IV. The Discovery of the Tesla Coil and Transformer
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For a while I gave myself up eo the intense enjoyment of picturing maes and devising new forms. It was a mental state of happiness about as plete 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 ceived were to me absolutely real and tangible in every detail, even to the minute marks and signs of wear. I delighted in imagining the motors stantly running, for in this way they preseo mind's eye a more fasating sight. When natural ination develops into a passionate desire, one advaowards his goal in seven-league boots. Ihan two months I evolved virtually all the types of motors and modifications of the system which are now identified with my erhaps, providential that the ies of existenanded a temporary halt to this ing activity of the mind.I came to Budapest prompted by a premature report ing the telephoerprise and, as irony of fate willed it, I had to accept a position as draftsman in the tral Telegraph Office of the Hungarian Gover at a salary which I deem it my privilege not to disclose! Fortunately, I soon woerest of the Ior-in-Chief and was thereafter employed on calculations, designs aimates in e with new installations, until the Telephone Exge was 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 iive faculties. I made several improvements in the tral Station apparatus and perfected a telephoer or amplifier which was never patented or publicly described but would be creditable to me even today. In reition of my effit assistahe anizer of the uaking, Mr. Puskas, upon disposing of his business in Budapest, offered me a position in Paris which I gladly accepted.
I never fet the <big></big>deep impression that magic city produy mind. For several days after my arrival I roamed thru the streets in utter bewilderment of the new spectacle. The attras were many and irresistible, but, alas, the ine ent as soon as received. When Mr. Puskas asked me how I was getting along in the new sphere, I described the situation accurately iatement 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 m, regardless of weather, I would go from the Boulevard St. Marcel, where I resided, to a bathing house on the Seine, pluo the water, loop the circuit twenty-seven times and then walk an hour to reach Ivry, where the pany's factory was located. There I would have a woodchopper's breakfast at half-past seven o'clod then eagerly await the lunch hour, in the meanwhile crag hard nuts for the Manager of the Works, Mr. Charles Batchellor, who was an intimate friend and assistant of Edison. Here I was thrown in tact with a few Ameris who fairly fell in love with me because of my profi billiards. To these men I explained my iion and one of them, Mr. D. ingham, Foreman of the Meical Department, offered to form a stopany. The proposal seemed to me ical ireme. I did not have the fai ception of what that meant except that it was an Ameri way of doing things. Nothing came of it, however, and during the few months I had to travel from oo another pla Frand Germany to cure the ills of the power plants. On my return to Paris I submitted to one of the administrators of the pany, Mr. Rau, a plan for improving their dynamos and was given an opportunity. My success was plete 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 Strassburg, Alsace. The wiring was defective and on the occasion of the opening ceremonies a large part of a wall was blown out thru a short-circuit right in the presence of old Emperor William I. The German Gover refused to take the plant and the Frenpany was fag a serious loss. On at 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 Strassburg on that mission.
Some of the is in that city have left an indelible record on my memory. By a curious ce, a number of men who subsequently achieved 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 ferences with officials kept me preoccupied day and night, but, as soon as I was able to manage I uook the stru of a simple motor in a meical shop opposite the railroad station, having brought with me from Paris some material for that purpose. The mation of the experiment was, however, delayed until the summer of that year when I finally had the satisfa of seeing rotation effected by alternating currents of different phase, and without sliding tacts or utator, as I had ceived a year before. It was an exquisite pleasure but not to pare with the delirium of joy following the first revelation.
Among my new friends was the former Mayor of the city, Mr. Bauzin, whom I had already in a measure acquainted with this and other iions of mine and whose support I endeavored to enlist. He was sincerely devoted to me and put my project bebbr></abbr>fore several wealthy persons but, to my mortification, found no response. He wao help me in every possible way and the approach of the first of July, 1919, happens to remind me of a form of "assistance" I received from that charming man, which was not financial but he less appreciated. In 1870, when the Germans ihe try, Mr. Bauzin had buried a good sized allotment of St. Estephe of 1801 and he came to the clusion that he knew no worthier person than myself to e that precious beverage. This, I may say, is one of the unfettable is 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 aiations were protracted owing to all sorts of petty obstacles I entered so that at times the situation seemed hopeless.
Just to give an idea of German thhness and "efficy", I may mention here a rather funny experience. An indest lamp of 16 c.p. was to be placed in a hallway and upoing the proper location I ordered the moo run the wires. After w for a while he cluded that the engineer had to be sulted and this was dohe latter made several objes 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 Ior Averdeck should be notified. That important person called, iigated, debated, and decided that the lamp should be shifted back two inches, which was the place I had marked. It was not long, however, before Averdeck got cold feet himself and advised me that he had informed Ober-Ior Hieronimus of the matter and that I should await his decision. It was several days before the Ober-Ior 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 farther. My hopes that this was the final act were shattered when the Ober-Ior returned and said to me: "Regierungsrath Funke is so particular that I would not dare to give an order for plag this lamp without his explicit approval." Accly arras for a visit from that great man were made. We started ing up and polishing early in the m. Everybody brushed up, I put on my gloves and when Funke came with his retinue he was ceremoniously received. After two hours' deliberation he suddenly exclaimed: "I must be going," and pointing to a pla the ceiling, he ordered me to put the lamp there. It was the exact spot which I had inally chosen,
So it went day after day with variations, 9９lib. I was determio 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 returo Paris with pleasing anticipations. One of the administrators had promised me a liberal pensation in case I succeeded, as well as a fair sideration of the improvements I had made in their dynamos and I hoped to realize a substantial sum. There were three administrators whom I shall designate as A, B and C for venience. 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 vivios it dawned upohat my reward was a castle in Spain.
