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| Teleforce | |
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| Year proposed: | c. 1935 |
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Teleforce is a charged particle beam projector that Nikola Tesla claimed to have conceived of after studying the Van de Graaff generator. Tesla described the weapon as being able to be used against ground-based infantry or for anti-aircraft purposes.
Description
Tesla described Teleforces operation:
My apparatus projects particles which may be relatively large or of microscopic dimensions, enabling us to convey to a small area at a great distance trillions of times more energy than is possible with rays of any kind. Many thousands of horsepower can thus be transmitted by a stream thinner than a hair, so that nothing can resist." The nozzle would send concentrated beams of particles through the free air, of such tremendous energy that they will bring down a fleet of 10,000 enemy airplanes at a distance of 200 miles from a defending nation's border and will cause armies to drop dead in their tracks.
In a letter that was written to J. P. Morgan, Jr. on November 29, 1934, Tesla described the weapon:
I have made recent discoveries of inestimable value... The flying machine has completely demoralized the world, so much that in some cities, as London and Paris, people are in mortal fear from aerial bombing. The new means I have perfected afford absolute protection against this and other forms of attack. ... These new discoveries, which I have carried out experimentally on a limited scale, have created a profound impression. One of the most pressing problems seems to be the protection of London and I am writing to some influential friends in England hoping that my plan will be adopted without delay. The Russians are very anxious to render their borders safe against Japanese invasion and I have made them a proposal which is being seriously considered.
In 1937, Tesla wrote a treatise, "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media", concerning charged particle beam weapons. Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a 'superweapon" that would put an end to all war." This treatise is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It describes an open-ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allows particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing non-dispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Tesla tried to interest the US War Department, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia in the device.
During the period in which the negotiations were being carried on, Tesla claimed that efforts had been made to steal the invention. His room had been entered and his papers had been scrutinized, but the thieves, or spies, left empty-handed. He said that there was no danger that his invention could be stolen for he had at no time committed any part of it to paper. The blueprint for the teleforce weapon was all in his mind.
According to unknown sources, Tesla's records indicate that the device is based on a narrow stream of small tungsten pellets that are accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). The pellets, propelled out of the tube by electrostatic repulsion, would travel at 48 times the speed of sound.
Death Ray Misnomer
Teleforce was mentioned publicly in the New York Sun and The New York Times on July 11, 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. The idea of a "death ray" was a misunderstanding in regards to Tesla's term when he refereed to his invention as a "Death Beam" so Tesla went on to explain that "this invention of mine does not contemplate the use of any so-called 'death rays.' Rays are not applicable because they cannot be produced in requisite quantities and diminish rapidly in intensity with distance. All the energy of New York City (approximately two million horsepower) transformed into rays and projected twenty miles, could not kill a human being, because, according to a well known law of physics, it would disperse to such an extent as to be ineffectual. My apparatus projects particles ..."
What set Tesla's proposal apart from the usual run of fantasy "death rays" was a unique vacuum chamber with one end open to the atmosphere. Tesla devised a unique vacuum seal by directing a high-velocity air stream at the tip of his gun to maintain "high vacua." The necessary pumping action would be accomplished with a large Tesla turbine.
Components of Teleforce
In total, the components and methods included:
- An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past.
- A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force.
- A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
- A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
It has been said that the charged particles would self-focus via "gas focusing,". In 1940, Tesla estimated that each station would cost no more than $2,000,000 and could have been constructed in a few months.
Tesla claimed to have worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, at a luncheon in his honor concerning the death ray, Tesla stated, "But it is not an experiment... I have built, demonstrated and used it. Only a little time will pass before I can give it to the world."
References
- "Tesla's Ray". Time. 23 July 1934.
- ^ Seifer, Marc. "Tesla's "Death Ray" Machine". bibliotecapleyades.net. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
- ^ "Beam to Kill Army at 200 Miles, Tesla's Claim on 78th Birthday". New York Times. 11 July 1934.
- ^ "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times. 22 September 1940.
- "A Machine to End War". PBS: Tesla - Master of Lightning.
- Tesla FAQ. Retrieved 2013-12-03
- ^ Seifer 2001, p. 454 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFSeifer2001 (help)
- "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U.S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940
- Seifer, Marc J. "Tesla's "death ray" machine". Retrieved 5 September 2012.
- O'Neill, John J. "Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius)". PBS.
- "Beam to Kill Army at 200 Miles, Tesla's Claim On 78th Birthday". New York Herald Tribune. July 11, 1934. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - "Tesla, At 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam'. Invention Powerful Enough to Destroy 10,000 Planes 250 Miles Away, He Asserts. Defensive Weapon Only. Scientist, in Interview, Tells of Apparatus That He Says Will Kill Without Trace". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-09-04.
Nikola Tesla, father of modern methods of generation and distribution of electrical energy, who was 78 years old yesterday, announced a new invention, or inventions, which he said, he considered the most important of the 700 made by him so far.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam'". New York Times. 11 July 1934.
- "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun. 10 July 1934.
- "A Machine to End War". PBS: Tesla - Master of Lightning.
- "PBS: Tesla - Master of Lightning". A Weapon to End War.
- "Death-Ray Machine Described". New York Sun. 11 July 1934.
- "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
- "United States Patent Office Nikola Tesla,of New York, N.Y. VALVULAR CONDUIT Specification of Letters Patent Patented Feb. 3, 1920 Numbered 1.329.559 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Patent No. 1,329,559
- "TESLA, AT 78, BARES NEW 'DEATH-BEAM'". New York Times. 1934. Retrieved 29 June 2012. same article at rastko.rs
External links
- On Röntgen Rays Electrical Review, New York, March 11, 1896. (DOC format)
- Possibilities of Electro-Static Generators Scientific American, March, 1934. (DOC format)
- TESLA, AT 78, BARES NEW 'DEATH-BEAM' The New York Times, July 11, 1934
- Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II by John J. O'Neill
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