[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Tesla Receiver Coil



Original poster: Ed Phillips <evp@xxxxxxxxxxx>

See c


The first gratifying result of my efforts in this direction was the transmission of electrical energy thru one wire without return. . . . [T]he idea gradually took hold of me that the earth might be used in place of the wire. . . "

A mistake on his part of course. There was a return circuit but it wasn't a physical conductor, just the capacitance of the circuit.

"The immensity of the globe seemed an unsurmountable obstacle but after a prolonged study of the subject I became satisfied that the undertaking was rational, and in my lectures before the Franklin Institute and National Electric Light Association early in 1893 I gave the outline of the system I had conceived. In the latter part of that year, at the Chicago World's Fair, I had the good fortune of meeting Prof. Helmholtz to whom I explained my plan, illustrating it with experiments. On that occasion I asked the celebrated physicist for an expression of opinion on the feasibility of the scheme. He stated unhesitatingly that it was practicable, provided I could perfect apparatus capable of putting it into effect but this, he anticipated, would be extremely difficult to accomplish."

This is anecdotal without backup (at least here). Wonder if Helmholtz (Hert's mentor) ever wrote anything on the subject? That would be corroboration.


"In the summer of 1897 Lord Kelvin happened to pass thru New York and honored me by a visit to my laboratory where I entertained him with demonstrations in support of my wireless theory. He was fairly carried away with what he saw but, nevertheless, condemned my project in emphatic terms, qualifying it as something impossible, "an illusion and a snare." I had expected his approval and was pained and surprised. But the next day he returned and gave me a better opportunity for explanation of the advances I had made and of the true principles underlying the system I had evolved. Suddenly he remarked with evident astonishment: "Then you are not making use of Hertz waves?" "Certainly not," I replied, "these are radiations". No energy could be economically transmitted to a distance by any such agency. In my system the process is one of true conduction which, theoretically, can be effected at the greatest distance without appreciable loss." I can never forget the magic change that came over the illustrious philosopher the moment he freed himself from that erroneous impression. The skeptic who would not believe was suddenly transformed into the warmest of supporters. He parted from me not only thoroughly convinced of the scientific soundness of the idea but strongly exprest his confidence in its success. . . . Nikola Tesla, 1919, "Famous Scientific Illusions, III. The Singular Misconception of the Wireless. (See http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/illusions.htm for the unabridged text.)"

Too bad Kelvin never wrote about that meeting and his agreement with Tesla. Too bad too that Hertzian waves are still with us and the World Power System never has been....................

Ed