Prodigal Genius by James J. O'Neill

Author:James J. O'Neill [O'Neill, James J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Book Tree
Published: 2011-09-21T07:00:00+00:00

TESLA developed his inventions to the point at which they were spectacular performers before they were demonstrated to the public. When presented, the performance always greatly exceeded the promise. This was the case with his first public demonstration of “wireless,” but he complicated the situation by coupling with his radio invention another new idea—the robot.

Tesla staged his demonstration in the great auditorium of Madison Square Garden, then on the north side of Madison Square, in September, 1898, as part of the first annual Electrical Exhibition. He had a large tank built in the center of the arena and In this he placed an iron-hulled boat a few feet long, shaped like an ark, which he operated by remote control by means of his wireless system.

Extending upward from the center of the roof of the boat was a slender metal rod a few feet high which served as an antenna, or aerial, for receiving the wireless wave. Near the bow and stern were two small metal tubes about a foot high surmounted by small electric lamps. The interior of the hull was packed with a radio receiving set and a variety of motor-driven mechanisms which put into effect the operating orders sent to the boat by wireless waves. There was a motor for propelling the boat and another motor for operating the servo-mechanism, or mechanical brain, that interpreted the orders coming from the wireless receiving set and translated them into mechanical motions, which included steering the boat in any direction, making it stop, start, go forward or backward, or light either lamp. The boat could thus be put through the most complicated maneuvers.

Anyone attending the exhibition could call the maneuver for the boat, and Tesla, with a few touches on a telegraph key, would cause the boat to respond. His control point was at the far end of the great arena.

The demonstration created a sensation and Tesla again was the popular hero. It was a front-page story in the newspapers. Everyone knew the accomplishment was a wonderful one, but few grasped the significance of the event or the importance of the fundamental discovery which it demonstrated. The basic aspects of the invention were obscured by the glamor of the demonstration.

The Spanish American War was under way. The success of the U. S. Navy in destroying the Spanish fleets was the leading topic of conversation. There was resentment over the blowing up of the U. S. S. Maine in Havana Harbor. Tesla’s demonstration fired the imagination of everyone because of its possibilities as a weapon in naval warfare.

Waldemar Kaempffert, then a student in City College and now Science Editor of the New York Times, discussed its use as a weapon with Tesla.

“I see,” said Kaempffert, “how you could load an even larger boat with a cargo of dynamite, cause it to ride submerged, and explode the dynamite whenever you wished by pressing the key just as easily as you can cause the light on the bow to shine, and blow up from a distance by wireless even the largest of battleships.

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