Who created alternating current. Who invented alternating current

"The Man Who Invented the 20th Century!" - so Tesla is called by modern biographers, and they do it without any exaggeration. He gained his fame thanks to progressive views and the ability to prove their worth. Tesla carried out the most dangerous experiments in the name of science, and in some circles is considered a figure associated with mysticism. In the latter case, most likely, we are dealing with speculation, but what is known for sure is that the inventions of Nikola Tesla contributed to progress throughout the world.

Legacy of Nikola Tesla

First, consider inventions that are important from a scientific point of view, but rarely found in the daily life of a modern person.

It will be about one of the most famous and spectacular inventions of Nikola. The Tesla coil is a type of resonant transformer circuit. Used this fixture to produce high voltage high frequency.

The Tesla coil was one of the tools for studying the nature of electric current and the possibilities of its use.

Tesla used coils during innovative experiments in the field of:

electric lighting;
phosphorescence;
x-ray generation;
high frequency alternating current;
electrotherapy;
radio engineering;
transmission of electrical energy without wires.

By the way, Nikola Tesla was one of those people who predicted the emergence of the Internet and modern gadgets.

The Tesla coil is an early precursor (along with the induction coil) to a more modern device called a flyback transformer. It provides the voltage needed to power the cathode ray tube of televisions and computer monitors. Versions of this coil are widely used today in radio, television and other electronic equipment.

In all its glory, the coil can be seen in science museums or at special shows.

The Tesla Coil in action is always a sight to behold:

This structure, also known as the Tesla Tower, was built to implement wireless telecommunications and demonstrate the possibility of transmitting electricity without wires.

As conceived by Tesla, the Wardenclyffe Tower was to be a step towards the creation World Wireless System. His plans were to install several dozen receiving and transmitting stations around the world. Thus, there would be no need to use high-voltage power lines. That is, in fact, we would have received one worldwide power plant. By the way, Tesla managed to transfer electricity "through the air" from one coil to another, so his ambitions were not unfounded.

Today Vordencliff is a closed facility

The Vordenclyffe project required large capital investments and received the support of influential investors in the initial stages. However, when work on the construction of the tower was almost completed, Tesla lost funding and was on the verge of bankruptcy. This was because Wardenclyffe could be a prerequisite for free electricity supplies around the world, and this could bankrupt some investors whose business was tied to the sale of electricity.

Fans of various conspiracy theories link the fall of the Tunguska meteorite in Siberia and Tesla's experiments with the Tower.

X-rays

Wilhelm Roentgen on November 8, 1895 officially discovered the radiation named after him. But in fact, this phenomenon was first observed by Nikola Tesla. As early as 1887, he began to conduct research using vacuum tubes. During the experiments, Tesla recorded "special rays" that could "shine through" objects.. At first, the scientist did not pay much attention to this phenomenon, given that prolonged exposure to X-rays is dangerous for humans.

Nikola Tesla was the first to draw attention to the danger of x-rays

However, Tesla continued research in this direction and even conducted several experiments before the discovery of Wilhem Roentgen, including photographing the bones of his hand.

Unfortunately, in March 1895, a fire broke out in Tesla's laboratory, and the records of these studies were lost. After discovering X-ray, Nicola took a picture of his leg using a vacuum tube device and sent it to a colleague along with congratulations. Roentgen praised Tesla for the quality photography.

The same shot of a foot in a boot

Contrary to popular belief, Wilhem Roentgen was not familiar with the works of Tesla and came to his discovery on his own, which cannot be said about Guglielmo Marconi ...

Radio and remote control

Engineers from different countries worked on radio technology, while the research was independent of each other. The most striking example is the Soviet physicist Alexander Popov and the Italian engineer Guglielmo Marconi, who are considered the inventors of the radio in their countries. However, Marconi gained great worldwide fame, having first established radio communication between the two continents (1901) and received a patent for the invention (1905). Therefore, it is believed that he made the greatest contribution to the development of radio communications. But what about Tesla?

Radio waves are everywhere today

As it turned out, it was he who was the first to reveal the nature of radio signals. in 1897 he patented a transmitter and receiver. Marconi took Tesla's technology as a basis and made his famous demonstration in 1901. Already in 1904, the Patent Office revokes the patent for the radio to Nikola, and a year later awards it to Marconi. Apparently, this was not without the financial influence of Thomas Edison and Andrew Carnegie, who were in a confrontation with Tesla.

In 1943, after the death of Nikola Tesla, the US Supreme Court sorted out the situation and recognized the more significant contribution of this scientist as the inventor of radio technology.

Let's rewind a little. In 1898, at an electrical exhibition in Madison Square Garden, Tesla demonstrated an invention that he called "teleautomatics". In fact it was boat model, the movement of which can be controlled remotely via the remote control.

This is what Tesla's radio-controlled boat looked like

Nikola Tesla actually showed the possibilities of using radio wave transmission technology. Today, remote control is all around, from the TV remote control to flying drones.

Tesla induction motor and electric car

In 1888, Tesla received a patent for an electric machine in which rotation is created under the influence of an alternating current.

We will not go into the technical features of the operation of an induction motor - those who are interested can familiarize themselves with the relevant material on Wikipedia. What you need to know is that the engine has a simple design, does not require high manufacturing costs and is reliable in operation.

Tesla intended to use his invention as an alternative to internal combustion engines.. But it just so happened that during this period no one was interested in such innovations, and the financial situation of the scientist himself did not allow him to roam too much.

Interesting fact! A monument to the great inventor has been erected in Silicon Valley. It is symbolic that he distributes free Wi-Fi.

