TESLA ON CURRENT INTERRUPTERS by Nikola Tesla
To the Editor of Electrical Review:
I wish to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of March 11, and thank you for calling my attention to the matter of the “electrolytic current interrupter.” Pressing work has for the past few weeks claimed all my time, and I have been unable to peruse the technical periodicals, and it is only a few days ago that I noticed an article descriptive of the device. Upon receiving your note I have gone over the journals and have read the articles and comments that have appeared. Most of them are indicative of time ill-spent for the purpose of comprehending the requirements of such an apparatus.
To stimulate the ardor of the zealous experimenters, who believe in the revolutionary character of this discovery, it might be well to suggest one or two such simple devices for interrupting the current. For instance, a very primitive contrivance of this kind comprises a poker — yes, an ordinary poker, connected by means of a flexible cable to one of the mains of the generator, and a bathtub filled with conducting fluid which is connected in any suitable manner, through the primary of an induction coil, to the other pole of the generator. When the experimenter desires to take a Roentgen picture, he brings the end of the poker to white heat, and, thrusting the same into the bathtub, he will at once witness an astonishing phenomenon; the seething and boiling liquid making and breaking the current in rapid succession, and the powerful rays generated will at once convince him of the great practical value of this discovery. I might further suggest that the poker may be conveniently heated by means of a welding machine.
Another device, entirely automatic, and probably suitable for use in suburban districts, comprises two insulated metal plates, supported in any convenient manner, in close proximity to each other. These plates are connected through the primary of an induction coil with the terminals of a generator, and are bridged by two movable contacts joined by a flexible cable. The two contacts are both attached to the legs of a good-sized chicken standing astride on the plates. Heat being applied to the latter, muscular contractions are produced in the legs of the chicken, which thus makes and breaks the current through the induction coil. Any number, of such chickens may be provided and the contacts connected in series or multiple arc, as may be desired, thus, increasing the frequency of the impulses. In this manner fierce sparks, suitable for most purposes, may be obtained, and vacuum tubes may be operated, and these contrivances will be found a notable improvement on certain circuit-breakers of old, with which two enterprising editors undertook some years ago to revolutionize the systems of electric lighting. The enterprising editors, are wiser now. They are to be congratulated, and their readers, scientific societies and the profession, all ought to be congratulated, and — “all is well that ends well.” The observant experimenter will not fail to note that the fierce sparks frighten the chickens, which are thus put into more violent spasms and muscular contractions, this again increasing the fierceness of the sparks, which, in return, causes a greater fright of the chickens and increased speed of interruptions; it is, in fact, as Kipling says:
“Interdependence absolute, foreseen, ordained, decreed, To work, ye’ll note, as any tilt an’ every rate o’speed.”
