Nikola Tesla, AC and Niagara Falls Images from

The Niagara Falls Power Project Began in 1890 A dream of scientists and citzens alive to press the Falls into an “honest days work” Previous attempts to capture the power of the falls included: Saw mills Primitive waterwheels that provided tiny amounts of energy It was guessed that the latent power contained in the Falls was equal to all the coal mined in the world each day Project proposes a system of canals and tunnels, diverting the Niagara River down 150-foot wheel pits to turn enormous water turbines No one but Tesla had proposed any technical means of distributing the energy once captured

Tesla’s Plan Full Hydro-electric concept never fully attempted One attempt had created 12.5 kilowatts of direct current Direct current: transmission limited to users within a mile or two International commission chaired by celebrated British Physicist Lord Kelvin formed to solve problem Commission received proposals from all over world, seventeen in all All ended up being rejected, only one based on alternating current Turning Point: 1893 Chicago World’s Fair Lord Kelvin changes mind about Alternating Current Tesla wins War of Currents

Implementation of Tesla’s System Despite corporate issues and bad-blood, General Electric and Westinghouse able to work together on construction of Niagara Project October 1893: Westinghouse awarded contract to build the powerhouse at the Falls, to be outfitted with first two of ten generators designed by Tesla Generators of five thousand horsepower, largest built to that day General Electric awarded contract to build 22 mils of transmission lines Tesla’s polyphase system would be used throughout Allowed GE to perform two-phase current from the generators into three-phase distribution lines Time of construction a traumatic time filled with doubt and stress for all parties involved

Doubt from outside, confidence from within Commission skeptical as to whether full hyrdo system using Tesla’s inventions would be successful Tesla supremely confident “if the company will put 400,000 horsepower upon a wire, I will deliver it at a commercial profit to the city of New York After five years of waiting, switch thrown and system worked just as Tesla said it would By 1900, New York City was being electrified Before long, the entire country was being powered by power stations and transmission lines, bringing electric light, heating, manufacturing and hundreds of new labor-saving appliances Through all this, Tesla was distraught, laying in his bed and speaking to no one

Tesla’s Patents For system of electrical distribution

Aftermath of War of Currents Whole world, including Tesla, in awe of what had been accomplished at Niagara Falls War of Currents had left Westinghouse and General Electric financially morally drained All this happened during era of robber barons, J.P. Morgan, the biggest of the robber barons, wanted to take control of all hydroelectric power in the United States He did this by manipulating stock market forces with the intention of bankrupting Westinghouse and purchasing Tesla’s patents

Tesla’s Gesture George Westinghouse told Tesla that he could not pay the liberal royalties in Tesla’s contract Tesla ripped up the contract in thanks to the one man who had believed in his invention He was convinced that greater inventions lay ahead Tesla’s gesture saved Westinghouse and left Tesla in recurring financial difficulties that the inventor did not comprehend Most Americans did not know of Tesla’s gesture and assumed he livedwell off of those royalties

Niagara and Beyond Tesla did not attend the flipping of the switch but returned to Niagara three months later where he was honored at a “power banquet” which consisted of the important bankers, engineers, lawyers, and other mechanics that made the project possible Reports of the banquet where that the highlight was Tesla’s speech He was cut short in his speech by the sponsors of the dinner Having read the speech beforehand, they kept Tesla from announcing a new discovery that would make the power lines of Niagara obsolete: the wireless transmission of energy

Niagara Today The system at Niagara today remains largely unchanged After Tesla’s system, no other system but AC made industrial sense Ironically, Edison historically credited with achievement and Tesla left poor and without a laboratory

The 1890’s do not find Tesla to be in great shape In 1895 Tesla’s New York laboratory was burned to the ground His work of half a life time was destroyed. None of the lost equipment was insured Financially ruined and without inventions he had been working on Tesla was reported to be “wandering streets in a daze”

One man came forward to help Tesla in his time of need “clever, handle-bar moustached financier; Edward Dean Adams, President of the cataract construction company of Niagara Falls” Adams helped because Tesla was the “consulting genius of one of the most extraordinary engineering feats in history” Help in a time of neeed

Sources Cheney, Margaret and Robert Uth. Tesla: Master of Lightning Barnes and Noble Books Images from: