Delivered before the Institution of Electrical Engineers, London, February 1892.

http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1892-02-03.htm
I cannot find words to e!ress how dee!ly I feel the honor of addressing so"e of the
fore"ost thin#ers of the !resent ti"e, and so "any able scientific "en, engineers and
electricians, of the country greatest in scientific achieve"ents.
$he results which I have the honor to !resent before such a gathering I cannot call "y own.
$here are a"ong you not a few who can lay better clai" than "yself on any feature of "erit
which this wor# "ay contain. I need not "ention "any na"es which are world%#nown&
na"es of those a"ong you who are recogni'ed as the leaders in this enchanting science( but
one, at least, I "ust "ention&a na"e which could not be o"itted in a de"onstration of this
#ind. It is a na"e associated with the "ost beautiful invention ever "ade) it is *roo#es+
,hen I was at college, a good ti"e ago( I read, in a translation -for then I was not fa"iliar with
you "agnificent language., the descri!tion of his e!eri"ents on radiant "atter. I read it only
once in "y life&that ti"e&yet every detail about that char"ing wor# I can re"e"ber this
day. Few are the boo#s, let "e say, which can "a#e such an i"!ression u!on the "ind of a
student.
/ut if, on the !resent occasion, I "ention this na"e as one of "any your institution can boast
of, it is because I have "ore than one reason to do so. For what I have to tell you and to
show you this evening concerns, in a large "easure, that sa"e vague world which 0rofessor
*roo#es has so ably e!lored( and, "ore than this, when I trace bac# the "ental !rocess
which led "e to these advances&which even by "yself cannot be considered trifling, since
they are so a!!reciated by you&I believe that their real origin, that which started "e to wor#
in this direction, and brought "e to the", after a long !eriod of constant thought, was that
fascinating little boo# which I read "any years ago.
1nd now that I have "ade a feeble effort to e!ress "y ho"age and ac#nowledge "y
indebtedness to hi" and others a"ong you, I will "a#e a second effort, which I ho!e you will
not find so feeble as the first, to entertain you.
2ive "e leave to introduce the sub3ect in a few words.
1 short ti"e ago I had the honor to bring before our 1"erican Institute of Electrical Engineers
so"e results then arrived at by "e in a novel line of wor#. I need not assure you that the
"any evidences which I have received that English scientific "en and engineers were
interested in this wor# have been for "e a great reward and encourage"ent. I will not dwell
u!on the e!eri"ents already described, ece!t with the view of co"!leting, or "ore clearly
e!ressing, so"e ideas advanced by "e before, and also with the view of rendering the study
here !resented self%contained, and "y re"ar#s on the sub3ect of this evening4s lecture
consistent.
$his investigation, then, it goes without saying, deals with alternating currents, and, to be
"ore !recise, with alternating currents of high !otential and high fre5uency. 6ust in how
"uch a very high fre5uency is essential for the !roduction of the results !resented is a
5uestion which, even with "y !resent e!erience, would e"barrass "e to answer. 7o"e of
the e!eri"ents "ay be !erfor"ed with low fre5uencies( but very high fre5uencies are
desirable, not only on account of the "any effects secured by their use, but also as a
convenient "eans of obtaining, in the induction a!!aratus e"!loyed, the high !otentials,
which in their turn are necessary to the de"onstration of "ost of the e!eri"ents here
conte"!lated.
8f the various branches of electrical investigation, !erha!s the "ost interesting and
i""ediately the "ost !ro"ising is that dealing with alternating currents. $he !rogress in this
branch of a!!lied science has been so great in recent years that it 3ustifies the "ost sanguine
ho!es. 9ardly have we beco"e fa"iliar with one fact, when novel e!eriences are "et with
and new avenues of research are o!ened. Even at this hour !ossibilities not drea"ed of
before are, by the use of these currents, !artly reali'ed. 1s In nature all is ebb and tide, all is
wave "otion, so it see"s that in all branches of industry alternating currents&electric wave
"otion&will have the sway.
8ne reason, !erha!s, why this brand of science is being so ra!idly develo!ed is to be found
in the interest which is attached to its e!eri"ental study. ,e wind a si"!le ring of iron with
coils( we establish the connections to the generator, and with wonder and delight we note the
effects of strange forces which we bring into !lay, which allow us to transfor", to trans"it and
direct energy at will. ,e arrange the circuits !ro!erly, and we see the "ass of iron and wires
behave as though it were endowed with life, s!inning a heavy ar"ature, through invisible
connections, with great s!eed and !ower with the energy !ossibly conveyed fro" a great
distance. ,e observe how the energy of an alternating current traversing the wire "anifests
itself&not so "uch in the wire as in the surrounding s!ace&in the "ost sur!rising "anner,
ta#ing the for"s of heat, light, "echanical energy, and, "ost sur!rising of all, even che"ical
affinity. 1ll these observations fascinate us, and fill us with an intense desire to #now "ore
about the nature of these !heno"ena. Each day we go to our wor# in the ho!e of discovering
&in the ho!e that so"e one, no "atter who, "ay find a solution of one of the !ending great
!roble"s,&and each succeeding day we return to our tas# with renewed ardor( and even if
we are unsuccessful, our wor# has not been in vain, for in these strivings, in these efforts, we
have hours of untold !leasure, and we have directed our energies to the benefit of "an#ind.
,e "ay ta#e&at rando", if you choose&any of the "any e!eri"ents which "ay be
!erfor"ed with alternating currents( a few of which only, and by no "eans the "ast stri#ing,
for" the sub3ect of this evening4s de"onstration( they are all e5ually interesting, e5ually
inciting to thought.
9ere is a si"!le glass tube fro" which the air has been !artially ehausted. I ta#e hold of it( I
bring "y body in contact with a wire conveying alternating currents of high !otential, and the
tube in "y hand is brilliantly lighted. In whatever !osition I "ay !ut it, wherever I "ay "ove it
in s!ace, as far as I can reach, its soft, !leasing light !ersists with undi"inished brightness.
9ere is an ehausted bulb sus!ended fro" a single wire. 7tanding on an insulated su!!ort, I
gras! it, and a !latinu" button "ounted in it is brought to vivid incandescence.
9ere, attached to a leading wire is another bulb, which, as I touch its "etallic soc#et, is filled
with "agnificent colors of !hos!horescent light.
9ere still another, which by "y fingers4 touch casts a shadow&the *roo#es shadow, of the
ste" inside of it.
9ere, again, insulated as I stand on this !latfor", I bring "y body in contact with one of the
ter"inals of the secondary of this induction coil&with the end of a wire "any "iles long&and
you see strea"s of light brea# forth fro" its distant end, which is set in violent vibration.
9ere, once "ore, attach these two !lates of wire gau'e to the ter"inals of the coil, I set the"
a distance a!art, and I set the coil to wor#. :ou "ay see a s"all s!ar# !ass between the
!lates. I insert a thic# !late of one of the best dielectrics between the", and instead of
rendering altogether i"!ossible, as we are used to e!ect, I aid the !assage of the discharge,
which, as I insert the !late, "erely changes in a!!earance and assu"es the for" of lu"inous
strea"s.
Is there, I as#, can there be, a "ore interesting study than that of alternating currents;
In all these investigations, in all these e!eri"ents, which are so very, very interesting, for
"any years !ast&ever since the greatest e!eri"enter who lectured in this hall discovered
its !rinci!le&we have had a steady co"!anion, an a!!liance fa"iliar to every one, a
!laything once, a thing of "o"entous i"!ortance now&the induction coil. $here is no dearer
a!!liance to the electrician. Fro" the ablest a"ong you, I dare say, down to the
ine!erienced student, to your lecturer, we all have !assed "any delightful hours in
e!eri"enting with the induction coil. ,e have watched its !lay, and thought and !ondered
over the beautiful !heno"ena which it disclosed to our ravished eyes. 7o well #nown is this
a!!aratus, so fa"iliar are these !heno"ena to every one, that "y courage nearly fails "e
when I thin# that I have ventured to address so able an audience, that I have ventured to
entertain you with that sa"e old sub3ect. 9ere in reality is the sa"e a!!aratus, and here are
the sa"e !heno"ena, only the a!!aratus is o!erated so"ewhat differently, the !heno"ena
are !resented in a different as!ect. 7o"e of the results we find as e!ected, others sur!rise
us, but all ca!tivate our attention, for in scientific investigation each novel result achieved "ay
be the centre of a new de!arture, each novel fact learned "ay lead to i"!ortant
develo!"ents.
<sually in o!erating an induction foil we have set u! a vibration of "oderate fre5uency in the
!ri"ary, either by "eans of an interru!ter or brea#, or by the use of an alternator. Earlier
English investigators, to "ention only 7!ottiswoode and 6. E. 9. 2ordon, have used a ra!id
brea# in connection with the coil. 8ur #nowledge and e!erience of to%day enables us to see
clearly why these coils under the conditions of the tests did not disclose any re"ar#able
!heno"ena, and why able e!eri"enters failed to !erceive "any of the curious effects which
have since been observed.
In the e!eri"ents such as !erfor"ed this evening, we o!erate the coil either fro" a s!ecially
constructed alternator ca!able of giving "any thousands of reversals of current !er second,
or, by disru!tively discharging a condenser through the !ri"ary, we set u! a vibration in the
secondary circuit of a fre5uency of "any hundred thousand or "illions !er second, if we so
desire( and in using either of these "eans we enter a field as yet une!lored.
It is i"!ossible to !ursue an investigation in any novel line without finally "a#ing so"e
interesting observation or learning so"e useful fact. $hat this state"ent is a!!licable to the
sub3ect of this lecture the "any curious and une!ected !heno"ena which we observe afford
a convincing !roof. /y way of illustration, ta#e for instance the "ost obvious !heno"ena,
those of the discharge of the induction coil.
