Tesla: The Life and Times of an Electric Messiah

by Nigel Cawthorne

  In 1919, Electrical Experimenter serialized Tesla’s autobiography My Inventions. This too was illustrated by Frank Paul’s drawing, along with photographs of the equipment. This boosted the circulation of the magazine to around 100,000 and provided Tesla a modest income. However, Tesla felt he had been underpaid and when Gernsback sought to put him on the cover of Electrical Experimenter again, Tesla refused, saying: ‘I appreciate your unusual intelligence and enterprise, but the trouble with you seems to be that you are thinking only of H. Gernsback first of all, once more, and then again.’

  Nevertheless, Gernsback never stinted in his praise of Tesla, running his articles in several of his magazines. He even latched on to some of Tesla’s more outlandish ideas. While Tesla did not believe in extra-sensory perception or mind-reading in the psychic sense, he did think it possible to read another person’s thoughts by attaching television equipment to their retina. Paul depicted this on the cover of Science Wonder Stories in October 1929 which showed two people wearing thought-reading helmets.

  The Chicago Years

  Tesla stayed in Chicago until the end of World War I. He worked on his turbines at Pyle National. Again he refused a salary, hoping to make bigger profits from his inventions in the end. But earning nothing from his wireless patents, his only source of income was the Waltham Watch Company who were manufacturing a speedometer he had designed. Advertisements for Waltham speedometers and automobile clocks in The New York Times in 1921 read:

  Every progressive automobile manufacturer is adding improvements to his car. This is why the first Air-Friction Speedometer in the world, invented by Nikola Tesla, perfected and developed by Waltham during the past few years, has won the unqualified approval of the world’s greatest automotive engineers. You will find this exclusive Air-Friction instrument upon such cars as the Cunningham, Lafayette, Leach-Biltwell, Lincoln, Packard, Pierce-Arrow, Renault, Rolls-Royce, Stevens-Duryea, Wills-Sainte Claire and others. It provides instantaneous accuracy with that dependability for which Waltham is famous.

  The Big Ship

  Tesla was still depending on his turbines to make him rich ‘within four months’, he told Jack Morgan before he left New York. ‘My big ship is still to come in,’ he said, ‘but I have a marvellous opportunity having perfected an invention that will astound the whole world.’

  But he had yet to perfect it. The high rotational speed put too much stress on the discs which risked cracking. Various alloys were tried. However, the advantages of his turbine was obvious. ‘Suppose that the steam pressure of the locomotive would vary from say 50 to 200 pounds, no matter how rapidly,’ he wrote, ‘this would not have the slightest effect on the performance of the turbine.’

  The US Machine Manufacturing Company asked about putting one in an aeroplane. The Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company also made enquiries. He told George Scherff that he was expecting to make $25 million a year from his turbines. All the while the debts kept piling up.

  Made in Milwaukee

  Tesla finally succeeded in getting the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company of Milwaukee interested. They made reciprocating engines, turbines and other heavy machinery. However, he displayed a lack of tactic and diplomacy that ruined the project from the outset. Insisting on entering negotiations with the senior staff, he went directly to the president of the company and, while his engineers were preparing a feasibility report, Tesla contacted the board of directors and sold them the idea before the engineers had had their say.

  Three of Tesla’s turbines were built. Two had 20 discs that were 18 inches (46 cm) in diameter. Tested with 80 pounds pressure, they developed 200 horsepower at between 10,000 and 12,000 rpm. This had the same output as Tesla’s 1911 model with discs half the diameter when operating at 125 pounds pressure and 9,000 rpm. They also built a larger version. Hans Dahlstrand, consulting engineer of the steam turbine department, wrote a report saying:

  We also built a 500 kilowatt steam turbine to operate at 3,600 revolutions. The turbine rotor consisted of 15 disks 60 inches [152 cm] in diameter and one-eighth of an inch thick [3 mm]. The discs were placed approximately one-eighth inch apart. The unit was tested by connecting to a generator. The maximum mechanical efficiency obtained on this unit was approximately 38 per cent when operating at steam pressure of approximately 80 pounds absolute and a back pressure of approximately 3 pounds absolute and 100°F [38°C] superheat at the inlet. When the steam pressure was increased above that given the mechanical efficiency dropped, consequently the design of these turbines was of such a nature that in order to obtain maximum efficiency at high pressure, it would have been necessary to have more than one turbine in series.

