The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-05-03
NIK0LA TESLA'S WORK.
wow Ems NE MAS ACCOIPLISHED
AND OTHERS NE PROMISES.

Endless Possibilities ur rroblrn, re 2
Now Mt Work Upon-uI- Experiment
with tho RocntKen RRy--Bis Perronnllt
Nikola Tesla Ia u man about whom the gen
eral public knows worry little. Thc'c have beef
magazine articles about him and books about
him, and. since Prot. itoentEcn made known hi
discoveries In X.ray photography and foslf
followed up he discoveries with experiment.
OF his own, the papers from time to time have
told how Tesla had seen the human shcart'
and had photographed the human brnih'
and done other wonderful things. Ills name
hns been on the tongues OF many people, but not
ono man In q hu ndrcd could tell what Tesla had
done for science, or very littlo IL anything
about him pcrsOnallY.
Tesla himself is responsible for tho lack of
popular knowledge Of himself. lie isn't one OF
the kind TO hide his light under u bushel, but
he let's tho light chine and hides himself. He
doesn't like to see his name in print. He
doesn't like to be praised for what he has done
or Ia doing. He wants, moro than anything
else. to he lot alone. He dlscourages notoriety
Of any sort. When newspaper men call on
him to ask him questions he Is tho quintosserce
Of courtesy and politeness. lie Is willing TO
tell them ANYTHING they want to know about
electricity or a.y OF tho other subjects on
which ho IL well informed. but on one subject
Tesla he IS silent. When THE SUN re.
WI Nv VII INN NNhAAJ a'''h 'N'N 'h'A ''N
him that lie had been instructed to write a
story about Tesla and his inventions. the in.
yentor enid
Don't; there has been too much already"
and he said It in a way that Showed lac meant
II. 1t was only after II second visit and much
earnest urging that lie would consent To the
publication of anything, aud he surrounded his
consent with conditions.
He was asked to tell which of his many In.
-
satisfactory to him, and he replied that first
in the list was the TRANSMISSION Of power with
the help of wires. This power was the alter
mating electric current now in use. Next
no mentioned the motor that made possible
the transmission of power with only II single
wire. II used to De supposed that two wires
were necessary to complete II circuit, one for
the electricity to come back on. This motor
does away with the extra wire, and lessons
the expense and the waste. Third, lie men,
toned the thing which he hoped to accomplish
Doing away with that wire alt together. and
using the earth. In a lecture delivered before
the American Institute of Electrical EngI-
neers In 1891. Tesla said:
We are whirling through endless space
with an inconceivable speed. All around us
everything Is spinning. Everything Is NOV
ing. Everywhere Is energy. There must DO
some way of availing ourselves of this energy
more directly. With the power derived from
It, with every form of energy obtained without
effort. from the store forever inexhaustible.
humanity will advance with giant strides. The
mere contemplation of these magnificent posi-
bilities expands our minds. strengthens our
hopes and fills our hearts with extreme delight
He had this third thing in mind whoa he de.
livered the lecture. lie has been working
now ten years to accomplish II, and he has had
encouraging success with his experiments.
or his Inventions, In this talk with THE Sun
he mentioned fourth the perfeCtinG
Of an apparatus for the production of electric
fifth, the production of light with
out any carbon such rs is required in the or
binary incandescent lamp. Light is produced
by the help of electrical vibration. BY the
proposed 200 times tho light can be
toned the evolution of the oscillator. n work
on which he has been engaged five or six years
and which is about ready to be put into gen
''of the energy that goes to the making Of
3 ertrio light 80 per cent, is wasted. The os-
onh or Saves energy, 1t ~ ne steam engine
the saving OF the energy that is now wasted"
OF the problems he has worked on Tesla
They affect humanity as n WHOLE Tho
energy that is wasted must he saved, ae said.
Falls and of its possibilities and tho
in nature elsewhere. lie said the
tAlStlnR IaulIS OF sbtlety COU!u DO REFORMED
only by producing more energy. that. energy
wa, in i, nature ; ErS ard thG problem Of Eettins COR
ordinary Invention. lie thought At only %Iiy"' ~ tho
problems, lie believed thHt they ", II be
IS unusually tall and Is thin lis head is large
ner Is quick and inlpuisivs. In speech he ia
earnest. He wastes fey words. His whole
man of action, He Ia DIly 30 ypnrs old. IIb
was born, in Smiliau, ltEa, a horderland region
f e, AT's w"s. s u eiersyln% an Inc in the heFS 1ircek k" Shur ti,S
~vention. Tesla got his early rducGtion al Cos
years in the Higher Real schaie at CarStatt,
Croatia. He saw Ills first steam engine while
kuack Of invention. and when he left school in
49, he went 70 eXpersmentinr with electricity
him to enter tho ministry. That was out IT
he 1%ueetlon, and then his father wanted him
to become a college professor of mnthematics
the Polytechnic school vt trait.
In lhis school there Yves e vrnmme dynamo,
dynamo could be operated wtthoui m
tor or brushes, such as this one wao cquipncd
idens that later developed one of his great IN
N~ent,oha, q rotating field motor.
The idea OF becoming n professor vanished.
and be rook mn the engineering currtruium,
For the net fey Years. he kept nr his studies.
connection with the telephone, Then lie Went
10 Paris. where he saw n wider field, Aftcr
a few years there in the course NJ which hc
met many Americans. who told him OF oDnor.
tunitlcs in HIS field Of Investigation here. he
cams, to America. lie hunted ont Thomns
a, Edison. ard went 10 work IN his lnhora tory.
IN Thomas Coninerfurd Martins book. TIE
Inventions, ltescarchcs, and Writings of TcslN,'
Tesln's connection with Edison is mentioned.
and the author saws:
1T WINS impossible. however. That with his
own. ideas 10 carry ont, and his own inventions
To develop, MIR. Tesla cnuld lonG rumuin in
even tho most hrllChtfaI emusny mud hla work
nov attra' tinI atrratloA. he loft tn, Edison
ranks tn Join n ~corlpnny INTENDED to make and
sell an arc lighting system based on some Of
his inventions in TINT branch ot the art. With
unceasing diligence he brought the system to
perfection, ana SAW ii placed on tho market.
But the thing which most occupied his time
ana th0uGh'@, however. all through this period
wa. his "i! ''S"0vcry of the rotating iicld prin-
ciple for r. dttng current work. and tho
application Ut IL In motors that have now be-
come known tho world over"
ID to tHls time tho alternating current
wasn't In favor with electrical engineers.
They knew LITTLE about It and did rot realize
It's value. 1t wasn't until 1885 that Tesla
hlmsNlf sMCCeeAnd IN pMttlng into n~rncIlcnl