Great Historical Inventions of Tesla Essay Example
Great Historical Inventions of Tesla Essay Example

Great Historical Inventions of Tesla Essay Example

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  • Pages: 9 (2216 words)
  • Published: April 21, 2022
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Nikola Tesla was an American inventor born in Smiljan, Croatia on 10th of July 1856. His father was a priest from a Christian Orthodox while his mother was who had not attended any formal education, was intelligent. As a student in Australian Graz Polytechnic and later the University of Prague, Tesla wanted to major in mathematics and physics, but later became very interested with electricity (Tesla, “My Inventions”, 16). After completing his studies, Tesla started exercising his career in one of the telephone companies in Budapest working as an electrical engineer.

At that time, he came to discover the rotating magnetic field using the principle of an induction motor. It was Tesla had gained the much-needed experience in telephony and electrical engineering that he migrated to the United States to work for Thomas Edison back in the year 1884. It was

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while working there that Edison and Tesla began battling in their discovery of electric current. An electrical engineer, physicist, mechanical engineer and a futurist, Tesla is well known for his immense contribution to the design and implementation of the modern alternating current (AC). Even though he lived an eccentric life that caused him to become a social recluse, his inventions are of much interest as they brought change to the entire world by giving people electricity, created room for more discoveries and caused people to live much decent life than back then.

The first major discovery associated with Tesla is the rotating magnetic field, which allowed the use of the alternating current place of the direct current (Martin, 9). Tesla revealed the inefficiencies that were existing in Edison’s DC electrical powerhouses, which were built up within

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the seaboard of the Atlantic Ocean. He felt that the secret lay in the adoption of the AC currents , according to him energy was supposed to be cyclic. He thought of building generators that would transmit electrical energy throughout the distribution lines starting with one-way distribution and then multiple wave distribution leveraging on the power of polyphase principle. When supplied with direct current, Edison’s lamps appeared weak and highly inefficient.

His system had several disadvantages in that it could not be transmitted more than double miles away since it lacked the ability for high voltage step up which is necessary for long distance transmission of power. For this reason, it could not work without the amplification of the DC power station, which was stationed at intervals of two miles. One advantage with alternating currents is that it has the ability to change the direction of flow at intervals of nearly 60 times per second as opposed to the direct current flow that only flow in one single direction. Furthermore, the alternating current can step up to allow voltage variations thus minimizing the rate of power loss as current travels across longer distances. This was now the basis of modern electricity (Muller, 229).

After developing the polyphase alternating current systems consisting of motors, generators and transformers, Tesla held over 40 U.S. Patents on the system, which out of George Washington’s determination to supply America, with power, decided to buy. The bitter war of DC vs. AC ensued between Edison and Tesla since the former did not want to lose his DC Empire. Since AC was proved a more superior technology over DC and for the sake of

progress in both America and the entire world, Tesla-Westinghouse emerged victorious.

The second most outstanding discovery that changed people’s lives was the AC powered motor. According to McNichol (75), Tesla had thought of this idea and modeled in his mind, but implemented the solution in the year 1883. Tesla used the rotating magnetic field to move an armature around the motor. In this motor, the AC currents create auto-reversing magnetic poles without any need for mechanical support as opposed to the DC-powered motors that required mechanical support. This discovery opened new avenues for the invention of more functionally efficient motors that have gained wide usable even today. In May of the year 1888, Tesla made a presentation to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers where he described his motor types. One of them was intimated reluctance motor, another one was self-starting but with a wound rotor and the third one was a real synchronous motor (Tesla, 2-10). The three motors were part of the patents purchased by George Westinghouse.

The greatest advantage the AC motors had over the DC motors was their functional simplicity. While the AC motors are only designed with a single moving part, the DC motors require a commuter and several carbon brushes. The rotor acts as the single moving part in AC currents thus making them long lasting, quiet and low-cost. The carbon brushes on the DC motors make them wear out easily, hence requiring constant replacement repeated. Today, the three-phase induction motors are widely applicable in industrial drives due to their ruggedness, reliability and economical value. The single-phase induction motors are widely useful in lifting smaller loads such as household equipment (De

Almeida et al, 4).

In the year 1891, Tesla came up with a resonant transformer circuit, which was assigned the name Tesla coil. It was useful in producing high voltage, low-current electricity that oscillates with high frequency. Tesla came up with this discovery after experimenting with a number of differently coupled electric bulbs. His discovery was built on Heinrich Hertz’s earlier discoveries of the electromagnetic radiation (Sarkar, 268). Tesla thought of powering his setup with high-speed alternator he had developed while trying to improve the arc lighting system. He, however, realized that the high frequency current in Hertz’s Ruhmkorff coil caused the overheating of the iron core and melting of insulation designed between primary and secondary coil windings. In a way to find the solution to this problem, Tesla changed the model by placing an air gap in between the primary and secondary windings rather than using the insulating material.

He also found the need to include a capacitor between the alternator and the primary coil to avoid burning of the entire coil. In so doing, Tesla took the advantage of the resonance existing between the coil and the capacitor to produce a much higher frequency. Tesla coils have undergone various improvements where they are currently applicable even as leak detectors in higher vacuum systems and as arc weld igniters. They have gained wide usage in academic and entertainment displays. In the beginning of the 20th century, Tesla experimented with his coil in wireless power transmission. Tesla’s resonant inductive coupling mechanism has become a dominant concept in developing modern wireless sources of power where close range wireless transmission systems such as charging pads and cell phones are

developed (Lu et al, 1).

