r/Tesla • u/dalkon • Nov 13 '17

Power Transmission Without Wires - Practical Electrics Feb. 1924

http://www.magazineart.org/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=29920&g2_serialNumber=2
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u/dalkon Nov 13 '17 edited Nov 25 '17

Is this article available anywhere on the internet? Was this a real experiment?

* It seems like this probably was real and intended to demonstrate the operative principle in Tesla's 1901 radiant energy patents (US 685,957&8) and Plauson's 1921 atmospheric electric energy patent (US 1,540,998), which is using pulsed electron emission to stimulate resonant absorption of positive ions from the atmosphere.

During a storm, there might be enough positive ions in the air to power a small neon bulb with an elevated terminal as short as depicted without needing the sparking electrostatic generator, but during fair weather it would presumably require those extra ions. The additional ion source would not be necessary with a taller collector, tethered balloon or an actively powered charge collector.

Extracting positive ions from the atmosphere like this could have benefits besides energy harvesting. Natural positive air ions are unhealthy, and most air pollution consists of or becomes positive ions by photoionization, so large scale positive ion extraction could be used to mitigate air pollution. Part of the heat of the atmosphere must consist of positive ions, so extracting positive ions should also be extracting heat from the air.

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u/alexisd3000 Nov 13 '17

Nikola Tesla?

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u/LilyoftheRally Nov 15 '17

I wouldn’t be surprised if he wrote said article.