Nikola Tesla - Free-Energy Devices

HIGH FEEQ UENCT AND HIGH POTENTIAL CURRENTS. 365frequency of the currents. Now the filament lias its ownperiod of vibration, and if the frequency of the currents is suchthat there is resonance, it is easily set vibrating, though the potentialof the currents be small. I have often observed that thefilament in the bulb is destroyed by such mechanical resonance.The filament vibrates as a rule so rapidly that it cannot be seenand the experimenter may at first be mystified. When such anexperiment as the one described is carefully performed, the potentialof the currents need be extremely small, and for thisreason I infer that the phosphorescenceis then due to themechanical shock of the filament against the glass, just as it isproduced by striking a loaf of sugar with a knife. The mechanicalshock produced by the projected atoms is easily noted whena bulb containing a button is grasped in the hand and the currentturned on suddenly. I believe that a bulb could be shatteredby observing the conditions of resonance.In tlieexperiment before cited it is, of course, open to say,that the glass tube, upon coming in contact with the filament, retainsa charge of a certain sign upon the point of contact. Ifnow the filament again touches the glassat the same point whileit is oppositely charged, the charges equalize under evolution oflight.But nothing of importance would be gained by such anexplanation. It isunquestionable that the initial charges givento the atoms or to the glass play some part in exciting phosphorescence.So, for instance, if a phosphorescent bulb be first excitedby a high frequency coil itby connecting to one of the terminalsof the latter and the degree of luminosity be noted, and thenthe bulb be highly charged from a Holtz machine by attachingit preferably to the positive terminal of the machine, it is foundthat when the bulb is again connected to the terminal of the highfrequency coil, the isphosphorescencefar more intense. Onanother occasion I have considered the possibilityof some phosphorescentphenomena in bulbs being produced by the incandescenceof an infinitesimal layer on the surface of the phosphorescentbody. Certainly the impact of the atoms is powerful enoughto produce intense incandescence by the collisions, since they bringquickly to a high temperature a body of considerable bulk. If anysuch effect exists, then the best appliance for producing phosphorescencein a bulb, which we know so far, is a disruptive dischargecoil giving an enormous potential with but few fundamental discharges,say 25-30 per second, just enough to produce a continu-