pressure, through a minute hole in the extreme end of the extension reaching to the distance d as before illustrated and explained. The droplet torn off and projected would have the hardness of steel owing to the great capillary pressure. If mercury can be used for the purpose, this means is ideally simple and cheap.
Correspondence
Hotel New Yorker
New York, N. Y.
April 7, 1934
S. W. Kintner, Esq.
Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. Co.
Pittsburgh, Pa.
My dear Mr. Kintner;
I was glad that you did not put the matter before Mr. Merrick for I found after careful thought and figuring that it would take much more money to carry out my proposal which I made to you on the spur of the moment stimulated by the pleasure of our meeting and your warm response. The Westinghouse people made a friendly gesture and I wanted to meet them in the same spirit by giving them the first opportunity on discoveries which I honestly believe to be more important than any of recorded in the history of invention
I have groped for years trying to find some solution of felt most pressing problem of humanity that of insuring peace and, little by little, I have been led to the ideal means to this end, for they will afford perfect protection to every country without providing a new component for attack. The International Peace Conference will insist on its immediate and universal adoption, for as long as the countries are imperfectly protected invasions are sure to occur.
I note your suggestion but am at a loss to see how to carry it out. Rest assured though, that I shall always hold your people in high regard and if I ever find it in my power to advance their interest I shall spare no effort.
The skepticism of your expert was expected. He is probably under the sway of the modern illusionary ideas and the abler he is the more apt he is to be in error. But I have demonstrated all the principals involved and am going ahead with perfect confidence which all the experts in the world could not shake.
Yours very truly,
=======================================================================
Hotel New Yorker
November 29, 1934
J.P. Morgan Esq.
23 Wall Street
New York
Dear Mr. Morgan:
I have made recent discoveries of inestimable value which are referred in the marked passage of the clipping enclosed. Their practical application should yield an immense fortune.
The flying machine has completely demoralized the world, so much that in some cities, as London and Paris, people are in moral fear from aerial bombing. The new means I have perfected afford absolute protection against this and other forms of attack.
You know how your father assisted me in the development of my wireless system. He did not get any returns but I am convinced that if he were living he would be gratified by the knowledge that my inventions are universally applied. I still gratefully remember your own support although the war deprived me of the success I had achieved. I not only lost everything in those two undertakings but was for years compelled to pay off all sorts of unfair claims. It was only a little while ago that I managed to settle the last one and terminate the tormenting nightmare.
These new discoveries, which I have carried out experimentally on a limited scale, have created a profound impression. One of the most pressing problems seems to be the protection of London and I am writing to some influential friends in England hoping that my plan will be adopted without delay. The Russians are very anxious to render their borders safe against Japanese invasion and I have made them a proposal which is being seriously considered. I have many admirers there especially on account of the introduction of my alternating system to an extent unprecedented. Some years ago Lenin made me twice in succession very tempting offers to come to Russia but I could not tear myself from my laboratory work.
Words cannot express how much I am aching for the same facilities which I then had at my disposal and for the opportunity of squaring my account with your father's estate and yourself. I am no longer a dreamer but a practical man of great experience gained in long and bitter trials. If I had now twenty five thousand dollars to secure my property and make convincing demonstrations I could acquire in a short time colossal wealth. Would you be willing to advance me this sum if I pledged to you these inventions ?
Mr. Morgan you are still able to help an undying cause but how long will you be in this privileged position? We are in the clutches of a political party which caters openly and brazenly to the mob and believes that by pouring out billions of public money, still unequalled, it can remain in power indefinitely. The democratic principles are forsaken and individual liberty and incentives are made a joke. The "New Deal" is a perpetual motion scheme which can never work but is given a semblance of operativeness by unceasing supply of the peoples capital. Most of the measures adopted are a bid for votes and some are destructive to established industries and decidedly socialistic. The next step might be the distribution of wealth by excessive taxing if not conscription.
