Questions about Nikola Tesla

[jjoensuu]

Hi all,

here's a some questions I always wanted to ask electronics gurus. It's
about Nikola Tesla and his inventions.

The first question is about the issue that some of his inventions were
suppressed by authorities. For example the Wikipedia article on Tesla
states that the after his death, the "his papers were declared to be
top secret" and that the issues pertaining to his death were declared
"most secret" by J. Edgar Hoover.

Does anyone know if the papers are classified as "top secret"? The
Wikipedia article doesn't say if that status was ever removed from the
papers..

The second question is about some of the inventions that were never
finalized. Take for example the supposed Wardenclyffe tower, that was
supposed to transmit electrical energy accross vast distances. If this
would really work, why hasn't anyone attempted to build such a tower?
Or even a smaller version (for shorter distances) using the same
mechanism?

And then there are other inventions that are described in the various
books about Tesla. Some of these seem only to be in schematic format
but if they were great inventions, why don't we see the technology in
wider use today?

After all, since Tesla died in 1943, his patents should have become
public domain in 1993...or am I wrong here?

thanks in advance,

JJ

 

[Don Klipstein]

here's a some questions I always wanted to ask electronics gurus. It's
about Nikola Tesla and his inventions.

The first question is about the issue that some of his inventions were
suppressed by authorities. For example the Wikipedia article on Tesla
states that the after his death, the "his papers were declared to be
top secret" and that the issues pertaining to his death were declared
"most secret" by J. Edgar Hoover.

Does anyone know if the papers are classified as "top secret"? The
Wikipedia article doesn't say if that status was ever removed from the
papers..

The second question is about some of the inventions that were never
finalized. Take for example the supposed Wardenclyffe tower, that was
supposed to transmit electrical energy accross vast distances. If this
would really work, why hasn't anyone attempted to build such a tower?
Or even a smaller version (for shorter distances) using the same
mechanism?

And then there are other inventions that are described in the various
books about Tesla. Some of these seem only to be in schematic format
but if they were great inventions, why don't we see the technology in
wider use today?

After all, since Tesla died in 1943, his patents should have become
public domain in 1993...or am I wrong here?

Patents are published matter even when they are in force.

Best source I can think of for US patents before the mid 1970's is:

http://www.google.com/ptshp?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wt

Please keep in mind that Tesla has some sort of a fan club that gives
him credit for more than he could have possibly accomplished.

One example is that Tesla's Wardenclyffe tower was used to cause the
"Tunguska Event". (That event is an explosion in Siberia in 1908.) Some
like to blame/credit Tesla for that one.

Wikipedia has an article on the "Tunguska Event", debunking Tesla
involvement, at:

http://www.google.com/ptshp?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wt

One item often mentioned by Tesla fans is that this was supposed to be
an Arctic light show for Peary in his 1908 expedition, but it occurred 6
days before Peary left New York for that expedition.

The favored explanation is a large meteor (or small asteroid) of a
softer but reasonably common type fragmenting/exploding many miles above
ground. Runner-ups are other celestial objects with the main runner-up
being a comet.

Another example is "Tesla waves" AKA "phi waves" or "potential waves".
These are supposed to be waves that can travel faster than the speed of
light by not being associated with mass.

Just have in mind that faster-than-light wave propagation is already
well enough known. One example is potential as a function of time at
various distances from, but always close to, a Tesla coil. A better-known
one is "phase velocity" of microwaves in many waveguides.
The latter is also associated with being a good example of information
not moving faster than the speed of light even if the waves do. There is
"phase velocity" (speed of gthe waves) and "group velocity" (speed of
movement in a modulation of the wavetrain). In waveguides with phase
velocity above the speed of light, the group velocity is slower than the
speed of light.

Another example of phase vs. group velocities is in the wake of a
passing boat. The wake has wavelets moving faster than the wavelet
cluster. Wavelets form at the trailing edge of the cluster and scoot up
only to die at the leading edge of the cluster.

As for potential waves in open space - an electric field is the
gradient of the potential field - so potential fields and electric fields
are tied together mathematically. So a potential wave cannot move faster
than an electric field wave, and in open space (with distance from
transmitter or receiver large compared to wavelength) electric field waves
are only electromagnetic ones.

As for what the Wardenclyffe tower was made for: It was supposed to be
a radio transmitter. One part of its functioning was to have high voltage
high frequency AC (such as from a Tesla coil) form a large puff of corona
at the top, to be a conductor that effectively extends the tower in height
and radiator area.
Another part of Wardenclyffe's function was to have the RF transmission
being in a lower frequency range at which the ionosphere acts as a
waveguide.
Obviously enough, we now have radio transmitters working quite well with
radiating elements made of metal rather than ionized air.

