Tesla Patents 512340 593138 685012

A FEW MORE OF TESLA'S PATENTS RELATING TO BEDINI SSG ENERGIZERS

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 512,340, dated January 9, 1894.

To all whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, NIKOLA TESLA, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Coils for Electro-Magnets and other apparatus, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming a part of the same.

In electric apparatus or systems in, which alternating currents are employed the self-induction of the coils or conductors may, and, in fact, in many cases does operate disadvantageously by giving rise to false currents which often reduce what is known as the commercial efficiency of the apparatus composing the system or operate detrimentally in other respects. The effects of self-induction, above referred to, are known to be neutralized by proportioning to a proper degree the capacity of the circuit with relation to the self-induction and frequency of the currents. This has been accomplished heretofore by the use of condensers constructed and applied as separate instruments.

My present invention has for its object to avoid the employment of condensers, which are expensive, cumbersome and difficult to maintain in perfect condition, and to so construct the coils themselves as to accomplish the same ultimate object.

I would here state that by the term coils I desire to include generally helices, solenoids, or, in fact, any conductor the different parts of which by the requirements of its application or use are brought into such relations with each other as to materially increase the self-induction.

I have found that in every coil there exists a certain relation between its self-induction and capacity that permits, a current of given frequency and potential to pass through it with no other opposition than that of ohmic resistance, or, in other words, as though it possessed no self-induction. This is due to the mutual relations existing between the special character of the current and the self-induction and capacity of the coil, the latter quantity being just capable of neutralizing the self-induction for that frequency. It is well known that the higher the frequency or potential difference of the current the smaller the capacity required to counteract the self-induction; hence, in any coil, however small the capacity, it may be sufficient for the purpose stated if the proper conditions in other respects be secured in the ordinary coils the difference of potential between adjacent turns or spirals is very small, so that while they are in a sense condensers, they possess but very small capacity and the relations between the two quantities, self-induction and capacity, are not such as under any ordinary conditions satisfy the requirements herein contemplated, because the capacity relatively to the self-induction is very small.

In order to attain my object and to properly increase the capacity of any given coil, I wind it in such way as to secure a greater difference of potential between its adjacent turns or convolutions, and since the energy stored in the coil-considering the latter as a condenser, is proportionate to the square of the potential difference between its adjacent convolutions, it is evident that I may in this way secure by the proper disposition of these convolutions I greatly increased capacity for a given increase in potential difference between the turns.

I have illustrated diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings the general nature of the plan which I adopt for carrying out this invention.

Figure 1 is a diagram of a coil wound in the ordinary manner. Fig. 2 is a diagram of a winding designed to secure the objects of my invention.

Let Fig. 1, designate any given coil the spires or convolutions of which are wound upon and insulated from each other. Let it be assumed that the terminals of this coil show a potential difference of one hundred volts, and that there are one thousand convolutions: then considering any two contiguous points on adjacent convolutions let it be assumed that there will exist between them a potential difference of one-tenth of a volt. If now, as shown in Fig. 2, a conductor B be wound parallel with the conductor A and insulated from it, and the end of A be connected with the starting point of B, the aggregate length of the two conductor being such that the assumed number of convolutions or turns is the same, vis, one thousand, then the potential difference between any to adjacent points in A and B will be fifty volts, and as the capacity effect is proportionate to the square of this difference, the energy stored in the coil as a whole will now be two hundred and fifty thousand as great. Following out this principle, I may wind any given coil either in whole or in part, not only in the specific manner herein illustrated, but in a great variety of ways, well known in the art, so as to secure between adjacent convolutions such potential difference as will give the proper capacity to neutralize the self-induction for any given current that may be employed. Capacity secured in this particular way possesses an additional advantage in that it is evenly distributed, a consideration of the greatest importance in many cases, and the results, both as to efficiency and economy, are the more readily and easily obtained as the size of the coils, the potential difference or frequency of the currents are increased.