The utter failure of my attempts to raise capital for development was another disappoi and when Mr. Batchellor prest me to go to America with a view of redesigning the Edison maes, I determio try my fortunes in the Land of Golden Promise. But the ce was nearly mist. I liquefied my modest assets, secured aodations and found myself at the railroad station as the train ulling out. At that moment I discovered that my money and tickets were gone. What to do <q></q>was the question. Hercules had plenty of time to deliberate but I had to decide while running alongside the train with opposite feelings surging in my brain like denser oscillations. Resolve, helped by dexterity, won out in the nick of time and upon passing thru the usual experiences, as trivial as unpleasant, I mao embark for New York with the remnants of my belongings, some poems and articles I had written, and a package of calculatioing to solutions of an unsolvable integral and to my flying mae. During the voyage I sat most of the time at the stern of the ship watg 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 Ameri sense I shivered at the recolle and marvelled 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 stific training, had aplished 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 on's "Principia" to the novels of Paul de Kock, ahat most of my life had been squandered. But it did not take long before I reized that it was the best thing I could have done. Within a few weeks I had won Edison's fidend it came about in this way.
The S.S. on, the fastest passeeamer at that time, had both of its lighting maes<dfn></dfn> 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 predit was a serious one and Edison was munoyed. In the evening I took the necessary instruments with me a aboard the vessel where I stayed for the night. The dynamos were in bad dition, having several short-circuits and breaks, but with the assistance of the crew I succeeded in putting them in good shape. At five o'clo the m, when passing along Fifth Avenue on my way to the shop, I met Edison with Batchellor 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 ing from the on and had repaired both maes, he looked at me in silend walked away without another word. But when he had gone some distance I heard him remark: "Batchellor, this is a good man," and from that time on I had full freedom in direg the work. For nearly a year my regular hours were from 10.30 A.M. until 5 o'clock the m without a day's exception. Edison said to me: "I have had many hard-w assistants but you take the cake." During this period I desigwenty-four different types of standard maes with short cores and of uniform pattern which replaced the old ohe Manager had promised me fifty thousand dollars on the pletion of this task but it turned out to be a practical joke. This gave me a painful shod I resigned my position.
Immediately thereafter some people approached me with the proposal of f an arc light pany under my o which I agreed. Here finally portunity to develop the motor, but when I broached the subjey 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 erfected 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 folloeriod 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 Electripany was anized, providing a laboratory and facilities. The motors I built there were exactly as I had imagihem. 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 arra was made with the Westinghouse pany for the manufacture of the motors on a large scale. But great difficulties had still to be overe. My system was based on the use of low frequency currents and the Westinghouse experts had adopted 133 cycles with the object of seg advantages iransformation. They did not want to depart from their standard forms of apparatus and my efforts had to be trated upon adapting the motor to these ditions. Another y was to produce a motor capable of running effitly at this frequen two wires which was not easy of aplishment.
At the close of 1889, however, my services in Pittsburg being no longer essential, I returo New York and resumed experimental work in a laboratory on Grand Street, where I began immediately the design of high frequency maes. The problems of stru in this unexplored field were novel and quite peculiar and I entered many difficulties. I rejected the inductor type, fearing that it might not yield perfect sine waves which were so important to resonant a. Had it not been for this I could have saved myself a great deal of labor. Another disciure of the high frequency alternator seemed to be the instancy of speed which threateo impose serious limitations to its use. I had already noted in my demonstrations before the Ameri Institution of Electrical Engihat several times the tune was lost, ating readjustment, and did not yet foresee, what I discovered long afterwards, a means of operating a mae of this kind at a speed stant to such a degree as not to vary more than a small fra of one revolutioweeremes of load.
From many other siderations it appeared desirable to i a simpler device for the produ of electric oscillations. In 1856 Lord Kelvin had exposed the theory of the denser discharge, but no practical application of that important knowledge was made. I saw the possibilities and uook the development of indu 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 defevolved iransformation by the new method, namely, the loss in the spark gap. Subsequent iigation showed that no matter what medium is employed, be it air, hydrogen, mercury vapor, oil or a stream of eles, the efficy is the same. It is a law very much like that g the version of meical energy. We may drop a weight from a certai vertically down or carry it to the lower level along any devious path, it is immaterial insofar as the amount of work is ed. Fortunately however, this drawback is not fatal as by proper proportioning of the resonant circuits an efficy of 85 per t is attainable. Since my early annou of the iion it has e into universal use and wrought a revolution in maments. But a still greater future awaits it.
When in 1900 I obtained powerful discharges of 100 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 magic field.
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