It is impossible not to mention the shrouded in mystery Tesla's electric car. It is precisely because of the doubtfulness of this story that we will not display it as a separate item. Moreover, it could not do without an electric motor.

1931, New York. Nikola Tesla held a demonstration of the operation of a car in which supposedly instead of an internal combustion engine, an 80 hp AC engine was installed. The scientist traveled on it for about a week, accelerating to 150 km / h. And the catch is this: the engine was running with no visible power source, and for recharging the car supposedly never set. The only thing the motor was connected to was a box assembled from light bulbs and transistors that Tesla bought from a nearby electronics store.

A 1931 Pierce Arrow car was used for the demonstration.

To all questions, Nikola answered that the energy is taken from the ether. Newspaper skeptics began to accuse him of almost black magic, and the annoyed genius, taking his box, refused to comment or explain anything at all.

A similar event in Tesla's biography does take place, but still experts question that he found a way to get energy for a car from "air". Firstly, there is no hint of an ether-powered engine in the scientist’s notes, and secondly, there are suggestions that Nikola fooled the public in this way in order to draw attention to the very idea of \u200b\u200belectric cars. And directly for the movement of this prototype, either a hidden battery or an internal combustion engine with an upgraded exhaust system could be used.

Three-phase current - a type of signal that goes through at least three wires, and the frequency for each branch is the same, and the phases are equidistant from each other (by 120 degrees).

Complicated three-phase current path

It is well known that Arago's theory of a rotating magnetic field was the first to be put into practice by Nikola Tesla. The insight came suddenly, during a walk with a friend in nature. Taking the patent, Tesla simultaneously incorporated into the document a veto on the use of any number of phases greater than one. Therefore, the Russian scientist Dolivo-Dobrovolsky, who voluntarily fled to the German company AEG, could not acquire a patent for his own three-phase motor ...

This historical digression is made so that the reader understands how inscrutable the ways of the Lord are. How ornate was the fate of the young Tesla, who gave - and this is said without exaggeration - the world an alternating, including three-phase, current. And in addition - outlined the approximate areas of change in frequency and voltage. Without Tesla's genius, the use of batteries would probably continue today. It is clear that technical progress without alternating current was not possible.

Arago and the rotating magnetic field

Most modern inventions are based on discoveries made by the British and French in the first half of the 19th century. The metric system was conceived by Laplace, who held an important position in the Academy even before Bonaparte. The SI is based on a length that is a ten-millionth of a quarter of the Paris meridian (an arc passing through magnetic Earths, the location of the true ones remained unknown).

In fulfilling this task, Arago went initially to Spain to take measurements. Let's focus on a simple fact: times were turbulent. By the time of Arago's travels, the fact of the surrender in Spain of a 22,000-strong army under the command of Dupont dates back. In contravention of the terms of surrender, the sons of Arragon sent the French - after long ordeals - to a deserted island, where they were kept in appalling conditions. As a result, only a quarter returned to their homeland, and Emperor Napoleon imprisoned Dupont in a castle, the most terrible prison in France.

Arago many times over a short period of three years found himself on the verge of death and invariably patiently continued to perform work on measuring the meridian. Nuance - Laplace proved the change in the size of the globe according to the movement of the moon. It is impossible to accurately consider the now generally accepted meter (from Greek - standard, measure) as a scientifically explained measure of length. And copies made of a special alloy are stored in special conditions. However, the yard is still used in the USA, Britain and a number of other countries, the exact origin of the unit is not known for certain.

Arago is one of the first to recognize the majesty of Oersted and Volta's work in electricity, stating in general terms that these two men laid the foundation for the construction of a new building over the centuries. In accordance with the ideas of Laplace, picked up by Schweigger, Arago begins to experiment with the former and quickly finds a new direction. It's about induction. We have to live 8 years before the experiments of Michael Faraday, and Arago, together with Foucault, demonstrates to the Academy the mutual influence of a compass needle and a rotating copper disk - a metal that is not related to iron and alloys.

This means that the first induction motor appeared long before the patenting on May 1, 1888 (US381968 A) by Nikola Tesla of an AC synchronous machine. Arago discovered Foucault's eddy currents, which gave hundreds of ideas to future generations. Michael Faraday is considered the father of commutator motors. Read about the latter in the note about. At first it seems that Faraday's motor is synchronous, since a permanent magnet is used, but the opinion is erroneous. Further development of the idea led to the appearance of sliding contacts that change the polarity of the winding poles, which already leads straight to the distribution manifold.

Nikola Tesla and alternating current

The presentation of events related to Nikola Tesla is conducted according to the First Russian Biography authored by Rzhonsnitsky. As the writer testifies, at the end of 1881, the inventor was struck by an unknown ailment, accompanied by unusual symptoms:

The senses became so acute that Tesla heard the movement of the wagon along the street and felt the vibrations produced in the house.
A light touch felt like a blow.
Vision allowed to see even at night.
The whisper sounded like a scream.

At the time described, the mind of an engineer (a communications company in Budapest) was working on the task of creating an alternating current motor. As expected, getting rid of the symptoms occurred suddenly, the cause remained unexplained. Recovering, on a February evening, Tesla walked in the park with a former classmate Szigeti, quoted his favorite poets, for example, Goethe, admired the pictures of nature and the sunset together. Having uttered the next verse of the memorable poem, Nikola realized that the difficult technical problem had been solved.

And in addition, the subconscious mind prompted him to reverse the shaft. In his autobiography, Tesla noted that he quickly made a sketch of the future design. Thus, the invention dates back to 1882.