9ere is a coil which is o!erated by currents vibrating with etre"e ra!idity, obtained by
disru!tively discharging a Leyden 3ar. It would not sur!rise a student were the lecturer to say
that the secondary of this coil consists of a s"all length of co"!aratively stout wire( it would
not sur!rise hi" were the lecturer to state that, in s!ite of this, the coil is ca!able of giving any
!otential which the best insulation of the turns is able to withstand( but although he "ay be
!re!ared, and even be indifferent as to the antici!ated result, yet the as!ect of the discharge
of the coil will sur!rise and interest hi". Every one is fa"iliar with the discharge of an ordinary
coil( it need not be re!roduced here. /ut, by way of contrast, here is a for" of discharge of a
coil, the !ri"ary current of which is vibrating several hundred thousand ti"es !er second.
$he discharge of an ordinary coil a!!ears as a si"!le line or band of light. $he discharge of
this coil a!!ears in the for" of !owerful brushes and lu"inous strea"s issuing fro" all !oints
of the two straight wires attached to the ter"inals of the secondary -Fig. 1..
=ow co"!are this !heno"enon which you have 3ust witnessed with the discharge of a 9olt'
or ,i"shurst "achine&that other interesting a!!liance, so dear to the e!eri"enter. ,hat a
difference there is between these !heno"ena+ 1nd yet, had I "ade the necessary
arrange"ents&which could have been "ade easily, were it not that they would interfere with
other e!eri"ents&I could have !roduced with this coil s!ar#s which, had I the coil hidden
fro" your view and only two #nobs e!osed, even the #eenest observer a"ong you would
find it difficult, if not i"!ossible, to distinguish fro" those of an influence or friction "achine.
$his "ay be done in "any ways&for instance, by o!erating the induction coil which charges
the condenser fro" an alternating%current "achine of very low fre5uency, and !referably
ad3usting the discharge circuit so that there are no oscillations set u! in it. ,e then obtain in
the secondary circuit, if the #nobs are of the re5uired si'e and !ro!erly set, a "ore or less
ra!id succession of s!ar#s of great intensity and s"all 5uantity, which !ossess the sa"e
brilliancy, and are acco"!anied by the sa"e shar! crac#ling sound, as those obtained fro" a
friction or influence "achine.
1nother way is to !ass through two !ri"ary circuits, having a co""on secondary, two
currents of a slightly different !eriod, which !roduce in the secondary circuit s!ar#s occurring
at co"!aratively long intervals. /ut, even with the "eans at hand this evening, I "ay succeed
in i"itating the s!ar# of a 9olt' "achine. For this !ur!ose I establish between the ter"inals
of the coil which charges the condenser a long, unsteady arc, which is !eriodically interru!ted
by the u!ward current of air !roduced by it. $o increase the current of air I !lace on each side
of the arc, and close to it, a large !late of "ica. $he condenser charged fro" this coil
discharge into the !ri"ary circuit of a second coil through a s"all air ga!, which is necessary
to !roduce a sudden rush of current through the !ri"ary. $he sche"e of connections in the
!resent e!eri"ent is indicated in Fig. 2.
G is an ordinarily constructed alternator, su!!lying the !ri"ary P of an induction coil, the
secondary S of which charges the condensers or 3ars C C. $he ter"inals of the secondary
are connected to the inside coatings of the 3ars, the outer coatings being connected to the
ends of the !ri"ary p p of a second induction coil. $his !ri"ary p p has a s"all air ga! a b.
$he secondary s of this coil is !rovided with #nobs or s!heres K K of the !ro!er si'e and set
at a distance suitable for the e!eri"ent.
1 long arc is established between the ter"inals A B of the first induction coil. M M are the
"ica !lates.
Each ti"e the arc is bro#en between A and B the 3ars are 5uic#ly charged and discharged
through the !ri"ary p p, !roducing a sna!!ing s!ar# between the #nobs K K. <!on the arc
for"ing between A and B the !otential falls, and the 3ars cannot be charged to such high
!otential as to brea# through the air ga! a b until the arc is again bro#en by the draught.
In this "anner sudden i"!ulses, at long intervals, are !roduced in the !ri"ary P P, which in
the secondary s give a corres!onding nu"ber of i"!ulses of great intensity. If the secondary
#nobs or s!heres K K are of the !ro!er si'e, the s!ar#s show "uch rese"blance to those of
a 9olt' "achine. /ut these two effects, which to the eye a!!ear so very different, are only
two of the "any discharge !heno"ena. ,e only need to change the conditions of the test,
and again we "a#e other observations of interest.
,hen, instead of o!erating the induction coil as in the last two e!eri"ents, we o!erate it
fro" a high fre5uency alternator, as in the net e!eri"ent, a syste"atic study of the
!heno"ena is rendered "uch "ore easy. In such case, in varying the strength and
fre5uency of the currents through the !ri"ary, we "ay observe five distinct for"s of
discharge, which I have described in "y for"er !a!er on the sub3ect before the 1"erican
Institute of Electrical Engineers, >ay 2?, 1891 @E!eri"ents ,ith 1lternate *urrents of Aery
9igh Fre5uency and $heir 1!!lication to >ethods of 1rtificial Illu"inationB -see $he Electrical
,orld, 6uly 11, 1891..
It would ta#e too "uch ti"e, and it would lead us too far fro" the sub3ect !resented this
evening, to re!roduce all these for"s, but it see"s to "e desirable to show you one of the".
It is a brush discharge, which is interesting in "ore than one res!ect. Aiewed fro" a near
!osition it rese"bles "uch a 3et of gas esca!ing under great !ressure. ,e #now that the
!heno"enon is due to the agitation of the "olecules near the ter"inal, and we antici!ate that
so"e heat "ust be develo!ed by the i"!act of the "olecules against the ter"inal or against
each other. Indeed, we find that the brush is hot, and only a little thought leads us to the
conclusion that, could we but reach sufficiently high fre5uencies, we could !roduce a brush
which would give intense light and heat, and which would rese"ble in every !articular an
ordinary fla"e, save, !erha!s, that both !heno"ena "ight not be due to the sa"e agent&
save, !erha!s, that che"ical affinity "ight not be electrical in its nature.
1s the !roduction of heat and light is here due to the i"!act of the "olecules, or ato"s of air,
or so"ething else besides, and, as we can aug"ent the energy si"!ly by raising the
!otential, we "ight, even with fre5uencies obtained fro" a dyna"o "achine, intensify the
action to such a degree as to bring the ter"inal to "elting heat. /ut with such low
fre5uencies we would have to deal always with so"ething of the nature of an electric current.
If I a!!roach a conducting ob3ect to the brush, a thin little s!ar# !asses, yet, even with the
fre5uencies used this evening, the tendency to s!ar# is not very great. 7o, for instance, if I
hold a "etallic s!here at so"e distance above the ter"inal you "ay see the whole s!ace
between the ter"inal and s!here illu"inated by the strea"s without the s!ar# !assing( and
with the "uch higher fre5uencies obtainable by the disru!tive discharge of a condenser, were
it not for the sudden i"!ulses, which are co"!aratively few in nu"ber, s!ar#ing would not
occur even at very s"all distances. 9owever, with inco"!arably higher fre5uencies, which
we "ay yet find "eans to !roduce efficiently, and !rovided that electric i"!ulses of such high
fre5uencies could be trans"itted through a conductor, the electrical characteristics of the
brush discharge would co"!letely vanish&no s!ar# would !ass, no shoc# would be felt&yet
we would still have to deal with an electric !heno"enon, but in the broad, "odern
inter!retation of the word. In "y first !a!er before referred to I have !ointed out the curious
!ro!erties of the brush, and described the best "anner of !roducing it, but I have thought it
worth while to endeavor to e!ress "yself "ore clearly in regard to this !heno"enon,
because of its absorbing interest.
,hen a coil is o!erated with currents of very high fre5uency, beautiful brush effects "ay be
!roduced, even if the coil be of co"!aratively s"all di"ensions. $he e!eri"enter "ay vary
the" in "any ways, and, if it were nothing else, they afford a !leasing sight. ,hat adds to
their interest is that they "ay be !roduced with one single ter"inal as well as with two&in
fact, often better with one than with two.
/ut of all the discharge !heno"ena observed, the "ost !leasing to the eye, and the "ost
instructive, are those observed with a coil which is o!erated by "eans of the disru!tive
discharge of a condenser. $he !ower of the brushes, the abundance of the s!ar#s, when the
conditions are !atiently ad3usted, is often a"a'ing. ,ith even a very s"all coil, if it be so well
insulated as to stand a difference of !otential of several thousand volts !er turn, the s!ar#s
"ay be so abundant that the whole coil "ay a!!ear a co"!lete "ass of fire.
*uriously enough the s!ar#s, when the ter"inals of the coil are set at a considerable
distance, see" to dart in every !ossible direction as though the ter"inals were !erfectly
inde!endent of each other. 1s the s!ar#s would soon destroy the insulation it is necessary to
!revent the". $his is best done by i""ersing the coil in a good li5uid insulator, such as
boiled%out oil. I""ersion in a li5uid "ay be considered al"ost an absolute necessity for the
continued and successful wor#ing of such a coil.
It is, of course, out of the 5uestion, in an e!eri"ental lecture, with only a few "inutes at
dis!osal for the !erfor"ance of each e!eri"ent, to show these discharge !heno"ena to
advantage, as to !roduce each !heno"enon at its best a very careful ad3ust"ent is re5uired.
/ut even if i"!erfectly !roduced, as they are li#ely to be this evening, they are sufficiently
stri#ing to interest an intelligent audience.
/efore showing so"e of these curious effects I "ust, for the sa#e of co"!leteness, give a
short descri!tion of the coil and other a!!aratus used in the e!eri"ents with the disru!tive
discharge this evening.
It is contained in a bo B -Fig. C. of thic# boards of hard wood, covered on the outside with
'inc sheet Z, which is carefully soldered all around. It "ight be advisable, in a strictly
scientific investigation, when accuracy is of great i"!ortance, to do away with the "etal
cover, as it "ight introduce "any errors, !rinci!ally on account of its co"!le action u!on the
coil, as a condenser of very s"all ca!acity and as an electrostatic and electro"agnetic
screen. ,hen the coil is used for such e!eri"ents as are here conte"!lated, the
e"!loy"ent of the "etal cover offers so"e !ractical advantages, but these are not of
sufficient i"!ortance to be dwelt u!on.
