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Nikola Tesla
continued....
Tesla made electrical measurements of this
projective stream. One lead of a galvanometer was connected to a copper
plate, the other grounded. When impulses were applied to wire line, the
unattached and distant meter registered a continual direct current. Current
through space without wires! Now here was something which impulses achieved,
never observed with alternating currents of any frequency.
Analysis of this situation proved that
electrical energy or electrically productive energies were being projected
from the impulse device as rays, not waves. Tesla was amazed to find these
rays absolutely longitudinal in their action through space, describing them
in a patent as "light-like rays". These observations conformed with
theoretical expectations described in 1854 by Kelvin.
In another article
Tesla calls them "dark-rays", and "rays which are more light-like in
character". The rays neither diminished with the inverse square of the
distance nor the inverse of the distance from their source. They seemed to
stretch out in a progressive shock-shell to great distances without any
apparent loss.
MAGNETIC ARCS
Nikola Tesla now required greater power levels
than those provided by his mechanical rotary switch system. He also saw the
need for controlling ultra-rapid current interruptions of high repetition
("succession") rates. No mechanical switch could perform in this manner. He
had to envision and devise some new means by which ultra-rapid interruptions
could be obtained. In his best and most efficient system, highly charged
capacitors were allowed to impulsively discharge across special heavy-duty
magnetic arcs.
The magnetic arc gap was capable of handling
the large currents required by Tesla. In achieving powerful, sudden impulses
of one polarity, these were the most durable. Horn shaped electrodes were
positioned with a powerful permanent magnetic field. Placed at right angles
to the arc itself, the currents, which suddenly formed in this magnetic
space, were accelerated along the horns until they were extinguished.
Rapidly extinguished!
Arcs were thus completely extinguished within a
specified time increment. Tesla configured the circuit parameters so as to
prevent capacitor alternations from occurring through the arc space. Each
arc discharge represented a pure unidirectional impulse of very great power.
No "contaminating current reversals" were possible or permissible.
Reversals ... alternations ... would ruin the
"shock broadcast". The effect was never observed when alternating currents
were engaged. High voltage was supplied by a large dynamo. Tesla could speed
or slow this dynamo with a hand operated rheostat. Power was applied in
parallel across the capacitor. The magnetic arc was linked almost directly
to one side of this capacitor, a long and thick copper strap connecting the
magnetic arc and the far capacitor plate.
This simple asymmetric positioning of the
magnetic arc discharger to one side of the dynamo supply produced pure
unidirectional electropositive or electronegative impulses as desired. Tesla
designed this very simple and powerfully effective automatic switching
system for achieving ultra-rapid impulses of a single polarity. Capacitor
values, arc distances, magnetic fields and dynamo voltages were all balanced
and adjusted to yield a repetitive train of ultra-short singular impulses
without "fly back" effects.
The system is not really well understood by
engineers, the exceptional activities of the arc plasma introducing numerous
additional features to the overall system. While the effects, which Tesla
claimed, can be reproduced with electron tube impulse circuitry, these
produce decidedly inferior effects. The overall power of the basic arc
discharge is difficult to equal. Tesla eventually enclosed the magnetic
arc, immersing the gap space in mineral oil. This blocked premature arcing,
while very greatly increasing the system output.
Most imagine that the Tesla impulse system is
merely a "very high frequency alternator". This is a completely erroneous
notion, resulting in effects, which can never equal those to which Tesla
referred. The magnetic discharge device was a true stroke of genius. It
rapidly extinguishes capacitor charge in a single disruptive blast. This
rapid current rise and decline formed an impulse of extraordinary power.
Tesla called this form of automatic arc switching a "disruptive discharge"
circuit, distinguishing it from numerous other kinds of arc discharge
systems. It is very simply a means for interrupting a high voltage direct
current without allowing any backward current alternations. When these
conditions are satisfied, the Tesla Effect is then observed.
The asymmetrical positioning of the capacitor
and the magnetic arc determines the polarity of the impulse train. If the
magnetic arc device is placed near the positive charging side, then the
strap is charged negative and the resultant current discharge is decidedly
negative.
Tesla approached the testing of his more
powerful systems with certain fear. Each step of the testing process was
necessarily a dangerous one. But he discovered that when the discharges
exceeded ten thousand per second, the painful shock effect was absent.
Nerves of the body were obviously incapable of registering the separate
impulses. But this insensitivity could lead to a most seductive death. The
deadly aspects of electricity might remain. Tesla was therefore all the more
wary of the experiments.

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