AC ϟ DC

                                    The War of The Currents

After Tesla had resigned, he still had to find work. His main jobs around this time consisted of digging ditches for Edison's power lines. At this time others also took interest in Tesla, private investors had even approached him and asked him to design a new arch light. Although this was not the opportunity he had hoped for, he took it believing that it would help him ultimately fund his Alternating Current project. With the help of his investors Tesla had formed the Tesla Electric Light Company in April of 1887. Within the years that Tesla had been working for Edison and the founding of the Tesla Lighting Company, Nikola Tesla had already been awarded 6 individual U.S. Patents. With Tesla's improved Arc-Lamp design the Tesla Lighting Company was able to gain profits, but most of the revenue went directly to the investors themselves. Luckily during his spare time at the company, Tesla managed to build an operation A.C conductor. But, with the investors having little faith in Nikola Tesla's Alternating Current they ultimately decided to kick him out of the company leaving him with nothing but worthless stock certificates.         

The Tesla Lighting Company Stock Certificate

Using his working A.C motor he was now able to demonstrate the elite capabilities of Alternating Current over Direct Current. He had published papers in Scientific Journals and made public demonstrations. One of these demonstrations was called the "Egg of Columbus", its design showed that alternating current was a strong steady source of energy.

During one of Tesla's demonstrations at the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, employees of the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, a company who's goal at the time was to create their own A.C generators. By 1888 Nikola Tesla had gained the personal attention of  Mr. George Westinghouse. Intrigued by Tesla's highly-efficient design and his working induction motor, Westinghouse offered to buy the Tesla's "A.C. Polyphase System" patent for $25,000 in cash, $50,000 in notes, and royalties of $2.50 per horsepower of each motor. Tesla agreed. 

George Westinghouse

Tesla and Westinghouse would eventually develop a strong partnership. After the completion of the contract Tesla stayed at the Westinghouse Co. Pittsburgh Plant for nearly a year. Helping Westinghouse and his men build and manage the gigantic A.C generators.  

The A.C Generators used to power the Westinghouse plant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

                                                                             The Tesla Coil

With the money gained through selling his patent Tesla headed back for New York to open up a New Laboratory on 157 Grand Street. There Tesla would begin his work with frequencies, wireless transmission, and theories around the relationship with electromagnetism and light. Within the next few years Tesla traveled back and forth between European countries and New York. He learned first hand about other scientist and their work in Electricity, while in Paris he learned of Herbert Hertz studies on frequencies and even saw a replica of Hertz' oscillator, which used high-frequencies to create electric sparks. This fascinated Tesla so much so, that in the 1890 when he himself was experimenting with high-frequencies when developed the first Neon and Florescent Illumination using a Tesla Coil.

                                 

                                            This is a photo of the earliest known Tesla Coil

Tesla posing with a lit bulb that is not
connected to a power source

When Tesla developed his Tesla Coil in 1890, he specifically built it so that it could withstand high-frequencies and high voltage. With a power source and a capacitor to collect the charge and allow it to build up, the coils to allow for the high-voltage to be passed through and break the resistance created by the air.

This is a essentially mini-version of a Tesla Coil, It emits
a concentration of energy into the surrounding area.

The florescent gas in the bulb contains easily excitable ions, so when
placed near a source of energy it will produce light.

In short, the coil is meant to step up the energy produced and release it when the charge is strong enough, thus creating sparks and a surrounding magnetic field in which other devices can use. Tesla believed that with this, unlimited energy could be created and used perpetually. His invention of the Tesla Coil led to a better understanding of frequencies and the electromagnetic fields that influence the transmission of wireless energy. 

                                                  Edison's Scare Tactics

With Westinghouse having the patent to Alternating Current Systems, the threat of actual competition scared Thomas Edison. By 1887, within only a year of business using A.C., Westinghouse had already had more than half the amount of generators as Edison spread across the county. To fight the eminent spread of Alternating currents, Edison and his company's put on a terrifying smear campaign and lobbied for the outlawing of alternating current production. Edison was once quoted saying, "My personal desire would be to prohibit  entirely the use of alternating currents, they are as unnecessary as they are dangerous." In his many demonstrations where he electrocuted animals (with Direct Current) he would urge people not to trust Westinghouse and Tesla's Alternating Current. The smear campaigns even tried to give death by electrocution a new name by calling it "Westinghoused". When Edison and his technicians did in fact use alternating current, it was to kill small stray cats and dogs. 

A picture of the Topsy the Elephant after Edison killed her with 

One of Edison's technicians had even suggested that they should use Alternating Current to kill a man on already death row. This would be the first death by an electric chair. They would moved forward with the plan, and on the day of the execution it required several gruesome attempts to kill the victim. Disgusted witnesses claimed that before the man had died, his spinal cord burst into flame. Edison's plan to demonize alternating current had been a success and Westinghouse's company was in jeopardy. 

                                     The 1893 World's Columbia Exposition 


It seemed as though Edison and his Direct current had won, but in 1893 a chance at redemption would arise. In May of 1892, George Westinghouse had won the contract to power Chicago's 1893 World Colombian Exposition. Using Tesla's A.C Polyphase System Westinghouse planned to demonstrate the quality power offered by Alternating Current. With Tesla's guidance the two worked together to build a system for the Exposition that produced three times more energy than what was currently being utilized to power the entire city of Chicago.  With the press of a button, over 27,000,000 visitors over the next six-months had experienced the the first electrically lit fair.

An elevated view of the electrically lit 1893 World's Colombian Exposition

The many electrical exhibits included switchboards, polyphase generators, step-up transformers, transmission line, step-down transformers, commercial size induction and synchronous motors, rotary direct current converters, and even an operational railway motor. Most of these we're of Tesla's own design. The working scaled system truly allowed the public to visually see a system of polyphase power in which electricity could be transmitted over long distances and still be utilized safely.

"Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.
Tesla Polyphase System"

Nikola Tesla's Alternating Current had proved superior to Direct Current.
Through the help of George Westinghouse, Tesla had won the War of the Currents.