Not relying on the prevailing opinion that Dolivo-Dobrovolsky made a great contribution to the development of three-phase current, this is not very true. As evidence, according to the text of the review, a customized image from the patent of Nikola Tesla is provided. It can be seen that the stator and rotor have six poles. Dolivo-Dobrovolsky noted the superiority of three phases over two. This is the great merit of the scientist, as well as the invention of the "squirrel cage" rotor of an induction motor. But the three-phase current and the number of phases exceeding one were introduced into life by Nikola Tesla. Westinghouse was doing a similar thing by the mid-80s, but the latter did not succeed.

Although work in the Budapest telegraph took a lot of energy, Tesla barely had time to write down new designs of an AC synchronous motor in a notebook. At the end of 1882, Nicola was waiting for a transfer to the position of an engineer for setting up electrical installations. Traveling around Europe, the Serbian genius constantly encountered the brainchildren of Thomas Edison and studied the principle of operation well. The talented Tesla proposed many improvements to the existing equipment and quickly gained respect in the professional environment.

Work in Strasbourg stalled, Tesla was invited to bring the frozen train out of the impasse. In 1883, the inventor ends up in France, where he gets to work. On the basis of the workshops, simultaneously with the adjustment of Edison equipment, the young man designs the first synchronous AC motor. Success came with the speed of attaching the last wire. Bowsen, who acted as mayor, after a single demonstration of the novelty, became an ardent admirer of the inventor's talent.

French entrepreneurs, seeing the advantages of alternating current, did not dare to invest, there was no tradition at that time to use several phases - a power source would have to be purchased for installation. Meanwhile, Tesla brilliantly fulfilled the company's order and was already expecting a reward agreed in advance, but not fixed by contract. The acquired funds, according to Nikola's plan, would become the initial capital for the production of AC motors.

But Edison apparently heard rumors of a demonstration of a two-phase AC motor. Probably, some businessman conveyed the latest information to the American by telegraph. The Edison Continental Company began to redirect Tesla from officer to officer. The latter sent Nikola back to the first, and the first sent again to the second. The circle is closed. Realizing that he was fooled by a solid amount of $ 25,000, Tesla from the indicated time decided to change his occupation.

Three-Phase Current Journey to America

The wounded young Nikola decided to seek his fortune outside the country. Having already chosen Russia as his new place of residence, Nikola hears Charles Bachlor's advice to go to Edison in person and offer his own services. So fate sent Tesla to the USA. At the same time, Bachlor confidentially reported that science was in disorder in Russia - for this reason, Yablochkov was forced to complete the experiments in France.

A kind-hearted man, Charles gave a letter of recommendation to Tesla so that the young scientist would be welcomed overseas. In Paris, a poetry lover was robbed by local crooks who loved chanson. The little things in my pockets were enough for the cheapest ticket to Le Havre. Hungry and cold, Tesla sat in the cabin, but happily attracted the attention of the captain of the ship. He invited the scientist to the cabin and, having heard the story of the unfortunate, did not refuse hospitality.

An unexpected brawl on deck forced Tesla, who had good fistfighting skills, to fight back, and the captain, who noticed the fight, changed his favor for indifference. Fortunately, not far from New York, Goethe's admirer finally set foot on the shore, where he quickly earned his first money by helping the owner of a local workshop.

With Edison Tesla helped to see a letter of recommendation. The irony of fate - without the specified piece of paper, the inventors would not have met. Edison listened indifferently to ideas about alternating current. Which makes one make an assumption about his advance awareness. Tesla was already known to the Continental Company; its employees had previously denied Nikola a reward. The Americans gave the Europeans the opportunity to feel again the price of their own promises.

Edison promised Tesla $50,000 for another improvement of his machines. What was the state at that time. Tesla, who worked 20 hours a day, introduced a number of innovations, while simultaneously creating a new type of power source, fulfilling his part of the verbally concluded agreement. Like last time, the reward was zero - Edison said that he had successfully joked in American style.

In the spring of 1885, breaking off relations with the Continental Company, Tesla embarks on a solitary voyage. However, local businessmen already knew the inventor as a talented engineer: he created an arc lamp for the purpose of street lighting. But instead of a payment, he received ... some hard-to-sell shares. Three times Tesla received a lesson before he realized that you need to keep your eyes open with bigwigs.

Having worked as a loader, ancillary workers, having dug out an unknown number of ditches, Nikola lost interest in America. But in April 1887, Obadiah Brown got in the way. The superintendent quickly realized the advantages of Tesla's ideas and offered to meet his brother Alfred, who worked as an engineer at the telegraph company. The conversation took place on a whim, but the next morning both moved in the right direction.

The deal was to use Brown's lab to develop something (at Tesla's discretion) to demonstrate to attorney Charles Peck. A metal egg circling in a magnetic field of solid size looked really amazing (this is how the world's first asynchronous motor took place). There was money for the development of the concept of alternating, including three-phase, current.

Inventor in his experimental laboratory in Colorado Springs, 1899

At the Brooklyn Eagle, Tesla announced on July 10, 1931, that "I harnessed cosmic rays and made them control (move) a moving apparatus." Further, in the same article, he writes: "More than 25 years ago I began my efforts to harness cosmic rays and now I can say that I have achieved success." In 1933, he makes the same claim in an article for the New York American, November 1, titled "Tesla Claims Apparatus for Harnessing Cosmic Energy."

Tesla writes:

"This new energy to run the machinery of the world will be drawn from the energy that drives the universe, the cosmic energy of which the Sun is the central source for the Earth, and which is present everywhere in unlimited quantities."

This "more than 25 years ago" count of 1933 would mean that the device Tesla is talking about must have been built before 1908. More accurate information is available through the Columbia University Library's collection.

