Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla (56 page)

November 16, 1920

Dear Mr. Tesla,

I regret that under the present circumstances we cannot proceed further with any developments of your activities.
⁵⁸

A few months later, Westinghouse requested that Tesla “speak to our ‘invisible audience’ some Thursday night in the near future [over our…] radiotelephone broadcasting station.”
⁵⁹

November 30, 1921

Gentleman,

Twenty-one years ago I promised a friend, the late J. Pierpont Morgan, that my world-system, then under construction…would enable the voice of a telephone subscriber to be transmitted to any point of the globe…

I prefer to wait until my project is completed before addressing an invisible audience and beg you to excuse me.

Very truly yours,
N. Tesla
⁶⁰

I come from a very wiry and long-lived race. Some of my ancestors have been centenarians, and one of them lived 129 years. I am determined to keep up the record and please myself with prospects of great promise. Then again, nature has given me a vivid imagination…

N
IKOLA
T
ESLA
¹

T
esla’s lifework was his World Telegraphy Center. Partially materialized on the physical plane as Wardenclyffe, this was the inventor’s Holy Grail, the key to anointment. In 1917 the project was demolished, and in that sense, so was the inventor. Capable of recognizing the absurdities of life and drawing from transcendent energies, the mystic sought regeneration by consummating his grand plan in fantasy form and by seeking a new philosopher’s stone.

One year earlier, when Tesla’s project was at its bleakest, he had formed an alliance with one of his most ardent admirers, Hugo Gernsback, editor of
Electrical Experimenter.
Gernsback had first heard about Tesla when he was a child growing up in Luxembourg in the late 1890s. It was at this time that the ten-year-old came across the fantastic picture of the emblazoned electrician sending hundreds of thousands of volts through his body and the declaration in the accompanying article that he was the grandest wizard of the age. Considered by most futurologists to be the “founder and father of science fiction,” Gernsback studied electronics at Bingen Technicum in Europe, before immigrating to America, at the age of nineteen, in 1903.
²

With his mind totally captivated by the fantastic union of science and fantasy, the exuberant youth wrote a spectacular tale which took place in the year 2660 called
RALPH 124C41 +,
which he serialized in his new magazine
Modern Electronics.
Simultaneously, he also opened up Hugo
Gernsback’s Electro Importing Company, an all-purpose electronics shop located under the “el” at Fulton Street. There the new breed of amateur ham operators could buy whatever they wanted and browse through “the biggest bunch of junk you ever saw.”
³

Gernsback’s first meeting with Tesla was in 1908, when he stopped at the inventor’s lab to view the new turbine.
⁴

Gernsback wrote, “The door opens, and out steps a tall figure—over six feet high—gaunt but erect. It approaches slowly, stately. You become conscious at once that you are face to face with a personality of a high order. Nikola Tesla advances and shakes your hand with a powerful grip, surprising for a man over sixty. A winning smile from piercing light bluegray eyes, set in extraordinarily deep sockets, fascinates you and makes you feel at once at home.

“You are guided into an office immaculate in its orderliness. Not a speck of dust is to be seen. No papers litter the desk, everything just so. It reflects the man himself, immaculate in attire, orderly and precise in his every movement. Drest [
sic
] in a dark frock coat, he is entirely devoid of all jewelry. No ring, stickpin or even watch-chain can be seen.”
⁵

In 1916 the inventor edited a consequential article for Gernsback on the magnifying transmitter. The inventor also promised to think more seriously about putting his life story down on paper; in fact, he wrote a short first draft for
Scientific American
which he embellished for the Edison Medal acceptance speech.
⁶

By this time, Gernsback had also secured the talents of the gifted illustrator Frank R. Paul. Destined to be the most influential science-fiction artist of the twentieth century, Paul was able to “render the possible development of any invention [from]…a raw idea into a picture fantasy.” With a penchant for drawing futuristic scenarios such as Goliath-sized insects, spaceships orbiting planets, and a variety of humanoidian mad scientists conquering galactic empires, Paul advanced to become the premier cover artist for
Electrical Experimenter,
and later
Amazing Stories
and
Science Wonder Stories.
⁷
He was assigned the role of completing Tesla’s tower in picture form. The drawing, replete with fully functioning Wardenclyffe transmitters and Tesla wingless airfoils beaming down death rays to incoming ships, not only became a fantastic cover for
Electrical Experimenter;
it also became the centerpiece of the wizard’s new letterhead.

