Nikola Tesla - Free-Energy Devices

236 INVENTIONS OF NIKOLA TESLA.not novel.Men have been led to it long ago by instinct or reason.in theIt has been expressed inmany ways, and in many places,history of old and new. We find it in the delightful myth ofAntheus, who derives power from the earth ;we find itamongthe subtle speculations of one of your splendid mathematicians,and in many hints and statements of thinkers of the present time.Throughout space there is energy. Is this energy static or kinetic ?If static our hopes are in vain; if kinetic and this we know itis, for certain then it is a mere question of time when men willsucceed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork ofnature. Of all, living or dead, Crookes came nearest to doing it.His radiometer will turn in the light of day and in the darknessof the night; it will turn everywhere where there is heat, andheat is everywhere. But, unfortunately, this beautiful littlemachine, while it goes down to posterity as the most interesting,must likewise be put on record as the most inefficient machineever invented !The preceding experiment is only one of many equally interestingexperiments which may be performed by the use of onlyone wire with alternations of high potential and frequency. Wemay connect an insulated line to a source of such currents, wemay pass an inappreciable current over the line, and on anypoint of the same we are able to obtain a heavy current, capableof fusinga thick copper wire. Or we may, by the help of someartifice, decompose a solution in any electrolytic cell by connectingonly one pole of the cell to the line or source of energy.Or we may, by attaching to the line, or only bringing into itsvicinity, light up an incandescent lamp, an exhausted tube, or aphosphorescent bulb.However impracticable this plan of working may appear inmany cases, it certainly seems practicable, and even recommendable,in the production of light.A perfected lamp would requirebut little energy, and if wires were used at all we ought to be ableto supply that energy without a return wire.It is now a fact that a body may be rendered incandescent orphosphorescent by bringing it either in single contact or merelyin the vicinity of a source of electric impulses of the propercharacter, and that in this manner a quantity of light sufficientto afford a practical illuminant may be produced. It is, therefore,to say the least, worth while to attempt to determine thebest conditions and to invent the best appliances for attainingthis object.