On June 10, 1902, in a letter to his friend Robert U. Johnson, editor of Century Magazine, Tesla encloses a clipping from a recent New York Herald about Clemente Figueras "an engineer of trees and forests" in Las Palmas, the capital of the Canary Islands, who invented a device to produce electricity without burning. fuel. What happened next to the Figueras and its fuel generator is unknown, but this newspaper announcement prompted Tesla, in his letter to Johnson, to claim that he had already created such a device and reveal the physical laws on which it is based.

The device that most closely matches the expected effect can be found in Tesla's patent "Apparatus for the Utilization of Radiant Energy" #685,957, which was filed and granted March 21, 1901. The concept in older technical language is simple. An insulated metal plate is lifted into the air as high as possible. Another metal plate is placed in the ground. A wire runs from the metal plate to one side of the capacitor and a second wire runs from ground to the other end of the capacitor.

This seemingly very simple device seems to satisfy his claim of a fuelless generator powered by cosmic rays, but in 1900 Tesla wrote that he considered his most important paper to be the one in which he describes a self-activating machine that could extract power from the surrounding area; it is a fuelless generator which is different from his Radiant Energy Device. An article titled "The Problem of Increasing Human Energy - Through the Use of the Sun" was published by his friend Robert Johnson in The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine in June 1900 shortly after Tesla returned from Colorado Springs, where he had conducted an intense series of experiments from June 1899, to January 1900.

The exact title of the chapter where he discusses this instrument is worth reproducing in full.

“A departure from known methods - the possibility of a “self-propelled” engine or machine, motionless, but capable, like a living being, of extracting energy from the environment is an ideal way to obtain a driving force.”

Tesla stated that he first started thinking about the idea when he read a statement by Lord Kelvin who said that it was not possible for a self-cooling device to be kept running by external heat. As a thought experiment, Tesla imagined a very long bundle of metal wires stretched from the earth into outer space. Since the earth is warmer than the surrounding space, along with the heat that will rise up, current will flow through the wires. Then, all you have to do is take a long power cord to attach the two ends of the metal bars to the motor. The motor will continue to run until the ground cools down to ambient temperature. “It would be a stationary machine, which, to all evidence, should cool a part of the medium below the ambient temperature, and act on the resulting heat, this is what produces energy directly from the environment without “consuming any material”.

Tesla goes on in the article to describe how he worked on creating such an energy device and here he does some defining work to focus on one of his inventions. He wrote that he first began thinking about extracting energy from the surrounding space when he was in Paris during 1883, but there he could not devote much time to this idea, since for several years he had to deal with commercial issues related to his alternating current and motors. This continued until 1889, when he returned to the idea of a self-propelled car.

The same form appears in another patent, this time called "Dynamo Electric Machine". This patent was filed and approved the same year that Tesla said he returned to work on a "self-acting" machine, in 1889. A dynamo consisting of metal discs rotated between magnets to produce an electrical current.

Compared to his alternating current generator, this "dynamo" provides a curious analogy to the days of Faraday's early experiments with a copper disk and a magnet. Tesla makes some improvement to Faraday's setup by using magnets that completely cover the rotating metal discs and he also adds a lip to the outside of the discs so current can be drawn more easily - all of which makes his oscillator more advanced than Faraday's. At first glance, it is difficult to understand why Tesla patented such an anachronistic machine during this period of his work.

Tesla Coils

It would be strange if the military were not interested in the outrageous technologies of the Serb-American. In the 1930s, Tesla worked at the RCA corporation under the code name N.Terbo (his mother's surname before marriage). These projects included wireless transmission of energy to defeat the enemy, and the creation of resonant weapons, and attempts to control time. There are many versions regarding these works, and now it is almost impossible to separate the truth from fiction.
The genius died in 1943 in his laboratory. And in complete poverty. The millions that he had while working with Westinghouse went without a trace into the failed Wardenclyffe project. It seems that the world was not ready for his discoveries. In the thirties, Tesla refused to accept the Nobel Prize awarded to him jointly with Edison. Until the end of his life, he could not forgive the “king of inventors” for his cowardly deceit and “black PR” against alternating current.

Tesla desperately needed the prestige that would allow him to raise money for research, and by refusing the prize, he dealt himself a mortal blow. Many of his outstanding works have been lost to posterity, and most of the diaries and manuscripts have disappeared under unclear circumstances. Some believe that Nikola burned them himself at the beginning of the Second World War, convinced that the knowledge contained in them was too dangerous for unreasonable humanity ...

Tesla's inventions seriously interested the US government only after the death of the scientist. The New Yorker Hotel, where he died, was raided. The FBI seized all the papers related to the scientific activities of the physicist. Dr. John Trump, who led the National Defense Committee, reviewed them and made an expert opinion that "these records are speculative and speculative, they are purely philosophical in nature and do not imply any principles or methods for their implementation."

However, 15 years after that, the Defense High Tech Research Agency (DARPA) implemented the top-secret Swing Project at the Lawrence Livermoor Laboratory. It took 10 years and 27 million dollars, and, despite the fact that the obviously failed results of these experiments are still classified, all scientists agree on one thing - in 1958, the Americans tried to create Tesla's legendary "death rays".

It is known that shortly before his death, Tesla announced that he had invented "death rays" that could destroy 10,000 aircraft from a distance of 400 km. About the secret of the rays - not a sound. In the 1960s, both the United States and Russia took full advantage of the fruits of Tesla's research. One of the technologies developed by the brilliant scientist attracted the greatest attention of military specialists and became the subject of secret developments. Tesla called this invention a radio frequency oscillator, it was used, in particular, in his death ray. The main idea of the invention is the transmission of energy in the atmosphere and its focusing for various purposes. These technologies, largely based on Tesla's inventions, were later used in the Star Wars program.