So please take tall claims of what Tesla did with some nice size chunks
of salt!

- Don Klipstein ([email protected])

 

[Daniel Mandic]

The second question is about some of the inventions that were never
finalized. Take for example the supposed Wardenclyffe tower, that was
supposed to transmit electrical energy accross vast distances. If this
would really work, why hasn't anyone attempted to build such a tower?
Or even a smaller version (for shorter distances) using the same
mechanism?

ahh



That powerlines w/o cables is just one of many defending-inventions,
the world has seen in the last centuries.

Similar to the heated runner on a snow-coach, invented some time before
the WW-II ended. By German, with Jewish Religion.



Such things are just for showing the Producer how stupid he/she is

Nikola Tesla got his lessons with fat, barking american business men,
very early ))))

Wireless Power, ts... what a joke. How? With a System based on wires
and coils??





Best Regards,

Daniel Mandic

 

[[email protected]]

I agree with the poster before me, but I can't help being suspicious
when a lot of his work is deemed as classified/top secret by the U.S.
if a lot of his shit didn't work, then why is it so secret?

 

[Michael Black]

I agree with the poster before me, but I can't help being suspicious
when a lot of his work is deemed as classified/top secret by the U.S.
if a lot of his shit didn't work, then why is it so secret?

But where are you getting the notion that it's "classified/top secret"?

Some people want to believe that, but that doesn't make it so.

And of course, it's easy to say things are being kept secret, since
that explains why things aren't seen, but that doesn't mean the things
actually existed in the first place.

Tesla created a lot of stuff. Some of it worked, some of it didn't.
He dated from an age when people would get lots of patents, and I
suspect an age when it was easier to get a patent. Hence, one
could get patents on things that were either impractical or turned
out to not work.

Think about it. Thomas Edison is credited with loads of patents,
yet most of them never left a mark, and maybe didn't even mean
much.

The way to prove to yourself the real "truth" is to start looking
at Tesla's patents. You can look them up on the US Patent Office's
website, I don't have the URL handy, though before a certain year (I
think in the seventies) the patents are mere scans so much of
the searches at that site don't work for older patents. But you can
read them if you can figure out the patent numbers, I imagine a lot of
traditional sources never included patent numbers since it used to be
so difficult to look over patents, and then once you've worked your
way through enough of them, then you can start to see whether or
not most of them were workable or not. Of course, by your theory
the "good ones" won't be accessible.

Michael

 

[Bob Myers]

I agree with the poster before me, but I can't help being suspicious
when a lot of his work is deemed as classified/top secret by the U.S.
if a lot of his shit didn't work, then why is it so secret?

Can you find a *credible* source that says it is
in the first place?

Bob M.

 

[Marc Britten]

Wireless Power, ts... what a joke. How? With a System based on wires
and coils??

http://news.com.com/Wireless+power+gets+recharged/2100-1041_3-6147684.html?tag=nefd.lede

Don't know how it works but it seems to be in revival.

 

[Homer J Simpson]

I agree with the poster before me, but I can't help being suspicious
when a lot of his work is deemed as classified/top secret by the U.S.
if a lot of his shit didn't work, then why is it so secret?

That's government for you. No one loses his job for NOT declassifying
something. But AFAIK all of his stuff has been released and is back in a
museum in his native land. Just enjoy the three phase system and wireless
transmission of signals, both if which he invented.




--
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..

 

[Daniel Mandic]

http://news.com.com/Wireless+power+gets+recharged/2100-1041_3-6147684.
html?tag=nefd.lede

Don't know how it works but it seems to be in revival.

Well, I could believe it is enough to toast a Bird or something bigger.
Tesla Tower (burglary-protection? Such an installation would not be
more dangerous than killer-dogs, IMO. Or just to fall an opponent to
unconciousness/blackout -Soft Defense)


Nothing new happened in the last decades... Mars is rusty, yes? People
in the 14th Century have known, that Mars is of Iron. Just with the
Eyes... Seeing is believing



Best Regards,

Daniel Mandic

 

[Grostle News]

Hi JJ, you asked:

...Wardenclyffe tower, that was supposed to
transmit electrical energy accross vast
distances. If this would really work, why hasn't
anyone attempted to build such a tower?

I remember reading that it was unusable due to the strength and wide
distribution of the transmission. It jammed, or would jam, all other
wireless stuff like radio broadcasts, two-way radios, television, mobile
[cell] phones etc.

