Tesla: Master of Lightning Page #3

Westinghouse got the job.

In retaliation, GE refused to sell

Westinghouse

any of their Edison light bulbs.

And they got some judge to say that

Westinghouse couldn't use any one-piece

lamps of any description at the Fair.

Westinghouse frantically devised

a two-piece stopper lamp by Fair time

and saved the day.

Now Tesla had a chance

to make history in Chicago.

His large AC generators would

supply all of the Fair's electricity

and prove that his system

would work on a large scale.

On May 1st, 1893 100,000 eager

spectators filed into the fairgrounds,

awed by the gleaming neo-classical

architecture.

Night fell, President Grover

Cleveland pressed a button

and the fairgrounds exploded

with brilliant tube lighting

and multicolor searchlights

the most incredible display of

lighting the world had ever seen.

In the great hall of electricity, the

public could see that

the Tesla-Westinghouse

system made it all possible.

To overcome the impression

that AC was dangerous,

Tesla put on remarkable

demonstrations.

He created a device called

the Egg of Columbus

to show the rotating magnetic

field created by his AC motor.

In his room, he had

cork-soled shoes on and

a tuxedo and white tie

and a top hat.

And he would put his hand

on a terminal which would flash

electricity through his body

creating a great shower

as his whole body was

encompassed in flame.

And people were quite impressed

by this, to say the least.

The Chicago exposition left an indelible

impression on the American imagination.

This was the gleaming new city of

the future,

and it was powered by

the inventions of Nikola Tesla.

Since childhood, Tesla had dreamed

of harnessing the power of

the great natural wonder

called Niagara Falls.

The famous British physicist

Lord Kelvin

was now head of an

international commission

to find a way to use the falls' power.

He had sent a cable to all the other

members of this commission

and it said:
Trust you avoid the gigantic

mistake of alternating current.

But all this dramatically changed

when Lord Kelvin attended

the Chicago exposition

and saw the AC system in operation.

A contract was immediately

awarded to Westinghouse Electric

to power the mighty cataract with AC.

The technical challenge was daunting.

The Niagara plan called for three

5,000-horsepower alternators,

the largest generators ever made.

Tesla and Westinghouse engineers

had heated disagreements about

the operating frequency.

Even when the system was finally

installed,

Tesla was the only person

who was certain it would operate.

The technical details have been

completely worked out.

All that now remains is for

the switch to be thrown.

In 1896 the system went online

and the Electrical Age began.

The waters of the upper Niagara

turned enormous water turbines

connected by shafts to the

massive 5,000-horsepower generators.

The current from the generators

was stepped up with transformers

to 22,000 volts

and sent out over long-distance lines

then stepped back down to

light municipalities

and power motors of Tesla's design.

The Niagara Falls Gazette

proclaimed:

This morning the streetcars of

this city are moving by falls power.

Hereafter the falls must

work to earn their living.

Imagine my surprise when,

30 years later,

I saw my boyhood

plan carried out at Niagara

and wondered at the unfathomable

mystery of the mind.

Within a few years

the number of generators at

Niagara was increased to 10.

By the turn of the century,

the power lines stretched

360 miles to New York City.

The war of the currents was

over and Tesla was the winner.

By the time Tesla effectively

arrives on the scene with his motor,

Edison is out of the business.

He's basically written

out of his own company.

This was something Edison

would not soon forget.

In spite of the success of AC,

Westinghouse had over-extended

his company's resources

leading to severe

financial difficulties.

In order to save the company,

Tesla said that he tore up his

royalty contract for $2.50

per horsepower generated.

Today this agreement would be

worth trillions.

Had the inventor been

tricked again?

This is something we've never

found any record of in the

Westinghouse annals.

We do have something which is a

Memorandum of Agreement about that,

but it was never signed.

But Tesla was ready to move on.

I had already perceived enough

to get the idea

that energy could be transmitted

and received

without connecting wires in between.

He was convinced his next invention

would make him a millionaire once more.

My services with Westinghouse

being no longer essential

I resumed experimental work

in a laboratory on Grand Street

where I began immediately the

design of high-frequency machines.

Following the success of Niagara, Tesla

was at the height of social acclaim.

Everyone wanted to know more

of this mysterious foreigner

who was transforming the world

with his electrical inventions.

So far as personal appearance goes,

no one can look upon him

without feeling his force.

His cheekbones are high and

prominent, the mark of the Slav.

His eyes are blue, deeply set,

and they burn like balls of fire.

Franklin Chester, The Citizen

Why was he so well known and so

popular? It's because

the technological advance that he

made were so directly related to the

relief of the drudgery that people

had to endure in their work lives.

They could see what he did

helped them personally.

Every evening Tesla showed

up at Delmonico's,

the most expensive restaurant in town,

to be shown to his special table.

He is fanatical about his dress,

usually sporting a fine waistcoat

white leather gloves and

a derby hat on his head.

He is meticulous about his health

and drinks a glass of whisky a day

saying it will increases his life

expectancy to 150 years of age.

Tesla hobnobbed with the

leading politicians,

millionaires and celebrities of the era.

This was the best way for

independent inventors to find

support for their projects.

His friends were the New York elite:

John Jacob Astor

William K. Vanderbilt

and the writer Mark Twain.

I have just seen the drawings and

description of an electrical machine

lately patented by Mr. Tesla

which will revolutionize the whole

electric business of the world.

One of Tesla's closest friends

was Robert Underwood Johnson

editor of the prestigious

Century Magazine.

Johnson's wife was deeply

in love with Tesla.

My dear Niki, do leave aside

the millionaires and Fifth Avenue

for some simple pleasures.

From one distinguished only by

a great weakness, Katharine Johnson.

In fact, the world-famous inventor was

also New York's most intriguing bachelor.

The fact that he never married, I think,

had almost nothing to do with his

interest in women. It appeared

that he was always very interested

and was attractive to women.

Many women sought his attention

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