Coils composed of independent strands or conductors wound side by side and connected in series are not In themselves new, and I do not regard a more detailed description of the same necessary. But heretofore, so far as I am aware, the objects in view have been essentially different from mine, and the results which I obtain even if an incident to such forms of winding have not been appreciated or taken advantage of.

In carrying out my invention it is to be observed that certain facts are well understood by those skilled in the art, viz: the relations of capacity, self-induction, and the frequency and potential difference of the current. What capacity, therefore, in any given case it is desirable to obtain and what special winding will secure it, are readily determinable from the other factors which are known.

What I claim as my invention is—
1. A coil for electric apparatus the adjacent convolutions of which form parts of the circuit between which there exists a potential difference sufficient to secure in the coil a capacity capable of neutralizing its self-induction, as hereinbefore described.

2. A coil composed of contiguous or adjacent insulated conductors electrically connected in series and having a potential difference of such value as to give to the coil as a whole, a capacity sufficient to neutralize its self-induction, as set forth.

Electrical Transformer.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 593,138, dated November 2, 1897.

Application filed March 20, 1897. Serial No. 629,453. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:
Be it known that I, NIKOLA TESLA, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrical Transformers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming a part of the same.

The present application is based upon an apparatus which I have devised and employed for to purpose of developing electrical currents of high potential, which transformers or induction-coils constructed on the principles heretofore followed in the manufacture of such instruments are wholly incapable of producing or practically utilizing, at least without serious liability of the destruction of the apparatus itself and danger to persons approaching or handling it.

The improvement involves a novel form of transformer or induction-coil and a system for the transmission of electrical energy by means of the same in which the energy of the source is raised to a much higher potential for transmission over the line than has ever been practically employed heretofore, and the apparatus is constructed with reference to the production of such a potential and so as to be not only free from the danger of injury from the destruction of insulation, but safe to handle. To this end I construct an induction-coil or transformer in which the primary and secondary coils are wound or arranged in such manner that the convolutions of the conductor of the latter will be farther removed from the primary as the liability of injury from the effects of potential increases, the terminal or point of highest potential being the most remote, and so that between adjacent convolutions there shall be the least possible difference of potential.

The type of coil in which the last-named features are present is the flat spiral, and this form I generally employ, winding the primary on the outside of the secondary and taking off the current from the latter at the center or inner end of the spiral. I may depart from or vary this form, however, in the particulars hereinafter specified.

In constructing my improved transformers I employ a length of secondary which is approximately one-quarter of the wave length of the electrical disturbance in the circuit including the secondary coil, based on the velocity of propagation of electrical disturbances through such circuit, or, in general, of such length that the potential at the terminal of the secondary which is the more remote from the primary shall be at its maximum. In using these coils I connect one end of the secondary, or that in proximity to the primary, to earth, and in order to more effectively provide against injury to persons or to the apparatus I also connect it with the primary.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating the plan of winding and connection which I employ in constructing my improved coils and the manner of using them for the transmission of energy over long distances. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, and Fig. 3 a side elevation and part section, of modified forms of induction-coil made in accordance with my invention.

C is the primary, which is wound around in proximity to the secondary. One terminal of the latter will be at the center of the spiral coil, and from this the current is taken to line or for other purposes. The other terminal of the secondary is connected to earth and preferably also to the primary.

When two coils are used in a transmission system in which the currents are raised to a high potential and then reconverted to a lower potential, the receiving-transformer will be constructed and connected in the same manner as the first-that is to say, the inner or center end of what corresponds to the secondary of the first will be connected to line and the other end to earth and to the local circuit or that which corresponds to the primary of the first. In such case also the line-wire should be supported in such manner as to avoid loss by the current jumping from line to objects in its vicinity and in contact with earth--as, for example, by means of long insulators, mounted, preferably, on metal poles so that in case of leakage from the line it will pass harmlessly to earth. In Fig. 1 where such a system is illustrated, a dynamo G is conveniently represented as supplying the primary of the sending or "step-up" transformer, and lamps II and motors K are shown as connected with the corresponding circuit of the receiving or "step-down" transformer.