It is known that the desperate inventor sent around the world proposals to design a "super-weapon", assuming to establish a balance of power between different countries and thus prevent the onset of the Second World War. The mailing list included the governments of the United States, Canada, England, France, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.

The Soviet Union became interested in this proposal. In 1937, the inventor negotiated with the Amtorg company, which represented the interests of the USSR in the United States, and handed over to her some plans for a vacuum chamber for his "death rays". Tesla received a check for $25,000 from the USSR two years later. This, of course, did not stop the war - the Soviet Union created laser technology much later.

In 1940, in an interview with The New York Times, 84-year-old Nikola Tesla announced his readiness to reveal the secret of telepower to the American government. It was built, he said, on a completely new physical principle that no one dreamed of, different from the principles embodied in his inventions in the field of electric power transmission over long distances.

According to Tesla, this new type of energy will operate through a beam with a diameter of one hundred millionth of a square centimeter and can be generated by special stations that will cost no more than $ 2 million and take three months to build.

Yes, perhaps the aging inventor really plunged into the world of illusions. However, given that he never threw words to the wind and always implemented the declared projects, it can be assumed that Tesla could adapt the technology of wireless power transmission to the needs of the military.

The main idea of Nikola Tesla in the search for an eternal and infinite source of energy is to draw energy from the "ether", i.e. use the energy of the Earth and space. If Nikola Tesla knew how this is possible, then modern pseudo-inventors (and simply swindlers) use their naivety to sell "Tesla's eternal generators." Swindlers actively use conspiracy theory, claiming that the Pentagon, as well as similar departments of the Big Seven countries, have complete information about "free" energy, however, continue to use oil as the basis of economic superiority and stability.

It is quite obvious that Tesla was familiar with what, for lack of a better expression, can be called parapsychology. The way in which he arrived at his discoveries or worked in his laboratory is certainly unparalleled in the history of science. And despite the fact that more than 150,000 documents are stored in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade today, he did not leave behind a system of his scientific method, which can only be compared with the states in which yogis can be, or with what the saints know .

Today, few people regard Tesla as a philosopher or a man of the spirit, or someone who spiritualized physics, who spiritualized technology, spiritualized science. Finally, with all his life and work, he laid the foundations of a new civilization of the third millennium, and although so far his influence on modern trends in science is minimal, his role needs to be reassessed. Only the future will give a real explanation for Tesla's phenomenon, for he has gone too far ahead and stands above the scientific methods accepted today.

78 Tesla's birthday. Hotel in New York

The famous Indian philosopher Vivekananda, one of the members of the Ramakrishna mission, sent to the West to find out the possibility of unifying all existing religions, visited Tesla in his laboratory in New York in 1906 and immediately sent a letter to his Indian colleague Alasing, in which he met Tesla described with delight: “This man is different from all Western people. He demonstrated his experiments with electricity, which he treats as a living being, with whom he talks and to whom he gives orders. We are talking about the highest degree of spiritual personality. There is no doubt that he has a spirituality of the highest level and is able to recognize all our gods. All our Gods appeared in its multi-colored electric lights: Vishnu, Shiva, and I felt the presence of Brahma himself.

Of all the accomplishments of Tesla, only one is usually mentioned in physics textbooks - the “Tesla transformer”. Perhaps this is the only Tesla invention that bears his name today. It is a device that produces high voltage at high frequency. It was used by Tesla in several sizes and variations for his experiments. The Tesla transformer, also known as the Tesla coil, is used today in a variety of applications in radio and television.

Moreover, the unit of measurement of magnetic induction is named after him ...

If it is true that geniuses are sent to Earth by heaven, then with the birth of Nikola Tesla in the heavenly office they were clearly in a hurry. Or is there some special lesson in prematureness?

Show with Tesla Coils:

sources
http://gendocs.ru
http://www.peoples.ru/science/physics/tesla/
http://www.werewolfexposures.com/
http://ntesla.at.ua/

Who missed me related to Tesla, I remind you, you can familiarize yourself with it here - as well as its continuation, as The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -

For almost the entire 19th century, direct current reigned supreme in practical applications. The main obstacle to widespread electrification at that time was the impossibility of transmitting electricity over long distances, and the transition to alternating currents was hampered by the lack of efficient alternating current electric motors. The solution was found in the pioneering work of the brilliant electrical engineer Nikola Tesla.

There were several reasons for the popularity of direct current at that time. First of all, galvanic batteries served as current sources, and all generators and motors produced were also direct current. Engineers thought in electrohydraulic analogies, which did not fit the idea of flows changing their direction, so, for example, Edison's commitment to direct currents seemed quite justified. Meanwhile, the shortcomings of direct current devices became more and more obvious due to the poor performance of the collector of electrical machines (sparking and wear), lighting problems and, most importantly, the impossibility of transmitting electricity over long distances.

Electric lighting began to be used after the appearance of arc lamps, among which the simplest was the Yablochkov candle in the form of two vertically arranged carbon electrodes separated by a layer of insulating material. It soon became clear that bipolar electrodes burn differently at direct current, so Yablochkov suggested feeding the candles with alternating current, for which, together with the well-known French plant Gramma, he developed a special alternating current generator, the design of which turned out to be so successful that its production reached 1000 pieces per year. Another important invention of Yablochkov is the “light splitting” scheme using an induction coil (a prototype of a modern transformer) for parallel power supply from one generator of any number of candles, like gas lighting.