$he coil should be !laced sy""etrically to the "etal cover, and the s!ace between should, of
course, not be too s"all, certainly not less than, say, five centi"eters, but "uch "ore if
!ossible( es!ecially the two sides of the 'inc bo, which are at right angles to the ais of the
coil, should be sufficiently re"ote fro" the latter, as otherwise they "ight i"!air its action and
be a source of loss.
$he coil consists of two s!ools of hard rubber R R held a!art at a distance of 1? centi"etres
by bolts c and nuts n, li#ewise of hard rubber. Each s!ool co"!rises a tube T of
a!!roi"ately 8 centi"etres inside dia"eter, and C "illi"etres thic#, u!on which are screwed
two flanges F F, 2D centi"etres s5uare, the s!ace between the flanges being about C
centi"etres. $he secondary, S S, of the best gutta !ercha%covered wire, has 2E layers, 1?
turns in each, giving for each half a total of 2E? turns. $he two halves are wound o!!ositely
and connected in series, the connection between both being "ade over the !ri"ary. $his
dis!osition besides being convenient, has the advantage that when the coil is well balanced&
that is, when both of its ter"inals T1 T1 are connected to bodies or devices of e5ual ca!acity
&there is not "uch danger of brea#ing through to the !ri"ary, and the insulation between the
!ri"ary and the secondary need not be thic#. In using the coil it is advisable to attach
to both ter"inals devices of nearly e5ual ca!acity, as, when the ca!acity of the ter"inals is
not e5ual, s!ar#s will be a!t to !ass to the !ri"ary. $o avoid this, the "iddle !oint of the
secondary "ay be connected to the !ri"ary, but this is not always !racticable.
$he !ri"ary P P is wound in two !arts, and o!!ositely, u!on a wooden s!ool W, and the four
ends are led out of the oil through hard rubber tubes t t. $he ends of the secondary T1T1 are
also led out of the oil through rubber tubes t1 t1 of great thic#ness. $he !ri"ary and
secondary layers are insulated by cotton cloth, the thic#ness of the insulation, of course,
bearing so"e !ro!ortion to the difference of !otential between the turns of the different
layers. Each half of the !ri"ary has four layers, 2D turns in each, this giving a total of 9E
turns. ,hen both the !arts are connected in series, this gives a ratio of conversion of about
1)2.F, and with the !ri"aries in "ulti!le, 1)G.D but in o!erating with very ra!idly alternating
currents this ratio does not convey even an a!!roi"ate idea of the ratio of the E.>.Fs. in the
!ri"ary and secondary circuits. $he coil is held in !osition in the oil on wooden su!!orts,
there being about G centi"etres thic#ness of oil all round. ,here the oil is not s!ecially
needed, the s!ace is filled with !ieces of wood, and for this !ur!ose !rinci!ally the wooden
bo / surrounding the whole is used.
$he construction here shown is, of course, not the best on general !rinci!les, but I believe it is
a good and convenient one for the !roduction of effects in which an ecessive !otential and a
very s"all current are needed.
In connection with the coil I use either the ordinary for" of discharger or a "odified for". In
the for"er I have introduced two changes which secure so"e advantages, and which are
obvious. If they are "entioned, it is only in the ho!e that so"e e!eri"enter "ay find the" of
use.
8ne of the changes is that the ad3ustable #nobs A and B -Fig. D., of the discharger are held in
3aws of brass, J J, by s!ring !ressure, this allowing of turning the" successively into different
!ositions, and so doing away with the tedious !rocess of fre5uent !olishing u!.
$he other change consists in the e"!loy"ent of a strong electro"agnet N S, which is !laced
with its ais at right angles to the line 3oining the #nobs A and B, and !roduces a strong
"agnetic field between the". $he !ole !ieces of the "agnet are "ovable and !ro!erly
for"ed so as to !rotrude between the brass #nobs, in order to "a#e the field as intense as
!ossible( but to !revent the discharge fro" 3u"!ing to the "agnet the !ole !ieces are
!rotected by a layer of "ica, M M, of sufficient thic#ness, sl sl and s2 s2 are screws for
fastening the wires. 8n each side one of the screws is for large and the other for s"all
wires. L L are screws for fiing in !osition the rods R R, which su!!ort the #nobs.
In another arrange"ent with the "agnet I ta#e the discharge between the rounded !ole
!ieces the"selves, which in such case are insulated and !referably !rovided with !olished
brass ca!s.
$he e"!loy"ent of an intense "agnetic field is of advantage !rinci!ally when the induction
coil or transfor"er which charges the condenser is o!erated by currents of very low
fre5uency. In such a case the nu"ber of the funda"ental discharges between the #nobs "ay
be so s"all as to render the currents !roduced in the secondary unsuitable for "any
e!eri"ents. $he intense "agnetic field then serves to blow out the arc between the #nobs
as soon as it is for"ed, and the funda"ental discharges occur in 5uic#er succession.
Instead of the "agnet, a draught or blast of air "ay be e"!loyed with so"e advantage. In
this case the arc is !referably established between the #nobs A B, in Fig. 2 -the #nobs a
bbeing generally 3oined, or entirely done away with., as in this dis!osition the arc is long and
unsteady, and is easily affected by the draught.
,hen a "agnet is e"!loyed to brea# the arc, it is better to choose the connection indicated
diagra""atically in Fig G, as in this case the currents for"ing the arc are "uch "ore
!owerful, and the "agnetic field eercises a greater influence. $he use of the "agnet
!er"its, however, of the arc being re!laced by a vacuu" tube, but I have encountered great
difficulties in wor#ing with an ehausted tube.
$he other for" of discharger used in these and si"ilar e!eri"ents is indicated in Figs. E and
F. It consists of a nu"ber of brass !ieces c c -Fig. E., each of which co"!rises a s!herical
"iddle !ortion " with an etension e below&which is "erely used to fasten the !iece in a
lathe when !olishing u! the discharging surface&and a colu"n above, which consists of a
#nurled flange f sur"ounted by a threaded ste" I carrying a nut n, by "eans of which a wire
is fastened to the colu"n. $he flange f conveniently serves for holding the brass !iece when
fastening the wire, and also for turning it in any !osition when it beco"es necessary to
!resent a fresh discharging surface. $wo stout stri!s of hard rubber R R, with !laned
grooves -Fig. F. to fit the "iddle !ortion of the !ieces c c, serve to cla"! the latter and
hold the" fir"ly in !osition by "eans of two bolts C C -of which only one is shown. !assing
through the ends of the stri!s.
In the use of this #ind of discharger I have found three !rinci!al advantages over the ordinary
for". First, the dielectric strength of a given total width of air s!ace is greater when a great
"any s"all air ga!s are used instead of one, which !er"its of wor#ing with a s"aller length
of air ga!, and that "eans s"aller loss and less deterioration of the "etal( secondly by
reason of s!litting the arc u! into s"aller arcs, the !olished surfaces are "ade to last "uch
longer( and, thirdly, the a!!aratus affords so"e gauge in the e!eri"ents. I usually set the
!ieces by !utting between the" sheets of unifor" thic#ness at a certain very s"all distance
which is #nown fro" the e!eri"ents of 7ir ,illia" $ho"son to re5uire a certain
electro"otive force to be bridged by the s!ar#.
It should, of course, be re"e"bered that the s!ar#ing distance is "uch di"inished as the
fre5uency is increased. /y ta#ing any nu"ber of s!aces the e!eri"enter has a rough idea
of the electro"otive force, and he finds it easier to re!eat an e!eri"ent, as he has not the
trouble of setting the #nobs again and again. ,ith this #ind of discharger I have been able to
"aintain an oscillating "otion without any s!ar# being visible with the na#ed eye between the
#nobs, and they would not show a very a!!reciable rise in te"!erature. $his for" of
discharger also lends itself to "any arrange"ents of condensers and circuits which are often
very convenient and ti"esaving. I have used it !referably in a dis!osition si"ilar to that
indicated in Fig. 2, when the currents for"ing the arcs are s"all.
I "ay here "ention that I have also used dischargers with single or "ulti!le air ga!s, in which
the discharge surfaces were rotated with great s!eed. =o !articular advantage was,
however, gained by this "ethod, ece!t in cases where the currents fro" the condenser were
large and the #ee!ing cool of the surfaces was necessary, and in cases when, the discharge
not being oscillating of itself, the arc as soon as established was bro#en by the air current,
thus starting the vibration at intervals in ra!id succession. I have also used "echanical
interru!ters in "any ways. $o avoid the difficulties with frictional contacts, the !referred !lan
ado!ted was to establish the arc and rotate through it at great s!eed a ri" of "ica !rovided
with "any holes and fastened to a steel !late.
It is understood, of course, that the e"!loy"ent of a "agnet, air current, or other interru!ter,
!roduces an effect worth noticing, unless the self%induction, ca!acity and resistance are so
related that there are oscillations set u! u!on each interru!tion.
I will now endeavor to show you so"e of the "ost noteworthy of these discharge !heno"ena.
I have stretched across the roo" two ordinary cotton covered wires, each about F "etres in
length. $hey are su!!orted on insulating cords at a distance of about C? centi"etres. I
attach now to each of the ter"inals of the coil one of the wires and set the coil in action.
<!on turning the lights off in the roo" you see the wires strongly illu"inated by the strea"s
issuing abundantly fro" their whole surface in s!ite of the cotton covering, which "ay even
be very thic#. ,hen the e!eri"ent is !erfor"ed under good conditions, the light fro" the
wires is sufficiently intense to allow distinguishing the ob3ects in a roo". $o !roduce the best
result it is, of course, necessary to ad3ust carefully the ca!acity of the 3ars, the arc between
the #nobs and the length of the wires. >y e!erience is that calculation of the length of the
wires leads, in such case, to no result whatever. $he e!eri"enter will do best to ta#e the
wires at the start very long, and then ad3ust by cutting off first long !ieces, and then s"aller
and s"aller ones as he a!!roaches the right length.