With best wishes and respectful regards believe me as ever
yours most faithfully
N. Tesla
=======================================================================
WESTERN UNION TELEGRAM
from Nikola Tesla
to Sava Kosanovic
New York, N.Y.
March 1, 1941
I thank Dr. Macek and you for the happy news. It is important that you know the following: [In] eight years I developed a new title using 50 of my patents of which one third are not applied. In the system there are no electrons. Energy goes into the same direction without any distribution [dissipation] and the same on all sides of distance. It contains neutrons. [In] the air [its size] is equal to a diameter of hydrogen. It can destroy the largest ships afloat. There is unlimited distance of travel. The same is for airplanes.
One will need nine stations: for Serbia; three for Croatia and two for Slovenia and everyone needs 200 KW which can defend our dear homeland against any type of attack.
The contents of one bomb can be exploded in the air. I add that in the station one must have a small generator or battery of 30 volts for activation.
Express my deepest respect to Dr. Macek and accept the warmest greetings and thanks.
Your uncle, Nikola Tesla
=======================================================================
WESTERN UNION TELEGRAM
from Nikola Tesla
to Sava Kosanovic
New York, N.Y.
March 4, 1941
As though I am poor with words. I still didn't explain it enough what would be necessary to increase up to twelve stations: eight in Croatia, each of the same construction like at Wardenclyffe and only 20 meters high - a ball five meters in diameter - the station would be using diesel oil for energy with mechanical action - my air turbines, steam powered, electrically or other manners of transforming into alternating electrical current with sixty billion volts pressure without danger. I am waiting for Governor Subasic to select one station on top of Mt. Lovcen. There will not be any light, electrical energy will deliver particles through space with the speed of 118,837,370,000 centimeters per second. This is 394,579 the speed of light. As I said about airplanes it can be used for tanks, trucks, automobiles and various machines in factories, with hydroelectrical wheels and unlimited other machines. The particles can be larger than that of the diameter of an Hydrogen atom with metals of all kinds of materials and sent to all distances and good results in war and bring about peace. Particles are practical with neutrons, because, they are 3,723 times lighter than electricity or electrons that cannot penetrate space for great distances. In my attempts with an effective 20 million volts, electrons carried 40 times more electricity than normally and penetrated two meters in depth and terrible damage in a moment each. I have to finish because that I give you a fresh view.
Warm Greetings, I remain your uncle, Nikola
=======================================================================
ArticlesTesla Invents Peace Ray
NY Sun, July 10, 1934
Beam to Kill Army at 200 Miles
Tesla on Power Development and Future Marvels
Dr. Tesla Visions the End of Aircraft In War
Tesla Predicts Ships Powered By Shore Beam
Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla
Tesla Looks Forward to Sending Waves to the Moon
Aerial Defense "Death Beam" Offered to U. S. by Tesla
----------
TESLA INVENTS PEACE RAY
Tesla Describes His Beam of Destructive Energy
Invention of a "beam of matter moving at high velocity" which would act as a "beam of destructive energy" was announced today by Dr. Nikola Tesla, the inventor, in his annual birthday interview. Dr. Tesla is 78, and for the past several years has made his anniversary the occasion for announcement of scientific discoveries.
=======================================================================
DEATH-RAY MACHINE DESCRIBED
Dr. Tesla Says Two of Four Necessary Pieces of Apparatus Have Been Built
=======================================================================
TESLA, AT 78, BARES NEW 'DEATH-BEAM'
Invention Powerful Enough to Destroy 10,000 Planes at 250 Miles Away, He Asserts Defensive Weapon Only
Scientist, In Interview, Tells of Apparatus That He Says Will Kill without Trace
Nikola Tesla, father of modern methods of generation and distribution of electrical energy, who was 78 years old yesterday, announced a new invention, or inventions, which he said, he considered the most important of the 700 made by him so far.
