The Portland daily press., 1896-05-09

"oAIS lidUS at bIl6 same pT0bSuf6 OE at
lower or higher pressure whichever was
desired, by means of transformer.
Thus the bridllng of the power in Niaga-
ra was made possible, and natural forces
everywhere oan be similarly harnessed
anu made to do the work that has here
tofore been done at great cost by other
forms of force and energy. A great many
smaller inventions are included in this
great one. Its possibilities are just now
beginning to be realized. Tesla's discove-
ries in connection with this motor, it is
said, were the prime cause of the recent
consolidation of the Edison and the West
lnghouse Electric Companies.
In this motor two wires were used for
the transmission Of the current. Tesla
believed that the extra wire was o use
less expense; that all the work could be
done with one, and no rsturn circuit
was necessary. So he set himself about
the work ofifnding way to accomplish
this. He did accomplish it, and now it
is possible through his invention to
transmit the energy with the aid of only
one wire. This invention, however, has
not been of the same practical use as the
other. 1t is merely step in the direc-
ton of accomplishing the third thing
that Tesla is aiming at. That is the
transmission of power and intelligence
without any wires by means of the earth
itself. If such thing can he accom-
plished the human mind can hardly con-
ceive of the possibilities Tesla believes
that it can be accomplished. The fact
that he believes it is proved by the ten
years of work he has devoted to expert
menting on that line.
Next, in order. as Tesla mentioned
them, is the perfection of an apparatus
for the production
OF ELECTRICAL VIBRATIONS.
Electrostatics is the science of electricity
at rest. Tesla demonstrated that for the
production of light waves, primarily,
eleotrostatic effects must be brought in
to play, and he formed the opinion that
all electrical and magnetic effects may
be referred to electrostatio molecular
forces. In glass bulb filled with cleo
trostatically charged molecules he found
that by agitating them, causing thom to
vibrate, to strike against each other,
brilliant light was produced. No carbon
was required, such as is used in the or
binary incandescent light. There was
nothing but the glass bulb. Tesla's ac-
complishment was the making of APP
paratus to stir up the molecules which
don't cost anything and are ever present,
while the carbon heretofore needed is ex-
pensive. This apparatus is nearing per-
lection now, and lamps viii Oh furnish
light without carbon are in sight. The
saving in the cost of electric lighting
will be tremendous, and, as measured by
Tesla, 200 times the light can be pro-
duced with the same energy that is now
used in the production of the ordinary
incandescent lights. This will mean
moro light with less power and less ex-
psnse, because there will be no expensive
uarbons required.
Last on Tesla's list ia the oscillator,
now perfected and ready to be put on the
market. 1t is estimated that nine tenths
of all the dynamos in the world are op-
Grated by steam power. Every step in
the production Of electricity by steam
power is attended with waste and loss of
force and energy. The problem Tesla set
out to solve was the saving of the per
cent of energy that was wasted. Ac-
tual tests showed that only per cent.
of the energy used in making incandes-
cent lights manifested itsolf as light.
The 95 per cent. was loss. There was loss
in every step from the putting of the
coal into the furnace to the delivery of
the electricity. Tesla has combined an
engine and dynamo. Steam is forced
into the engine at high pressure, which
produces an extremely rapid vibration of
steel rod, and this rod or piston is SO
adapted to set of magnets that the me-
ohanical energy Of the vibration is CON
verified into electricity. Fly wheels and
governing balls and eccentrics and valves
and all the rest of the complicated me-
chanism required for the purpose of
control or regulation are done away with.
The steam cylinder with its piston is
the only thing that does the work about
steam engine. All the rest take energy.
but produce nothing, so If they can be
done away with the energy that it takes
to run them is saved. Tesla's ogcillator
does away with them. The oscillator con-
verts thu energy of steam
INTO ELECTRICITY DIRECTLY.
1t would appear that this invention if
it does all that it promises, will revolu-
tionize all business that requires energy
in the form Of steam or electric force to
operate it. The machine doesn't take up
one-tenth of the room needed by an ordi-
nary engine and dynamo.
Probably the osclllator and the new
system Of lighting would both have been
in use long ago had it not been for the
destruction of Tesla's laboratory last
year. He had these and othor inventions
very near compilation. He had in his
workshop the result Of years of work.
He had many models of machinery that
he could not replace. All tho work That
had been done in making these things
had to be done over sgain, He said him