The San Francisco call., 1898-11-09
NEW USE FOR ELECTRICITY
TORPEDO BOATS TO OPERATE
 WITHOUT CREWS.
Propelled by Electric Impulses Sent Through the Atmosphere From Station Miles
 Away.
speeia! Dtspatch to rhe cgIl.

NEW YORK, Nov. S.-Nikola Tesla, the electrical expert, in a newspaper interview describes an application of electricity whereby, without the inter- [ position of any artful medium of com munication, one man may control and direct, with absolute exactitude, the movements of any type of vessel. bal loon or land vehicle at any distance that may be desired. From a station on shore, or from the deck of a vessel under way, a torpedo boat equipped with MT Tesla's controlling device may be propelled either on CT below the sur face, maneuvered at will in any direc- ton, and finally brought into contact and exploded against the side of a hos tile 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- tion 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 opera tor was stationed at Sandy Hook.
 MT. Tesla says that some months have elapsed since he fully developed his device. for which he has applied for a patent. When it was learned that Ad- -rniral Cervera was bottled up at Santi- ago it was his intention to apply his mechanism to several launches and similar craft loaded with high eXplo- / sives and to annihilate the fleet at an chOr Admiral Cervera, however, came out and met his fate under the guns of the American fleet before the necessary arrangements could be made. Then MT. Tesla planned raid on the Spanish vessels in Havana harbor, only to be thwarted by the proclamation of the suspension of hostilities. Says MT. Tesla:
 Hitherto the only means of control ling the movements of a vessel from a distance have been supplied through the medium of a flexible conductor, such as an electric cable, but this sys- tenn is subject to obvious limitations, such as are imposed by the length, weight and strength of the conductor which can be practically used; by the difficulty of maintaining with safety the high speed of the vessel or chang ing the direction of her movements with rapidity; the necessity of effect ing the control from point which is practically fixed, and from many other awbacks which are inseparably con- nected with such a system.
 5's.The plan which l have perfected in wolves none of these objections, for 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 its machinery and to direct its movements from either fixed point or from body moving and changing it's direction, however rapid 1y. and to maintain this control over great distances without any artificial connections between the vessel and the apparatus governing its movements, and without such restrictions as these must necessarily impose.
 Tn a broad sense, then, my invention differs from all of those systems which provide for the control of the mechan- ism carried by a moving object and governing it's motion in that l require no intermediate wires, cables or other form of electrical or mechanical cOnnec- tions with the object save the natural media in space. l accomplish, never theless, similar results and in a much more practical manner by producing waves, impulses or radiations which are received through the earth, water or atmosphere by suitable apparatus on the moving body and which cause the desired actions. so long as the body re- mains within the active region or eff fective range of such currents, waves impulses or radiation
 Having explained to you some of the