Nikola Tesla - Free-Energy Devices

HIGH FREQUENCY AND HIGH POTENTIAL CURRENTS. 185When an induction coil, operated as above described, is used,there is no doubt that the tubes are excited by electrostatic induction,and that electromagnetic induction has little,if anything,to do with the phenomena.This is evident from many experiments. For instance, if atube be taken in one hand, the observer being near the coil, it isbrilliantly lighted and remains so no matter in what position it isheld relatively to the observer's body. Were the action electromagnetic,the tube could not be lighted when the observer'sbody is interposed between it and the coil, or at least its luminosityshould be considerably diminished. When the tube isheld exactly over the centre of the coil the latter being woundin sections and the primary placed symmetrically to the secondaryitmay remain completely dark, whereas it is renderedintensely luminous by moving it slightly to the right or leftfrom the centre of the coil. It does not light because in theFIG. 124.middle both halves of the coil neutralize each other, and theelectric potential is zero. If the action were electromagnetic,the tube should light best in the plane through the centre of thecoil, since the electromagnetic effect there should be a maximum.When an arc is established between the terminals, the tubes andlamps in the vicinity of the coil go out, but light up againwhen the arc isbroken, on account of the rise of potential. Yetthe electromagnetic effect should be practically the same in bothcases.By placing a tube at some distance from the coil, and nearer toone terminal preferably at a point on the axis of the coil onemay light it by touching the remote terminal with an insulatedbody of some size or with the hand, thereby raising the potentialat that terminal nearer to the tube. If the tube is shifted nearerto the coil so that it is lighted by the action of the nearer termi-