Nikola Tesla - Free-Energy Devices

HIGH FfiEQ UENOY AND HIGH POTENTIAL CURRENTS. 163The streaming discharge of a high tension induction coil differsinmany respects from that of a powerful static machine. Incolor it has neither the violet of the positive, nor the brightnessof the negative, static discharge, but lies somewhere between,being, of course, alternatively positive and negative. But sincethe streamingis more powerful when the point or terminal iselectrified positively, than when electrified negatively, it followsthat the point of the brush is more like the positive, and the rootmore like the negative, static discharge. In the dark, when thebrush isvery powerful, the root may appear almost white. Thewind produced by the escaping streams, thoughitmay be verystrong often indeed to such a degree that itmay be felt quite adistance from the coil is, nevertheless, considering the quantityof the discharge, smaller than that produced by the positiveFIG. 107. FIG. 108.brush of a static machine, and it affects the flame much lesspowerfully. From the nature of the phenomenon we can concludethat the higher the frequency, the smaller must, of course,be the wind produced by the streams, and with sufficiently highfrequencies no wind at all would be produced at the ordinaryatmospheric pressures. With frequencies obtainable by meansof a machine, the mechanical effect is sufficiently great to revolve,with considerable speed, large pin-wheels, which in the darkpresent a beautiful appearance owing to the abundance of thestreams (Fig. 106).In general, most of the experiments usually performed with astatic machine can be performed with an induction coil whenoperated witli very rapidly alternating currents. The effects produced,however,' are much more striking, being of incomparably