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NEWSCIENCENEWSCIENCENEWSCIENCE NICOLA TESLA'S ELECTRIC FLYING testing his equipment, especially at night. Earth. It was too much for the now-terri- PLATFORM—The World's First Flying Why not? He had been doing this for some fied creature. It galloped off in a frenzy, Machine, circa 1900 time. Why should this evening be any dif- sparks jumping from the iron horseshoes as by Anthony Hansen ferent? But so it was to be, as he was soon it sped away into the night. This was to find out. indeed a strange situation, thought the With discoveries there is always a first, While most people would be indoors at rancher. and few, if any, inventors ever beat Nikola home or perhaps enjoying the saloons in Meanwhile, some distance away, Tesla Tesla, especially with the power systems he Colorado Springs, it was unusual for any- was adjusting his huge electrical oscillator, developed. The Colorado oscillator could one to be out at night on foot in the middle _ unaware of its effects on the horse. He had easily produce 500,000 horsepower—the of some rural area, but this was the case lots of experience with these devices. perfect power supply for driving the elec- this night. Some years earlier he had reached the limit tric flying machines he was developing. Horses were valuable creatures. If a for these high-voltage machines in a city; It was hardly practical to fly these rancher lost a horse, it had to be found. hence the remote area of Colorado Springs devices around New York—not if you This particular rancher had seen his _ was ideal for what he had in mind. wanted to keep them secret. Colorado was horse earlier and it seemed alright, The oscillator had been going for some the perfect place to fly around unnoticed— although a little jumpy. time now. Tesla had set the device to or so Tesla assumed. The man had noticed some strange things increase slowly in power. When it got toa Deep in thought as usual, he felt safe when he was pumping water from an old certain intensity, it would be time for hand-pump. He another test. This was a test that Tesla had received a tin- looked forward to. gling sensation Tesla really enjoyed these experiments— from pump's the and why not? To fly around at night, glid- metal lever. His ing 10 feet above the ground at virtually wife had refused to any speed he felt like, was ecstasy. The use the pump for cool Colorado air in his face reminded him =) some time, and of his native homeland. In the distance he now he had felt the could see the giant tower-like structure, f same sensation 167 feet high, with the metal ball on top. she'd reported. The entire vertical iron column was now Some time later glowing with a purple corona. It was a he put some horse- marvellous sight, Tesla thought. feed into a bucket Tesla stepped onto a strange machine. It and walked across was approximately six feet wide by 12 feet to feed the horse. in length. It was a wooden box-like struc- Usually the sight of ture about two feet in height. Inside the the man with the box were rows of capacitors and coils. bucket was enough Underneath were sheets of copper on top. for the horse to At the back was a large coil, about five feet come up for his diameter and about eight feet high. On top food—but not of this was a metal rod, about three inches tonight. The ranger diameter and six feet high. At the top was was surprised. a metal ball, about 24 inches diameter. At Why did the horse _ the front was a small upright section. seem so jumpy? “I Tesla stood behind this and moved a must be getting lever. There was a strange humming noise. old," thought the Nothing seemed to happen for a few sec- rancher. “I could onds. Then, with a crackling noise, the swear I saw sparks platform lifted from the ground like coming from the Aladdin's magic carpet. Streamers arced horse's feet when I back to Earth furiously—but then suddenly lifted up a hoof." stopped when the platform reached a cer- It was not imagi- tain distance from Earth, usually about 12 nation at all. The feet. horse had metal It was now time for a test run. In the dis- horseshoes. Every tance, Tesla could see Pikes Peak and the time he lifted a railway wagons moving near the base of hoof from the the mountain. It might be wise, Tesla ground, sparks two thought, to keep away from this area. Best to three inches long to go the opposite direction—less chance arced back to of being seen, and less populated. NICOLA TESLA'S ELECTRIC FLYING PLATFORM—The World's First Flying Machine, circa 1900 by Anthony Hansen With discoveries there is always a first, and few, if any, inventors ever beat Nikola Tesla, especially with the power systems he developed. The Colorado oscillator could easily produce 500,000 horsepower—the perfect power supply for driving the elec- tric flying machines he was developing. It was hardly practical to fly these devices around New York—not if you wanted to keep them secret. Colorado was the perfect place to fly around unnoticed— or so Tesla assumed. Deep in thought as usual, he felt safe not 54 © NEXUS JUNE - JULY 1995