  Dahlstrand reported that difficulties were encountered in the Tesla turbine from vibration, making it necessary to re-enforce the discs, and that this difficulty is common to all turbines. Vibration cracked wheels and wrecked turbines, sometimes within a few hours and sometimes after years of operation. This vibration was caused by taking such terrific amounts of power from relatively light machinery. The Dahlstrand Report identified other problems:

  The efficiency of the small turbine units compares with the efficiency obtainable on small impulse turbines running at speeds where they can be directly connected to pumps and other machinery. It is obvious, therefore, that the small unit in order to obtain the same efficiency had to operate at from 10,000 to 12,000 revolutions and it would have been necessary to provide reduction gears between the steam turbine and the driven unit.

  Furthermore, the design of the Tesla turbine could not compete as far as manufacturing costs with the smaller type of impulse units. It is also questionable whether the rotor disks, because of light construction and high stress, would have lasted any length of time if operating continuously.

  The above remarks apply equally to the large turbine running at 3,600 revolutions. It was found when this unit was dismantled that the discs had distorted to a great extent and the opinion was that these discs would ultimately have failed if the unit had been operated for any length of time.

  The gas turbine was never constructed for the reason that the company was unable to obtain sufficient engineering information from Mr Tesla indicating even an approximate design that he had in mind.

  Terminating the Turbine

  Tesla seems to have walked out at this stage. Later Tesla was asked why he stopped working with Allis-Chalmers. He said: ‘They would not build the turbines as I wished.’ But he would not elaborate. Allis-Chalmers went on to manufacture a different type of gas turbine that was in production for years.

  A number of engineers had tried to explain the failure of Tesla’s turbine. One expert said that, while being a fine concept and an excellent machine, it was not that much better than other designs. Another said that not enough money had been spent on research and development. Metallurgy was in its infancy and the instrumentation for measuring its performance had not been developed, nor had the magnetic bearing it would have needed to run efficiently. However, manufacturers have made pumps using Tesla’s principles and others have experimented with making the discs using advanced materials such as carbon fibre, titanium-impregnated plastic and Kevlar.

  In disappointment, Tesla returned to Colorado Springs where he conducted some experiments in the lab of the local engineering school and relived old times.

  After a sojourn at Waltham Watches in Boston, he worked on a petrol-powered turbine at Budd Manufacturing in Philadelphia. And he was not without his successes. He sold a motor that was used in cinema equipment to Wisconsin Electric and a ‘fluid diode’ to an oil company that was said to be ‘the only valving patent without moving parts’. Money began coming in, but never in the amounts that he over-optimistically predicted.

  Planet Earth Calling ...

  Marconi moved onto Tesla’s patch again when he claimed to have detected radio signals coming from outside the atmosphere. Tesla pooh-poohed this, claiming that Marconi was only picking up signals from other terrestrial wireless operators. This could
not have been the case with his own signals from Mars in 1899, he claimed, as there were no radio transmitters with a range of more than a few miles at that time. Nevertheless Robert Johnson wrote to Tesla pointing out that, once again, when Marconi had repeated one of his ideas, it was ‘no longer laughed at’.

  ‘Communication with intelligence on other stars? It may someday be possible,’ said Marconi. Language may be a problem, but Marconi said:

  Well, it is an obstacle, but I don’t think it is insurmountable. You see, one might get through some message such as 2 plus 2 equals 4, and go on repeating it until an answer came back signifying ‘Yes’, which would be one word. Mathematics must be the same throughout the physical universe. By sticking to mathematics over a number of years one might come to speech. It is certainly possible.