"Death-Beam" is Silent
Battleships to Be Supreme
=======================================================================
BEAM TO KILL ARMY AT 200 MILES, TESLA'S CLAIM ON 78TH BIRTHDAY
By Joseph w. Alsop, Jr.
Dr. Nikola Tesla, inventor of polyphase electric current, pioneer in high frequency transmission, predecessor of Marconi with the wireless, celebrated his seventy-eighth birthday yesterday by announcing his invention of a beam of force somewhat similar to the death ray of scientific romance.
Creates Rays in Free Air
It Is an Electric Gun
Some Parts Still Unmade
"Heat to Kill All Peoples"
Works Twenty Hours Daily
=======================================================================
TESLA ON POWER DEVELOPMENT AND FUTURE MARVELS
I am a reader of your excellent paper and frequently preserve excerpts of interest to me for future reference.
* * *
Another item of interest to me is your flattering editorial of July 12, 1934, with a fly in the ointment since you state that examination of performance does not in recent cases fulfill my prophecy. Perhaps not, but on the whole I have been extraordinarily successful. You would be surprised to know how many of my discoveries and inventions are in extensive use. To give an illustration, I may refer to my wireless system of transmission of energy which is looked upon by many as a pipe dream.
New York.
=======================================================================
DR. TESLA VISIONS THE END OF AIRCRAFT IN WAR
By Helen Welshimer
"America Enters War!" "United States Joins Allies!" "Congress Declares War!" The newsboys were screaming the headlines through the rainy April night. Men and women stood on corners, talking, talking, talking
The drift of the days went on. Troop trains pulled out of the stations, from Centreville, Mississippi, up to Bangor, Maine. The drums blew. The ships sailed and the casualty lists came back. One by one the gold stars replaced the white
And 1917 drifted into 1918.
Dr. Nikola Tesla was in his laboratory trying hard to solve a problem of ages. Once in a while he raised his head to listen. Then he turned back to his experiments. He was going to end war!
The noted inventor, 78 years old now, already had 700 inventions to his credit. This was to be his greatest.
Years marched on. The fanfare and the drums were done. The dead were buried. The living came home.
Now, 15 years after the war has ended, Tesla, one of the greatest inventors of all time, has announced that his invention to end all wars, by a perfect means of defense which any nation can employ, is ready. Soon, he says, he will take it to Geneva to present it to the Peace Conference.
Whether it is a dream or reality may soon be known. He claims to have created a new agent, silent and invisible, which kills without trace and yet pierces the thickest armor. It is a beam of death and destruction formed of minute particles of matter carrying such tremendous energy that they could bring down a fleet of 10,000 attacking planes and wipe out an army of millions at a distance of 250 miles.
"The invention,' said Dr. Tesla, "will make war impossible for it will surround any country using this means with an impenetrable, invisible wall of protection. Plants for the generating of this beam will be erected along the coasts and near cities. One plant will afford perfect safety within an area of 40.000 square miles.
"The beam will be effective at any distance at which the object to be destroyed can be perceived through a telescope. Every country will have to adopt this invention, for without it a nation will be helpless.
"The beam, intended chiefly for defense, will be projected from an electric power plant, ready to be put in action at the first sign of danger. The cost of operation will be insignificant, as the plant is chiefly intended for use in emergency. But to make the investment profitable in times of peace it may be commercially employed for a number of purposes."
Dr. Tesla wishes it to be understood that the means he has perfected has nothing in common with the so-called "death ray."
"It is impossible to develop such a ray. I worked on that idea for many years." he says, "before my ignorance was dispelled and I became convinced that it could not be realized. This new beam of mine consists of minute bullets moving at a terrific speed, and any amount of power desired can be transmitted by them. The whole plant is just a gun, but one which is incomparably superior to the present."
The picture of the protected world, in which men will devote their time in pursuits of peace, is a strangely fascinating one.
Imagine the map of the world, every country surrounded by great plants which will offer absolute protection to the nation itself and instant death to any intruders. Only ships flying white flags of peace can sail into a foreign harbor.