Instead of winding the coils in the form of a flat spiral the secondary may be wound on a support in the shape of a frustum of a cone and the primary wound around its base, as shown in Fig. 2.

In practice for apparatus designed for ordinary usage the coil is preferably constructed on the plan illustrated in Fig. 3. In this figure L L are spools of insulating material upon which the secondary is wound-in the present case, however, in two sections, so as to constitute really two secondaries. The primary C is a spirally-wound flat strip surrounding both secondaries B.

The inner terminals of the secondaries are led out through tubes of insulating material M, while the other or outside terminals are connected with the primary.

The length of the secondary coil B or of each secondary coil when two are used, as in Fig. 3, is, as before stated, approximately one-quarter of the wave length of the electrical disturbance in the secondary circuit, based on the velocity of propagation of the electrical disturbance through the coil itself and the circuit with which it is designed to be used-that is to say, if the rate at which a current traverses the circuit, including the coil, be one hundred and eighty-five thousand miles per second, then a frequency of nine hundred and twenty-five per second would maintain nine hundred and twenty-five stationary waves in a circuit one hundred and eighty-five thousand miles long, and each wave length would be two hundred miles in length. For such a frequency I should use a secondary fifty miles in length, so that at one terminal the potential would be zero and at the other maximum.

Coils of the character herein described have several important advantages. As the potential increases with the number of turns the difference of potential between adjacent turns is comparatively small, and hence a very high potential, impracticable with ordinary coils, may be successfully maintained.

As the secondary is electrically connected with the primary the latter will be at substantially the same potential as the adjacent portions of the secondary, so that there will be no tendency for sparks to jump from one to the other and destroy the insulation. Moreover, as both primary and secondary are grounded and the line-terminal of the coil carried and protected to a point remote from the apparatus the danger of a discharge through the body of a person handling or approaching the apparatus is reduced to a minimum.

I am aware that an induction-coil in the form of a flat spiral is not in itself new, and this I do not claim; but

What I claim as my invention is—

1. A transformer for developing or converting currents of high potential, comprising a primary and secondary coil, one terminal of the secondary being electrically connected with the primary; and with earth when the transformer is in use, as set forth.

2. A transformer for developing or converting currents of high potential, comprising a primary and secondary wound in the form of a flat spiral, the end of the secondary adjacent to the primary being electrically connected therewith and with earth when the transformer is in use, as set forth.

3. A transformer for developing or converting currents of high potential comprising a primary and secondary wound in the form of a spiral, the secondary being inside of, and surrounded by, the convolutions of the primary and having its adjacent terminal electrically connected therewith and with earth when the transformer is in use, as set forth.

4. In a system for the conversion and transmission of electrical energy, the combination of two transformers, one for raising, the other for lowering, the potential of the currents, the said transformers having one terminal of the longer or fine-wire coils connected to line, and the other terminals adjacent to the shorter coils electrically connected therewith and to the earth, as set forth.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 685,012, dated October 23, 1901.

Application filed March 21, 1900, Renewed July 3, 1901, Serial No. 66,980 (No Model.)

To all whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, NIKOLA TESLA, a citizen of the United States, residing at the borough of Manhattan, in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Increasing the Intensity of Electrical Oscillations, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming part of the same.

In many scientific and practical uses of electrical impulses or oscillations—as, for example, in systems of transmitting intelligence to distant points—it is of great importance to intensify as much as possible the current impulses or vibrations which are produced in the circuits of the transmitting and receiving instruments, particularly of the latter.

