The Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla

exhibited a glass tube with one layer of silk-covered wire wound at the top and a copper ribbon on the inside. This was the first disruptive discharge coil constructed by him. At U is shown the disruptive discharge coil exhibited by him in his lecture before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, in May, 1891.[18] At V and W are shown some of the first high frequency transformers. A number of various fields and armatures of small models of high frequency apparatus as shown at X and Y, and others not visible in the picture, were exhibited. In the annexed space the dynamo then used by Mr. Tesla at Columbia College was exhibited; also another form of high frequency dynamo used. Fig. 311. In this space also was arranged a battery of Leyden jars and his large disruptive discharge coil which was used for exhibiting [Pg 485]the light phenomena in the adjoining dark room. The coil was operated at only a small fraction of its capacity, as the necessary condensers and transformers could not be had and as Mr. Tesla's stay was limited to one week; notwithstanding, the phenomena were of a striking character. In the room were arranged two large plates placed at a distance of about eighteen feet from each other. Between them were placed two long tables with all sorts of phosphorescent bulbs and tubes; many of these were prepared with great care and marked legibly with the names which would shine with phosphorescent glow. Among them were some with the names of Helmholtz, Faraday, Maxwell, Henry, Franklin, etc. Mr. Tesla had also not forgotten the greatest living poet of his own country, Zmaj Jovan; two or three were prepared with inscriptions, like "Welcome, Electricians," and produced a beautiful effect. Each represented some phase of this work and stood for some individual experiment of importance. Outside the room was the small battery seen in Fig. 311, for the exhibition of some of the impedance and other phenomena of interest. Thus, for instance, a thick copper bar bent in arched form was provided with clamps for the attachment of lamps, and a number of lamps were kept at incandescence on the bar; there was also a little motor shown on the table operated by the disruptive discharge. As will be remembered by those who visited the Exposition, the Westinghouse Company made a line exhibit of the various commercial motors of the Tesla system, while the twelve generators in Machinery Hall were of the two-phase type constructed for distributing light and power. Mr. Tesla, also exhibited some models of his oscillators. [Pg 486]