The power plants, resembling forts placed at strategic distances along a country's border, will be on guard. As they are immovable, they will constitute essentially means for defense, and by making invasion impossible will greatly advance the cause of peace.
If, occasionally, nations decide that they must have war just for the thrill of a throbbing drum and a singing bugle, it can be staged on the sea, Dr. Tesla says. Navy supremacy will banish aircraft.
"The airplane will cease to be used as a means of offense," the great inventor explains. "It will be used entirely for peace, as it should he. An airplane, through the very nature of its construction, can not carry with it a generating plant for the beam. If it comes in contact with a country which is protected, it has no chance.
"The battleships will ride to sea safe from air raids, for they will be equipped with smaller plants for generating a beam of sufficient power to destroy any attacking airplane. But they will not be permitted to come near the shore Of a protected country and attack it with any chance of success.
"The nation which has the best equipped battleships, however, will gain the supremacy of the seas. Submarines will be obsolete, for the methods of detecting them will be perfected to such a degree that there will be no longer any advantage in submerging. When a submarine is located the beams will function under water, though not quite so effectively as in air."
Four new inventions of Dr. Tesla are involved in the creation of the beam.
"Briefly, the first comprises a method and apparatus for producing rays and other manifestations of energy in free air, eliminating the high vacuum heretofore indispensable." he explains.
"The second one is the process for producing electrical force of immense power.
"The third method amplifies the process, and the fourth produces a tremendous electrical repelling force."
In times of peace such a plant can be used to transmit power in any amount up to its full capacity and to any place on the earth visible through a telescope, according to its inventor. Voltages never before attained, of 50,000.000 volts or more, will have to be applied.
The man who is responsible for so many discoveries and improvements has devoted his entire life to his scientific pursuits. Tall, lean, reserved, his path goes between the two small laboratories and the various manufacturing plants with which he has contact.
Born in Yugoslavia, Tesla comes from a race of inventors.
"On my mother's side, for three generations, almost all members of the families were inventors," he says. "My mother was Georgianna Mandic, who was noted as an inventor of household appliances. One of the things which she perfected was her own weaving machine.
"Her family can be traced back to the seventh century, in the historical records. My grandfather was an officer in Napoleon's army."
Tesla began to invent at the age of six. As he grew up his interest focused in the laboratory.
"I sleep about one and one-half hours a night." the inventor says. "I think that is enough for any man. When I was young I needed more sleep. But age doesn't require so much. There are so many things to do I do not want to spend time sleeping needlessly. In my family all were poor sleepers. Time spent in sleep is lost time, we always felt."
Tesla, busy with his 700 inventions, never had time for marriage. He never had a girl in his young days. He never had a romance. There was no leisure for them.
His diet is simple. He lives chiefly on vegetables, cereals and milk. The menu includes onions, spinach, celery, carrots, lettuce, with potatoes occasionally. Whites of eggs and milk complete the diet. There is no meat on his vegetable plate. He never smokes or tastes tea, coffee, alcoholic beverages or any other stimulant.
While he is perfecting the beam which will defend nations from attach, the inventor is playing with other ideas. He goes from one to the other, he says, as this or that gains paramount interest or some new clue is suggested.
"But what is giving me more fun than anything I have done for a long, long time," Dr. Tesla explains, "is an electric bath which I hope to have ready for general use very soon.
"It doesn't require much room. There is a platform on which the person stands. He turns on the current. Instantly all foreign material such as dust, dandruff, scales on the skin and microbes is thrown off from the body. The nerves, too, are exhilarated and strengthened. The 'bath' is excellent for medical as well as for cleaning purposes."
However, the war picture gives the master inventor more satisfaction than the minor inventions. He is rejoicing because his instrument of death will save millions of lives and inestimable property.
His only regret is that there may be another war before the discoveries he has made have been placed before the Disarmament Conference at Geneva, and generally adopted by the nations of the world.
