Explanation of Tesla and Edwin Gray Patents

Hello Tesla Society,

I would like to call your attention to one of Nikola Tesla's patents, to show similarities to the circuit drawings I sent you, and the patent of Edwin Gray. All three devices work on the same principle.

The two patents can be found here:


TESLA PATENT 568,176 APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING ELECTRIC CURRENTS OF HIGH FREQUENCY AND POTENTIAL.

US Patent 4,595,975 Edwin Gray "Efficient Power Supply Suitable for Inductive Loads"


The circuit drawings I sent you are my simplified version of Edwin Gray's device. In Fig. 2 of Gray's patent, you see his "Conversion Element Switching Tube". This is the device I brought to our first meeting, which consists of a stainless steel shaft running through two concentric copper pipes; the shaft terminates in a spark gap.



The device shown in Fig.1 of the Tesla patent and the device shown in Fig.1 of the Edwin Gray patent are essentially the same device. They operate on the same principle.



In Tesla's patent, the "Primary", K, in Fig. 1 corresponds to the "High Voltage Anode" in Gray's "Conversion Element Switching Tube" (Fig.2), or the stainless steel shaft in my device.

In Tesla's patent, the "Secondary", L, in Fig. 1 corresponds to the "Charge Collecting Grid" in Gray's "Conversion Element Switching Tube" (Fig.2), or the two concentric copper pipes in my device.


In Tesla's patent, the Rotary Spark Gap, C, in Fig. 1 corresponds to the Commutator (26) and Triode (28) in Gray's Fig. 1. For our device we can use a spark gap and a Transmitter Tube, or a spark gap and a heavy duty FET.



It is essential to understand that the "Primary" and "Secondary" in Tesla's patent DO NOT constitute a magnetically coupled transformer. This is an electrostatic device.



The type of current which flows through the "Primary", K, in Tesla's patent, is a rapid succession of short, sharp pulses of DC. It is NOT a sinusoidal AC waveform. This patent is from 1896. By 1892, Tesla had abandoned all work with AC, and had begun experiments with pulsed DC, what he called "Impulse Currents".



I hope this helps everyone understand what is going on in these devices. On Friday I'll try to bring physical examples of both so you can get a "hands-on" feeling for how they are similar.


Regards,
Sean


The Olympia Tesla Society meets Fridays at 6:00pm at Le Voyeur, 404 E. 4th Ave., in Downtown Olympia.