CHAPTER 1
The implications were fathomless. Tesla had found a truly new and wonderful approach to an old problem. Once because his technology had not yet grown to the level where this was possible, he had to settle for impressing the naturally prolific aether streams with “extra” pulsations. The Transmitter method was costly, gargantuan, and an easy target for those who hated the notion of future world where dreams rule humanity. Dielectric energy fascinated Tesla. It was everywhere, a natural emanation whose potentials far outproportioned conventional notions of power. Indeed, the early conception of natural radioactivity as an energetic source was nothing in comparison to the potential power inherent in dielectric streams. The new technology would use ultra-short pulsing aether streams, energies which occupied most of his latter press conferences in latter years. Study had convinced Tesla that the apparently smooth and native force characteristic of dielectric field energy- was actually a particu-late flux, a succession of ultrashort impulses. The derivation of such an impulse train would solve all energy needs for eternity with an elegance far out-reaching his own Magnifier Transmitter.
Of a truth, dielectric energy was a native source of incredible proportion and virtually eternal duration. Able to use such a kinetic source, one could dispense entirely with the Power Transmitters necessary in stimulating and impressing “extra pulsations” on the aether flow. Tesla often defined the dielectric field as a natural flow of aether particles, one which seemed impossible to utilize through lack of appropriate resistive materials. In order to obtain momentum from the flowing particles of a dielectric field, one required special matter poised in equally special symmetries. The otherwise continuous flow could be absorbed directly, being exchanged to utilities, appliances, and other applications.
Tesla had already considered the condition of charged particles, each representing a tightly constricted whorl of aether. The force necessarily exerted at close distances by such aetheric constrictions was incalculably large. Aetheric ponderance maintained particulate stability. Crystalline lattices were therefore places within which one could expect to find unexpected voltages. Indeed, the high voltages inherent in certain metallic lattices, intra-atomic field energies, are enormous. The close Coulomb gradient between atomic centers are electrostatic potentials reaching humanly unattainable levels. By comparison, the voltages which Tesla once succeeded in releasing were quite insignificant. In these balanced lattices, Tesla sought the voltages needed to initiate directed aetheric streams in matter. Once such a flow began, one could simply tap the stream for power. In certain materials, these aether streams might automatically produce the contaminating electrons, a source of energy for existing appliances. One could theoretically then “tailor” the materials needed to produce unexpected aetheric power with or without the attendant detrital particles. Tesla did mention the latent aetheric power of charge forces, the explosive potentials of bound aether, and the aetheric power inherent in matter. In these studies, Tesla sought replacement for the 100,000,000 volt initiating pulses which natural law required for the implementation of space aether. Tesla had long been forced to abandon those gigantic means by other, less natural laws.
Thereafter, Tesla shifted his attentions from the appreciation of the gigantic to an appreciation of the miniature. He sought a means for proliferating an immense number of small and compact aether power receivers. With one such device, Tesla succeeded in obtaining power to drive an electric car. But for the exceptional account which follows, we would have little information on this last period in Tesla’s productive life, one which very apparently did not cease its prolific streams of creativity to his last breath. The information comes through an unlikely source, one rarely mentioned by Tesla biographers. It chanced that an aeronautical engineer, Derek Ahlers, met with one of Tesla’s nephews then living in New York. Theirs was an acquaintance lasting some 10 years, consisting largely of anecdotal commentaries on Dr. Tesla. Mr. Savo provided an enormous fund of knowledge concerning many episodes in Tesla’s last years.
Himself an Austrian military man and a trained aviator, Mr. Savo was extremely opened about certain long cherished incidents in which his uncle’s genius was consistently made manifest. Mr. Savo reported that in 1931, he participated in an experiment involving setheric power. Unexpectedly, almost inappropriately, he was asked to accompany his uncle on a long train ride to Buffalo. A few times in this journey, Mr. Savo asked the nature of their journey. Dr. Tesla remained unwilling to disclose any information, speaking rather direcdy to this issue. Taken into a small garage, Dr. Tesla walked directly to a Pierce Arrow, opened the hood and began making a few adjustments. In place of the engine, there was an AC motor. This measured a little more than 3 feet long, and a little more than 2 feet in diameter. From it trailed two very thick cables which connected with the dashboard. In addition, there was an ordinary 12 volt storage battery. The motor was rated at 80 horsepower. Maximum rotor speed was stated to be 30 turns per second. A 6 foot antenna rod was fitted into the rear section of the car.
Dr. Tesla stepped into the passenger side and began making adjustments on a “power receiver” which had been built directly into the dashboard. The receiver, no larger than a shortwave radio of the day, used 12 special tubes which Dr. Tesla brought with him in a boxlike case. The device had been pre-fitted into the dashboard, no larger than a shortwave receiver. Mr. Savo told Mr. Abler that Dr. Tesla built the receiver in his hotel room, a device 2 feet in length, nearly 1 foot wide, a 1/2 foot high. These curiously constructed tubes having been properly installed in their sockets, Dr. Tesla pushed in 2 contact rods and informed Peter that power was now available to drive. Several additional meters read values which Dr. Tesla would not explain. Not sound was heard. Dr. Tesla handed Mr. Savo the ignition key and told him to start the engine, which he prompdy did. Yet hearing nothing, the accelerator was applied, and the car instandy moved. Tesla’s nephew drove this vehicle without other fuel for an undetermined long interval. Mr. Savo drove a distance of 50 miles through the city and out to the surrounding countryside. The car was tested to speeds of 90 mph, with the speedometer rated to 120.