So the work continued, but there were also clashes with Edison, also at the trials. Also, due to Edison's merit, a new type of execution was introduced in the electric chair, using alternating current. Large-scale executions of animals on alternating current, including Topsy the elephant, were also carried out to demonstrate the dangers of alternating and direct current safety. Westinghouse was against all these measures, he even hired a lawyer for Kemler, the first convict and subsequently executed in the electric chair. But even so, the work of victory followed victory and alternating current spread more and more, entering the life of modern cities.
Westinghouse also invited the inventor to become a consultant at the plants in Pittsburgh, where industrial designs of alternating current machines were being developed. The work did not bring satisfaction to the inventor, preventing the emergence of new ideas. Despite Westinghouse's persuasions, a year later Tesla returned to his laboratory in New York. Shortly after returning from Pittsburgh, Nikola Tesla traveled to Europe, where he visited the Paris World's Fair in 1889 and visited his mother and sister Maritza.
But one day, Westinghouse investors reminded him of the need to pay a dollar for each horsepower issued by generators, but the number of generators increased so much that it was necessary to give Tesla $ 12 million and although this would make him one of the richest people in the states, George would be ruined, so Nikola Tesla broke the contract without any additional conditions. So time passed and finally, in the end, Edison himself began to produce alternators. It was a victory.
In 1888-1895, Tesla was engaged in research of high-frequency magnetic fields. These years were the most fruitful: he received many patents for inventions. The leadership of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers invited Tesla to give a lecture about his work. On May 20, 1892, he spoke to the outstanding electrical engineers of that time and was a great success. There he demonstrated a large number of his experiments, he lit light bulbs by introducing them into an alternating electromagnetic field. He demonstrated how to transmit electricity without wires, controlled lightning and with the help of his hands passed a voltage of millions of volts through his body. It was a huge success, he was given an ovation and for the first time called a man from the future.
After that lecture, Tesla was shown the chair of Faraday himself, offering to take it and noting that after his death no one was worthy of such an honor, and then treated to whiskey from his cherished bottle. On March 13, 1895, a fire broke out in the Fifth Avenue laboratory. The building burned to the ground, destroying the inventor's latest achievements: a mechanical oscillator, a test stand for new lamps for electric lighting, a mock-up of a device for wireless transmission of messages over long distances and an installation for studying the nature of electricity. Tesla himself said that he could reconstruct all his discoveries from memory.
Financial assistance to the inventor was provided by the Niagara Falls Company. Thanks to Edward Adams, Tesla had $100,000 to equip a new laboratory. Already in the fall, the research resumed at a new address: 46 Houston Street. At the end of 1896, Tesla achieved the transmission of a radio signal over a distance of 30 miles (48 km).
It was there that a mechanical oscillator using selective resonance was created, representing a kind of analogue of a swing, if you give a push at the right moment, you can rock the installation to large amplitudes without putting much effort. It was then that an artificial earthquake was caused, as a result of one of the experiments that could destroy the Brooklyn Bridge in a few minutes. Selective resonance is the action of constant uniform vibrations that can destroy any object of choice. This earthquake was called the New York earthquake of 1898.
It is also worth noting the great predilection of Nikola Tesla himself for pigeons. But also the inventor himself organized small celebrations, where the notable people of that time came, Kipling, who loved to read poetry, Mark Twain made them laugh with his signature stories, and Dvorzek played the piano, and then Tesla brought them to his laboratory, showing wonderful experiments, telling about the future of science. It was an unforgettable evening. Nikola met many of them because of contact with Robert Johnson, the editor-in-chief of Century Magazine, with whom they met on the basis of love for poetry, and once they also translated and published a collection of poems by Serbian poets. They were also impressed by one of them Ioan Zmai.
One of Tesla s favorite poems was:
Moreover, the news is known today that it was Tesla who dissuaded Johnson from boarding the train that was in an accident. For example, he also persuaded his friend and patron, the owner of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel chain, Colonel John Jacob Astaire, not to sail on the Titanic, but, unfortunately, he did not listen to him.
Nikola Tesla in a laboratory in Colorado Springs. Early 1900s (photo obtained by double exposure)
According to Tesla's assumption, standing waves from Colorado Springs reached the greatest intensity near Amsterdam Island in the Indian Ocean. On May 18, 1899, at the invitation of a local electric company, Tesla moved to the resort town of Colorado Springs, where he stayed for almost a year, and about $ 30,000 was allocated as a grant from Colonel Astaire for his research. He stayed at the Alta Vista Hotel, where he placed his office.
On June 2, 1899, Tesla completed the construction of a wooden hangar measuring approximately 50 by 60 feet (15 by 18 meters), about 18 feet high (5.4 meters), with two windows and a large door. At the end of July, Tesla was already conducting various experiments in complete secrecy, not allowing anyone but his assistants into his laboratory. He conducted experiments mainly at night due to the availability of electrical energy, which he received from the city electric company.
While working in his laboratory, Tesla developed the design of a large high-frequency emitter with three oscillatory circuits, the potential of which reached 10 million volts, tested various variants of receiving devices with one or two coherers with special offset excitation circuits, measured electromagnetic radiation of electric discharges in nature, developed measuring techniques in radio engineering, thought out modulator devices, antennas with parallel power supply, etc. He also outlined his theory of the formation of ball lightning and could create them artificially.
Nikola Tesla recorded descriptions of scientific research and observations in the laboratory in Colorado Springs in a diary, which was later published under the title "Colorado Springs Notes, 1899-1900". Judging by the entries in his diary, Tesla devoted most of his time (about 56%) to the transmitting device, in particular to the generator of high-frequency currents of high power, then to receivers of weak signals (about 21%), measuring the capacity of a vertical single-pole antenna (about 16%), and various other scientific research and research (about 6%).
There were also rumors about the recording "Abandon hope, everyone who enters here", at the entrance to the laboratory. In the middle of the laboratory, a transformer was created, one end of which was grounded, and the second was brought to a great height. This device was capable of accumulating the energy of lightning discharges and giving out another several million volts and a frequency of 150,000 Hz, but of course I wanted more. The goal was to transmit energy over long distances using the Earth as a transmitter. Not far from the laboratory, he stuck several hundred light bulbs into the Ground and began to expect a thunderstorm, and as soon as lightning struck the ball at the top of the mast, the laboratory came to life. The transformer collected the energy of the lightning discharge and threw it into the atmosphere with triple force! These were 40-meter man-made lightning bolts! The flow of energy covered the city, everything was saturated with electricity, the experiment was fully justified, it became possible to transmit energy wirelessly through the ground, 250 meters from the tower, two hundred light bulbs lit up at once. But, unfortunately, the generator of the local power plant completely burned down. And after completing the entire research program, he put everything on paper, after which Robert Johnson published an article in his own journal.