Tesla: Master of Lightning Page #4

So Tesla had had enough

by that time

and he picked up his hat

and walked out.

Tesla paid dearly for his pride.

I lived through a year of

bitter tears and hard labor

digging ditches for

Edison's underground cables.

But he was still determined

to develop his AC motor.

With help from a group of investors

he opened a laboratory on Liberty Street

only a few blocks from the Edison's offices.

There he began to assemble a

prototype of the motor he had

envisioned seven years earlier.

Along with it he developed

all the components of

the system of AC power generation

and transmission still used today.

In May of 1888, Tesla was ready

to unveil his motor to the world.

The subject which I now have the

pleasure of bringing to your notice

is a novel motor which I

am confident will at once

establish the superior

adaptability of alternating currents.

Over the next five years 22 U.S.

patents were awarded to Nikola Tesla

for AC motors, generators,

transformers and transmission lines

the most valuable patents since

the invention of the telephone.

One of the few men who understood

the great potential of Tesla's inventions

was the Pittsburgh industrialist

George Westinghouse.

He visited Tesla's laboratory and,

on the spot,

he offered to purchase

all the patents dealing

with the alternating current system

for one million dollars.

Westinghouse also proposed

a royalty of $2.50

for each horsepower

generated by a Tesla invention.

The young Serb was on his

way to fortune and fame

while other inventors looked on

with fascination and with envy.

In all my troubles

I did not neglect to become

a real American citizen

making me a proud and happy man.

During the late 1880s Edison began

a negative media campaign

to discredit the alternating

current system of electricity

being developed by

Westinghouse and Tesla.

It became known as

The War of the Currents.

My personal desire would be to prohibit

entirely the use of alternating currents.

They are as unnecessary as

they are dangerous.

Edison employees demonstrated

the dangers of alternating current

by electrocuting animals

in public demonstrations.

Just as certain as death

Westinghouse will kill a customer

within six months after

he puts in a system of any size.

None of his plans worry me

in the least.

An Edison associate suggested

using alternating current

as a means of executing criminals.

A test took place at New York's

Auburn State Prison in 1890.

Several gruesome attempts

were required to kill the victim.

Disgusted witnesses claimed

his spinal cord burst into flame.

The infliction of the death penalty

is not only barbarous and inhuman

but unnecessary as a factor in

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