The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-05-02


and which, am glad to say, have been
recognized by scientific men both here
and abroad. think the probable re-
| suit of these investiga tons will be the
| production of more efficient source
! of light, thus supplanting the wasteful
processes of light production
.sMy experiments have been almost
entirely confined to alternating cur.
rents of high potential An aiternat-
| iny current is current changed peri
odically in direction, aud the word po-
tential expresses the force and energy
with which these currents are made to
pass. In this particular case the force
is very great. The fact that current
vibrates back and forth rapidly IN TINS
way tends to set up or create waves 10
the ether, which is Hypothetical
| thing that was invented to explain the
! phenomena OF light.
''These currents perneate all space
not only the atmosphere, but solids
as well-an6 the waves extend out IN
I concentric spheres indefinitely into
/ space, / utilize these waves in some
of my experiments to produce certain
phenomena 1t is not an electric cur
| rent in the sense in which we are pop
ulariy accustomed to use that term.
These experiments may be further
/ illustrated in this way: Suppose you
/ throw stone in the center OF pool
+ of water While there would be no
! transmission OF water from the point
! where the stone landed to the shore
vet the waves would reach the shore
! and exert force on the shore. In sim
liar way l utilize the force which l
obtain in the manner described.
zone result of my Investigations, the
possibility of which has been proved
by experiment, is the transmission Of
energy through the air. advanced
that idea some time ago, and l am hap
py to say it is now receiving some atten-
ton from scientific men.
1.-THE plan [ have suggested is to dis
turb by powerful machinery the cleo
| tricity of the earth, thus setting it in
vibration. Proper appliances will be
constructed to take up the energy
transmitted by these vibrations, trans
forming them into n suita bic form of
power to be made available for the
practical wants of life. Primarily the
agent that l propose to use consists of
an old-fashioned electrical spark, such
as they light from Leyden jar. This
is rapidly discharged back and forth
an enormous number of times. Every
time that the spark seems to pass it is
in reality passing hundreds of thou
sands of times, and each time it passes
it sets up these waves in the ether
which extend out into space.
Il am hopeful that in no distant time
this method will be deemed worthy of
a practical trial 1t may be proper to
say that among other things l have
already demonstrated that we do not
need to have two wires to convey an
electric current, one wire being suffi-
cient, and, in fact, in some cases, bet
ter than two wires"
''In the experiments of transmitting
power by means of wires the phenom-
enon of resonance is to be observed. If
one tuning fork, for instance, is set in
to vibration another one of the same
pitch, anywhere within reasona-
BILE distance, will respond. That is
a familiar phenomenon of sound
termed resonance. Now, if set up
these etheric vibrations that speak of
to a certain pitch, and my wire is with
in reach of these vibrations mot neces-
sarily metallically connected) it will
respond provided its pitch corresponds
with that of the etheric vibration
''In that way / obtain energy in
another conductor without any metallic
connection whatever. Where a single
conductor is connected with the source
OF vibratory energy these waves surge
back and forth in that conductor very
much as water would in a tube when
you reverse it back and forth.
Zone of my most interesting expert
ments is with the incandescent lamp
with single wire to it. l place in the
center of this piece of very refractory
substance of any kind and connect that
with the source of vibratory energy
and, with this as center, these etheric
waves are sent out in concentric
spheres and are reflected back from
the inner surface of the glass globe
upon this small piece of refractory sub
stance. The impact Of the molecules of
rarified air in this globe creates such in
tense heat in this refractory substance
(which is the focus) as to bring it to a
high state of incandescence. 1t is diff
cult to find substance that will stand
that heat, but l have found some sub
stances that stand it fairly well
4hr<,rrb he -
can be effected at any distance; in
fact, it matters little whether the dis
lance is small or great.
Such a result, if achieved, would OF
course be of incalculable value to the
world and greatly advance the prog
ress of the human race. In this
great country (of which l am proud
to be a citizen) we have water powers
which. in aggregate amount, are suffi-
cient to supply all the needs-in fact.
far more than the needs-of the whole
human race. Take, for instance,
Niagara This famous waterfall is
estimated variously all the way from
five to six millions horse power. Now,
four millions horse power, economic
ally directed, would light every lamp,
drive every railroad. propel every ship.
heat every store and produce every
article manufactured by machinery in
the United States
1t viii not be long before we can
transmit that power under quite prac
teal conditions, BIZ means of wires
with the alternating system, over dis
tances as great as a thousand miles.
Engineers now object to the use Of
very high pressures which would be
necessary in such transnissions Of