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EXCERPT:
The progressive development of
man is vitally dependent on invention. It is the most important product of
his creative brain. Its ultimate purpose is the complete mastery of mind
over the material world, the harnessing of the forces of nature to human
needs. This is the difficult task of the inventor who is often
misunderstood and unrewarded. But he finds ample compensation in the
pleasing exercises of his powers and in the knowledge of being one of that
exceptionally privileged class without whom the race would have long ago
perished in the bitter struggle against pitiless elements. . . .
EXCERPT:
When I get an idea, I start at
once building it up in my imagination. I change the construction, make
improvements and operate the device in my mind. It is absolutely
immaterial to me whether I run my turbine in thought or test it in my
shop. I even note if it is out of balance. There is no difference
whatever; the results are the same. In this way I am able to rapidly
develop and perfect a conception without touching anything. When I have
gone so far as to embody in the invention every possible improvement I can
think of and see no fault anywhere, I put into concrete form this final
product of my brain. Invariably my device works as I conceived that it
should, and the experiment comes out exactly as I planned it. . . .
EXCERPT:
. . . a few years hence, it
will be possible for nations to fight without armies, ships or guns, by
weapons far more terrible, to the destructive action and range of which
there is virtually no limit. Any city, at a distance, whatsoever,
from the enemy, can be destroyed by him and no power on earth can stop him
from doing so. If we want to avert an impending calamity and a state
of things which may transform the globe into an inferno, we should push
the development of flying machines and wireless transmission of energy
without an instant's delay and with all the power and resources of the
nation.
EXCERPT:
""Lionhunters" have often asked me which of my discoveries
I prize most. This depends on the point of view. Not a few
technical men, very able in their special departments, but dominated by a
pedantic spirit and nearsighted, have asserted that excepting the
induction motor I have given to the world little of practical use.
This is a grievous mistake. A new idea must not be judged by its
immediate results. My alternating system of power transmission came
at a psychological moment, as a long-sought answer to pressing industrial
questions, and altho considerable resistance had to be overcome and
opposing interests reconciled, as usual, the commercial introduction could
not be long delayed. Now, compare this situation with that
confronting my turbine, for example. One should think that so simple
and beautiful an invention, possessing many features of an ideal motor,
should be adopted at once and, undoubtedly, it would under similar
conditions. But the prospective effect of the rotating field was not
to render worthless existing machinery; on the contrary, it was to give it
additional value. The system lent itself to new enterprise as well as to
improvement of the old. My turbine is an advance of a character
entirely different. It is a radical departure in the sense that its
success would mean the abandonment of the antiquated types of prime movers
on which billions of dollars have been spent. Under such
circumstances the progress must needs be slow and perhaps the greatest
impediment is encountered in the prejudicial opinions created in the minds
of experts by organized opposition."
EXCERPT:
"I have been asked by the ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTER to be quite
explicit on this subject so that my young friends among the readers of the
magazine will clearly understand the construction and operation of my
"Magnifying Transmitter" and the purposes for which it is
intended. Well, then, in the first place, it is a resonant transformer
with a secondary in which the parts, charged to a high potential, are of
considerable area and arranged in space along ideal enveloping surfaces of
very large radii of curvature, and at proper distances from one another
thereby insuring a small electric surface density everywhere so that no
leak can occur even if the conductor is bare. It is suitable for any
frequency, from a few to many thousands of cycles per second, and can be
used in the production of currents of tremendous volume and moderate
pressure, or of smaller amperage and immense electromotive force. The
maximum electric tension is merely dependent on the curvature of the
surfaces on which the charged elements are situated and the area of the
latter. "Judging from my past experience, as much as
100,000,000 volts are perfectly practicable. On the other hand currents of
many thousands of amperes may be obtained in the antenna. A plant of but
very moderate dimensions is required for such performances. Theoretically,
a terminal of less than 90 feet in diameter is sufficient to develop an
electromotive force of that magnitude while for antenna currents of from
2,000-4,000 amperes at the usual frequencies it need not be larger than 30
feet in diameter. "In a more restricted meaning this
wireless transmitter is one in which the Hertz-wave radiation is an
entirely negligible quantity as compared with the whole energy, under
which condition the damping factor is extremely small and an enormous
charge is stored in the elevated capacity. Such a circuit may then be
excited with impulses of any kind, even of low frequency and it will yield
sinusoidal and continuous oscillations like those of an alternator.
"Taken in the narrowest significance of the term, however, it is a
resonant transformer which, besides possessing these qualities, is
accurately proportioned to fit the globe and its electrical constants and
properties, by virtue of which design it becomes highly efficient and
effective in the wireless transmission of energy. Distance is then
absolutely eliminated, there being no diminution in the intensity of the
transmitted impulses. It is even possible to make the actions increase
with the distance from the plant according to an exact mathematical law. This
invention was one of a number comprised in my "World-System" of
wireless transmission which I undertook to commercialize on my return to
New York in 1900. As to the immediate purposes of my enterprise, they were
clearly outlined in a technical statement of that period from which I
quote:
""The 'World-System' has resulted from a
combination of several original discoveries made by the inventor in the
course of long continued research and experimentation. It makes
possible not only the instantaneous and precise wireless transmission of
any kind of signals, messages or characters, to all parts of the world,
but also the inter-connection of the existing telegraph, telephone, and
other signal stations without any change in their present equipment.
By its means, for instance, a telephone subscriber here may call up and
talk to any other subscriber on the Globe. An inexpensive receiver,
not bigger than a watch, will enable him to listen anywhere, on land or
sea, to a speech delivered or music played in some other place, however
distant. These examples are cited merely to give an idea of the
possibilities of this great scientific advance, which annihilates distance
and makes that perfect natural conductor, the Earth, available for all the
innumerable purposes which human ingenuity has found for a
line-wire. One far-reaching result of this is that any device
capable of being operated thru one or more wires (at a distance obviously
restricted) can likewise be actuated, without artificial conductors and
with the same facility and accuracy, at distances to which there are no
limits other than those imposed by the physical dimensions of the
Globe. Thus, not only will entirely new fields for commercial
exploitation be opened up by this ideal method of transmission but the old
ones vastly extended. . . .""
EXCERPT:
"My belief is firm in a law of compensation. The true rewards are
ever in proportion to the labor and sacrifices made. This is one of
the reasons why I feel certain that of all my inventions, the Magnifying
Transmitter will prove most important and valuable to future
generations. I am prompted to this prediction not so much by
thoughts of the commercial and industrial revolution which it will surely
bring about, but of the humanitarian consequences of the many achievements
it makes possible. Considerations of mere utility weigh little in
the balance against the higher benefits of civilization. We are
confronted with portentous problems which can not be solved just by
providing for our material existence, however abundantly. On the
contrary, progress in this direction is fraught with hazards and perils
not less menacing than those born from want and suffering. If we
were to release the energy of atoms or discover some other way of
developing cheap and unlimited power at any point of the globe this
accomplishment, instead of being a blessing, might bring disaster to
mankind in giving rise to dissension and anarchy which would ultimately
result in the enthronement of the hated regime of force. The
greatest good will comes from technical improvements tending to
unification and harmony, and my wireless transmitter is preeminently
such. By its means the human voice and likeness will be reproduced
everywhere and factories driven thousands of miles from waterfalls
furnishing the power; aerial machines will be propelled around the earth
without a stop and the sun's energy controlled to create lakes and rivers
for motive purposes and transformation of arid deserts into fertile
land. Its introduction for telegraphic, telephonic and similar uses
will automatically cut out the statics and all other interferences which
at present impose narrow limits to the application of the wireless. . .
."
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