Nikola Tesla - Free-Energy Devices

DIRECT CURRENT ARC LIGHTING SYXTKM.4fc]The carbons being separated, the fine wire receives a portionof the current. Now, the magnetic induction from the magnetM is such as to produce opposite poles on the corresponding endsof the magnet N ;but the current traversing the helices tends toproduce similar poles on the corresponding ends of both magnets,and therefore as soon as the fine wire is traversed by sufficientcurrent the magnetism of the whole compound magnet is diminished.With regard to the armature g and theoperation of the lamp,the pole77i ' may be considered as the " clamping " and the pole///as the " releasing " pole.As the carbons burn away, the fine wire receives more currentand the magnetism diminishes in proportion. This causes thearmature lever L to swing and the armature g to descend graduallyunder the weight of the moving parts until the end/>, Fig.283, strikes a stop on the top plate, B. The adjustmentis suchthat when this takes place the rod K is yet gripped securely bythe jaws ee. The further downward movement of the armaturelever being prevented, the arc becomes longer as the carbons areconsumed, and the iscompound magnet weakened more andmore until the clamping armature g releases the hold of thegripping-jaws e e upon the rod R, and the rod is allowed to dropa little, thus shortening the arc. The fine wire now receivingless current, the magnetism increases, and the rod is clampedagain and slightly raised, if necessary. This clamping and releasingof the rod continues until the carbons are consumed. Inpractice the feed is so sensitive that for the greatest part of thetime the movement of the rod cannot be detected without someactual measurement. During the normal operation of the lampthe armature lever L remains practically stationary, in the positionshow T n in Fig. 283.Should ithappen that, owing to an imperfection in it,the rodand the carbons drop too far, so as to make the arc too short, oreven bring the carbons in contact, a very small amount of currentpasses through the fine wire, and the compound magnetbecomes sufficiently strong to act as at the start in pulling thearmature lever L down and separating the c'arbons to a greaterdistance.It occurs often in practical work that the rod sticks in theguides.breaks.In this case the arc reaches a great length,until it finallyThen the light goes out, and frequently the fine wire is