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the gun of the system. The voltage for pro- pelling the beam to its objective, according to the inventor, will attain a potential of 80,000,000 volts. With this enormous voltage, he said, microscopic electrical particles of matter will be catapulted on their mission of defensive destruction. He has been work- ing on this invention, he added, for many years and has made a number of improve- ments on it. Mr Tesla makes one important stipula- tion. Should the government decide to take up his offer, he would go to work on it at once, but they would have to trust him. He would suffer "no interference from experts". In ordinary times, such a condition would very likely interpose an insuperable obstacle. But times being what they are, and with the nation getting ready to spend billions on national defense, at the same time taking in consideration the reputation of Mr Tesla as an inventor who always was many years ahead of his time, the question arises whether it may not be advisable to take Mr Tesla at his word and commission him to go ahead with his "teleforce" plant. a very small sum compared with what is at stake. If Mr Tesla really fulfills his promise, the results achieved would be truly staggering. Not only would it save billions now planned for air defense, by making the country absolutely impregnable against any air attack, but it also would save many more billions in property that would other- wise be surely destroyed no matter how strong the defenses are, as witnessed by current events in England. Take, for example, the Panama Canal. No matter how strong the defense, a sui- cide squadron of dive bombers, according to some experts, might succeed in getting through and cause such damage that would make the Canal unusable, in which our Navy might find it self bottled up. Considering the probabilities in this case, even if the chances were 100,000 to 1 against Mr Tesla, the odds would still be largely in favor of taking a chance of spending $2,000,000. In the opinion of the writer, who has known Mr Tesla for many years and can testify he still retains full intellectual vigor, the authorities in charge of building nation- al defense should at once look into the mat- ter. The sum is insignificant compared to the magnitude of the stake. oo TESLA'S "TELEFORCE" DEFENSIVE BEAM AGAINST AIR ATTACK © The New York Times September 22, 1940 ikola Tesla, one of the truly great Nines: who celebrated his eighty-fourth birthday on July 10, tells the writer that he stands ready to divulge to the United States government the secret of his "teleforce", of which he said, "airplane motors would be melted at a distance of 250 miles, so that an invisible ‘Chinese Wall of Defense' would be built around the country against any enemy attack by an enemy air force, no matter how large". This "teleforce" is based on an entirely new principle of physics that "no one has ever dreamed about", different from the principles embodied in his inventions relat- ing to the transmission of electrical power from a distance, for which he has received a number of basic patents. This new type of force, Mr Tesla said, would operate through a beam one-hundred-millionth of a square centimeter in diameter, and could be generated from special plant that would cost no more then $2,000,000 and would take only about three months to construct. A dozen such plants, located at strategic points along the coast, according to Mr Tesla would be enough to defend the country against all aerial attack. The beam would melt any engine, whether diesel or gasoline driven, and would also ignite the explosives aboard any bomber. No possible defense against it could be devised, he asserts, as the beam would be all-penetrating. Such a Device "Invaluable" After all, $2,000,000 would be relatively eae CAB High Vacuum Eliminated The beam, he states, involves four new inventions, two of which already have been tested. One of these is a method and appa- ratus [section not legible] eliminating the need for a "high vacuum"; second is a process for producing "very great electrical force"; third is a method of amplifying this force; and the fourth is a new method for producing "a tremendous repelling electri- cal force". This would be the projector, or Ate id ohne whet MWe NEXUS = 49 DECEMBER 2001 — JANUARY 2002 www.nexusmagazine.com