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Re: Great Balls of Fire

Tesla List wrote:
> 
> >From ed-at-alumni.caltech.eduTue Oct  8 22:27:16 1996
> Date: Tue, 8 Oct 1996 19:24:11 -0700 (PDT)
> From: "Edward V. Phillips" <ed-at-alumni.caltech.edu>
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Re: Great Balls of Fire
> 
> Re: Guide to CSN
> Richard:
>         Got my copy last night and stayed up reading it through
> at one sitting.  (Unfortunately without the "Notes" which are
> lent out at the moment.)  Great job and most interesting, including
> the extra stuff at the end.
>         Mysteries which were not necessarily solved:
> 1. What were all the reasons for the trip to Colorado?  Was it just
> some combination of desire for privacy (and not being bugged by the
> neighbors), or were there other motivations we cannot know?

The resons were several and varied. Some, I did indeed, cover in the 
introduction to my book.
1.Tesla was limited in the city and could not attempt big high power work 
due to space limitations and proximity of neighbors.
2.  He had an "itch he couldn't scratch".  Many ideas were filling his 
head and he needed special materials, facilities, and funding to test 
some of his boldest ideas.
3.  He was offered the free use of City owned land and, ostensibly, free 
power, provided he locate his lab in Colorado Springs. ( The free power 
issue would bite him in the ass later, as he received a bill upon 
returning to N.Y.)  In early 1899, John Jacob Astor gave Tesla the sum of 
$50,000 to develop his ideas after being nearly needled to death by 
Tesla.  This now put Tesla in a position to act on his dreams with no 
cost to himself. 
4.  Such a venture would continue to keep Tesla in the "limelight" with a 
secret and isolated lab in Colorado performing landmark experiments at 
power levels never dreamed of by his contemporaries.   R. Hull
 
> 2. Why the intriguing references to "radio" receiver work, thrown
> int without a lot of context?

I asasume you mean my failure to elaborate?  At the outset in the 
foreward or introduction of my book, I noted that this was a "Tesla coil 
builders guide" and not a radioman's history.  Nothing in his radio work 
bears on Tesla coil building in the slightest!  R. Hull


> 3. How did he decide it was time to go home?

Ah, this is also alluded to in my book in several places, but was noted 
strictly in his correspondence to Scherff.  Tesla looked upon Colorado 
Springs as a dump, along with most of the people in it.  This is also 
found in other private correspondences which I am privy to written in his 
own hand. ( the Anderson papers).  The radio work of others was stealing 
his thunder back in the real world (New York).  "No names" were 
showboating and Tesla was the showboat king!!!  He grew extremely weary 
of Colorado as early as late July!!!!  In October he talked to Scherff of 
abandoning the place for New York anyday!!!  He couldn't wait to leave.  
As the cold Colorado winter set in, he bitterly complained of the cold.

  When he ultimately left, he left much of his material there and left 
his assitant, Ceto, to close the joint down. 

 I think the thunderstorm on the 4th of July was Telsa's turning point!  
The idea of ground transmission evolved over the next few weeks and he 
was ready to leave and start the wardenclyffe project!!! (Even though the 
project had not jelled in his own mind yet.)  R. Hull


> 4. Did he, perhaps, keep equivalent notes for everything he did
> during his career? What a fascinating lot those would be.

 Absolutley not.  There is no record of such notes until Colorado in 
1899.  There are a bunch of scattered and loose notes on the Wardenclyffe 
period, with gaps of months and even years in them!!

R.hull 

 
> 5. Was he already beginning to "go 'round the bend" at that time?

No!  I think Tesla was sharp as a tack until the closure of Wardenclyffe. 
 This changed him, but he was still a contributor, albeit small fish, 
until the late 1920's!  R. Hull


> Again, magnificent job and strongly recommended to anyone who
> has a copy of the notes, and anyone who is at all serious about
> the theme here should have them, if only for nostalgia's sake.
> Ed

Thanks for the nice questions and kudos.

Richard Hull, TCBOR