In other words, his gizmo worked, but at the expense of, and to the
detriment of, a great deal of other important and developing
communication technologies.

saxum g.n.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

The way to prove to yourself the real "truth" is to start looking
at Tesla's patents. You can look them up on the US Patent Office's
website

http://www.uspto.gov/


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Michael Black]

Hi JJ, you asked:

...Wardenclyffe tower, that was supposed to
transmit electrical energy accross vast
distances. If this would really work, why hasn't
anyone attempted to build such a tower?

I remember reading that it was unusable due to the strength and wide
distribution of the transmission. It jammed, or would jam, all other
wireless stuff like radio broadcasts, two-way radios, television, mobile
[cell] phones etc.

In other words, his gizmo worked, but at the expense of, and to the
detriment of, a great deal of other important and developing
communication technologies.

saxum g.n.

That's hardly a surprise. Stand next to an existing broadcast radio
transmitter, I specify broadcast because they would generally have more
power than transmitters used for other purposes, and you can light
up bulbs and extract some powerl But the minute you start moving a distance
away, the power starts dropping off. Which is the whole point of high
power transmitters, they need to be high power because at the receiver end
the signal drop to miniscule levels.

Hence the only way, if it's even feasible, to broadcast power as radio
frequencies is if massive power is transmitted, and even then I doubt
it's really feasible because of how fast the power levels drop off as
you move away from the transmitter. But, it would be a tremendous signal
that would cause other problems if such a scheme was even attempted.

Michael

 

[niftydog]

That's hardly a surprise. Stand next to an existing broadcast radio
transmitter, I specify broadcast because they would generally have more
power than transmitters used for other purposes, and you can light
up bulbs and extract some powerl But the minute you start moving a distance
away, the power starts dropping off. Which is the whole point of high
power transmitters, they need to be high power because at the receiver end
the signal drop to miniscule levels.

Hence the only way, if it's even feasible, to broadcast power as radio
frequencies is if massive power is transmitted, and even then I doubt
it's really feasible because of how fast the power levels drop off as
you move away from the transmitter. But, it would be a tremendous signal
that would cause other problems if such a scheme was even attempted.

Michael

I'm no radio/Tesla expert, but I thought the whole idea was to broadcast
at the resonant frequency of the atmosphere to achieve greater
efficiency. Tesla probably thought all these crazy people trying to
broadcast at incompatible, non-planet-resonating frequencies were doing
it the hard way!

niftydog

 

[Bob Myers]

I'm no radio/Tesla expert, but I thought the whole idea was to broadcast
at the resonant frequency of the atmosphere to achieve greater efficiency.
Tesla probably thought all these crazy people trying to broadcast at
incompatible, non-planet-resonating frequencies were doing it the hard
way!

OK, kids, let's stop and think just a moment about what
"resonant frequency of the atmosphere" might actually
mean...

Bob M.

 

[Eric R Snow]

OK, kids, let's stop and think just a moment about what
"resonant frequency of the atmosphere" might actually
mean...

Bob M.

Oh c'mon Bob, haven't you ever listened to the wind howl? That's the
resonant frequency of the atmosphere! It's just so low that you can
actually hear the radio waves.
ERS

 

[Daniel Mandic]

I'm no radio/Tesla expert, but I thought the whole idea was to
broadcast at the resonant frequency of the atmosphere to achieve
greater efficiency. Tesla probably thought all these crazy people
trying to broadcast at incompatible, non-planet-resonating
frequencies were doing it the hard way!

niftydog

Hi niftydog!


Like a predecessor of Inter Galactic radiotraffic. Faster than Light,
of course

My dear, our radio would not reach for Inter Planetary Radiotraffic.
Not even that, it's almost useless for Planetary Radiotraffic.



Best regards,

Daniel Mandic

 

[Bob Myers]

Oh c'mon Bob, haven't you ever listened to the wind howl?

No, but I've heard one of our dogs howling in the wind
pretty often; I guess I've discovered the resonant
frequency of the bichon frise....

Bob M.

 

[Bob Myers]

My dear, our radio would not reach for Inter Planetary Radiotraffic.

This will come as a great surprise to those who have been
operating the Spirit and Opportunity rovers on Mars. Are
you planning on letting them know?


Bob M.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Hi niftydog!

Like a predecessor of Inter Galactic radiotraffic. Faster than Light,
of course

My dear, our radio would not reach for Inter Planetary Radiotraffic.
Not even that, it's almost useless for Planetary Radiotraffic.

Best regards,

Daniel Mandic

Gee, Microdyne built millions of dollars worth of receivers to do
just that, and they have been at it for over 30 years.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Bob Myers]

Gee, Microdyne built millions of dollars worth of receivers to do
just that, and they have been at it for over 30 years.

Not to mention Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems managing to
pull it off across the 8th dimension....

Bob M.