It is well known that when electrical impulses are impressed upon a circuit adapted to oscillate freely the intensity of the oscillations developed in the same is dependent on the magnitude of its physical constants and the relation of the periods of the impressed and of the free oscillations. For the attainment of the best result it is necessary that the periods of the impressed should be the same as that of the free oscillations, under which conditions the intensity of the latter is greatest and chiefly dependent on the inductance and resistance of the circuit, being directly proportionate to the former and inversely to the latter. In order, therefore, to intensify the impulses or oscillations excited in the circuit—in other words, to produce the greatest rise of current or electrical pressure in the same—it is desirable to make its inductance as large and its resistance as small as practicable. Having this end in view I have devised and used conductors of special forms and of relatively very large cross-section; but I have found that limitations exist in regard to the increase of the inductance as well as to the diminution of the resistance. This will be understood when it is borne in mind that the resonant rise of current or pressure in a freely-oscillating circuit is proportionate to the frequency of the impulses and that a large inductance in general involves a slow vibration. On the other hand, an increase of the section of the conductor with the object of reducing its resistance is, beyond a certain limit, of little or no value, principally because electrical oscillations, particularly those of high frequency, pass mainly through the superficial conducting layers, and while it is true that this drawback may be overcome in a measure by the employment of thin ribbons, tubes, or stranded cables, yet in practice other disadvantages arise, which often more than offset the gain.

It is a well-established fact that as the temperature of a metallic conductor rises its electrical resistance increases, and in recognition of this constructors of commercial electrical apparatus have heretofore resorted to many expedients for preventing the coils and other parts of the same from becoming heated when in use, but merely with a view to economizing energy and reducing the cost of construction and operation of the apparatus.

Now I have discovered that when a circuit adapted to vibrate freely is maintained at a low temperature the oscillations excited in the same are to an extraordinary degree magnified and prolonged, and I am thus enabled to produce many valuable results which have heretofore been wholly impracticable.

Briefly stated, then, my invention consists in producing a great increase in the intensity and duration of the oscillations excited in a freely-vibrating or resonating circuit by maintaining the same at a low temperature.

Ordinarily in commercial apparatus such provision is made only with the object of preventing wasteful heating, and in any event its influence upon the intensity of the oscillations is very slight and practically negligible, for as a rule impulses of arbitrary frequency are impressed upon a circuit, irrespective of its own free vibrations, and a resonant rise is expressly avoided.

My invention, it will be understood, does not primarily contemplate the saving of energy, but aims at the attainment of a distinctly novel and valuable result—that is, the increase to the greatest practicable degree of the intensity and duration of free oscillations. It may be usefully applied in all cases when this special object is sought, but offers exceptional advantages in those instances in which the freely-oscillating discharges of a condenser, are utilized.

The best and most convenient manner of carrying out the invention of which I am now aware is to surround the freely-vibrating circuit or conductor, which is to be maintained at a low temperature, with a suitable cooling medium, which may be any kind of freezing mixture or agent, such as liquid air, and in order to derive the fullest benefit from the improvement the circuit should be primarily constructed so as to have the greatest possible self-induction and the smallest practicable resistance, and other rules of construction which are now recognized should be observed. For example, when in a system of transmission of energy for any purpose through the natural media the transmitting and receiving conductors are connected to earth and to an insulated terminal, respectively, the lengths of these conductors should be one-quarter of the wave length of the disturbance propagated through them.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown graphically a disposition of apparatus which may be used in applying practically my invention.

The drawing illustrates in perspective two devices, either of which may be the transmitter, while the other is the receiver. In each there is a coil of few turns and low resistance, (designated in one by A and in the other by A'.) The former coil, supposed to be forming part of the transmitter, is to be connected with a suitable source of current, while the latter is to be included in circuit with a receiving device. In inductive relation to said coils in each instrument is a flat spirally-wound coil B or B', one terminal of which is shown as connected to a ground-plate C, while the other, leading from the center, is adapted to be connected to an insulated terminal, which is generally maintained at an elevation in the air. The coils B B' are placed in insulating- receptacles D, which contain the freezing agent and around which the coils A and A' are wound.

