Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1898-12-01
WILL ABOLISH WAR.
TESLA DEVlSES
A NEW POWER.
Claims It Will Render Useless the
-Navies of the Wor1d-Destroys Dis
lance, and from a Base in New York
Can Operate in Europe.
v II = HEN all the world is ring
NV ing with rumors of an i'm
pending colossal conflict

there comes from the laboratory of one
of the great magicians of science the
announcement of the development of a
power which he believes is destined i'm
mediately to usher in the era of uni
versal peace by the demonstration Of
its ability to destroy, without the posi-
bility of defense, the mightiest arma-
ments of all the naval powers.
In the words of Nikola Tesla, the
electrician, war will cease to be posi-
BILE when all the world knows to-mor-
row that the most feeble Of the nations
can supply itself Immediately with
weapon which will render it's coast Sc
cure and it's ports impregnable to the
assaults Of the united armadas of the
world. Battleships will cease to be built
and the mightiest armorclads and the
most tremendous artillery affoat will be
of no more use than SO much scrap
iron. And this irresistible power can be
eXerted at any distance by an agency
of SO delicate, SO impalpable quality
that feel that I am justified in pre-
dieting that the time will come, incred
ible as it may seem, when it can be
called into action by the mere exercise
of the human will"
In brief, Mr.. Tesla's latest and most
startling miracle consists in an applica-
ton of electricity whereby, without the
interposition of any artificial medium
of communication, one man can control
and direct, with absolute exactitude,
the movements of any type of vessel,
balloon or land vehicle, at any distance
that may be desired. From station
on shore, or from the deck of a vessel
under way, a torpedo boat equipped
with Mr.. Teslas controlling device
may be propelled either on or below
the surface, Unanswered at will in any
direction, and finally brought into con-
tact and exploded against the side Of
a hostile vessel at any point within the
range Of the vision Of the operator.
More than this, assuming that it were
possible to accurately locate the posi-
ton Of the vessel which it is desired
to destroy, the torpedo boat could be di-
rected to it, even if the ship lay in the
harbor of Southampton and the oper-
ator were stationed at Sandy Hook.
With such marvellous possibilities of
destruction, it is hardly to be wondered
that Mr.. Tesla firmly believes that the
days of the supremacy of sea power are
numbered.
Hitherto, says Mr.. Tesla, the only
means Of controlling the movements of
vessel from distance have been sup
piled through the means of flexible
conductor such as an electric cable, but
this system is subject to obvious limi-
tations, such as are imposed by the
length, weight and strength of the con-
ductor which can be practically used;
by the difficulty of maintaining, with
safety, the high speed of the vessel or
changing the direction of her move
ments with rapidity, by the necessity
of effecting the control from a point
which is practically fixed, and from
many other drawbacks which are in
separately connected with such a sys-
tenn.
The plan which have perfected in
wolves none of these objections, for I
am enabled by the use of my invention
to employ any means Of propulsion, to
impart to the moving body or vessel
the highest possible speed, to control
the operation Of it's machinery and to
direct it's movements from either fix
ed point or from a body moving and
changing it's direction, however rapid
ly, and to maintain this control over
great distances, without any artificial
connections between the vessel and the
apparatus governing it's movements,
and without such restrictions as these
must necessarily impose.
Mr.. Tesla then went on to give a
practical example Of the workings of
the model which the correspondent de-
scribes:
Elevated on stocks on a table in the
center Of Mr.. Tesla's laboratory in New
York stood a model of a screw-propel-
led craft, about four feet long and
somewhat disproportionately wide and
deep. The deck was slightly arched
and surmounted by three slender stand
ards, the center one being considerably |
higher than the other two, which car
ried small incandescent bulbs, third
bulb being fixed at the bow.
The keel consisted of massive cop-
per plate, the propeller and rudder be-
ing in the usual position. Mr.. Tesla
explained that the boat contained the |
propelling machinery, consisting of an
electric motor actuated by a storage
battery in the hold, another motor to
actuate the rudder and the delicate |
mechanism which performs the func- !
ton of receiving through the central
standard the electric impulse sent !
through the atmosphere from the dis !
tant operating station, which set in mo-
ton the propelling and steering motors,
and through them light or extinguish |
the electric bulbs and fire the explod- |
ing charge in chamber in the bow in |
response to signals sent by the oper-
ator.
"Now. watch" said the inventor: and |