neither commutator nor brushes. It will be remembered that about the
time that Mr. Tesla brought out his motors, and read his thoughtful
paper before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Professor
Ferraris, in Europe, published his discovery of principles analogous
to those enunciated by Mr. Tesla. There is no doubt, however, that Mr.
Tesla was an independent inventor of this rotary field motor, for
although anticipated in dates by Ferraris, he could not have known
about Ferraris' work as it had not been published. Professor Ferraris
stated himself, with becoming modesty, that he did not think Tesla
could have known of his (Ferraris') experiments at that time, and adds
that he thinks Tesla was an independent and original inventor of this
principle. With such an acknowledgment from Ferraris there can be
little doubt about Tesla's originality in this matter.
Mr. Tesla's work in this field was wonderfully timely, and its worth
was promptly appreciated in various quarters. The Tesla patents were
acquired by the Westinghouse Electric Company, who undertook to
develop his motor and to apply it to work of different kinds. Its use
in mining, and its employment in printing, ventilation, etc., was
described and illustrated in _The Electrical World_ some years ago.
The immense stimulus that the announcement of Mr. Tesla's work gave to
the study of alternating current motors would, in itself, be enough to
stamp him as a leader.
Mr. Tesla is only 35 years of age. He is tall and spare with a
clean-cut, thin, refined face, and eyes that recall all the stories
one has read of keenness of vision and phenomenal ability to see
through things. He is an omnivorous reader, who never forgets; and he
possesses the peculiar facility in languages that enables the least
educated native of eastern Europe to talk and write in at least half a
dozen tongues. A more congenial companion cannot be desired for the
hours when one "pours out heart affluence in discursive talk," and
when the conversation, dealing at first with things near at hand and
next to us, reaches out and rises to the greater questions of life,
duty and destiny.
In the year 1890 he severed his connection with the Westinghouse
Company, since which time he has devoted himself entirely to the study
of alternating currents of high frequencies and very high potentials,
with which study he is at present engaged. No comment is necessary on
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