Nikola Tesla, one of the truly great inventors 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,” with 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 attempted attack by an enemy air force, no matter how large.
This “teleforce,” he said is based on an entirely new principle of physics that “no one has ever dreamed about,” different from the principle embodied in his inventions relating 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 one-hundred-millionth of a square centimeter in diameter, and could be generated from a special plant that would cost no more than $2,000,000 and would take only about three months to construct.
This new type of force, Mr. Tesla said, would operate through a beam one one-hundred-millionth of a square centimeter in diameter, and could be generated from a special plant that would cost no more than $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 possible 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.
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 apparatus for producing rays “and other manifestations of energy” in free air, eliminating the necessity for a high vacuum; a second is a method and process for producing “very great electrical force”; the third is a method for amplifying this force, and the fourth is a new method for producing “a tremendous electrical repelling force”. This would be the projector, or gun, of the system. The voltage-for propelling the beam to its objective, according to the inventor, will attain a potential of 50,000,000 volts.
With this enormous voltage, he said, microscopic electrical particles of matter will be catapulted on their mission of defensive destruction. He has been working on this invention, he added, for many years and has recently made a number of improvements in it.
1940 NY Times
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