"The next war, and I am afraid that there will be one before long," he says, "will be fought in the air. But if the beam is adopted war in the air will cease.
"Whatever battles there are thereafter will be confined to the sea. But no nation will dare to attack another nation when every country is armed. There will be a general feeling of safety throughout the world."
=======================================================================
Tesla. "It seems," he says, "that I have always been ahead of my time."
A Famous Inventor, Picturing Life 100 years from Now, Reveals an Astounding Scientific Venture Which Believes Will Change the Course of History.
by NIKOLA TESLA
READING TIME 11 MINUTES 20 SECONDS
Editor's Note: Nikola Tesla, now in his seventy-eighth year, has been called the father of radio, television, power transmission, the induction motor, and the robot, and the discoverer of the cosmic ray. Recently he has announced a heretofore unknown source of energy present everywhere in unlimited amounts, and he is now working upon a device which he believes will make war impracticable.
"Were we," remarks B. A. Behrend, distinguished author and engineer," to seize and to eliminate the results of Mr. Tesla's work, the wheels of industry would cease to turn, our electric cars and trains would stop, our towns would be dark, our mills would be dead and idle."
FORECASTING is perilous. No man can look very far into the future. Progress and invention evolve in directions other than those anticipated. Such has been my experience, although I may flatter myself that many of the developments which I forecast have been verified by events in the first third of the twentieth century.
It seems that I have always been ahead of my time. I had to wait nineteen years before Niagara was harnessed by my system, fifteen years before the basic inventions for wireless which I gave to the world in 1893 were applied universally. I announced the cosmic ray and my theory of radio activity in 1896. One of my most important discoveriesterrestrial resonancewhich is the foundation of wireless power transmission and which I announced in 1899, is not understood even today. Nearly two years after I had flashed an electric current around the globe, Edison, Steinmetz, Marconi, and others declared that it would not be possible to transmit even signals by wireless across the Atlantic. Having anticipated so many important developments, it is not without assurance that I attempt to predict what life is likely to be in the twenty-first century.
Life is and will ever remain an equation incapable of solution, but it contains certain known factors. We may definitely say that it is a movement even if we do not fully understand its nature. Movement implies a body which is being moved and a force which propels it against resistance. Man, in the large, is a mass urged on by a force. Hence the general laws governing movement in the realm of mechanics are applicable to humanity.
There are three ways by which the energy which determines human progress can be increased: First, we may increase the mass. This, in the case of humanity, would mean the improvement of living conditions, health, eugenics, etc. Second, we may reduce the frictional forces which impede progress, such as ignorance, insanity, and religious fanaticism. Third, we may multiply the energy of the human mass by enchaining the forces of the universe, like those of the sun, the ocean, the winds and tides.
The first method increases food and well-being. The second tends to bring peace. The third enhances our ability to work and to achieve. There can be no progress that is not constantly directed toward increasing well-being, peace, and achievement. Here the mechanistic conception of life is one with the teachings of Buddha and the Sermon on the Mount.
While I am not a believer in the orthodox sense, I commend religion, first, because every individual should have some ideal religious, artistic, scientific, or humanitarianto give significance to his life. Second, because all the great religions contain wise prescriptions relating to the conduct of life, which hold good now as they did when they were promulgated.
There is no conflict between the ideal of religion and the ideal of science, but science is opposed to theological dogmas because science is founded on fact. To me, the universe is simply a great machine which never came into being and never will end. The human being is no exception to the natural order. Man, like the universe, is a machine. Nothing enters our minds or determines our actions which is not directly or indirectly a response to stimuli beating upon our sense organs from without. Owing to the similarity of our construction and the sameness of our environment, we respond in like manner to similar stimuli, and from the concordance of our reactions, understanding is barn. In the course of ages, mechanisms of infinite complexity are developed, but what we call "soul " or "spirit," is nothing more than the sum of the functionings of the body. When this functioning ceases, the "soul" or the "spirit" ceases likewise.