  Tesla said that he had little confidence in Marconi’s idea of trying to communicate with aliens using mathematics. He thought it would be better to send pictures by wireless – the human face, for example. The New York Times was surely being sarcastic when it suggested that they follow up by sending movies. Perhaps it could even be a commercial enterprise. ‘With this beginning whole feature films can be sent by radio across the solar system and released on Mars on the night that sees their premiere on Broadway,’ the paper said.

  In 1919, rocket-pioneer Robert Goddard (1882 – 1945) published A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes, claiming that it would be possible to send things as far as the Moon. Tesla said that this scheme seemed far-fetched as the fuels then known did not have the necessary ‘explosive power’. He also doubted that any rocket could ‘operate at 459° [F] below zero – the temperature of interplanetary space’.

  PART FOUR: DESCENT AND RE-ASSESSMENT

  Chapter 13 – Talking to Pigeons

  I have been feeding pigeons, thousands of them, for years; thousands of them. But there was one pigeon, a beautiful bird, pure white with light grey tips on its wings; that one was different. It was a female. I would know that pigeon anywhere. No matter where I was, that pigeon would find me; when I wanted her I had only to wish and call her and she would come flying to me. She understood me and I understood her. I loved that pigeon. I loved her as a man loves a woman, and she loved me … As long as I had her, there was a purpose in my life.

  Nikola Tesla

  Back in New York, Tesla moved into the Hotel St Regis. Robert Johnson had been appointed ambassador to Italy, so his friends left for Rome. On his own, Tesla became more eccentric. He would circle the block three times before entering the hotel, avoiding stepping on the cracks in the sidewalk. And he was fanatical about cleanliness, except when it came to pigeons which he still fed outside the New York Public Library.

  Having given up the appetites of his youth, he now practised what he called ‘gastronomical frugality’ to which he owed his perpetual youth. According to Hugo Gernsback, Tesla believed that most people not only eat all of their bodily ills, but actually ate themselves to death by either consuming too much, or else by eating food that does not agree with them. His daily menu consisted of:

  Breakfast: One to two pints of warm milk and a few eggs, prepared by himself.

  Lunch: None whatsoever, as a rule.

  Dinner: Celery soup or similar, a single piece of meat or fowl, potatoes and one other vegetable; a glass of light wine. For dessert, perhaps a slice of cheese, and invariably a big raw apple.

  And that’s all.

  While he ate very little, Tesla insisted that what he did eat must be of the highest quality. He was also an accomplished cook who invented a number of appetizing dishes.

  ‘His only vice is his generosity,’ said Gernsback. ‘The man who, by the ignorant onlooker has often been called an idle dreamer, has made over a million dollars out of his inventions – and spent them as quickly on new ones. But Tesla is an idealist of the highest order and to such men, money itself means but little.’

  Filet Mignon and Roast Duck

  Tesla’s frugal diet in his later years is markedly different from his consumption in his heyday. Then at dinner he would enjoy thick steaks, preferably filet mignon, and often two or three of them, though he never put on weight. He remained 10 stone (142 pounds or 64 kg), from 1888 to around 1926 except for a brief period of illness, when he lost 5 pounds (2 kg).

  Later he turned to lamb, ordering a roast saddle large enough to serve several people. He would eat only the central portion of the tenderloin. Another favourite was a crown of baby lamb chops, or duck roasted under a layer of celery stalks – a dish of his own invention. He would often supervise its cooking in the kitchen and it would be the centre-piece when entertaining friends. But Tesla would only eat the meat either side of the breast bone.

  Gradually, he substituted boiled fish, then turned to a vegetarian diet. Throughout his life he drank milk and towards the end warm milk became the mainstay of his diet. When he was young, he drank a lot of coffee. Although he decided it was bad for him, he had difficulty giving it up. So with each meal, he would order a pot of coffee so that he could smell the aroma. Eventually he went off the smell and gave up this practice. He had always avoided tea and cocoa, but, along with wine, he drank whisky. This, he believed, was responsible for the longevity of his ancestors and prolonged his own life. When Prohibition was introduced in 1919, Tesla denounced it, saying it was an intolerable infringement of the rights of an individual. ‘It imposes restrictions on the most needed and harmless of stimulants,’ he said, ‘while permitting unlimited consumption of poisons by all classes, from childhood to old age.’