1 convenient way is to use an oil condenser of very s"all ca!acity, consisting of two s"all
ad3ustable "etal !lates, in connection with this and si"ilar e!eri"ents. In such case I ta#e
wires rather short and set at the beginning the condenser !lates at "ai"u" distance. If the
strea"s for the wires increase by a!!roach of the !lates, the length of the wires is about right(
if they di"inish the wires are too long for that fre5uency and !otential. ,hen a condenser is
used in connection with e!eri"ents with such a coil, it should be an oil condenser by all
"eans, as in using an air condenser considerable energy "ight be wasted. $he wires leading
to the !lates in the oil should be very thin, heavily coated with so"e insulating co"!ound, and
!rovided with a conducting covering&this !referably etending under the surface of the oil.
$he conducting cover should not be too near the ter"inals, or ends, of the wire, as a s!ar#
would be a!t to 3u"! fro" the wire to it. $he conducting coating is used to di"inish the air
losses, in virtue of its action as an electrostatic screen. 1s to the si'e of the vessel containing
the oil and the site of the !lates, the e!eri"enter gains at once an idea fro" a rough trial.
$he si'e of the !lates in oil is, however, calculable, as the dielectric losses are very s"all.
In the !receding e!eri"ent it is of considerable interest to #now what relation the 5uantity of
the light e"itted bears to the fre5uency and !otential of the electric i"!ulses. >y o!inion is
that the heat as well as light effects !roduced should be !ro!ortionate, under otherwise e5ual
conditions of test, to the !roduct of fre5uency and s5uare of !otential, but the e!eri"ental
verification of the law, whatever it "ay be, would be eceedingly difficult. 8ne thing is certain,
at any rate, and that is, that in aug"enting the !otential and fre5uency we ra!idly intensify the
strea"s( and, though it "ay be very sanguine, it is surely not altogether ho!eless to e!ect
that we "ay succeed in !roducing a !ractical illu"inant on these lines. ,e would then be
si"!ly using burners or fla"es, in which there would be no che"ical !rocess, no
consu"!tion of "aterial, but "erely a transfer of energy, and which would, in all !robability
e"it "ore light and less heat than ordinary fla"es.
$he lu"inous intensity of the strea"s is, of course, considerably increased when they are
focused u!on a s"all surface. $his "ay be shown by the following e!eri"ent)
I attach to one of the ter"inals of the coil a wire w -Fig. 8., bent in a circle of about C?
centi"etres in dia"eter, and to the other ter"inal I fasten a s"all brass s!here s, the surface
of the wire being !referably e5ual to the surface of the s!here, and the centre of the latter
being in a line at right angles to the !lane of the wire circle and !assing through its centre.
,hen the discharge is established under !ro!er conditions, a lu"inous hollow cone is
for"ed, and in the dar# one%half of the brass s!here is strongly illu"inated, as shown in the
cut.
/y so"e artifice or other, it is easy to concentrate the strea"s u!on s"all surfaces and to
!roduce very strong light effects. $wo thin wires "ay thus be rendered intensely lu"inous. In
order to intensify the strea"s, the wires should be very thin and short( but as in this case their
ca!acity would be generally too s"all for the coil&at least, for such a one as the !resent&it
is necessary to aug"ent the ca!acity to the re5uired value, while, al the sa"e ti"e, the
surface of the wires re"ains very s"all. $his "ay be done in "any ways.
9ere, for instance, I have two !lates R R, of hard rubber -Fig. 9., u!on which I have glued two
very thin wires ! !, so as to for" a na"e. $he wires "ay be bare or covered with the best
insulation&it is i""aterial for the success of the e!eri"ent. ,ell%insulated wires, if
anything, are !referable. 8n the bac# of each !late, indicated by the shaded !ortion, is a
tinfoil coating t t. $he !lates are !laced in line at a sufficient distance to !revent a s!ar#
!assing fro" one to the other wire. $he two tinfoil coatings I have 3oined by a conductor C,
and the two wires I !resently connect to the ter"inals of the coil. It is now easy, by varying
the strength and fre5uency of the currents through the !ri"ary, to find a !oint at which the
ca!acity of the syste" is best suited to the conditions, and the wires beco"e so strongly
lu"inous that, when the light in the roo" is turned off the na"e for"ed by the" a!!ears in
brilliant letters.
It is !erha!s !referable to !erfor" this e!eri"ent with a coil o!erated fro" an alternator of
high fre5uency, as then, owing to the har"onic rise and fall, the strea"s are very unifor",
though they are less abundant than when !roduced with such a coil as the !resent. $his
e!eri"ent, however, "ay be !erfor"ed with low fre5uencies, but "uch less satisfactorily.
,hen two wires, attached to the ter"inals of the coil, are set at the !ro!er distance, the
strea"s between the" "ay be so intense as to !roduce a continuous lu"inous sheet. $o
show this !heno"enon I have here two circles, * and c -Fig. 1?., of rather stout wire, one
being about 8? centi"etres and the other C? centi"etres in dia"eter. $o each of the
ter"inals of the coil I attach one of the circles. $he su!!orting wires are so bent that the
circles "ay be !laced in the sa"e !lane, coinciding as nearly as !ossible. ,hen the light in
the roo" is turned off and the coil set to wor#, you see the whole s!ace between the wires
unifor"ly filled with strea"s, for"ing a lu"inous disc, which could be seen fro" a
considerable distance, such is the intensity of the strea"s. $he outer circle could have been
"uch larger than the !resent one( in fact, with this coil I have used "uch larger circles, and I
have been able to !roduce a strongly lu"inous sheet, covering an area of "ore than one
s5uare "etre, which is a re"ar#able effect with this very s"all coil. $o avoid uncertainty, the
circle has been ta#en s"aller, and the area is now about ?.DC s5uare "etre.
$he fre5uency of the vibration, and the 5uic#ness of succession of the s!ar#s between the
#nobs, affect to a "ar#ed degree the a!!earance of the strea"s. ,hen the fre5uency is very
low, the air gives way in "ore or less the sa"e "anner, as by a steady difference of !otential,
and the strea"s consist of distinct threads, generally "ingled with thin s!ar#s, which !robably
corres!ond to the successive discharges occurring between the #nobs. /ut when the
fre5uency is etre"ely high, and the arc of the discharge !roduces a
very lo"dbut s#ooth sound&showing both that oscillation ta#es !lace and that the s!ar#s
succeed each other with great ra!idity&then the lu"inous strea"s for"ed are !erfectly
unifor". $o reach this result very s"all coils and 3ars of s"all ca!acity should be used. I ta#e
two tubes of thic# /ohe"ian glass, about G centi"etres in dia"eter and 2? centi"etres long.
In each of the tubes I sli! a !ri"ary of very thic# co!!er wire. 8n the to! of each tube I wind
a secondary of "uch thinner gutta%!ercha covered wire. $he two secondaries I connect in
series, the !ri"aries !referably in "ulti!le arc. $he tubes are then !laced in a large glass
vessel, at a distance of l? to 1G centi"etres fro" each other, on insulating su!!orts, and the
vessel is filled with boiled out oil, the oil reaching about an inch above the tubes. $he free
ends of the secondary are lifted out of the oil and !laced !arallel to each other at a distance of
about 1? centi"etres. $he ends which are scra!ed should be di!!ed in the oil. $wo four%!int
3ars 3oined in series "ay be used to discharge through the !ri"ary. ,hen the necessary
ad3ust"ents in the length and distance of the wires above the oil and in the arc of discharge
are "ade, a lu"inous sheet is !roduced between the wires, which is !erfectly s"ooth and
tetureless, li#e the ordinary discharge through a "oderately ehausted tube.
I have !ur!osely dwelt u!on this a!!arently insignificant e!eri"ent. In trials of this #ind the
e!eri"enter arrives at the startling conclusion that, to !ass ordinary lu"inous discharges
through gases, no !articular degree of ehaustion is needed, but that the gas "ay be at
ordinary or even greater !ressure. $o acco"!lish this, a very high fre5uency is essential( a
high !otential is li#ewise re5uired, but this is a "erely incidental necessity. $hese
e!eri"ents teach us that, in endeavoring to discover novel "ethods of !roducing light by the
agitation of ato"s, or "olecules, of a gas, we need not li"it our research to the vacuu" tube,
but "ay loo# forward 5uite seriously to the !ossibility of obtaining the light effects without the
use of any vessel whatever, with air at ordinary !ressure.
7uch discharges of very high fre5uency, which render lu"inous the air at ordinary !ressures,
we have !robably often occasion to witness in =ature. I have no doubt that if, as "any
believe, the aurora borealis is !roduced by sudden cos"ic disturbances, such as eru!tions at
the sun4s surface, which set the electrostatic charge of the earth in an etre"ely ra!id
vibration the red glow observed is not confined to the u!!er rarefied strata of the air, but the
discharge traverses, by reason of its very high fre5uency, also the dense at"os!here in the
for" of a lo!, such as we ordinarily !roduce in a slightly ehausted tube. If the fre5uency
were very low or even "ore so, if the charge were not at all vibrating, the dense air would
brea# down as in a lightning discharge. Indications of such brea#ing down of the lower dense
strata of the air have been re!eatedly observed at the occurrence of this "arvelous
!heno"enon( but if it does occur( it can only be attributed to the funda"ental disturbances,
which are few in nu"ber, for the vibration !roduced by the" would be far too ra!id to allow a
disru!tive brea#. It is the original and irregular i"!ulses which affect the instru"ents( the
su!eri"!osed vibrations !robably !ass unnoticed.
,hen an ordinary low fre5uency discharge is !assed through "oderately rarefied air, the air
assu"es a !ur!lish hue. If by so"e "eans or other we increase the intensity of the
"olecular, or ato"ic, vibration, the gas changes to a white color. 1 si"ilar change occurs at
ordinary !ressures with electric i"!ulses of very high fre5uency. If the "olecules of the air
around a wire are "oderately agitated, the brush for"ed is reddish or violet( if the vibration is
rendered sufficiently intense, the strea"s beco"e white. ,e "ay acco"!lish this in various
ways. In the e!eri"ent before shown with the two wires across the roo", I have
endeavored to secure the result by !ushing to a high value both the fre5uency and !otential(
in the e!eri"ent with the thin wires glued on the rubber !late I have concentrated the action
u!on a very s"all surface&in other words, I have wor#ed with a great electric density.