As alchemist, Tesla transformed the ruins of his station into a fantastic Gernsbackian World Telegraphy Center, as he also transformed himself, leaving New York City to begin anew with his next major creation.

Before he left, in June 1917, the inventor wrote Jack Morgan, hoping, optimistically, because of new developments, to pay off his debt to the financier “in about four months…My big ship is still to come in, but I have
now a marvelous opportunity having perfected an invention which will astound the whole world.” Cryptically, Tesla said that the invention would “afford an effective means for meeting the menace of the submarine.” Whether he was talking about a long-range radar system, a remote-controlled torpedo, or some other invention is uncertain.
⁸

The following month, Tesla moved to Chicago, and he stayed there through November 1918, working with Pyle National on the perfection of his turbines. Here, during the day, with the slate clean, the gangly mechanic could continue to battle the demons by plunging himself into a brand-new endeavor. At night, as creative author, the cognoscente sketched out the first draft of his expanded autobiography.

Most of the time, he drew from his own capital for fear of causing difficulties with the new partners.
⁹
He knew he would eventually receive compensation because the Chicago company had signed an agreement promising “cash payments and guarantees” with the expiration of their option, but carrying costs were becoming a problem.
¹⁰

To handle expenses in the interim, the inventor requested that Scherff step up the pressure on receiving royalties from the various wireless companies. His greatest source of income was probably the Waltham Watch Company, which was now in the active stage of marketing his speedometer. Even though the war was still going on, the inventor expected to receive compensation from Telefunken “after the hostilities cease,” even though he would have to “apply to the War Trade Board under the Trading with the Enemy act for a license to receive payment.”
¹¹

Progress on the turbines was hampered by numerous obstacles. Nevertheless, the inventor was delighted with the “extraordinarily efficient personnel” and overall organization of the Chicago firm. As the disks could rotate at speeds ranging from 10,000 to 35,000 rpm, the centrifugal force tended to elongate them. Thus, they were subject to fatigue and ran the risk of cracking after performing for long periods of time. Perceived by skeptical engineers as fatal flaws, Tesla endeavored to hammer home the point that stress was a factor in all engines.
¹²
Thus, much of the time in Chicago was spent experimenting with different alloys and inventing means for instantaneously regulating orthorotational speed and centrifugal pressure to minimize the stress factor. “For instance, suppose that the steam pressure of the locomotive would vary from say 50 to 200 lbs, no matter how rapidly, this would not have the slightest effect on the…performance of the turbine.”
¹³

In January 1918, the U.S. Machine Manufacturing Company inquired about placing one of Tesla’s turbines inside an airplane, and a few months later, the Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company also expressed interest. Tesla was writing Scherff, expecting the invention to yield $25 million
per year. However, there was still the difficulty of perfecting it, and Tesla was still not free of the numerous other problems of his life, such as the past debts and the continuing quagmire of litigation. During the summer, the inventor twisted his back and was laid up for several weeks.
¹⁴

During Tesla’s time in Chicago, he calculated his operating expenses at $17,600, with revenues of $12,500. Pyle National tried to get out of their debt by sending a check for $1,500, but Tesla returned the token payment and threatened suit. Meanwhile, back at home, the sheriff took possession of the Woolworth office, so Tesla had to wrestle some capital from Pyle National to release his company. In New York, George Scherff continued to handle all of the details.

Concerning his relationship with the government (as stated in chapter 41), most of Tesla’s wireless patents had expired, and his 1914 patent was complicated by its clash with the Marconi claim. However, he was negotiating with the government on an engine for a plane, writing to the Bureau of Steam Engineering at this time.
¹⁵
In litigation, Tesla won a few thousand dollars from Lowenstein, lost a $67,000 case against a Mr. DeLaVergne, in part, because he refused to travel back to New York to testify, and had to pay out $1,600 to A. M. Foster, for nonpayment of services rendered.
¹⁶

Before returning to Manhattan for the last months of 1918, the inventor traveled to Milwaukee to visit the Allis Chalmers people. There he was met by the astute but pedantic head engineer Hans Dahlstrand. After providing various articles and records from his work at the Edison station and Pyle National, a contract was drawn up for Tesla to return to Milwaukee and develop the engine with Dahlstrand. Skeptical from the start, the learned head engineer reluctantly agreed to defer to Tesla’s wishes and begin a preparatory investigation of the turbine before he arrived.

