(No Model.)
2 Sheets-Sheet 1.
N. TESLA.
APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING ELECTRIC CURRENTS OF HIGH FREQUENCY AND POTENTIAL.
No. 568,176
Patented Sept. 22, 1896.
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(No Model.)
2 Sheets-Sheet 2;
N. TESLA.
APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING ELECTRIC CURRENTS OF HIGH FREQUENCY AND POTENTIAL.
No. 568,176.
Patented ept. 22, 1896.
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UNITED
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OFFICE.
l'ESLA, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.
APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING ELECTRIC CURRENTS OF HIGH FREQUENCY AND POTENTIAL. SPECIFICA.TION forming part of Letters Patent No. 568,176, dated September 22, 1896. Application filed April 22, 1896. Serial No, 588,534. (No model.)
To nU wlionv it mny concern: Beit known that I, NIKOLA TEsLA, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have in5 vented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for the Production of Electric Currents of High Freqnency and Potential, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the dra'wings accompany10 ing and forming a part of the same. The iuventionwhich forms the suhject of my present application is embodied iu an improvement on an electrical apparatus invented by me and described in prior I~etters IS Patent, notably in United States Patents No. 462,418, dated November 3, 1801, and No. 454,622, dated June 23, IS~l1. 'rhis apparatus W;1S devised for the purpose of conYel,ting and supplying elect,rical energy in a form 20 suited for the production of certain novel electrical phenomena which req uire curren ts of higher frequency and potential than can readily or even possibly be developed by genenttors of the ordinary types or by snch me25 chanica'! appliances a.s were theretofore known. The apparatus, as a whole, in volves means for utilizing the intermittent or oscillating discharge o(the accumulated electrical energy of a condenser or a circuit possess30 ing capacity in what may be designated the "working" circuit, or that which contains the translating devices or those which are oper. ated by such currents. The object of my present improvements is 35 to provide a simple, compact, and effective apparatus for prodncing these effects, but adapted more particularly for direct application to and use with existing circuits carrying direct currents, such as the ordinary mu40 nicipal incandescent-lighting circuits. The way in which I accomplish this, so as to meet the requirements of practical and economical operation under the conditions present, will be understood from a general description of 45 the apparatus which I have devised. In any given circuit, which for present purposes may be considered as conveying direct currents or those of substantially the character of direct or continuous currents and which for 50 general purposes of illustration may be assumed to be a branch or derived circuit across the mains from any ordinary source, I inter-
pose a device or devices in the nature of a choking-coil in order to give to the circuit a high self-induction. I also provide a circuit- 55 controller of any proper character that may be operated to make and break said circuit. Around the break or point of interruption I place a condenser or condensers to store the· energy of the discharge-current, and in a 10- 60 cal circuit and in series with such condenser I place the primary of a transformer, the secoudary of which t11ell becomes the source of the currents of high frequency. It will be apparent from a consideration of the condi- 65 tions involved that were the cendenser to be directly charged by the current from the source and then dischal'ged into the working circuit a very large capacity would ordinarily be required, but by the above arrangement 70 the cnrrent of high electromotive force which is induced at each break of the main circuit furnishes the proper current for charging the condenser, which may therefore be small and inexpensi yeo Moreover, it will be observed 75 that since the self-induction of the circuit through which the condenser discharges, as welL as the capacity of the condenser itself, may be given practically any desired value, the frequency of the discharge-current may 80 be adjusted at will. The object sought in this invention may be realized by specifica.lly different arrangements of apparatus, hutin the drawings hereto annexed I have ill nstrated forms which are 85 I typical of the best and most practicable means for carrying out the invention of which I am at present aware. Figure 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of the apparatus, and Fig. 2 a modification of 90 the same. Referring to Fig. 1, A designates any source of direct current. In any branch of the circuit from said source, such, for example, as would be formed by the conductors A" A" 95 from the mains A' and the conductors K K, are placed self-indnction or choking coils B B and a circuit - controller C. This latter may be an ordinary metallie disk or cylinder with teeth or separated segments D DEE, of 100 which one or more pairs, as E E, diametrically opposite, are integral or in electrical contact with the body of the cylinder, so that when the controller is in the position in which the