1 "ost curious for" of discharge is observed with such a coil when the fre5uency and
!otential are !ushed to the etre"e li"it. $o !erfor" the e!eri"ent, every !art of the coil
should be heavily insulated, and only two s"all s!heres&or, better still, two shar!%edged
"etal discs -d d, Fig. 11. of no "ore than a few centi"etres in dia"eter&should be e!osed
to the air. $he coil here used i""ersed in oil, and the ends of the secondary reaching out of
the oil are covered with an airtight cover of hard rubber of great thic#ness. 1ll crac#s, if there
are any, should be carefully sto!!ed u!, so that the brush discharge cannot for" anywhere
ece!t on the s"all s!heres or !lates which are e!osed to the air. In this case, since there
are no large !lates or other bodies of ca!acity attached to the ter"inals, the coil is ca!able of
an etre"ely ra!id vibration. $he !otential "ay be raised by increasing, as far as the
e!eri"enter 3udges !ro!er, the rate of change of the !ri"ary current. ,ith a coil not widely
differing fro" the !resent, it is best to connect the two !ri"aries in "ulti!le arc( but if the
secondary should have a "uch greater nu"ber of turns the !ri"aries should !referably be
used in series, as otherwise the vibration "ight be too fast for the secondary. It occurs under
these conditions that "isty white strea"s brea# forth fro" the edges of the discs and s!read
out !hanto"%li#e into s!ace. ,ith this coil, when fairly well !roduced, they are about 2G to C?
centi"etres long. ,hen the hand is held against the" no sensation is !roduced, and a
s!ar#, causing a shoc#, 3u"!s fro" the ter"inal only u!on the hand being brought "uch
nearer. If the oscillation of the !ri"ary current is rendered inter"ittent by so"e "eans or
other, there is a corres!onding throbbing of the strea"s, and now the hand or other
conducting ob3ect "ay be brought in still greater !roi"ity to the ter"inal without a s!ar#
being caused to 3u"!.
1"ong the "any beautiful !heno"ena which "ay be !roduced with such a coil I have here
selected only those which a!!ear to !ossess so"e features of novelty, and lead us to so"e
conclusions of interest. 8ne will not find it at all difficult to !roduce in the laboratory, by
"eans of it, "any other !heno"ena which a!!eal to the eye even "ore than these here
shown, but !resent no !articular feature of novelty.
Early e!eri"enters describe the dis!lay of s!ar#s !roduced by an ordinary large induction
coil u!on an insulating !late se!arating the ter"inals. Huite recently 7ie"ens !erfor"ed
so"e e!eri"ents in which fine effects were obtained, which were seen by "any with
interest. =o doubt large coils, even if o!erated with currents of low fre5uencies, are ca!able
of !roducing beautiful effects. /ut the largest coil ever "ade could not, by far, e5ual the
"agnificent dis!lay of strea"s and s!ar#s obtained fro" such a disru!tive discharge coil
when !ro!erly ad3usted. $o give an idea, a coil such as the !resent one will cover easily a
!late of 1 "etre in dia"eter co"!letely with the strea"s. $he best way to !erfor" such
e!eri"ents is to ta#e a very thin rubber or a glass !late and glue on one side of it a narrow
ring of tinfoil of very large dia"eter, and on the other a circular washer, the centre of the latter
coinciding with that of the ring, and the surfaces of both being !referably e5ual, so as to #ee!
the coil well balanced. $he washer and ring should be connected to the ter"inals by heavily
insulated thin wires. It is easy in observing the effect of the ca!acity to !roduce a sheet of
unifor" strea"s, or a fine networ# of thin silvery threads, or a "ass of loud brilliant s!ar#s,
which co"!letely cover the !late.
7ince I have advanced the idea of the conversion by "eans of the disru!tive discharge, in "y
!a!er before the 1"erican Institute of Electrical Engineers at the beginning of the !ast year,
the interest ecited in it has been considerable. It affords us a "eans for !roducing any
!otentials by the aid of ine!ensive coils o!erated fro" ordinary syste"s of distribution, and
&what is !erha!s "ore a!!reciated&it enables us to convert currents of any fre5uency into
currents of any other lower or higher fre5uency. /ut its chief value will !erha!s be found in
the hel! which it will afford us in the investigations of the !heno"ena of !hos!horescence,
which a disru!tive discharge coil is ca!able of eciting in innu"erable cases where ordinary
coils, even the largest, would utterly fail.
*onsidering its !robable uses for "any !ractical !ur!oses, and its !ossible introduction into
laboratories for scientific research, a few additional re"ar#s as to the construction of such a
coil will !erha!s not be found su!erfluous.
It is, of course, absolutely necessary to e"!loy in such a coil wires !rovided with the best
insulation.
2ood coils "ay be !roduced by e"!loying wires covered with several layers of cotton, boiling
the coil a long ti"e in !ure wa, and cooling under "oderate !ressure. $he advantage of
such a coil is that it can be easily handled, but it cannot !robably give as satisfactory results
as a coil i""ersed in !ure oil. /esides, it see"s that the !resence of a large body of wa
affects the coil disadvantageously, whereas this does not see" to be the case with oil.
0erha!s it is because the dielectric losses in the li5uid are s"aller.
I have tried at first sil# and cotton covered wires with oil i""ersion( but I have been gradually
led to use gutta%!ercha covered wires, which !roved "ost satisfactory. 2utta%!ercha
insulation adds, of course, to the ca!acity of the coil, and this, es!ecially if the coil be large, is
a great disadvantage when etre"e fre5uencies are desired( but, on the other hand, gutta%
!ercha will withstand "uch "ore than an e5ual thic#ness of oil, and this advantage should be
secured at any !rice. 8nce the coil has been i""ersed, it should never be ta#en out of the
oil for "ore than a few hours, else the gutta%!ercha will crac# u! and the coil will not be worth
half as "uch as before. 2utta%!ercha is !robably slowly attac#ed by the oil, but after an
i""ersion of eight to nine "onths I have found no ill effects.
I have obtained in co""erce two #inds of gutta%!ercha wire) in one the insulation stic#s tightly
to the "etal, in the other it does not. <nless a s!ecial "ethod is followed to e!el all air, it is
"uch safer to use the first #ind. I wind the coil within an oil tan# so that all interstices are
filled u! with the oil. /etween the layers I use cloth boiled out thoroughly in oil, calculating the
thic#ness according to the difference of !otential between the turns. $here see"s not to be a
very great difference whatever #ind of oil is used( I use !araffin or linseed oil.
$o eclude "ore !erfectly the air, an ecellent way to !roceed, and easily !racticable with
s"all coils, is the following) *onstruct a bo of hard wood of very thic# boards which have
been for a long ti"e boiled in oil. $he boards should be so 3oined as to safely withstand the
eternal air !ressure. $he coil being !laced and fastened in !osition within the bo, the latter
is closed with a strong lid, and covered with closely fitting "etal sheets, the 3oints of which are
soldered very carefully. 8n the to! two s"all holes are drilled, !assing through the "etal
sheet and the wood, and in these holes two s"all glass tubes are inserted and the 3oints
"ade air%tight. 8ne of the tubes is connected to a vacuu" !u"! and the other with a vessel
containing a sufficient 5uantity of boiled%out oil. $he latter tube has a very s"all hole at the
botto", and is !rovided with a sto!coc#. ,hen a fairly good vacuu" has been obtained, the
sto!coc# is o!ened and the oil slowly fed in. 0roceeding in this "anner, it is i"!ossible that
any big bubbles, which are the !rinci!al danger, should re"ain between the turns. $he air is
"ost co"!letely ecluded, !robably better than by boiling out, which, however, when gutta%
!ercha coated wires are used, is not !racticable.
For the !ri"aries I use ordinary line wire with thic# cotton coating. 7trands of very thin
insulated wires !ro!erly interlaced would, of course, be the best to e"!loy for the !ri"aries,
but they are not to be had.
In an e!eri"ental coil the si'e of the wires is not of great i"!ortance. In the coil here used
the !ri"ary is =o, 12 and the secondary =o. 2D /rown I 7har!e gauge wire( but the sections
"aybe varied considerably. I would only i"!ly different ad3ust"ents( the results ai"ed at
would not be "aterially affected.
I have dwelt at so"e length u!on the various for"s of brush discharge because, in studying
the", we not only observe !heno"ena which !lease our eye, but also afford us food for
thought, and lead us to conclusions of !ractical i"!ortance. In the use of alternating currents
of very high tension, too "uch !recaution cannot be ta#en to !revent the brush discharge. In
a "ain conveying such currents, in an induction coil or transfor"er, or in a condenser, the
brush discharge is a source of great danger to the insulation. In a condenser es!ecially the
gaseous "atter "ust be "ost carefully e!elled, for in it the charged surfaces are near each
other, and if the !otentials are high, 3ust as sure as a weight will fall if let go, so the insulation
will give way if a single gaseous bubble of so"e site be !resent, whereas, if all gaseous
"atter were carefully ecluded, the condenser would safely withstand a "uch higher
difference of !otential. 1 "ain conveying alternating currents of very high tension "ay be
in3ured "erely by a blowhole or s"all crac# in the insulation, the "ore so as a blowhole is a!t
to contain gas at low !ressure( and as it a!!ears al"ost i"!ossible to co"!letely obviate
such little i"!erfections, I a" led to believe that in our future distribution of electrical energy
by currents of very high tension li5uid insulation will be used. $he cost is a great drawbac#,
but if we e"!loy an oil as an insulator the distribution of electrical energy with so"ething li#e
1??,??? volts, and even "ore, beco"e, at least with higher fre5uencies, so easy that they
could be hardly called engineering feats. ,ith oil insulation and alternate current "otors
trans"issions of !ower can be effected with safety and u!on an industrial basis at distances
of as "uch as a thousand "iles.
