Nexus - 1201 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

Dr Nikola Tesla was featured on the cover of the 20 July 1931 issue of TIME magazine (vol. XVIII, no. 3). The portrait was painted by Princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy and first exhibited in March 1916. (Photo courtesy of Time-Life) be pressed further for details, however, as he was hypersensitive regarding the security of his device—and with good reason. Powerful interests, who sought to stymie his every effort to pro- mote and apply his technologies, had blackballed Tesla in the naot TIM] The Weekly Meiwatagerine past. This author is unaware of any known public record of the nauti- cal experiment, or if it took place at all. Scant information made it into the public arena. The New York Daily News, on 2 April 1934, ran an article enti- tled "Tesla's Wireless Power Dream Nears Reality", which described a "planned test run of a motor car using wireless trans- mission of electrical energy" for power. This was after the event and made no mention of "free energy". At the time that the car might have been unveiled, the Westinghouse Corporation, under president F. A. Merrick, paid for Tesla's accommodation at New York's newest and most luxu- rious hotel, the New Yorker. There, the ageing scientist lived rent free for the rest of his life. Tesla was also hired by Westinghouse for some unspecified wireless research and he stopped his public statements on cosmic rays. Did Westinghouse buy Tesla's reluctant silence on his free- energy discoveries? Or was he funded to pursue secret projects that were so speculative that they would be of no possible threat to established industry for the foreseeable future? The curtain drops on a mystery within an enigma. oo About the Author: Igor Spajic bought his first copy of NEXUS because of an article on Nikola Tesla, and maintains an interest in the technology and his- tory of the inventor. As a graphic designer, he has contributed illustrations to magazines and designed cartoon characters for a school musical education program. Igor is currently restoring a classic car, though he does not anticipate powering it with cosmic energy. Igor Spajic is preparing a follow-up article speculating on how Dr Nikola Tesla harnessed the energy of the Earth's magnetic field to power his car. Dr Tesla was asked where the power came from, in the obvious absence of batteries. "From the aethers all around us," he replied reluctantly. Some people suggested that Tesla was mad and somehow in league with sinister, occult forces. Tesla was incensed. He removed his mysterious box and himself, returning to his New York City laboratory. So ended Nikola Tesla's brief foray into automotive applications. This security breach incident may be apocryphal, as Tesla was not averse to using publicity to promote his inventions and ideas, although when these devices threatened the industrial status quo he had every reason to be circumspect in his dealings. The Pierce-Arrow Company had already reached the pinnacle of its success in 1930. In 1931, it was on the way down. In 1932, the Company lost US$3 million. In 1933, the writing was also on the wall for parent company Studebaker, which teetered on the very brink of liquidation. The focus moved from innovation to mere survival, and here Pierce-Arrow leaves our narrative. References + Abram, Arthur, "The Forgotten Art of Electric-Powered Automobiles", The Cormorant, the Packard Club's newsletter (date unknown) * Derek Ahlers interview with Petar Savo, 16 September 1967 (from archives of Ralph Bergstrasser) * Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, Adventures Unlimited Press, Illinois, 1993, ISBN 1-932813-19-4 * Childress, David H. (ed.), The Tesla Papers, Adventures Unlimited Press, Illinois, 2000, ISBN 0-9328 13-86-0 * Decker, Jerry, "Tesla's Electric Car — The Moray Version", KeelyNet BBS, posted 31 January 1993 + Extraordinary Technology, vol. 1, no. 2, April/May/June 2003 * Greene, A.C., "The Electric Auto That Almost Triumphed", Dallas Morning News, January 24, 1993 ¢ Nieper, Hans A., Revolution in Technology, Medicine and Society, MIT Verlag, Oldenburg, 1985, ISBN 3-925188-07-X (first published in German as Revolution in Technik, Medizin, Gesellschaft, 1981) ¢ Siefer, Marc J., Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, Birch Lane Press/Carol Publishing Group, NJ, 1996, ISBN 1-55972-329-7 + Seife, C., "Running on Empty", New Scientist, 25 April 1998 * Southward Car Museum Trust Inc., The Illustrated Motor Vehicle Collection, Paraparaumu, New Zealand, ISBN 0-473-05583-X * TFC Books FAQ, http://www.tfcbooks.com/teslafaq ¢ Vassilatos, Gerry, "Tesla’s Electric Car", KeelyNet BBS + Vassilatos, Gerry, Secrets of Cold War Technology — Project HAARP and Beyond, Borderland Sciences Research Foundation, 1996, ISBN 0-945685-20-3 + Wiegersma, Friso, La Belle Chauffeuse, VOC Angel Books, Amsterdam, 1981, ISBN 90-6560-081-7 A Mystery within an Enigma About a month after the publicity incident, Petar Savo was phoned by Lee DeForest, a friend of Tesla and a pioneer developer of the vacuum tube. He asked Savo how he had enjoyed the tests. Savo responded enthusiastically and DeForest praised Tesla as the greatest living scientist in the world. Later, Mr Savo asked his "uncle" about the progress of the power receiver in other applications. Dr Tesla replied that he was negotiating with a major shipbuilding company to build a boat with a similar arrangement to the electric test car. He would not 40 + NEXUS www.nexusmagazine.com DECEMBER 2004 — JANUARY 2005