New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-01-29
NIKOLA TESLA.
A GLIMPSE INTO THE WONDER-WORLD
OF ELECTRICAL RESEARCH.


and Morse had. twenty years before. invented
"raagnetic telegraph" which gradually com
Ing into use and Cyrus FIeld-a visionary crank
men called him then-was even trying to extehu II
across the Atlantic Ocean. ten-yoar Oh idu
named Thomas Edison about to leave schoo'
N no a tran-boy on a Western railroad. And pe-
cause OF these and others like them. mankind was
tust reaching the threshold Of 4 world OF scchuIc'
artistic and Industrial wonders. At such TIME IN
an obscure village OF Croatia, Austrlas Poo'oS'
proyincc close by the River Like with It's oniio"N
disappearance underground, was horn n emu -
,bon, was given the name Of Nliola Tesla lie
came Of the Servian race. and this crushed ara
ignorant people not prolhc OF sred'"'S'' nv
child might grow to he a worthy 'l'lase r'e'
ME his father and grandfather. lie might devise
improvements In household implements I'o'if dNu
churns and what-not. did his mother Ms
father destined him to the priesthood. and sei't ne
boy to school Gops!ch. then at Carstatt' Az '"e
latter place Nikola saw for he first tlfle ioVo-
motive engine, and in the moment o. ina; reveal
tion technology drove theology forever from MS
Mai, He hogan 20 study engines. machines d
cv.rv sort he could find His fathe" At hrst oD-
tected then yielded to the Inevitable ana sent III"
an 10 Gratz where there was me polytechnic
scboo, in which the boy might grow up 20 be a
nrofessor OF mathematics and physics: almost as
or.hv . calling as the priesthood There was also
~ Cratz q Gramme dynamo. used as a motor
which interested the boy nightly H's tutor ues
canted on It's wonders. the very perfect'on OF 'cc
tro-mechanical art. But TINS coHlin"tdto' an" 49,
brushes complicated. wasteful. often getting oul
~ order why not dispense with them? impossible.
replied the tutor you may well dispense WIN
the law of gravitation" Nevertheless Responded
the boy at can and shall be done; responding mus
with ar assurance that only subsequent success re-
deemed from gross mpertinence II that was tne
hos, a teacher could do he would be none. He
would he a practical engineer. creator or Things
such men as this might study. So ne hnshed AT
Gratz and went 10 Prague thence TO buca-fes'",
and thence to Paris working on telephones anu
electric lights but thinking chiefly Of the dynamo
and how TO fulfil his audacious boast FinaF' Il
dozen years ago in Paris. ne formulated the long
pondered principle. and forthwith came 10 America
10 develop it and give it TO the world IN pracuc'i
form.
Before us lies the record 1.-The Inventions Re-
searches and Writings Of Nkola Tesla. BY
Thomas Commerford Martin. The Eecricai
Engineer, largely in his own words OF Mr.. Teslas
achievements down to the present day 1t IS less
than score OF years since his Gratz professor
said "You can't" and he replied. Il Will lheie
are nearly 800 pages in the volume. CROWDED Win
facts principles. details all expressed with sclei
t,dc terseness-a glimpse into the wonder-worid
OF the electric arts. bewilderfng to the novice III
spirinc to the adept. We cannot here, OF courSe
rebearse the story Of his discoveries, nor even re-
oap,tulate them all. Neither is discussion called
for ~ ground for II there be- of his title 10 theih
or N all OF them There may he others claiming
TO have made the same discoveries ana oo'h cia''S
NAV be Just Many men have discovered the sa''ie
thing at the same time in entire independence VI
each other as witness Leverrier and Adams WIN
the planet Neptune. and Morse and Vail and Nhea'-
STONE and Cooke with the telegraph ana Wheatstohe
and varey and Werrer Siemens. with the self
exciting dynamo We can only glance al ,ne gen
eral scope and import Of Mr.. Tesias work, leav-
ing the details to his fellcw-laborers IN ths oS'
fascinating of all the useful arts
,Tesla.s researches and discoveries. as revealed
n,aior parts The first has TO do with the WORKING
out OF his early idea OF a dynamo without con"
mutator What dynamo is. OF course even Mac
aulays schooboy would know An apparatus LOT
Transforming mechanical energy into eec'ricai
energy, or the reverse; in the first case osi's d
generator in the second motor. Since Faraday IN
vented It It has undergone many important chaHses
~ detail at the hands Of Grsmme, Sienlens ana
o,hers but the fundamental principle remains the
same Mechanical energy is expended IN causing
conductor called an arnature to revove in the
feN or space between the poles OF horS1-
shoe magnet The poles Of the armatnre 'hns cu'
the lines of force which flow across the ne.o iro'
mile TO pole Of the magnet. And thus. the mechani-
"a, energy expended in rotating the armature IS
returned through that conductor in electrical form
70 go out upon circuit and be utilized eise"here
Perhaps II goes to a series or arc or glow lamps
and ;iuminotes them or perhaps it goes to another
DYNAMO used as q motor In TINS latter case Which,
is what we have here to consider the second dy-
namo reverses the process of the first It's arma-
ture is rotated By electrical energy. which Is re-
turned forthwith In mechanical form NOV the
poles of the armature revolving In constant mag
netc field. continually changing their position
relatively 10 the direction and intensity OF It's lines
of force. Eacn pole. indeed, in each half-reVoiu-
ton exactly It's position. and thus its cur
rent alternates from one direction to the other in
each revolution SO ii comes TO that the gener-
ator DYNAMO produces what are called alternating
currents. which 1t deemed necessary to direct
into a continuous current by means OF the trouble
some commutator. The current going out upon the
circuit was thus not alternatng-except In case OF
some eectric-ghting systems-but continuous the
continuous current could not. however be utilized
In the motor dynamo but mus. there be reconVeTtea
by means Of a second commutetor. into alternat-
ing currents What Mr.. Tesla proposed to do' ana
did was TO dispense with the commutators alto
cether and use the alternating currents through
out unchanged. The problem was. how to make
the alternating currents rotate the armature OF
the motor dynamo. This he solved by constructing.
In circular form. dynamo containing two or more
sroups Of magnetic poles and corresponding groups
~ no,es or coils In the armature Two or more en-
err,zng currents were thus produced in the cir
cult which, differing from each other in phase.
effected the necessary shifting OF the poles and
CONSEQUENT rotation Of the movable element Of the
DYNAMO Thus into being the poiyphase
alternating current rotating field motor
This is a portentous name. but not therefore I'M
a. for an invention that marks new era IN what
we may call the greatest Of the material sciences.
Iypon the primary type OF this dynamo Mr.. Tesla
has already made numerous Improvements. an ac-
count Of which fills many pages of the book uncer
consideration. lie has. for example. made dyna-
mo with the various groups Of poles OF different
magnetic susceptibility, so that they are acted upon
differently by the energizing current multi
polar instead of poyphase current machine lie
has devised a method Of avoiding the very high
speeds otherwise required for large generators, by
rotating the magnetic poles Of one element at
different rate from the other; "single-crcuit'
self-starting synchronizng motor. Of which he con-
hdently claims to have been the originator; change
from double current single current motor; motor
with current lag" artihcially secured magnetic
lag motor single phase motor; motor with equal
magnetic energies in fed and arnature; induction
motor with permanently closed circuit; po.yphase
transformers and score more. all more or less
based on his original principle Of rotating field.
The mere titles OF them full OF rich sugges-
ton to the professional electrician. while whoe