1 !eculiar !ro!erty of oils, and li5uid insulation in general, when sub3ected to ra!idly changing
electric stresses, is to dis!erse any gaseous bubbles which "ay be !resent, and diffuse the"
through its "ass, generally long before any in3urious brea# can occur. $his feature "ay be
easily observed with an ordinary induction coil by ta#ing the !ri"ary out, !lugging u! the end
of the tube u!on which the secondary is wound, and fining it with so"e fairly trans!arent
insulator, such as !araffin oil. 1 !ri"ary of s dia"eter so"ething li#e si "illi"etres s"aller
than the inside of the tube "ay be inserted in the oil. ,hen the coil is set to wor# one "ay
see, loo#ing fro" the to! through the oil, "any lu"inous !oints&air bubbles which are caught
by inserting the !ri"ary, and which ate rendered lu"inous in conse5uence of the violent
bo"bard"ent. $he occluded air, by its i"!act against the oil, beats it( the oil begins to
circulate, carrying so"e of the air along with it, until the bubbles are dis!ersed and the
lu"inous !oints disa!!ear. In this "anner, unless large bubbles are occluded in such way
that circulation is rendered i"!ossible, a da"aging brea# is averted, the only effect being a
"oderate war"ing u! of the oil. If, instead of the li5uid, a solid insulation, no "atter how
thic#, were used, a brea#ing through and in3ury of the a!!aratus would be inevitable.
$he eclusion of gaseous "atter fro" any a!!aratus in which the dielectric is sub3ected to
"ore or less ra!idly changing electric forces is, however, not only desirable in order to avoid a
!ossible in3ury of the a!!aratus, but also on account of econo"y. In a condenser, for
instance, as long as only a solid or only a li5uid dielectric is used, the loss is s"all( but if a
gas under ordinary or s"all !ressure be !resent the loss "ay be very great. ,hatever the
nature of the force acting in the dielectric "ay be, it see"s that in a solid or li5uid the
"olecular dis!lace"ent !roduced by the force is s"all) hence the !roduct of force and
dis!lace"ent is insignificant, unless the force be very great( but in a gas the dis!lace"ent,
and, therefore, this !roduct is considerable( the "olecules are free to "ove, they reach high
s!eeds, and the energy of their i"!act is lost in heat or otherwise. If the gas be strongly
co"!ressed, the dis!lace"ent due to the force is "ade s"aller, and the losses are reduced.
In "ost of the succeeding e!eri"ents I !refer, chiefly on account of the regular and !ositive
action, to e"!loy the alternator before referred to. $his is one of the several "achines
constructed by "e for the !ur!oses of these investigations. It has C8D !ole !ro3ections, and
is ca!able of giving currents of a fre5uency of about 1?,??? !er second. $his "achine has
been illustrated and briefly described in "y first !a!er before the 1"erican Institute of
Electrical Engineers, >ay 2?, 18C1, to which I have already referred. 1 "ore detailed
descri!tion, sufficient to enable any engineer to build a si"ilar "achine, will be found in
several electrical 3ournals of that !eriod.
$he induction coils o!erated fro" the "achine are rather s"all, containing fro" G,??? to
1G,??? turns in the secondary. $hey are i""ersed in boiled%out linseed oil, contained in
wooden boes covered with 'inc sheet.
I have found it advantageous to reverse the usual !osition of the wires, and to wind, in these
coils, the !ri"aries on the to!( this allowing the use of a "uch bigger !ri"ary, which, of
course, reduces the danger of overheating and increases the out!ut of the coil. I "a#e the
!ri"ary on each side at least one centi"etre shorter than the secondary, to !revent the
brea#ing through on the ends, which would surely occur unless the insulation on the to! of the
secondary be very thic#, and this, of course, would be disadvantageous.
,hen the !ri"ary is "ade "ovable, which is necessary in so"e e!eri"ents, and "any
ti"es convenient for the !ur!oses of ad3ust"ent, I cover the secondary with wa, and turn it
off in a lathe to a dia"eter slightly s"aller than the inside of the !ri"ary coil. $he latter I
!rovide with a handle reaching out of the oil, which serves to shift it in any !osition along the
secondary.
I will now venture to "a#e, in regard to the general "ani!ulation of induction coils, a few
observations bearing u!on !oints which have not been fully a!!reciated in earlier
e!eri"ents with such coils, and are even now often overloo#ed.
$he secondary of the coil !ossesses usually such a high self%induction that the current
through the wire is ina!!reciable, and "ay be so even when the ter"inals ate 3oined by a
conductor of s"all resistance. If ca!acity is added to the ter"inals, the self%induction is
counteracted, and a stronger current is "ade to flow through the secondary, though its
ter"inals are insulated fro" each other. $o one entirely unac5uainted with the !ro!erties of
alternating currents nothing will loo# "ore !u''ling. $his feature was illustrated in the
e!eri"ent !erfor"ed at the beginning with the to! !lates of wire gau'e attached to the
ter"inals and the rubber !late. ,hen the !lates of wire gau'e were close together, and a
s"all arc !assed between the", the arc pre$ented a strong current fro" !assing through the
secondary, because it did away with the ca!acity on the ter"inals( when the rubber !late was
inserted between, the ca!acity of the condenser for"ed counteracted the self%induction of the
secondary, a stronger current !assed now, the coil !erfor"ed "ore wor#, and the discharge
was by far "ore !owerful.
$he first thing, then, in o!erating the induction coil is to co"bine ca!acity with the secondary
to overco"e the self%induction. If the fre5uencies and !otentials are very high gaseous
"atter should be carefully #e!t away fro" the charged surfaces. If Leyden 3ars are used,
they should be i""ersed in oil, as otherwise considerable dissi!ation "ay occur if the 3ars
are greatly strained. ,hen high fre5uencies are used, it is of e5ual i"!ortance to co"bine a
condenser with the !ri"ary. 8ne "ay use a condenser connected to the ends of the !ri"ary
or to the ter"inals of the alternator, but the latter is not to be reco""ended, as the "achine
"ight be in3ured. $he best way is undoubtedly to use the condenser in series with the
!ri"ary and with the alternator, and to ad3ust its ca!acity so as to annul the self%induction of
both the latter. $he condenser should be ad3ustable by very s"all ste!s, and for a finer
ad3ust"ent a s"all oil condenser with "ovable !lates "ay be used conveniently.
I thin# it best at this 3uncture to bring before you a !heno"enon, observed by "e so"e ti"e
ago, which to the !urely scientific investigator "ay !erha!s a!!ear "ore interesting than any
of the results which I have the !rivilege to !resent to you this evening.
It "ay be 5uite !ro!erly ran#ed a"ong the brush !heno"ena&in fact, it is a brush, for"ed at,
or near, a single ter"inal in high vacuu".
In bulbs !rovided with a conducting ter"inal, though it be of alu"iniu", the brush has but an
e!he"eral eistence, and cannot, unfortunately, be indefinitely !reserved in its "ost sensitive
state, even in a bulb devoid of any conducting electrode. In studying one !heno"enon, by all
"eans a bulb having no leading%in wire should be used. I have found it best to use bulbs
constructed as indicated in Figs. 12 and 1C.
In Fig. 12 the bulb co"!rises an incandescent la"! globe L, in the nec# of which is sealed a
baro"eter tube b, the end of which is blown out to for" a s"all s!here s. $his s!here should
be sealed as closely as !ossible in the centre of the large globe. /efore sealing, a thin tube t,
of alu"iniu" sheet, "ay be sli!!ed in the baro"eter tube, but it is not i"!ortant to e"!loy it.
$he s"all hollow s!here s is filled with so"e conducting !owder, and a wire ! is ce"ented in
the nec# for the !ur!ose of connecting the conducting !owder with the generator.
$he construction shown in Fig. 1C was chosen in order to re"ove fro" the brush any
conducting body which "ight !ossibly affect it. $he bulb consists in this case of a la"!
globe L, which has a nec# n, !rovided with a tube b and s"all s!here s, sealed to it, so that
two entirely inde!endent co"!art"ents are for"ed, as indicated in the drawing. ,hen the
bulb is in use, the nec# n is !rovided with a tinfoil coating, which is connected to the generator
and acts inductively u!on the "oderately rarefied and highly conducting gas enclosed in the
nec#. Fro" there the current !asses through the tube b into the s"all s!here s, to act by
induction u!on the gas contained in the globe L.
It is of advantage to "a#e the tube t very thic#, the hole through it very s"all, and to blow the
s!here s very thin. It is of the greatest i"!ortance that the s!here s be !laced in the centre of
the globe L.
Figs. 1D, 1G and 1E indicate different for"s, or stages, of the brush. Fig. 1D shows the brush
as it first a!!ears in a bulb !rovided with a conducting ter"inal) but, as in such a bulb it very
soon disa!!ears&often after a few "inutes&I will confine "yself to the descri!tion of the
!heno"enon as seen in a bulb without conducting electrode. It is observed under the
following conditions)
,hen the globe L -Figs. 12 and 1C. is ehausted to a very high degree, generally the bulb is
not ecited u!on connecting the wire ! -Fig. 12. or the tinfoil coating of the bulb -Fig. 1C. to
the ter"inal of the induction coil. $o ecite it, it is usually sufficient to gras! the globe L with
the hand. 1n intense !hos!horescence then s!reads at first over the globe, but soon gives
!lace to a white, "isty light. 7hortly afterward one "ay notice that the lu"inosity is unevenly
distributed in the globe, and after !assing the current for so"e ti"e the bulb a!!ears as in
Fig. 1G. Fro" this stage the !heno"enon will gradually !ass to that indicated in Fig. 1E, after
so"e "inutes, hours, days or wee#s, according as the bulb is wor#ed. ,ar"ing the bulb or
increasing the !otential hastens the transit.