However, the operation revealed serious shortcomings of arc lighting, especially in everyday life: the need to replace candles every two hours, noise, flicker, high cost compared even with gas. Therefore, since the beginning of the 1890s. electric candles were almost universally superseded by Edison incandescent lamps and were used only in spotlights or for large spaces. Nevertheless, we owe it to Yablochkov for the introduction of alternating currents into practical electrical engineering, which ultimately led to the solution of the acute problem of long-distance transmission of electricity, then called the problem of "light distribution".

The Edison lighting system had a low voltage, 110 V, so each district needed to build its own power plant. For example, in St. Petersburg, due to the high cost of land, such power plants were installed on barges standing in the Moika and Fontanka rivers. It was clear that it was more profitable to build large generating stations near rivers and coal basins, away from cities. But then for long-distance transmission it is necessary either to increase the cross section of the supply wires, or to increase the voltage. To test the first approach in practice, the Russian inventor Fedor Appolonovich Pirotsky proposed using railway rails. The second way (voltage increase) was tried by the French engineer, later academician Marcel Deprez, who built several DC transmission lines with voltages up to 6 kV. The first of these, with a voltage of 2 kV, had a length of 57 km and fed a DC motor with a pump for an artificial waterfall at the Munich Electrical Exhibition in 1882. However, such a high voltage was unsuitable for lighting systems.

A simpler solution - switching to single-phase alternating current with step-up and step-down transformers - was proposed by the well-known company "Ganz and Co" from Budapest for lighting opera houses in Budapest, Vienna and Odessa. The talented engineers of this company, Miksa Dèri, Otto Blathy and Karoly Zipernowsky, created the most advanced transformer designs in 1884 (and they also coined the term itself). Otto Blaty also invented the first electric electricity meter and became famous as an outstanding chess player.

However, the development of industry required powerful drives that could not be created on the basis of AC motors powered by a single-phase lighting network. This problem was formulated as "electrical transmission of mechanical energy" or "transmission of force". One of its first solutions was proposed by Despres in 1879 in the form of a remote transmission of the movement of steam engine pistons to an experimental car (Fig. 1).

She had a sensor in the form of a brush commutator (1) and a receiver (2) containing a rotor (3) with two mutually perpendicular coils, which in turn was connected to the commutator (4) and was in the field of the magnet (5). The device operated at speeds up to 3000 rpm and torque up to 5 Nm. This idea was later developed in the form of selsyn gears and stepper motors, however, it was suitable for use only in instrument systems.

The solution to this problem as a whole came from across the ocean, where an active person appeared who intuitively realized the upcoming transition to alternating current. It was George Westinghouse (Fig. 2) - a prominent American industrialist in the field of railway equipment, the founder of Westinghouse, who decided to also go into the electrical business.

In order to enter the market with his products, he needed new patents, since the main patents in this area belonged to Edison, Werner Siemens (Verner Siemens) and other competitors. Converting lighting to alternating current was relatively easy, and Westinghouse easily entered this market by purchasing European generators and transformers and patenting a number of his incandescent lamps. In 1893, he received a large contract for the electrification of the Chicago World's Fair, installing 180,000 incandescent lamps and thousands of arc lamps there. However, electric machines were a completely different matter, so he sought out an unknown inventor, Nikola Tesla, through the patent office , which had dozens of patents for AC systems. At a meeting in New York in 1888, Westinghouse offered Tesla to cede to him all patents already received and future in exchange for one million dollars, the post of technical manager of the plant in Pittsburgh and one dollar for each l. with. Tesla engines and generators installed in the United States over the next 15 years. The third condition of the agreement played an important role in the future. Tesla accepted all these conditions, and so began his fruitful collaboration with Westinghouse.
The future great electrical engineer Nikola Tesla (Fig. 3) was born into the family of a Serbian priest who lived in Croatia. He studied at the Gradsky Polytechnic and Prague University, but without finishing them, he went to work at the Edison company branch in Paris, from where he moved to the USA with a letter of recommendation from the department director to Edison himself.

The letter read: "I know two great people: one of them is you, and the second is a young man whom I recommend to you." Of course, Tesla was accepted immediately, and he was entrusted with the most responsible work with electrical equipment, including the elimination of accidents.

However, this company did not last long. Edison's refusal to pay the promised bonus of 50 thousand dollars for the improvement of DC generators allegedly served as the reason for parting. When Tesla reminded his boss of this, he said: "Young man, you don't understand American humor." However, the most likely reason for Tesla's departure was Edison's stubborn unwillingness to allow the young Serb to work on a brushless AC motor, with the dream of which Tesla arrived from Europe. Therefore, of course, Tesla gladly accepted Westinghouse's offer, which provided him with excellent opportunities to work on his idea.

As early as May 1888, Tesla received seven US patents for AC systems and brushless motors. The main thing in them was an innovative proposal to build the entire chain of generation, transmission, distribution and use of electricity as a multi-phase alternating current system, including a generator, a transmission line and an alternating current motor, called Tesla "induction". An example of such a system is shown in Fig. 4.

Here: 1 - a synchronous generator with excitation from permanent magnets and with two mutually perpendicular phases of the rotor winding (2) connected through slip rings (3) and a transmission line (4) with a two-phase induction motor (5) with a stator winding (6) and rotor (7) in the form of a steel cylinder with cut segments. The action of such an engine, now called asynchronous, was explained by the formation of a “moving”, and in modern terminology, a rotating magnetic field. For a long-distance transmission line, it was proposed to include two-phase step-up and step-down transformers. In May of the same year, Tesla gave a large talk on polyphase systems at a seminar of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers AIEE (predecessor of the IEEE). Continuing research, he soon implemented other ideas: a two-phase and three-phase asynchronous motor with a winding in a star, a three-phase generator with and without neutral, three- and four-wire power lines, etc. In total, Tesla had 41 patents for polyphase systems.

