Thank you gentlemen for your en"light"enment! Very informative and I appreciate the insight.
Steve -------------- Original message -------------- From: "Dan K" <[email protected]> > When Tesla came to Edison, he had already proven himself at several European > Edison companies, and was given a technical job, not "laborer". His first > assignment was repairing the lighting plant on the SS Oregon. > > At Colorado Springs, Tesla was SUPPOSED to be developing the "cold light" ('I > can run on a wire sufficient for one incandescent lamp more than 1000 of my > own > lamps, giving fully 5000 as much light' - Tesla to Astor), with experiments > financed by J.J.Astor IV. Instead, Tesla wasted the money ($30,000) building > huge machines to test his theories about the atmosphere. He also claimed to > be > in touch with Martians. > > Tesla abandoned Colorado Springs, returned to New York, and found that Astor > would not 'invest' more money. Tesla later turned to J.P.Morgan, who had no > interest in Tesla's "world power" scheme, but only in wireless telegraphy. To > that end, Morgan financed the building of another expensive Tesla facility, > on > Long Island. Morgan cut off the gravy train after Marconi announced his > signal > across the Atlantic, accomplished with much less money. > > Tesla's contribution to the electrical industry was brilliant and important, > but > was limited to his first concepts. After that, he was not much more than a > crazy braggart, making wild claims without concrete proof, and wiping his > silverware with 18 linen napkins at each meal, as well as himself with 18 > towels > each morning, to remove "the germs". > > > We're still waiting for the 1,000 lights 5,000 times brighter, on a single > light > bulb's wire ..... > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "John Maeder" > To: > Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 8:49 AM > Subject: RE: [Phono-L] Edison History Question > > > My guess would be that the movie is referring to Nkola Tesla, as he actually > built a power generating tower in Colorado. Tesla and Edison were rivals. > When Tesla arrived from Transylvania with the concept of Alternating Current > and took it to Edison, Edison responded by giving Tesla employment as a > laborer, no doubt to protect his and his investors' investment in DC power > generation and distribution. Eventually, Tesla was hired by Westinghouse, > who put his ideas to practice, eclipsing Edison's DC system. Much of > Tesla's experimentation was in high-frequency AC generation and reception. > He was able to remote-control a miniature submarine in the early 1890's, > invented the fluorescent light tube, and the aforementioned Tesla Coil > (think the sparks in the laboratory in the film 'Frankenstein'). Tesla's > high concept was that of the earth as a rotor and the atmospheric magnetic > field surrounding it as a stator. The tower he built in Colorado was to act > as a collector of the electrical field that is generated as the earth > rotates (i.e. the North & South Poles). The tower would form a pole and the > magnetic field encircling the earth from the tower would form an antipole > directly opposite on the globe where the power could be collected most > efficiently by another tower. This was a system of free power generation. > The tower and attendant buildings were attacked and destroyed one night, > allegedly by goons working for Edison's principal investor in metered power > distribution, J.P. Morgan. Anyone else care to chime in? Read "Tesla: Man > Out of Time" by Margaret Cheney Rice, and Tesla's own odd autobiography. He > was a very interesting man. > > > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org From [email protected] Sun Apr 8 11:55:05 2007 From: [email protected] (estott) Date: Sun Apr 8 11:58:38 2007 Subject: [Phono-L] Edison History Question References: <[email protected]> <001301c77a0c$1e03cbf0$9301a...@lap> Message-ID: <000401c77a0f$6c2216e0$47e6f...@esjqacchoqgqch> Here is a page with information (and a picture) of Tesla's long island building, plus an outline of his wireless telegraphy idea and his power transmission scheme. He probably could have made it work, but it would have been wildly expensive- the project would have sucked up money with no possibility of a profitable return. Stott ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dan K" <[email protected]> To: "Antique Phonograph List" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 2:31 PM Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Edison History Question > Tesla abandoned Colorado Springs, returned to New York, and found that > Astor > would not 'invest' more money. Tesla later turned to J.P.Morgan, who had > no > interest in Tesla's "world power" scheme, but only in wireless telegraphy. > To > that end, Morgan financed the building of another expensive Tesla > facility, on > Long Island. Morgan cut off the gravy train after Marconi announced his > signal > across the Atlantic, accomplished with much less money. > > Tesla's contribution to the electrical industry was brilliant and > important, but > was limited to his first concepts. After that, he was not much more than > a > crazy braggart, making wild claims without concrete proof, and wiping his > silverware with 18 linen napkins at each meal, as well as himself with 18 > towels > each morning, to remove "the germs". > > > We're still waiting for the 1,000 lights 5,000 times brighter, on a single > light > bulb's wire ..... > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "John Maeder" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 8:49 AM > Subject: RE: [Phono-L] Edison History Question > > > My guess would be that the movie is referring to Nkola Tesla, as he > actually > built a power generating tower in Colorado. Tesla and Edison were rivals. > When Tesla arrived from Transylvania with the concept of Alternating > Current > and took it to Edison, Edison responded by giving Tesla employment as a > laborer, no doubt to protect his and his investors' investment in DC power > generation and distribution. Eventually, Tesla was hired by Westinghouse, > who put his ideas to practice, eclipsing Edison's DC system. Much of > Tesla's experimentation was in high-frequency AC generation and reception. > He was able to remote-control a miniature submarine in the early 1890's, > invented the fluorescent light tube, and the aforementioned Tesla Coil > (think the sparks in the laboratory in the film 'Frankenstein'). Tesla's > high concept was that of the earth as a rotor and the atmospheric magnetic > field surrounding it as a stator. The tower he built in Colorado was to > act > as a collector of the electrical field that is generated as the earth > rotates (i.e. the North & South Poles). The tower would form a pole and > the > magnetic field encircling the earth from the tower would form an antipole > directly opposite on the globe where the power could be collected most > efficiently by another tower. This was a system of free power generation. > The tower and attendant buildings were attacked and destroyed one night, > allegedly by goons working for Edison's principal investor in metered > power > distribution, J.P. Morgan. Anyone else care to chime in? Read "Tesla: > Man > Out of Time" by Margaret Cheney Rice, and Tesla's own odd autobiography. > He > was a very interesting man. > > > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org >
