Nikola Tesla - Free-Energy Devices

258 INVENTIONS OF NIKOLA TESLA.phosphorescent sulphide, for example, which could be finelypowdered without impairing the phosphorescence, but rather likepowdered ruby or diamond, and therefore it would be necessary,in order to make a decisive test, to obtain it in a large lump andpolish up the surface.If the carborundum proves useful in connection with theseand similar experiments, its chief value will be found in theproduction of coatings, thin conductors, buttons, or other electrodescapable of withstanding extremely high degrees of heat.The production of a sniall electrode, capable of wit hstan< linoenormoustemperatures, I regard as of the greatest importancein the manufacture of light. It would enable us to obtain, bymeans of currents of very high frequencies, certainly 20 times, ifnot more, the quantity of light which is obtained in the presentincandescent lamp by the same expenditure of energy. Thisestimate may appear to many exaggerated, but in reality I thinkit is far from being so. As this statement might be misunderstood,I think it is necessary to expose clearly the problem withwhich, in this line of work, we are confronted, and the mannerin which, in my opinion, a solution will be arrived at.Any one who begins a study of the problem will be apt tothink that what is wanted in a lamp with an electrode is a veryhigh degree of incandescence of the electrode. There he will bemistaken. The high incandescence of the button is a necessaryevil, but what is really wanted is the high incandescence of thegas surrounding the button. In other words, the problem insuch a lamp is to bring a mass of gas to the highest, possible incandescence.The higher the incandescence, the quicker themean vibration, the greater is the economy of the light production.But to maintain a mass of gas at a high degree of incandescencein a glass vessel, it will always be necessary to keep the incandescentmass away from the glass that ; is, to confine it as much aspossible to the central portion of the globe.In one of the experiments this evening a brush was producedat the end of a wire. The brush was a flame, a source of heatand light. It did not emit much perceptible heat, nor did itglow with an intense light but is it the less a flame because it;does not scorch my hand { Is it the less a flame because it doesnot hurt my eyes by its brilliancy The ? problem is precisely toproduce in the bulb such a flame, much smaller in size, but incomparablymore powerful. Were there means at hand for