The turbine isawaiting commercial use, and public acceptance., but developments are rapidly making it again seemattractive. Frank Germano, Guy Letourneau, Tad Johnson and Martin Dorantes, of InternationalTurbine And Power, of Cody Wyoming, USA, is pioneering the design of a special Tesla-Type turbinefor the commercial power markets. This turbine can be run on any combustible fuel (propane,methane, gasoline, diesel, hydrogen), steam, or even water under pressure.It has been said that Tesla is the "Forgotten Father of Technology." It is hard to believe that a manwho gave the world so much, received so little for his efforts. History books have been equally unkind.In many parts of this country, people still refer to the electric utility as the 'EdisonCompany', even though they use the Tesla-Westinghouse alternating currentsystem, not Edison's direct current. At the Niagara Falls power generating station, asmall statue of Tesla is purposely left un-illuminated at night. I have visited thisstatue, and it is a quite stunning statement to witness the statue in completedarkness, with the surrounding area ablaze with lighting supplied from Tesla's owninventions.Tesla also had a deep desire to provide wireless electricity across the globe. First,there was the patent infringement issue, which made millionaires of others, particularly the MarconiCompany. But Tesla maintained a single-minded focus on developing global wireless communicationsand energy systems. Working in Colorado Springs in 1899, Tesla developed a transmitter to perfect amethod by which transmitted energy could be channeled through natural media.In Colorado Springs, Colorado, Tesla built a laboratory to develop this. TheColorado Springs lab contained the largest Tesla Coil ever built. Called theMagnifying Transmitter, it was capable of generating some 300,000 watts ofpower, and could produce a bolt of lightning over 130 feet long. According to localaccounts, Tesla actually managed to successfully transmit about 30 to 50 thousandwatts of power, without wires, using the Transmitter. There are detailed accounts of these feats, below.Two years later, 1901, working on Long Island at Wardenclyffe, he set to work on his ultimate goal:construction of a "world telegraphy center" that was to have a lab, a wireless transmitter andproduction facilities for manufacturing oscillators and vacuum tubes. Constructed on the "model city's"1,800 acres would be homes, stores and buildings to accommodate 2,500 workers... at least, that wasthe dream...By that year's end, however, Marconi had usurped the inventor by transmitting an overseas signal.That left Tesla at the mercy of his financier, J.P. Morgan, who literally pulled the plug on his vision.Morgan, at the time the prime force behind General Electric Co., may have been unnerved by Tesla'sclaims that the technology could transmit "unlimited power" by wireless means. The word "free" did nottranslate well to Morgan. Again, the money flow came to a halt.Some Tesla devotees suspect he may have been a pioneer of the transistor. "Inventors of the moderncomputer have repeatedly been surprised, when seeking patents, to encounter Tesla's basic oneshttp://www.frank.germano.com/nikolatesla.htm (5 of 9)2004/11/22 09:44:18 AMNikola Tesla. The Complete Tesla.already on file," noted Tesla historian Leland Anderson, a former EE and a board member of theWardenclyffe project. Indeed, two of Tesla's patents from 1903 contain the basic principles of thelogical "AND" circuit element. Tesla went on to experiment with actual wireless transmission ofelectrical power.Despite his accomplishments, by 1915, at age 60, Tesla was living on credit and drifting from onecheap hotel another, a victim of his own poor business decisions, underdeveloped ideas and inabilityto create another innovation as profound as the AC paradigm. In 1931, at the age of 75, Tesla receivedbirthday greetings from Lee de Forest and Albert Einstein. In his later years he spent most of his timeat the New York Public Library or feeding pigeons that he called- “my sincere friends".By 1943, he had begun suffering heart trouble and fainting spells along with some mental confusion.On January 1st, 1943 he complained of chest pains during an experiment and returned to the hotelroom where he lived. The last person to see him alive was a hotel maid on January 5th, 1943. It isassumed that he died January 7th, 1943 in New York City and his body was discovered on the
following day. Over 2,000 people attended his funeral in Manhattan. So, at age 86, the great inventor
died alone, nearly penniless and all but forgotten. Years earlier, however, Tesla had appeared to
predict the posthumous recognition that today's scientific community would afford him when he wrote:
"Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and
accomplishments." And what accomplishments they were, Dr. Tesla. The world would be a very dark
place, without you. For more startling insight into Dr. Tesla's amazing accomplishments, see the
companion article: Nikola Tesla And His Work With Alternating Currents .
"The present is theirs ; the future, for which I really work , is mine." Nikola
Tesla
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