I expressed these ideas long before the behaviorists, led by Pavlov in Russia and by Watson in the United States, proclaimed their new psychology. This apparently mechanistic conception is not antagonistic to an ethical conception of life. The acceptance by mankind at large of these tenets will not destroy religious ideals. Today Buddhism and Christianity are the greatest religions both in number of disciples and in importance. I believe that the essence of both will he the religion of the human race in the twenty-first century.
The year 2100 will see eugenics universally established. In past ages, the law governing the survival of the fittest roughly weeded out the less desirable strains. Then man's new sense of pity began to interfere with the ruthless workings of nature. As a result, we continue to keep alive and to breed the unfit. The only method compatible with our notions of civilization and the race is to prevent the breeding of the unfit by sterilization and the deliberate guidance of the mating instinct, Several European countries and a number of states of the American Union sterilize the criminal and the insane. This is not sufficient. The trend of opinion among eugenists is that we must make marriage more difficult. Certainly no one who is not a desirable parent should be permitted to produce progeny. A century from now it will no more occur to a normal person to mate with a person eugenically unfit than to marry a habitual criminal.
Hygiene, physical culture will be recognized branches of education and government. The Secretary of Hygiene or Physical Culture will he far more important in the cabinet of the President of the United States who holds office in the year 2035 than the Secretary of War. The pollution of our beaches such as exists today around New York City will seem as unthinkable to our children and grandchildren as life without plumbing seems to us. Our water supply will he far more carefully supervised, and only a lunatic will drink unsterilized water.
MORE people die or grow sick from polluted water than from coffee, tea, tobacco, and other stimulants. I myself eschew all stimulants. I also practically abstain from meat. I am convinced that within a century coffee, tea, and tobacco will be no longer in vogue. Alcohol, however, will still be used. It is not a stimulant but a veritable elixir of life. The abolition of stimulants will not come about forcibly. It will simply be no longer fashionable to poison the system with harmful ingredients. Bernarr Macfadden has shown how it is possible to provide palatable food based upon natural products such as milk, honey, and wheat. I believe that the food which is served today in his penny restaurants will be the basis of epicurean meals in the smartest banquet halls of the twenty-first century.
"It will be possible to destroy anything approaching within 200 miles. My invention will provide a wall of power," declares Tesla.
PROGRESS along such lines will be impossible while nations persist in the savage practice of killing each other off. I inherited from my father, an erudite man who labored hard for peace, an ineradicable hatred of war. Like other inventors, I believed at one time that war could he stopped by making it more destructive. But I found that I was mistaken. I underestimated man's combative instinct, which it will take more than a century to breed out. We cannot abolish war by outlawing it. We cannot end it by disarming the strong. War can be stopped, not by making the strong weak but by making every nation, weak or strong, able to defend itself.
Hitherto all devices that could be used for defense could also be utilized to serve for aggression. This nullified the value of the improvement for purposes of peace. But I was fortunate enough to evolve a new idea and to perfect means which can be used chiefly for defense. If it is adopted, it will revolutionize the relations between nations. It will make any country, large or small, impregnable against armies, airplanes, and other means for attack. My invention requires a large plant, but once it is established it will he possible tb destroy anything, men or machines, approaching within a radius of 200 miles. It will, so to speak, provide a wall of power offering an insuperable obstacle against any effective aggression.
If no country can be attacked successfully, there can be no purpose in war. My discovery ends the menace of airplanes or submarines, but it insures the supremacy of the battleship, because battleships may be provided with some of the required equipment. There might still be war at sea, but no warship could successfully attack the shore line, as the coast equipment will be superior to the armament of any battleship.
I want to state explicitly that this invention of mine does not contemplate the use of any so-called " death rays." Rays are not applicable because they cannot be produced in requisite quantities and diminish rapidly in intensity with distance. All the energy of New York City (approximately two million horsepower) transformed into rays and projected twenty miles, could not kill a human being, because, according to a well known law of physics, it would disperse to such an extent as to be ineffectual.
