On January 18, 1902, Nikola Tesla filed patent application number 90,245 for "Apparatus for Transmitting Electrical Energy", which would eventually issue in 1914 as U.S. Patent No.: 1,119,732. The '245 patent application was the last of Tesla's patent applications for the wireless transmission of energy. The apparatus disclosed in the '245 patent application included an electrical terminal D elevated above the ground by insulating supports F. The terminal D was torroidal and constructed from half spherical plates in order to form a large conducting surface. Below the terminal was mounted a primary coil C inductively coupled to a secondary coil A. The primary coil C was connected to a voltage source G, while the secondary coil A was connected at one end to ground G and connected at its other end to an extra coil B. A metal cylinder B' connected the extra coil B to the elevated terminal D.
The '245 patent application does not describe the mechanism by which energy is transferred. From the description of the apparatus summarized above, one may conclude that energy transmission occurs through the air from the elevated terminal D. This is what Tesla theorized would occur in his earlier patents on the wireless transmission of energy. However, it is clear from his later patents and writings that by the time the '245 patent application was filed, Tesla believed that the transmission would occur through the earth. Tesla theorized that by injecting alternating current pulses into the earth at its resonant frequency, he could make the potential of the earth oscillate, which would allow alternating current to be transmitted through the earth and be received by a receiving station located anywhere on earth, with very little power loss. In order to accomplish this task, Tesla determined that his apparatus needed to generate a very high voltage, in the millions of volts.
Today, it is generally recognized that Tesla's theory of earth transmission of energy was not valid and that the apparatus of the '245 patent application would not have worked, at least not in the manner he envisioned. At the time, however, Tesla was confident his apparatus would work and he dedicated himself to building it. With funding he secured from the banker J.P. Morgan, Tesla started to build a version of his apparatus in Shoreham New York in 1901. The apparatus was part of a facility that Tesla called Wardenclyffe. The facility included a main building and a large latticework tower topped with a mushroom-shaped cuppola that would function as the elevated terminal.
The Wardenclyffe facility was never fully completed. J.P. Morgan withdrew his financial support and Tesla soon ran out of funds to complete the project. In early July of 1903, just before his creditors showed up to cart away his equipment, Tesla was able to fire up his apparatus. Nobody really knows what happened. However, newspapers of the time noted that residents all along the Long Island Sound were treated to a spectacular light show.
The '245 patent application does not describe the mechanism by which energy is transferred. From the description of the apparatus summarized above, one may conclude that energy transmission occurs through the air from the elevated terminal D. This is what Tesla theorized would occur in his earlier patents on the wireless transmission of energy. However, it is clear from his later patents and writings that by the time the '245 patent application was filed, Tesla believed that the transmission would occur through the earth. Tesla theorized that by injecting alternating current pulses into the earth at its resonant frequency, he could make the potential of the earth oscillate, which would allow alternating current to be transmitted through the earth and be received by a receiving station located anywhere on earth, with very little power loss. In order to accomplish this task, Tesla determined that his apparatus needed to generate a very high voltage, in the millions of volts.
Today, it is generally recognized that Tesla's theory of earth transmission of energy was not valid and that the apparatus of the '245 patent application would not have worked, at least not in the manner he envisioned. At the time, however, Tesla was confident his apparatus would work and he dedicated himself to building it. With funding he secured from the banker J.P. Morgan, Tesla started to build a version of his apparatus in Shoreham New York in 1901. The apparatus was part of a facility that Tesla called Wardenclyffe. The facility included a main building and a large latticework tower topped with a mushroom-shaped cuppola that would function as the elevated terminal.
The Wardenclyffe facility was never fully completed. J.P. Morgan withdrew his financial support and Tesla soon ran out of funds to complete the project. In early July of 1903, just before his creditors showed up to cart away his equipment, Tesla was able to fire up his apparatus. Nobody really knows what happened. However, newspapers of the time noted that residents all along the Long Island Sound were treated to a spectacular light show.