The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-11-11
ELEUIRIC MARVEL
Tesla Claims an Invention That
Makes War Impossible.
Most Feeble of Nations Can
Have Means of Defense.
NAVALPOWER USELESS
His Weapon Will Make Junk of
Powerful Ships.
Torpedo Boat Propelled at Will
by Electric Device.

New York. Nov. 1.-THE New York
Herald this morning says:
''War will cease to be possible when
all the world knows tomorrow that the
most feeble of the nations can supply
itself Immediately with a weapon which
renders its coast secure and its ports
impregnable to the assault Of even the
united armadas OF the world.
'rBattleships will cease to be built and
the mightiest ironcIads and the most
tremendous artillery afiOat 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 del
icate, so impalpable a quality that
feel that I am justified in predicting
the time will come, incredible as it may
seem, when it can be called into action
by the mere exercise of the human
will
This wonderful statement was made
today by NikOla Tesla At moment
when the world is on edge from rumOrs
of a. possible colossal conflict there
comes from the great magician Of sci
ence the announcement Of the perfection
of power which he believes is destined
Immediately to usher in the era of uni
versal peace by the demonstration Of its
ability to destroy, without the posslblli-
ty of defense, the mightiest ornaments
of all the naval powers.
In brief, TesIa's latest and most start
ling miracle consists in an application
of electricity whereby, without interpo-
sitiOn of any artificial medium of COM
municatiOn, one man can control and d.
rect with absolute exactitude the move
mentS of any type of vessels, or land
vehicle at any distance that may be de-
sired.
From a station on shore or from the
deck of a vessel under way a torpedo
boat equipped with Mr.. Tesla's control
ling device may be propelled either on
or below the surface, Unanswered at
will in any direction, and finally brought
into contact and exploded at the side OF
a hostile vessel at any point within the
range of the operator.
More than this assuming that it were
possible accurately to locate the posi-
ton of the vessel which it is desired
to destroy the torpedo boat could be
directed to it, even if the ship lay in the
harbor of Southampton and the OPP
orator were stationed at Sandy Hook.
With such marvellous possibilities of
destruction it is hardly to be wondered
that Mr.. Tesla believes the days Of the
supremacy of sea, power are numbered.
Tesla said that some months had
| elapsed since he had fully developed his
| device. When it was learned that Ad-
mira1 Cervera was bottled up at San
| tiagO it was his intention to apply his
mechanism to several launches and sim
| liar craft loaded with high explosives
and annihilate the fleet at anchor. Ad-
miral CerYera, however, came out and
met his fate under the guns of the
American fleet before the necessary ar
rangements could be made Then Tesla
planned a raid on the Spanish vessels
in Havana harbOr, only to be thwarted
by the proclamation of the suspension
of hOstilities.
While the most important application
of the device is unquestiOnably in the
direction of destruction, it will also have
countless peaceful uses, and it is Tesla's
highest pride that by making war too
terrible it will render it impossible
Tesla this morning in his laboratory
| in East Houston street said:
ct gives me the greatest pleasure to
announce to the world my last and my
greatest invention. My imagination
fairly reels when attempt to cOntem-
plate it's countless possibilities. Already
I hear the knen of the battleship and
the monster gun. Their day has passed
power, which gives to all nations an
absolute power of defense against any
attack
England has until now boosted of
her mastery of the seas, but her su-
periOrity has vanished, and she is now
no stronger than the weakest of the
| maritime nations, so far as her Of
fensive power is concerned.
England, who is now so diligently
preparing for war, will awake to this
unwelcome discovery tomorrow and
against whom her ornaments have
been reported to be preparing, will re-
joice in the discovery that she possesses
an all powerful weapon of defense.
''Hitherto,'' continued Tesla, the only
means of controlling the movement of a
vessel from a distance have been sup
piled through the medium of a flexible
conductor, such as an electric cable,
but this system is subject to obvious
limitations, 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 it's move
/ ments with rapidity, by the necessity
of offeCfineg the control from q TOinf
which is practically fixed, and from
many other drawbacks which are in
separately connected with such a sys-
tenn.
1.-The plan which have perfected in
wolves none of these objections, for am
enabled by the use of my invention to
employ any means on propulsion to i'm
part to the moving body or vessel the
highest possible speed, to control the
operation of its machinery, and to di-
rect its movements from either a fixed
point or from a body moving and
changing its direction, however rapidly,
and to maintain this control over great
distances without any artificial connec-
lions between the vessel and the ap-
paratuS governing it's movement and
without such restrictions as these must
necessarily impose.
In a broad sense, then, nv invention
differs from all of those systems which
provide for the control of the mechan-
ism called by moving object and gov
erning its motion in that I REQUIRE no
intermediate wires, cables, or other form
of electrical or mechanical connection
with the object save the natural media
| in space.
Il accomplish, nevertheless, similar
| results, and in a much more practicable
manner, by producing waves, impulses,
or radiatiOns which are received through
| the earth, water, or atmosphere by suit
! able apparatus on the moving body and
cause the desired actions so long as the
| body remains within the active region
or effective range of such currents,
| waves impulses. TadiatiOnS.