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568,176
two brushes F Ii' lJear upon two of said segments E E the circuit through the chokingcoils 13 will be closed. The segments D Dare insulated, and while shown in the (hawings 5 as of substantially the same length of arc as the segments E E this latter relation may lJe varied at will to regulate the periods of ehal'ging and discharging. The controller C is designed to be rotated 10 by any proper device, such, for example, as an electromagnetic motor, as shown in Fig.2, recei ving ClllTent either from the main source or elsewhel·e. Around the controller C, 01' in general in parallel 'therewith, is a condenser 15 H, and in series with the latter the primary K of a transformer, the secondary L of which constitutes the source of the CUlTents of high frequency which may be applied to many useful purposes, as for electric illumination, 20 the operation of Crooke's tnbes, or the product.ion of high vacua. . L' inc1icates\he circnit fl:0111 the secom1ary, ,yhich may be l'egarded as the working circuit. A more convenient aud simplified arrange25 ment of the apparatns is shown in Fig. 2. In this case the small motor G; which chivcs the controller, has its field-coils in c1eriY1ltion to the main circuit, and the controller C and condenser II are in parallel in the field-cir30 cuit between the two coils. In such case the field-coils lU take the place of the chokin'gcoils B. In this arrangement., and in fact generally, it. is preferable to uso two condensers 01' a condenser in two parts a.nd to 35 arrange the primary coil of the transformel' between them. Tho interruptions of the field-circuit of the moto]' should bo so rapid as to permit ouly a partial demagnetization of the cores. These latter, however, should in 40 this specific arrangoment be laminated. The apparatus, as will now be seen, comprises, as essential elemonts, choking-coils, a circuit - controller, means for rotating the same, a con(lenser, and a transformer. These 45 elements may be mechanically associated in any conyenient and compact for 111 , but so far as their genoml arrangement and relations al'e eoncerned I prefer the relative disp0sition illustrated, mainly beca uso, by reason of 50 thoir symmetrical arrangement in the circuit, the liability of injUl'y to the insulation of any of the devices is roduced to a minimum. I do not mean to imply by the terms employed in doscribing my improvements that 55 I limit myself to the use of the l)l'ecise c1eyices commonly designated by sllCh terms.
For instance, the ehoking-coil as a distincti ye device may be wholly dispensed with, provided the circuit in which it must otherwise he placed have a sufficiently high self-inc111c- Go tion producod in other ways. So, too, the necessity of a condenser, strictly speaking, is avoided when tho circuit itselE possesses sufficient capacity to accomplish the desirec1l'esnIt. 65 IIa ving now c1 oscribed my in yen Lion am1 the mauner in which tho same is or may be carried into practical etIect, "hat I claim is1. The apparatus herein described for conyerting direct currents into cmrellts of high 70 freqnency, comprising in combination it circuit of high self-inc1uction, a circuit-contl'oller adapted to make and break sncll circuit, a condonser into which the said circuit discharges when intel'l'upted, and a t;mnsforlllel' 75 through the primary of which the condenset' discharges as set forth. ~. '}'11e combination of a source of direct current and a circuit therofrom, choking-coils in said circuit, moans for making and break- 80 ing the cil'cuit through said coils, a, condenser around the point of intol'l'uption in tho saill circuit and a transformer haying jt,s primary in circuit with the condonsor as set forth. 3. The combination with a circuit of high 85 self - induction and means for makiIlg and breaking tho same, of a conc1enser aroulld thc point of intol'ruption in the said circnit, HJl(l a transfol'mer the primary of which is in tho condenser-circuit as described. 90 '1. Tho combination with a circuit of (1i1'eeL current and haying a high self-induction, of a circuit-controller for lllaking and breakillg said circuit, a motor for driving the controller, a condensor in a circuit connccted 'with 95 the first around tho point of intol'l'uption thorein, and a transformer the primary of which is in circnit with the cOlldellsor as set forth. o. Tho combination ,yith a circuit of diroct 100 cU1'1'ont, a controllel' for making aud brcaking the same, a motor having its iic1