Undoubtedly, Tesla owns the patent, and Westinghouse the industrial priority for polyphase alternating current systems, since they immediately launched mass production of motors, generators and other equipment for such systems. The peak of this stormy activity was the construction in 1895 of the largest at that time Niagara power plant on the American shore of Niagara Falls, whose height was 48 meters. The dam installed 10 two-phase generators of 3.7 MW each, as well as a 40 km long 11 kV transmission line in Buffalo, where an industrial district was created with numerous consumers of AC electricity.

However, Tesla was burdened by production activities, and he left Westinghouse, wanting to further develop the idea of long-distance transmission of electricity, but without wires. This is what he began to do with enthusiasm in his own laboratory. His first thought was to create a powerful electric field with the help of a high-voltage and high-frequency emitter, acting over considerable distances, from which the consumer could draw electricity. Tesla invents the first electromechanical microwave generator, later used in the first radio stations and for induction heating, transmitting and receiving antennas, and a receiver resonant circuit to isolate a specific frequency. Everyone was amazed by Tesla's experience, when, when the generator was turned on without any wires, an electric lamp lit up in his hands, as shown in Fig. 5.

Tesla was one step away from the invention of the radio, but did not follow this path, because he was occupied with the idea of transmitting electricity, not information. However, it was he who had priority in the creation of telemechanics, implemented in 1898 in the form of a remotely controlled water boat.

In the meantime, numerous experiments have shown that an electric lamp can only be ignited at a distance of no more than a few hundred meters. Tesla tried to implement a different way of transmitting electricity: not through the atmosphere, but directly through the earth by excitation in the globe, like a huge capacitor, surface standing waves, in the antinode of which energy could be taken at any point on the Earth's surface. To do this, he built a huge antenna in the town of Wardenclyffe near New York with powerful overhead and underground exciters connected to a separate power plant, as shown in Fig. 6. Experiments with this tower on wireless transmission of electricity between 1899 and 1905, apparently, did not give the desired effect, since Tesla unexpectedly abandoned them without publishing the results. And scientists are still arguing what Tesla achieved in this experiment, since he worked without assistants and did not leave any records.

The problem of wireless power transmission has not been solved so far. Recent advances use highly focused microwave or laser radiation to remotely power spacecraft from a solar-powered satellite or guided drones. The possibility of transmitting about a dozen kilowatts over a distance of kilometers has been experimentally proven. Another direction of development is laser weapons, the forerunner of which was the famous "Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin".
Nevertheless, Tesla's merits were recognized worldwide. In honor of him, the unit of magnetic field induction in the SI system is named "tesla", he was elected a member and honorary doctor of science in many academies and universities. One of the most prestigious IEEE awards, the Tesla Medal, is awarded annually for outstanding achievements in the field of electricity production and use. Tesla owns about 800 patents, and, unlike Edison's patents, they are considered more innovative. There are several Tesla monuments and museums dedicated to him, among which the most impressive one is located in Belgrade, banknotes with his portrait have been issued (Fig. 7).

However, Tesla's personal life was unsuccessful. At the end of the XIX century. An economic crisis broke out in the United States, putting the Westinghouse company on the brink of ruin. Upon learning of this, Tesla appeared at the headquarters of his former patron and publicly terminated their primary agreement, losing about $10 million owed to him in accordance with the third clause of this agreement. Literally two weeks after this generous gesture, his magnificent laboratory burned to the ground, and he was left without funds. Unlike Edison, he was not a businessman and invested everything he had in this laboratory. After that, Tesla was forced to carry out his further research on various grants and donations, in particular, the Wardenclyffe Tower was built with the money of the American financier Morgan.

Tesla's biographer Velimir Abramovich wrote: "Trying to imagine Tesla, I do not see him smiling, but on the contrary, sad ...". Tesla did not drink wine, never knew women, had no family, and died alone and in poverty at the New Yorker Hotel.

The need for the transmission of electricity over long distances arose at the end of the 19th century, primarily in connection with the widespread introduction of lighting systems.

Such DC transmission was technically feasible only at high voltage and practically unacceptable for low voltage lighting.
AC transmission lines with transformers were adequate for lighting applications, but the industry required powerful electric motors, all known designs of which were DC.
The solution to this complex problem was proposed by the inventor Tesla and entrepreneur Westinghouse, who created multi-phase AC systems with synchronous generators, transmission lines and induction motors.
Tesla's research on wireless transmission of electricity has not yet been practically completed.

Nowadays, the advantages of alternating current seem more than obvious, but in the 80s of the XIX century, due to the question of which current is better and how it is more profitable to transmit electrical energy, a sharp confrontation erupted. The main defendants in this serious battle were two competing firms - Edison Electric Light and Westinghouse Electric Corporation. In 1878, the brilliant American inventor Thomas Alva Edison founded his own company, which was supposed to solve the problem of electric lighting in everyday life. The task was simple: to displace the gas burner, but for this, electric light had to become cheaper, brighter and more accessible to everyone.

