NEW POWER SOURCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21639, 3 November 1933, Page 9

NEW POWER SOURCE

i USE OF COSMIC ENERGY ; ELIMINATION OF FUELS NEW YORK. Nov. 1 Dr. Nikola Tesla, well-known physicist and electrical inventor, in a signed j statement to-day, announced the disf coverv of a principle by which power for driving the machinery of the world may bo derived from the cosmic energy which operates the universe. The principle, which taps the source of power, Dr. Tesla described as "everywhere present in unlimited quantities." He said it may be transmitted by wire or wireless from a central plant in any j part of the globe. | The new power will eliminate the need of coal, oil, gas or any other common ! fuels, and will soon bo ready for use. Although iu its present form it would I require central plants employing vast • machinery, Dr. Tesla expressed the hope | of working out a plan lor its use by ! individuals. ! Dr. Nikola Tesla was born at Smiljan, | Serbia, in 1807, and educated at the elementary school at Gospic and the ! higher school at Karlstadt. Ho also at- ' tended special courses in mathematics, i physics and mechanics at Graz and a j course of philosophy at the University of l'rague. His lather was a priest of the Greek Church, while his mother was a woman of great ingenuity, several improvements m rural household utensils and industrial implements being due to her gift for invention. After serving in the Austrian Telegraph Engineering Department tor a time, Tesla went to Paris to assist in conducting experiments in electric lighting, then in its infancy. PI is ideas proved to bo far in advance of those of the chief electricians of the day, but he felt that thus was not properlv recognised. In 1882, hearing that America was the land where genius and invention were adequately rewarded, Josla migrated there, and was promptly made a member of Fdison's stall. Alter working brilliantly for some time in the Kdison laboratories, he left in 1880 and assisted a company to develop the arelamp lighting system, of which he was the inventor. Hut his mind was chiefh occupied with the discovery of the rotating field principle for alternating current work and its application in motors. At that time (1888) the alternating current had no recognised use, and few engineers knew anything about it. Tesla's work made its application almost universal. In 1891 he evolved the famous Tesla coil or transformer by means of which a rapidalternating oscillators current can be transmitted over long distances without danger. Many other important advances iu electrical development stand to his credit, including radio work and the transmission of power from Niagara Falls. In the later years of his life he has devoted much time to experimenting with the wireless transmission of power, and in 1931 it was declared that be believed ho had .solved the problem.