Twenty First Century Books

Home | Tesla Writings | Tesla Patents | Tesla FAQ | Tesla On AC | Tesla Books | Glossary | Links
Bookstore | Newsletter | Wholesale Book List | Contact Us
| Reference Section | Search | Site Map

   Previous Q & A | Next Q & A | Questions | Table of Contents 

Wasn't Tesla researching the broadcast of power in his last project?

During a celebration of his 79th birthday on July 10, 1935, Tesla made an announcement to the press of an invention called "telegeodynamics." This was a system by means of which mechanical energy could be transmitted through the ground to any part of earth. He claimed telegeodynamics could provide one-way communications, an aid to navigation for ships, and a means of locating hidden ore deposits. Implementation of a full-blown system would have involved the installation of at least one massive reciprocating mechanical oscillator with a piston weighing in at about 100 tons!

Another project from the same period of Tesla's life that received a significant amount of press coverage was a particle beam projector�the teleforce proposal. While he did make some statements about the transmission of power with this unique open-ended vacuum tube, it was intended for directing energy towards a specific target and not for broadcasting.

It is possible you are referring to an earlier project dealing with the application of alternating electrical currents to wireless communications and power transmission. This effort drew much of Tesla's attention during the period generally between 1891 and 1912. In "The Future of the Wireless Art" [Tesla Said pp. 108-110], which appeared in Wireless Telegraphy & Telephony, 1908, Tesla made the following statement regarding the Wardenclyffe project on which he was then working:

"As soon as completed, it will be possible for a business man in New York to dictate instructions, and have them instantly appear in type at his office in London or elsewhere. He will be able to call up, from his desk, and talk to any telephone subscriber on the globe, without any change whatever in the existing equipment. An inexpensive instrument, not bigger than a watch, will enable its bearer to hear anywhere, on sea or land, music or song, the speech of a political leader, the address of an eminent man of science, or the sermon of an eloquent clergyman, delivered in some other place, however distant. In the same manner any picture, character, drawing, or print can be transferred from one to another place. Millions of such instruments can be operated from but one plant of this kind. More important than this, however, will be the transmission of power, without wires, which will be shown on a scale large enough to carry conviction. These few indications will be sufficient to show that the wireless art offers greater possibilities than any invention or discovery heretofore made, and if the conditions are favorable, we can expect with certitude that in the next few years wonders will be wrought by its application."

If the above predictions were to be true, an interesting feature of Tesla's World System for global communications, had it gone into full operation, would have been its capacity to provide small but usable quantities of electrical power at the location of the receiving circuits. He predicted that further advances would have permitted the wireless transmission of industrial amounts of electrical energy with minimal losses to any point on the earth's surface. If he had been able to complete the prototype communications station on Long Island and use it to demonstrate the feasibility of wireless power transmission than construction of a pilot plant for this larger system would have begun at Niagara Falls, site of the world's first commercial three phase AC power plant.

There is some circumstantial evidence, primarily in the form of newspaper articles, indicating that large-scale wireless power transmission experiments were planned in the mid 30s time frame.  For example, an article appeared in The New York Daily News, April 2, 1934 titled "Tesla's Wireless Power Dream Nears Reality" which mentions a planned test run of a "motor car" using wireless transmission of energy to power the automobile.  [Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography]

   Top | Previous  Q & A | Next  Q & A | Questions

Home | Tesla Writings | Tesla Patents | Tesla FAQ | Tesla On AC | Tesla Books | Glossary | Links
Bookstore | Newsletter | Wholesale Book List | Contact Us
| Reference Section | Search | Site Map

 

 

21st Century Books
Post Office Box 2001
Breckenridge, CO 80424-2001

� 1998-2013 Twenty-First Century Books, Colorado
All Rights Reserved