Throughout the period 1917-1926, the inventor spent most of his time outside New York City. In the years 1917-1918, he was in Chicago with Pyle National; in 1919-22 he was in Milwaukee with Allis Chalmers; for the last month of 1922 he was in Boston with the Waltham Watch Company; and in the years 1925-26 he was in Philadelphia working on the gasoline turbine at Budd Manufacturing Company.
¹⁷

Tesla also sold a motor which was used in motion-picture equipment to Wisconsin Electric in 1918 and a valvular conduit, or “unidirectional fluid flow tube,” to an unspecified oil company.
¹⁸
This last invention, which can also be called a fluid diode, could not only be used to pump oil from the ground but also be attached to the bladeless turbine to turn it into a combustion engine. According to Tesla expert Leland Anderson, this invention “is the only valving patent without moving parts. It has been used in attempts to develop micro-miniature radiation hardened logic circuits and simple fluid computers.”
¹⁹

Waltham Speedometers & Automobile Clocks

Every progressive automobile manufacturer is adding improvements to his car. This is why the only Air-Friction Speedometer in the world, invented by Nikola Tesla, perfected and developed by Waltham…has won the unqualified approval of the world’s great automotive engineers. You will find this…instrument upon such cars as the Cunningham, Lafayette, Leach-Biltwell, Lincoln, Packard, Pierce-Arrow, Renault, Rolls-Royce, Stevens-Duryea, Wills-Sainte Claire and others.

The Speedometer of Instantaneous Accuracy
²⁰

The inventor arrived at the Copley Plaza in Boston to negotiate with Mr. May, the manager of the factory, the advance and royalty schedule.
²¹
Concerning revenues, Tesla received $5,000 from Waltham, assigning them three of his patents in 1922 for a speedometer and tachometer. This agreement included royalties which he received until at least 1929. Pyle National eventually paid him $15,000, and maybe $30,000 in 1925; from Budd National, he received $30,000 for the turbines, and probably a similar amount from Allis Chalmers, from whom he was expecting profits on the order of a quarter of a million dollars per year.
²²
George Scherff received 5 percent from most of these contracts.

Tesla arrived back home at the tail end of 1918 in time for Christmas dinner with the Johnsons. He stayed for a brief time at the Waldorf and then moved to the Hotel St. Regis, where he lived off and on for the next few years. The great influenza epidemic was just in its beginning stages, and Katharine was one of the first to display signs of its ravages. In the next year, over a billion people were infected and 20 million died world-wide. She was lucky to survive. Her health deteriorated throughout the year, and by the following Christmas she experienced episodes during which she lost consciousness three times within a single day.
²³
Perhaps heightened by the severity of the situation and with new income from Waltham, Tesla paid Robert checks totaling at least $1,500 during this period.

Throughout 1919, Tesla’s autobiography appeared in serialized form in Gernsback’s
Electrical Experimenter.
Paired with photographs and a series of spectacular Frank Paul drawings, the story began as an unusual tale of a wizard-child growing up in another era in a faraway land. The account of the early years of Tesla’s life oozed charm and wit, with its numerous Mark Twainian depictions of amusing anecdotes, harrowing experiences, life with his inventive mother, preacher father, prodigal brother, and three doting sisters. Digging deep into his past, Tesla explored the tragedy of his brother’s death, how it impacted his career decision, the traumatic move away from the idyllic farm to the clutter of Gospić, his college years, engineering training in Europe before coming to America, and his early
meetings with Edison, Westinghouse, and members of the Royal Society of London. Also included was an uncommon description of his peculiar powers of eidetic imagery, out-of-body experiences, childhood illnesses, phobias, and idiosyncrasies. In month after month of fascinating reading, the pundit detailed the development of his ideas, his physical breakdown and “opening up of the third eye” experience and accompanying revelation which led to the development of the rotating magnetic field, his creation of the telautomaton, work in Colorado Springs, and the grand Wardenclyffe world-wireless design.

This liaison with Gernsback supplied the inventor with a steady income and helped
Electrical Experimenter
boost its circulation to around 100,000. Simultaneously,
My Inventions
also provided the world with a notable autobiographical testimony of one of the most singular and controversial personalities of the age.