The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1897-06-13
The Great Electrician Says he Has Per.
fected TeIegraphy Without Wires.
MESSAGES THROUGH THE EARTH
Tho scientfst 10 Not Yet Ready to pe,
veal the "Details OF His ,rcnt p,ar
but Talks OF tho Principles I'm.
voived-A Simple ILLUSTRATION or
How it Will Work,

system OF electrical communica tinn
without wires which he has been at
WORK on Tor some time is about com
1 1nma ana IN short while he will soon
oe!nonstrate how he can hold COM
munication with any part Of the world
usins the earth as a medium :
ne machines which have co1nplet
ca. Mr. Tesla said to q New York Sun
tsspoieer, VIII carry messages through
the earth for distance Of twenty rniiea
or so. have sent and received signals
with them, and 1 feel confident that, T
am not mistaken In saying that the
problem upon Which have spent many
gays ana nights is solved. OF course. it
is possible that I am mistaken have
made mistakes before, but not many,
l shali at once make machines which I
expect VIII enable me to telegra oh to
any part Of the earth as readily as I
can Within q limited distance by means
or the ones have"
Mr.. Tesla was not ready to explain In
detail the device which he used for
telegraphing without wires, but he talk
eel freely about the principles which
were involved and made 1t clear that the
results were obtained by the use of some
form Of his electrical oscillator. re-
Gently patented.
The solution to which Mr.. Tesla re-
ferred was brought about through the
work which he had done in developing
his electrical oscillator, which he was
C.
ton with the production of light from
the CrockeS tubes. The energy of the
electric current like that Of flowing
water. is displayed only when the cur
rent IS interrupted A familiar example
Of this may be seen in the common
medical battery, where the current
flowing from one pole to the other may
be passed through the most sensitive
parts Of the body, and yet not be felt.
i'ass the same current through Ruhm-
korft coll interrupttng the secondary
current by the vibrations of the com
mutator, and it will twist up the mus
Giles OF the strongest man and make him
powerleSs.
Before Tesla's time Interruptions of
this sort had been produced only by
mechanical means and could number
only a. few hundred a second. His cleo
tricat osclllator acts upon the principle
OF a bell. where a single stroke Of the
hammer sets the mental vibrating with 4
raDiuty commensurate with its bulk
and these vibrations can be continued
indefinitely by repeated strokes of the
hammer at Slow intervals. Mr. Tesla
now makes oscilla tors which will inter-
runt the current millions Of times III a
second. In explaining the theory upon
which his new devices for tclegraphing
over the whole earth works, MI. Tesla
used q simple smile.
suppose the whole earth" he said
to be like n hollow rubber ball filed
with water and at one place I have a
ttTbc attached to this. with a punger
In the tube. IF press upon the plum ger
The water in the tubs will be driven into
the rubber ball, and as the water is
practically jncOnprcSSible. every part Of
| the surface Of the ball will be expanded.
II l withdraw the plllngcr the water
follows itand every part Of the ball will
contract. Now, If I pierce the surface
OF the ball several times and set tubes
and nlungers at each place the plungcrs
in these will vibraie up and down in
answer TO every movement which ! may
produce In the plungcl Of the first tube
If ! We're to produce an explosion in
the centre OF the body of the water in
the ball this would set up a series of
vibrations III the whole body. If i could
then set the plunger in one of the tubes
To vibrating IN conSOn:unCc with the vi
bralions of the water, in little while
and with the use Of q very little energy
could burst the whole thing asunder."
This Mr.. Tesla said would explain in
n rude way how he proposed to set the
whole Of the static electricity Of the
earth in motion, for Geographic pur-
compressihility and elasticity OF the
electric ilud. Then he told Of some of
tho interesting results which he had ac-
complishcd IN studying the theory and
effect of vibrations In one case lie set
Il steel ring, four inches thick, vibrating,
and by repeated but gentle continue
tons Of The vibrations burst tho ring.
IN another case he took q. steel bar, an
inch in diameter. set ii ribra ting and
kept it going until its Internal disturb
ancc vas 50 great that first q section
Of the rod broke loose from one end ana
flew off and then another section few
OFF from the other end.
AIR. Tesla thinks that eventually it
will he possible TO transmit power in the
same way.