Nikola Tesla - Free-Energy Devices

HIGH FRKQUENCY AND HIGH POTENTIAL CURRENTS. 291lively overcome. But to light such a lamp we require a highpotential ;and to get this economically, we must use high frequencies.Such considerations apply even more to the production of lightby the incandescence of a gas, or by phosphorescence. In allcases we require high frequencies and high potentials. Thesethoughts occurred to me a long time ago.Incidentally we gain, by the use of high frequencies, many advantages,such as higher economy in the light production, thepossibility of working with one lead, the possibility of doing awaywith the leading-in wire, etc.The question is,how far can we go with frequencies? Ordinaryconductors rapidly lose the facility of transmitting electricimpulses when the frequency is greatly increased. Assume themeans for the production of impulses of very great frequencybrought to the utmost perfection, every one will naturally askhow to transmit them when the necessity arises. In transmittingsuch impulses through conductors we must remember that wehave to deal with pressure and flow, in the ordinary interpretationof these terms. Let the pressure increase to an enormous value,and let the flow correspondingly diminish, then such impulsesvariations merely of pressure, as it were can no doubt betransmitted through a wire even if their frequency be manyhundreds of millions per second. It would, of course, be out ofquestion to transmit such impulses through a wire immersed in agaseous medium, even if the wire were provided with a thickand excellent insulation, for most of the energy would be lost inmolecular bombardment and consequent heating. The end ofthe wire connected to the source would be heated, and the remoteend would receive but a trifling part of the energy supplied.The prime necessity, then, if such electric impulses areto be used, is to find means to reduce as much as possible thedissipation.The first thought is, to employ the thinnest possible wire surroundedby the thickest practicable insulation. The next thoughtis to employ electrostatic screens. The insulation of the wiremay be covered with a thin conducting coating and the latterconnected to the ground. But this would not do, as then all theenergy would pass through the conducting coating to the groundand nothing would get to the end of the wire. If a ground connectionis made it can only be made through a conductor offer-