My apparatus projects particles which may.be relatively large or of microscopic dimensions, enabling us to convey to a small area at a great distance trillions of times more energy than is possible with rays of any kind. Many thousands of horsepower can thus be transmitted by a stream thinner than a hair, so that nothing can resist. This wonderful feature will make it possible, among other things, to achieve undreamed-of results in television, for there will be almost no limit to the intensity of illumination, the size of the picture, or distance of projection.
I do not say that there may not be several destructive wars before the world accepts my gift. I may not live to see its acceptance. But I am convinced that a century from now every nation will render itself immune from attack by my device or by a device based upon a similar principle.
At present we suffer from the derangement of our civilization because we have not yet completely adjusted ourselves to the machine age. The solution of our problems does not lie in destroying but in mastering the machine.
Innumerable activities still performed by human hands today will be performed by automatons. At this very moment scientists working in the laboratories of American universities are attempting to create what has been described as a "thinking machine." I anticipated this development.
I actually constructed "robots." Today the robot is an accepted fact, but the principle has not been pushed far enough. In the twenty-first century the robot will take the place which slave labor occupied in ancient civilization. There is no reason at all why most of this should not come to pass in less than a century, treeing mankind to pursue its higher aspirations.
And unless mankind's attention is too violently diverted by external wars and internal revolutions, there is no reason why the electric millennium should not begin in a few decades.
THE END
=======================================================================
TESLA PREDICTS SHIPS POWERED BY SHORE BEAM
Scoffs at Normandic "Speed"
Dr. Nikola Tesla, scientist and seer whose discoveries in the fields of polyphase electrical current and wireless place him in the front rank of modern inventors, refused yesterday to be awed by the record speed achievement of the French liner Normandie in crossing the Atlantic in 4 days 11 hours 42 minutes and predicted that enormous ships would cross the ocean at far greater speeds by means of a high-tension current projected from power plants on shore to vessels at sea through the upper reaches of the atmosphere.
Normandie Uses U. S. Cruiser System
Cites His Force Beam as One Way
Started New Idea in 1897
Pet Scheme to Light Ocean
=======================================================================
AERIAL DEFENSE "DEATH BEAM" OFFERED TO U. S. BY TESLA
Noted Inventor Says His Ray will Melt Plane Motors at 250 Mile Range
New York, July 11Nikola Tesla, one of the greatest electrical inventors of the century, who reached 84 yesterday, said today he was ready to divulge to the United States Government the secret of a "death beam" that would melt airplane motors at a distance of 250 miles and thus would build an invisible wall of defense around the country against attempted attack by an air force, no matter how large.
At Service of U. S.
Would Melt Any Engine
The beam, he said, involved four new inventions:
Voltage 50,000,000
=======================================================================
"DEATH RAY" FOR PLANES
Nikola Tesla, one of the truly great inventors who celebrated his eighty-fourth birthday on July 10, tells the writer that he stands ready to divulge to the United States Government the secret of his "teleforce," with which, he said, airplane motors would be melted at a distance of 250 miles, so that an invisible Chinese Wall of Defense would be built around the country against any attempted attack by an enemy air force, no matter how large.
High Vacuum Eliminated
Such a Device "Invaluable"
=======================================================================
PROPOSING THE 'DEATH RAY' FOR DEFENSE
"The beam would melt enemy airplane motors before they approached our coasts and blow up hostile bombers."
The man was old, but the fervor in his eyes was ageless. Deep-set, they looked out beneath the bushes of his brows.
For U. S. Alone
Inventor's Offer
RetroSearch is an open source project built by @garambo | Open a GitHub Issue
Search and Browse the WWW like it's 1997 | Search results from DuckDuckGo
HTML:
3.2
| Encoding:
UTF-8
| Version:
0.7.4