,hen the brush assu"es the for" indicated in Fig. 1E, it "ay be brought to a state of
etre"e sensitiveness to electrostatic and "agnetic influence. $he bulb hanging straight
down fro" a wire, and all ob3ects being re"ote fro" it, the a!!roach of the observer at a few
!aces fro" the bulb will cause the brush to fly to the o!!osite side, and if he wal#s around the
bulb it will always #ee! on the o!!osite side. It "ay begin to s!in around the ter"inal long
before it reaches that sensitive stage. ,hen it begins to turn around !rinci!ally, but also
before, it is affected by a "agnet and at a certain stage it is susce!tible to "agnetic influence
to an astonishing degree. 1 s"all !er"anent "agnet, with its !oles at a distance of no "ore
than two centi"etres, will affect it visibly at a distance of two "etres, slowing down or
accelerating the rotation according to how it is held relatively to the brush. I thin# I have
observed that at the stage when it is "ost sensitive to "agnetic, it is not "ost sensitive to
electrostatic, influence. >y e!lanation is, that the electrostatic attraction between the brush
and the glass of the bulb, which retards the rotation, grows "uch 5uic#er than the "agnetic
influence when the intensity of the strea" is increased.
,hen the bulb hangs with the globe L down, the rotation is always cloc#wise. In the southern
he"is!here it would occur in the o!!osite direction and on the e5uator the brush should not
turn at all. $he rotation "ay be reversed by a "agnet #e!t at so"e distance. $he brush
rotates best, see"ingly, when it is at right angles to the lines of force of the earth. It very
li#ely rotates, when at its "ai"u" s!eed, in synchronis" with the alternations, say 1?,???
ti"es a second. $he rotation can be slowed down or accelerated by the a!!roach or receding
of the observer or any conducting body, but it cannot be reversed by !utting the bulb in any
!osition. ,hen it is in the state of the highest sensitiveness and the !otential or fre5uency be
varied the sensitiveness is ra!idly di"inished. *hanging either of these but little will generally
sto! the rotation. $he sensitiveness is li#ewise affected by the variations of te"!erature. $o
attain great sensitiveness it is necessary to have the s"all s!here s in the centre of the
globe L, as otherwise the electrostatic action of the glass of the globe will tend to sto! the
rotation. $he s!here s should be s"all and of unifor" thic#ness( any dissy""etry of course
has the effect to di"inish the sensitiveness.
$he fact that the brush rotates in a definite direction in a !er"anent "agnetic field see"s to
show that in alternating currents of very high fre5uency the !ositive and negative i"!ulses
are not e5ual, but that one always !re!onderates over the other.
8f course, this rotation in one direction "ay be due to the action of two ele"ents of the sa"e
current u!on each other, or to the action of the field !roduced by one of the ele"ents u!on
the other, as in a series "otor, without necessarily one i"!ulse being stronger than the other.
$he fact that the brush turns, as far as I could observe, in any !osition, would s!ea# for this
view. In such case it would turn at any !oint of the earth4s surface. /ut, on the other hand, it
is then hard to e!lain why a !er"anent "agnet should reverse the rotation, and one "ust
assu"e the !re!onderance of i"!ulses of one #ind.
1s to the causes of the for"ation of the brush or strea", I thin# it is due to the electrostatic
action of the globe and the dissy""etry of the !arts. If the s"all bulb s and the globe Lwere
!erfect concentric s!heres, and the glass throughout of the sa"e thic#ness and 5uality, I thin#
the brush would not for", as the tendency to !ass would be e5ual on all sides. $hat the
for"ation of the strea" is due to an irregularity is a!!arent fro" the fact that it has the
tendency to re"ain in one !osition, and rotation occurs "ost generally only when it is brought
out of this !osition by electrostatic or "agnetic influence. ,hen in an etre"ely sensitive
state it rests in one !osition, "ost curious e!eri"ents "ay be !erfor"ed with it. For
instance, the e!eri"enter "ay, try selecting a !ro!er !osition, a!!roach the hand at a
certain considerable distance to the bulb, and he "ay cause the brush to !ass off by "erely
stiffening the "uscles of the ar". ,hen it begins to rotate slowly, and the hands are held at a
!ro!er distance, it is i"!ossible to "a#e even the slightest "otion without !roducing a visible
effect u!on the brush. 1 "etal !late connected to the other ter"inal of the coil affects it at a
great distance, slowing down the rotation often to one turn a second.
I a" fir"ly convinced that such a brush, when we learn how to !roduce it !ro!erly, will !rove
a valuable aid in the investigation4 of the nature of the forces acting in an electrostatic or
"agnetic field. If there is any "otion which is "easurable going on in the s!ace, such a
brush ought to reveal it. It is, so to s!ea#, a bea" of light, frictionless, devoid of inertia.
I thin# that it "ay find !ractical a!!lications in telegra!hy. ,ith such a brush it would be
!ossible to send dis!atches across the 1tlantic, for instance, with any s!eed, since its
sensitiveness "ay be so great that the slightest changes will affect it. If it were !ossible to
"a#e the strea" "ore intense and very narrow, its deflections could be easily !hotogra!hed.
I have been interested to find whether there is a rotation of the strea" itself, or whether there
is si"!ly a stress traveling around in the bulb. For this !ur!ose I "ounted a light "ica fan so
that its vanes were in the !ath of the brush. If the strea" itself was rotating the fan would be
s!un around. I could !roduce no distinct rotation of the fan, although I tried the e!eri"ent
re!eatedly( but as the fan eerted a noticeable influence on the strea", and the a!!arent
rotation of the latter was, in this case, never 5uite satisfactory, the e!eri"ent did not a!!ear
to be conclusive.
I have been unable to !roduce the !heno"enon with the disru!tive discharge coil, although
every other of these !heno"ena can be tell !roduced by it&"any, in fact, "uch better than
with coils o!erated fro" an alternator.
It "ay be !ossible to !roduce the brush by i"!ulses of one direction, or even by a steady
!otential, in which case it would be still "ore sensitive to "agnetic influence.
In o!erating an induction coil with ra!idly alternating currents, we reali'e with astonish"ent,
for the first ti"e, the great i"!ortance of the relation of ca!acity, self%induction and fre5uency
as regards the general result. $he effects of ca!acity are the "ost stri#ing, for in these
e!eri"ents, since the self%induction and fre5uency both are high, the critical ca!acity is very
s"all, and need be but slightly varied to !roduce a very considerable change. $he
e!eri"enter "ay bring his body in contact with the ter"inals of the secondary of the coil, or
attach to one or both ter"inals insulated bodies of very s"all bul#, such as bulbs, and he "ay
!roduce a considerable rise or fall of !otential, and greatly affect the flow of the current
through the !ri"ary. In the e!eri"ent before shown, in which a brush a!!ears at a wire
attached to one ter"inal, and the wire is vibrated when the e!eri"enter brings his insulated
body in contact with the other ter"inal of the coil, the sudden rise of !otential was "ade
evident.
I "ay show you the behavior of the coil in another "anner which !ossesses a feature of
so"e interest. I have here a little light fan of alu"iniu" sheet, fastened to a needle and
arranged to rotate freely in a "etal !iece screwed to one of the ter"inals of the coil. ,hen
the coil is set to wor#, the "olecules of the air are rhyth"ically attracted and re!elled. 1s the
force with which they are re!elled is greater than that with which they are attracted, it results
that there is re!ulsion eerted on the surfaces of the fan. If the fan were "ade si"!ly of a
"etal sheet, the re!ulsion would be e5ual on the o!!osite sides, and would !roduce no
effect. /ut if one of the o!!osite surfaces is screened, or if, generally s!ea#ing, the
bo"bard"ent on this side is wea#ened in so"e wag or other, there re"ains the re!ulsion
eerted u!on the other, and the fan is set in rotation. $he screening is best effected by
fastening u!on one of the o!!osing sides of the fan insulated conducting coatings, or, if the
fan is "ade in the sha!e of an ordinary !ro!eller screw, by fastening on one side, and close
to it, an insulated "etal !late. $he static screen "ay however, be o"itted and si"!ly a
thic#ness of insulating "aterial fastened to one of the sides of the fan.
$o show the behavior of the coil, the fan "ay be !laced u!on the ter"inal and it will readily
rotate when the coil is o!erated by currents of very high fre5uency. ,ith a steady !otential, of
course, and even with alternating currents of very low fre5uency, it would not turn, because of
the very slow echange of air and, conse5uently, s"aller bo"bard"ent( but in the latter case
it "ight turn if the !otential were ecessive. ,ith a !in wheel, 5uite the o!!osite rule holds
good( it rotates best with a steady !otential, and the effort is the s"aller the higher the
fre5uency. =ow, it is very easy to ad3ust the conditions so that the !otential is nor"ally not
sufficient to turn the fan, but that by connecting the other ter"inal of the coil with an insulated
body it rises to a "uch greater value, so as to rotate the fan, and it is li#ewise !ossible to sto!
the rotation by connecting to the ter"inal a body of different si'e, thereby di"inishing the
!otential.
Instead of using the fan in this e!eri"ent, we "ay use the JelectricJ radio"eter with si"ilar
effect. /ut in this case it will be found that the vanes will rotate only at high ehaustion or at
ordinary !ressures( they will not rotate at "oderate !ressures, when the air is highly
conducting. $his curious observation was "ade con3ointly by 0rofessor *roo#es and "yself.
I attribute the result to the high conductivity of the air, the "olecules of which then do not act
as inde!endent carriers of electric charges, but act all together as a single conducting body.
In such case, of course, if there is any re!ulsion at all of the "olecules fro" the vanes, it "ust
be very s"all. It is !ossible, however, that the result is in !art due to the fact that the greater
!art of the discharge !asses fro" the leading%in wire through the highly conducting gas,
instead of !assing off fro" the conducting vanes.
In trying the !receding e!eri"ent with the electric radio"eter the !otential should not eceed
a certain li"it, as then the electrostatic attraction between the vanes and the glass of the bulb
"ay be so great as to sto! the rotation.
1 "ost curious feature of alternate currents of high fre5uencies and !otentials is that they
enable us to !erfor" "any e!eri"ents by the use of one wire only. In "any res!ects this
feature is of great interest.
In a ty!e of alternate current "otor invented by "e so"e years ago I !roduced rotation by
inducing, by "eans of a single alternating current !assed through a "otor circuit, in the "ass
or other circuits of the "otor, secondary currents, which, 3ointly with the !ri"ary or inducing
current, created n "oving field of force. 1 si"!le but crude for" of such a "otor is obtained
by winding u!on an iron core a !ri"ary, and close to it a secondary coil, 3oining the ends of
the latter and !lacing a freely "ovable "etal disc within the influence of the field !roduced by
both. $he iron core is e"!loyed for obvious reasons, but it is not essential to the o!eration.
