Teleforce
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Teleforce was Nikola Tesla's charged particle beam projector, first mentioned publicly in the New York Sun and New York Times on July 11, 1934.[1]
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[edit] Introduction
The term teleforce refers to Nikola Tesla's macroscopic charged particle beam projector. The device was based upon a large Van de Graaff generator of unique design and a special type of open-ended vacuum tube. It comprised a system for the acceleration of minute tungsten or mercury particles to a velocity of about 48 times the speed of sound. The projectiles were propelled out of the tube by electrostatic repulsion.
From Tesla's words, written in a letter to J. P. Morgan, Jr., on November 29, 1934, it can be seen the device was intended for use in national defense.
I have made recent discoveries of inestimable value... The flying machine has completely demoralized the world, so much that in some cities, as London and Paris, people are in mortal fear from aerial bombing. The new means I have perfected afford absolute protection against this and other forms of attack. ... These new discoveries, which I have carried out experimentally on a limited scale, have created a profound impression. One of the most pressing problems seems to be the protection of London and I am writing to some influential friends in England hoping that my plan will be adopted without delay. The Russians are very anxious to render their borders safe against Japanese invasion and I have made them a proposal which is being seriously considered.
[edit] Critical inventions
According to Tesla production of the particle beam is dependent upon four inventions of the following nature:
- A method and apparatus for producing rays and other manifestations of energy in free air, eliminating the high vacuum necessary at present for the production of such rays and beams. This is accomplished with a novel form of high vacuum tube, one end of which is open to the atmosphere. The projectiles are accelerated in a vacuum and then conducted into the atmosphere through a valvular conduit.[2]
- A method and process for producing very great electrical force in the range of 60,000,000 volts to propel the particles to their objective. Tesla specified that this could be done with a large electrostatic generator on a new principle and of very great power, in many respects similar to a Van de Graaff generator. In place of a charge-carrying belt it employs a circulating stream of desiccated air that is propelled through a hermetically sealed ductwork by a Tesla disc blower. A Wardenclyffe type apparatus could also be used for this purpose.
- A method for amplifying this process in the second invention. The exterior of the high potential terminal is equipped with numerous bulbs of some insulating material each containing, “an electrode of thin metal sheet suitably rounded” and “exhausted to the highest vacuum obtainable.”
- A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. It appears this would be applied to the projector or gun element of the system in the form of “provisions for imparting to a minute particle an extremely high charge.” While the specific details about this aspect of the design are not readily apparent, it seems that strict attention to the fulfillment of requirements 1, 2 and 3 is critical to success. In Tesla’s words, “by the application of my discoveries it is possible to increase the force of repulsion more than a million times and what was heretofore impossible is rendered easy of accomplishment.” [3], [4]
The tube would project a single row of highly charged particles and there would be no dispersion, even at great distance. Because the cross section of the charge carriers could be reduced to almost microscopic dimensions and since the charged particles would self-focus via "gas focusing," an immense concentration of energy, practically irrespective of distance, could be attained. In 1940 Tesla estimated that each station would cost no more than $2,000,000 and could have been constructed in a few months. [5]
[edit] References
- ^ "Beam to Kill Army at 200 Miles, Tesla's Claim On 78th Birthday". New York Herald Tribune. July 11, 1934. http://www.tesla-coil-builder.com/Articles/jul_11_1934b.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
- ^ "United States Patent Office Nikola Tesla,of New York, N.Y. VALVULAR CONDUIT Specification of Letters Patent Patented Feb. 3, 1920 Numbered 1.329.559 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Patent No. 1,329,559
- ^ Tesla, Nikola, “New Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-Dispersive Energy Through Natural Media.”
- ^ Nikola Tesla's Teleforce & Telegeodynamics Proposals Leland Anderson and Gary Peterson, editors, Twenty First Century Books, 1998.
- ^ "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times. September 22, 1940. http://uforeview.tripod.com/tesladeathray2.html. Retrieved 2007-07-21. "Nikola Tesla, one of the truly great inventors who celebrated his eighty-fourth birthday on July 10, tells the writer that he stands ready to divulge to the United States government the secret of his 'teleforce,' of which he said, 'airplane motors would be melted at a distance of 250 miles, so that an invisible 'Chinese Wall of Defense' would be built around the country against any enemy attack by an enemy air force, no matter how large.'"
This article or an earlier version based on text from 21st Century Books' Tesla FAQ, submitted to this encyclopedia by the original author.
[edit] External links
- On Röntgen Rays Electrical Review, New York, March 11, 1896. (DOC format)
- Possibilities of Electro-Static Generators Scientific American, March, 1934. (DOC format)
- TESLA, AT 78, BARES NEW 'DEATH-BEAM' The New York Times, July 11, 1934
- Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II by John J. O'Neill
- THE NEW ART OF PROJECTING CONCENTRATED NON-DISPERSIVE ENERGY THROUGH NATURAL MEDIA -- System of Particle Acceleration for Use in National Defense