Anticipating his future discoveries, Edison wrote: "We will make electric lighting so cheap that only the rich will burn candles." At first, the scientist developed a plan for a central power plant, drew diagrams for connecting power lines to houses and factories. At that time, electricity was obtained using dynamos driven by steam. Then Edison began to improve electric light bulbs, trying to extend their action from the then available 12 hours. After going through more than 6 thousand different samples for the filament, Edison finally settled on bamboo. His future colleague Nikola Tesla ironically remarked: “If Edison had to find a needle in a haystack, he would not waste time trying to determine its more likely location. On the contrary, he would immediately, with the feverish diligence of a bee, begin to examine straw after straw until he found what he was looking for. On January 27, 1880, Edison received a patent for his lamp, the life of which was truly fantastic - 1200 hours. A little later, the scientist patented the entire system for the production and distribution of electricity in New York.

Edison. (Pinterest)

In the year that Edison took up lighting the American metropolis, Nikola Tesla entered the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Prague, but studied there for only one semester - there was not enough money for further education. He then entered the Graz Higher Technical School, where he began to study electrical engineering and began to think about the imperfections of DC motors. In 1882, Edison launched two DC power plants - in London and New York, setting up the production of dynamos, cables, light bulbs and lighting fixtures. Two years later, the American inventor creates a new corporation - Edison General Electric Company, which includes dozens of Edison companies scattered throughout America and Europe.

In the same year, Tesla figured out how to use the phenomenon of a rotating electromagnetic field, which means he could try to design an AC motor. With this idea, the scientist went to the Paris office of the Continental Edison Company, but at that moment the company was busy fulfilling a large order - the construction of a power plant for the Strasbourg railway station, during which numerous errors arose. Tesla was sent to rescue the situation, and the power plant was completed within the required time frame. The Serbian scientist went to Paris to receive the promised $25,000 bonus, but the company refused to pay the money. Insulted, Tesla decided to no longer have anything to do with Edison's businesses. At first, he even wanted to go to St. Petersburg, because Russia was famous at that time for its scientific discoveries in the field of electrical engineering, in particular, the inventions of Pavel Nikolaevich Yablochkov and Dmitry Aleksandrovich Lachinov. However, one of the employees of the Continental Company persuaded Tesla to go to the USA and gave him a letter of recommendation to Edison: “It would be an unforgivable mistake to allow such a talent to go to Russia. I know two great people: one of them is you, the other is this young man.”

Edison General Electric Company. (Pinterest)

Arriving in New York in 1884, Tesla began work at the Edison Machine Works as a repair engineer for DC motors. Tesla immediately shared his thoughts on alternating current with Edison, but the American scientist was not inspired by the ideas of his Serbian colleague - he responded very disapprovingly and advised Tesla to engage in purely professional matters at work, and not personal research. A year later, Edison offers Tesla to constructively improve DC machines and promises a $50,000 bonus for this. Tesla immediately set to work and very soon provided 24 variants of new Edison machines, as well as a new switch and regulator. Edison approved the work, but refused to pay money, joking at the same time that the emigrant did not understand American humor well. From that moment on, Edison and Tesla became irreconcilable enemies.

Edison had 1093 patents on his account - no one else in the world had such a number of inventions. A tireless experimenter, he once spent 45 hours in the laboratory, not wanting to interrupt the experiment. Edison was also a very skilled entrepreneur: all his companies were profitable, although wealth as such was of little interest to him. Money was needed for work: “I don’t need the success of the rich. I don't need horses or yachts, I don't have time for all that. I need a workshop! However, in 1886, the Edison Corporation had a very powerful competitor - the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. George Westinghouse launched the first 500-volt AC power plant in 1886 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

Thus, Edison's monopoly came to an end, because the advantages of new power plants were obvious. Unlike the American amateur inventor, Westinghouse had a thorough knowledge of physics, so he perfectly understood the weak link of DC power plants. Everything changed when he became acquainted with Tesla and his inventions, granting a patent to a Serb for an alternating current meter and a polyphase electric motor. These were the same inventions that Tesla once applied to the Edison company in Paris. Now Westinghouse has bought a total of 40 patents from the Serbian scientist and paid the 32-year-old inventor $1 million.

Electric chair. (Pinterest)

In 1887, more than 100 DC power plants were already operating in the United States, but the prosperity of the Edison companies was about to come to an end. The inventor understood that he was on the verge of financial collapse, and therefore decided to sue Westinghouse Electric Corporation for patent infringement. However, the lawsuit was rejected, and then Edison launched an anti-propaganda campaign. His main trump card was the fact that alternating current is very dangerous for life. At first, Edison engaged in a public demonstration of killing animals with electric discharges, and then a very successful case turned up for him: the governor of New York wanted to find a humane method of execution, an alternative to hanging - Edison immediately declared that he considers death from alternating current to be the most humane. Although he personally advocated the abolition of the death penalty, he nevertheless managed to solve the problem.

To create the electric chair, Edison hired engineer Harold Brown, who adapted a Westinghouse alternator for punitive purposes. An ardent opponent of Edison was strongly opposed to the death penalty and refused to sell his equipment to prisons. Then Edison bought three generators through nominees. Westinghouse hired the best lawyers sentenced to death, one of the criminals was saved: the death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment. A journalist hired by Edison published a huge revealing article, blaming Westinghouse for the torment that the executed man endured.

Westinghouse Electric Corp. (Pinterest)

Edison's "black PR" has borne fruit: he managed to delay the defeat, though not for long. In 1893, Westinghouse and Tesla won an order to light the Chicago Fair - 200,000 light bulbs were powered by alternating current, and three years later, a tandem of scientists installed the first hydraulic system for continuous alternating current supply to the city of Buffalo on Niagara Falls. By the way, DC power plants were built in America for another 30 years, until the 1920s. Then their construction was stopped, but the operation continued until the beginning of the XXI century. Tesla and Westinghouse won the current war. And Edison reacted like this: “I have never failed. I just found 10,000 ways that don't work."