With his newly discovered coils, Tesla, the inventor, realized that when the coils are tuned to resonate at the same frequency, powerful radio signals could be transmitted and received. Because of this, Tesla was already inspired to transmit a 50 mile signal towards West Point from New York in the year 1895 (Hancock, 57). Unfortunately, a disaster struck the same year where Tesla’s work was destroyed by a building fire that engulfed his entire lab. Lucky enough, young Italian scientist by the name Guglielmo Marconi was also working hard to construct a device that would bring forth wireless telegraphy. He had already taken out his first patent in the year 1896. Since his device contained only a double-circuit system, critics claimed that it could not transmit current at any further distance. He later used the Tesla Oscillator to come up with a long distance demonstration of signal transmission across the England Channel. In 1897, Tesla filed his basic patent in relation to radio transmission, which was granted later in the year 1900.

When Marconi applied for his first patent in America, it was rejected due to Tesla’s priority as well as the associated inventors. As Tesla would learn later, no patent is entirely safe. His confidence was shattered by the surprising reversal of the patent by the US Patent Office in honor of Marconi in the year 1904. There is no valid explanation for this unexpected turn of events, although most suggestively, Marconi’s better financial status trumped Tesla and thus any form of litigation favored Marconi. Based on the historical perspective underlying this discovery, it is clear that Tesla contributed greatly to

the invention of the radio signals. Today, the radio waves are useful in both fixed and mobile communication. Reader, broadcasting, satellites, other navigation systems as well as computer networks rely on radio signals for communication (Wen, 1).

In line with electricity production, Nikola Tesla invented a Bladeless turbine in the year 1913. This turbine uses a series of rotating discs that can convert fluid flowing energy to mechanical rotation. A Tesla turbine consists of adjacent discs with nozzles that permit passage of gas or liquid far towards the disc edges. Tesla later made some improvements in the year 1922 adding some two heavier endplates tapering at the periphery to reduce the maximum effect of centrifugal stress (Armstrong, 3-5). The main reasons for the invention were to provide mechanisms for aircraft propulsion and driving geothermal power machines. His turbine relied on steam, which acted as the main propulsion fluid.

At that time, the turbine did not attract commercial usage since the then metallurgical technology did not allow the production of sufficiently rigid disks that would prevent warping when subjected to higher rates of rotation. Today, Tesla Turbines have necessitated many amateur experiments that use steam and compressed air as the main power source. The concept of the warping discs was partially solved by use of alternative materials such as the carbon fiber. When used as a multiple-disk for the blood pump centrifuge, Tesla Turbines yield promising results in the field of biomedical engineering.

Still again, Tesla played a role in the discovery of the X-rays. However, Wilhelm Roentgen has earned much credit as the sole discoverer since he was the first physicist to study all the discoveries in a

systematic manner. While researching on the electromagnetic and ionizing radiation, Nikola Tesla delved much into the entire gamut. Right from the Kirlian photography which is capable of documenting life forces towards the modern diagnostics, Tesla played a significant role (Cheney, 125). Just like many of his contributions, the intentioned of X-rays started from the general belief that any concept worth of learning from the universe is in the surrounding only that it exists in virtual form. The mind is therefore necessary in developing the real world devices that augment the innate perceptions of existence. In 1896, The Electrical Review published the X-rays made by a scientist in the name of Tesla having his own designed X-ray tubes. It was at the same time as when Roentgen had pronounced his own discovery of the X-rays. All this time, Tesla had never attempted to announce his priority and even worse, lost much of his discoveries in the building fire that rocked his lab at the New York warehouse.

In conclusion, Tesla’s inventions brought change to the entire world by giving people electricity, created room for more discoveries and caused people to live much decent life than back then. As discussed, some of the most outstanding inventions associated with Tesla include; the rotating magnetic field, which allowed the use of the alternating current place of the direct current; the AC powered motor preferred for its functional simplicity; the resonant transformer circuit, which was assigned the name Tesla coil; the radio signal, which is now credited to Guglielmo Marconi. Tesla also played a role in the invention of the Bladeless turbines initially intended to provide mechanisms for aircraft propulsion and

driving geothermal power machines; and finally the discovery of X-rays.

These discoveries have gone a long way to gain wide usage in different spheres of life, especially in the field of engineering and electrical. For instance, electricity production relies heavily on the power of Tesla’s rotating magnetic field, the AC powered mortar is useful in driving industrial machines as well as the household appliances such as fans, and the mechanisms underlying the functioning of the tesla coil are useful in developing the sources of wireless electricity. The radio waves are useful in both fixed and mobile communication. Reader, broadcasting, satellites, other navigation systems as well as computer networks also rely on radio signals for communication. When used as a multiple-disk for the blood pump centrifuge, Tesla Turbines yield promising results in the field of biomedical engineering. The X-ray discovery is highly useful in taking photographs of broken bones to aid in diagnosis.

Works Cited

  1. Martin, Thomas Commerford. The inventions, researches and writings of Nikola Tesla., 1894.
  2. Tesla, Nikola. "A new system of alternate current motors and transformers" American Institute of Electrical Engineers (1888)
  3. Tesla, Nikola. “My inventions. “ Nikola Tesla’s Autobiography. the Philovox, 1919.
  4. Muller, R. Physics and Technology for Future Presidents: An Introduction to the Essential Physics Every World Leader Needs to Know.
  5. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2010.
  6. McNichol, Tom. Ac/dc: The Savage Tale of the First Standards War. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass, 2013. Internet resource.
  7. Sarkar, Tapan K. History of Wireless. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley-Interscience, 2006. Internet resource.
  8. Lu, Xiao, et al. "Wireless Charging Technologies: Fundamentals, Standards, and Network Applications." (2015).
  9. Amateur Radio Today. Hancock, N.H: WGE Pub, 2002. Print.
  10. Cheney, Margaret. Tesla: man out

of time. Simon and Schuster, 2011.

  • Armstrong, James Hal. "An investigation of the performance of a modified Tesla turbine" (1952)
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