  He admitted that he had consumed enough alcoholic beverages to ‘form a lake of no mean dimensions’. But, being a law-abiding citizen, he gave it up, declaring that it was 6 months before he could digest a meal and that abstinence would reduce his life-expectation to 130 years.

  ‘I feel sure that if everyone had done the same,’ he said, ‘millions of Americans would have shortened their life-span and thousands would have died in the first 2 years. A sudden change of diet or the omission of one of its important elements, especially in advanced years, is extremely dangerous.’

  In later years, after the repeal of Prohibition, he would have a bottle of wine brought in an ice bucket, but not have it opened. It remained there purely to show that he could restrain himself from drinking.

  He had also been a heavy smoker in his youth, particularly enjoying cigars. However, when he was in his early twenties, one of his sisters fell ill. She said she could try to get better if he gave up smoking. She recovered and he never smoked again.

  Extreme Germ Phobia

  After studying microscopic organisms before he left Europe, Tesla developed a phobia about germs. The washroom in his laboratory was private. No one else was allowed to use it. He would be impelled to wash his hands on the slightest pretext, insisting that his secretary provide a freshly laundered towel each time to dry them. He would also avoid shaking hands, usually keeping his hands clasped behind him in social situations.

  This led to embarrassment when visitors advanced proffering their hand. If Tesla was caught unawares and his hand was shaken, he would rush to the washroom at the first possible opportunity to scrub it, ignoring any business the visitor was there to conduct. And he found it particularly nauseating when workmen ate their lunch with dirty hands. Hotel staff were kept at a distance of at least 3 feet.

  Head waiters grew used to his demand to be seated at a table that was not to be used by other customers. He needed a fresh table cloth with every meal and two dozen serviettes. The silverware had to be sterilized before it left the kitchen. Tesla would then pick each item up with a serviette, and polish it with another. Then he would drop both serviettes on the floor before attending to the next item of cutlery. And if a fly alighted on the table, he would insist that everything was removed from the table and the meal would start over.

  He lived in hotels that could meet his meticulous standards and only employed assistants that were scrupulously clean. When he visited the barber
s to have his half-hour scalp massage three times a week, he insisted on fresh towels on his chair, but strangely he did not object to being shaved using the same brush and shaving mug as the other customers.

  Stepping Out in Style

  To the end of his life, Tesla was a fastidious dresser. Well-cut clothes suited his tall, slim figure. ‘In the matter of clothes’, he observed, ‘the world takes a man at his own valuation.’ He wore white monogrammed silk shirts that had to withstand constant laundering. Collars and cuffs were discarded after a single use, as were handkerchiefs. Ties were replaced every week. Costing a dollar each, the only colours he would consider were red and black. They were tied in the old-fashioned, four-in-hand style. His pyjamas also had his initials embroidered on the left breast and his linen arrived freshly packaged.

  Except on formal occasions, Tesla wore high-laced shoes, possibly to give his ankles extra support because of his height. They extended halfway up his calves. He insisted on a long narrow shoe with a tapered, square toe which had to be handmade.

  His suits had waisted coats and he usually wore a black bowler or derby, which gave him an air of quiet elegance. He carried a cane and wore grey suede gloves. At $2.50 a pair, they were also replaced weekly, even if they were as clean as they had been when they came from the makers.

  Restless Sleeping Habits

  Tesla claimed that he usually slept for just 2 hours a night, 3 hours being too much. But he would go to bed at 5 am and get up at 10, the extra three hours rest, he maintained was for quiet contemplation. Once a year, he would sleep for the full 5 hours which, he said, gave him a tremendous reserve of energy.