Coils in the form of a flat spiral, such as those described, are eminently suited for the production of free oscillations; but obviously conductors or circuits of any other form may be used, if desired.

From the foregoing the operation of the apparatus will now be readily understood. Assume, first, as the simplest case that upon the coil A of the transmitter impulses or oscillations of an arbitrary frequency and irrespective of its own free vibrations are impressed. Corresponding oscillations will then be induced in the circuit B, which, being constructed and adjusted, as before indicated, so as to vibrate at the same rate, will greatly magnify them, the increase being directly proportionate to the product of the frequency of the oscillations and the inductance of circuit B and inversely to the resistance of the latter. Other conditions remaining the same, the intensity of the oscillations in the resonating-circuit B will be increased in the same proportion as its resistance is reduced. Very often, however, the conditions may be such that the gain sought is not realized directly by diminishing the resistance of the circuit. In such cases the skilled expert who applies the invention will turn to advantage the reduction of resistance by using a correspondingly longer conductor, thus securing a much greater self-induction, and under all circumstances he will determine the dimensions of the circuit, so as to get the greatest value of the ratio of its inductance to its resistance, which determines the intensity of the free oscillations. The vibrations of coil B greatly strengthened, spread to a distance and on reaching the tuned receiving-conductor B' excite corresponding oscillations in the same, which for similar reasons are intensified, with the result of inducing correspondingly stronger currents or oscillations in circuit A', including the receiving device. When, as may be the case in the transmission of intelligible signals, the circuit A is periodically closed and opened, the effect upon the receiver is heightened in the manner above described not only because the impulses in the coils B and B' are strengthened, but also on account of their persistence through a longer interval of time. The advantages offered by the invention are still more fully realized when the circuit A of the transmitter instead of having impulses of an arbitrary frequency impressed upon it is itself permitted to vibrate at its own rate, and more particularly so if it be energized by the freely-oscillating high-frequency discharges of a condenser. In such a case the cooling of the conductor A, which may be effected in any suitable manner, results in an extraordinary magnification of the oscillation in the resonating-circuit B, which I attribute to the increased intensity as well as greater number of the high-frequency oscillations obtained in the circuit A. The receiving coil B' is energized stronger in proportion and induces currents of greater intensity in the circuits A'. It is evident from the above that the greater the number of the freely-vibrating circuits which alternately receive and transmit energy from one to another the greater, relatively, will be the gain secured by applying my invention.

I do not-of course intend to limit myself to the specific manner and means described of artificial cooling, nor to the particular forms and arrangements of the circuits shown. By taking advantage of the facts above pointed out and of the means described I have found it possible to secure a rise of electrical pressure in an excited circuit very many times greater than has heretofore been obtainable, and this result makes it practicable, among other things, to greatly extend the distance of transmission of signals and to exclude much more effectively interference with the same than has been possible heretofore.

1. The combination with a circuit adapted to vibrate freely, of means for artificially cooling the same to a low temperature, as herein set forth.

2. In an apparatus for transmitting or receiving electrical impulses or oscillations, the combination with a primary and a secondary circuit, adapted to vibrate freely in response to the impressed oscillations, of means for artificially cooling the same to a low temperature, as herein set forth.

3. In a system for the transmission of electrical energy, a circuit upon which electrical oscillations are impressed, and which is adapted to vibrate freely, in combination with a receptacle containing an artificial refrigerant in which said circuit is immersed, as herein set forth.

4. The means of increasing the intensity of the electrical impulses or oscillations impressed upon a freely-vibrating circuit, consisting of an artificial refrigerant combined with and applied to such circuit and adapted to maintain the same at a low temperature.

5. The means of intensifying and prolonging the electrical oscillations produced in a freely-vibrating circuit, consisting of an artificial refrigerant applied to such circuit and adapted to maintain the same at a uniform low temperature.

6. In a system for the transmission of energy, a series of transmitting and receiving circuits adapted to vibrate freely, in combination with means for artificially maintaining the same at a low temperature, as set forth.