$o i"!rove the "otor, the iron core is "ade to encircle the ar"ature. 1gain to i"!rove, the
secondary coil is "ade to overla! !artly the !ri"ary, so that it cannot free itself fro" a strong
inductive action of the latter, re!el its lines as it "ay. 8nce "ore to i"!rove, the !ro!er
difference of !hase is obtained between the !ri"ary and secondary currents by a condenser,
self%induction, resistance or e5uivalent windings.
I had discovered, however, that rotation is !roduced by "eans of a single coil and core( "y
e!lanation of the !heno"enon, and leading thought in trying the e!eri"ent, being that there
"ust be a true ti"e lag in the "agneti'ation of the core. I re"e"ber the !leasure I had
when, in the writings of 0rofessor 1yrton, which ca"e later to "y hand, I found the idea of the
ti"e lag advocated. ,hether there is a true ti"e lag, whether the retardation is due to eddy
currents circulating in "inute !aths, "ust re"ain an o!en 5uestion, but the fact is that a coil
wound u!on an iron core and traversed by an alternating current creates a "oving field of
force, ca!able of setting an ar"ature in rotation. It is of so"e interest, in con3unction with the
historical 1rago e!eri"ent, to "ention that in lag or !hase "otors I have !roduced rotation in
the o!!osite direction to the "oving field, which "eans that in that e!eri"ent the "agnet
"ay not rotate, or "ay even rotate in the o!!osite direction to the "oving disc. 9ere, then, is
a "otor -diagra""atically illustrated in Fig. 1FK1DE., co"!rising a coil and iron core, and a
freely "ovable co!!er disc in !roi"ity to the latter.
$o de"onstrate a novel and interesting feature, I have, for a reason which I will e!lain,
selected this ty!e of "otor. ,hen the ends of the coil are connected to the ter"inals of an
alternator the disc is set in rotation. /ut it is not this e!eri"ent, now well #nown, which I
desire to !erfor". ,hat I wish to show you is that this "otor rotates with one
sinleconnection between it and the generator( that is to say, one ter"inal of the "otor is
connected to one ter"inal of the generator&in this case the secondary of a high%tension
induction coil&the other ter"inals of "otor and generator being insulated in s!ace. $o
!roduce rotation it is generally -but not absolutely. necessary to connect the free end of the
"otor coil to an insulated body of so"e si'e. $he e!eri"enter4s body is "ore than
sufficient. If he touches the free ter"inal with an ob3ect held in the hand, a current !asses
through the coil and the co!!er disc is set in rotation. If an ehausted tube is !ut in series
with the coil, the tube lights brilliantly, showing the !assage of a strong current. Instead of the
e!eri"enter4s body, a s"all "etal sheet sus!ended on a cord "ay be used with the sa"e
result. In this case the !late acts as a condenser in series with the coil. It counteracts the
self%induction of the latter and allows a strong current to !ass. In such a co"bination, the
greater the self%induction of the coil the s"aller need be the !late, and this "eans that a lower
fre5uency, or eventually a lower !otential, is re5uired to o!erate the "otor. 1 single coil
wound u!on a core has a high self%induction( for this reason !rinci!ally, this ty!e of "otor was
chosen to !erfor" the e!eri"ent. ,ere a secondary closed coil wound u!on the core, it
would tend to di"inish the self%induction, and then it would be necessary to e"!loy a "uch
higher fre5uency and !otential. =either would be advisable, for a higher !otential would
endanger the insulation of the s"all !ri"ary coil, and a higher fre5uency would result in a
"aterially di"inished tor5ue.
It should be re"ar#ed that when such a "otor with a closed secondary is used, it is not at all
easy to obtain rotation with ecessive fre5uencies, as the secondary cuts off al"ost
co"!letely the lines of the !ri"ary&and this, of course, the "ore, the higher the fre5uency&
and allows the !assage of but a "inute current. In such a case, unless the secondary is
closed through a condenser, it is al"ost essential, in order to !roduce rotation, to "a#e the
!ri"ary and secondary coils overla! each other "ore or less.
/ut there is an additional feature of interest about this "otor, na"ely, it is not necessary to
have even a single connection between the "otor and generator, ece!t, !erha!s, through
the ground( for not only is an insulated !late ca!able of giving off energy into s!ace, but it
li#ewise ca!able of deriving it fro" an alternating electrostatic field, though in the latter case
the available energy is "uch s"aller. In this instance one of the "otor ter"inals is connected
to the insulated !late or body located within the alternating electrostatic field, and the other
ter"inal !referably to the ground.
It is 5uite !ossible, however, that such Jno%wireJ "otors, as they "ight be called, could be
o!erated by conduction through the rarefied air at considerable distances. 1lternate currents,
es!ecially of high fre5uencies, !ass with astonishing freedo" through even slightly rarefied
gases. $he u!!er strata of the air are rarefied. $o reach a nu"ber of "iles out into s!ace
re5uires the overco"ing of difficulties of a "erely "echanical nature. $here is no doubt that
with the enor"ous !otentials obtainable by the use of high fre5uencies and oil insulation,
lu"inous discharges "ight be !assed through "any "iles of rarefied air, and that, by thus
directing the energy of "any hundreds or thousands of horse%!ower, "otors or la"!s "ight
be o!erated at considerable distances fro" stationary sources. /ut such sche"es are
"entioned "erely as !ossibilities. ,e shall have no need to trans#it !ower at all. Ere "any
generations !ass, our "achinery will be driven by a !ower obtainable at any !oint of the
universe. $his idea is not novel. >en have been led to it long ago by instinct or reason( it has
been e!ressed in "any ways, and in "any !laces, in the history of old and new. ,e find it
in the delightful "yth of 1ntheus @1ntaeusB, who derives !ower fro" the earth( we find it
a"ong the subtle s!eculations of one of your s!lendid "athe"aticians and in "any hints and
state"ents of thin#ers of the !resent ti"e. $hroughout s!ace there is energy. Is this energy
static or #inetic; If static our ho!es are in vain( if #inetic&and this we #now it is, for certain&
then it is a "ere 5uestion of ti"e when "en will succeed in attaching their "achinery to the
very wheelwor# of nature. 8f all, living or dead, *roo#es ca"e nearest to doing it. 9is
radio"eter will turn in the light of day and in the dar#ness of the night( it will turn everywhere
where there is heat, and heat is everywhere. /ut, unfortunately, this beautiful little "achine,
while it goes down to !osterity as the "ost interesting, "ust li#ewise be !ut on record as the
"ost inefficient "achine ever invented+
$he !receding e!eri"ent is only one of "any e5ually interesting e!eri"ents which "ay be
!erfor"ed by the use of only one wire with alternate currents of high !otential and fre5uency.
,e "ay connect an insulated line to a source of such currents, we "ay !ass an
ina!!reciable current over the line, and on any !oint of the sa"e we are able to obtain a
heavy current, ca!able of fusing a thic# co!!er wire. 8r we "ay, by the hel! of so"e artifice,
deco"!ose a solution in any electrolytic cell by connecting only one !ole of the cell to the line
or source of energy. 8r we "ay, by attaching to the line, or only bringing into its vicinity, light
u! an incandescent la"!, an ehausted tube, or a !hos!horescent bulb.
9owever i"!racticable this !lan of wor#ing "ay a!!ear in "any cases, it certainly see"s
!racticable, and even reco""endable, in the !roduction of light. 1 !erfected la"! would
re5uire but little energy, and if wires were used at all we ought to be able to su!!ly that
energy without a return wire.
It is now a fact that a body "ay be rendered incandescent or !hos!horescent b. bringing it
either in single contact or "erely in the vicinity of a source of electric i"!ulses of the !ro!er
character, and that in this "anner a 5uantity of light sufficient to afford a !ractical illu"inant
"ay be !roduced. It is, therefore, to say the least, worth while to atte"!t to deter"ine the
best conditions and to invent the best a!!liances for attaining this ob3ect.
7o"e e!eriences have already been gained in this direction, and I will dwell on the" briefly,
in the ho!e that they "ight !rove useful.
$he heating of a conducting body inclosed in a bulb, and connected to a source of ra!idly
alternating electric i"!ulses, is de!endent on so "any things of a different nature, that it
would be difficult to give a generally a!!licable rule under which this "ai"u" heating
occurs. 1s regards the si'e of the vessel, I have lately found that at ordinary or only slightly
differing at"os!heric !ressures, when air is a good insulator, and hence !ractically the sa"e
a"ount of energy by a certain !otential and fre5uency is given off fro" the body, whether the
bulb be s"all or large, the body is brought to a higher te"!erature if inclosed in a s"all bulb,
because of the better confine"ent of heat in this case.
1t lower !ressures, when air beco"es "ore or less conducting, or if the air be sufficiently
war"ed as to beco"e conducting, the body is rendered "ore intensely incandescent in a
large bulb, obviously because, under otherwise e5ual conditions of test, "ore energy "ay be
given off fro" the body when the bulb is large.
1t very high degrees of ehaustion, when the "atter in the bulb beco"es Jradiant,J a large
bulb has still an advantage, but a co"!aratively slight one, over the s"all bulb. Finally, at
ecessively high degrees of ehaustion, which cannot be reached ece!t by the e"!loy"ent
of s!ecial "eans, there see"s to be, beyond a certain and rather s"all si'e of vessel, no
!erce!tible difference in the heating.
$hese observations were the result of a nu"ber of e!eri"ents, of which one, showing the
effect of the si'e of the bulb at a high degree of ehaustion "ay be described and shown
here, as it !resents a feature of interest. $hree s!herical bulbs of 2 inches, C inches and D
inches dia"eter were ta#en, and in the centre of each was "ounted an e5ual length of an
ordinary incandescent la"! fila"ent of unifor" thic#ness. In each bulb the !iece of fila"ent
was fastened to the leading%in wire of !latinu", contained in a glass ste" sealed in the bulb(
care being ta#en, of course, to "a#e everything as nearly ali#e as !ossible. 8n each glass
ste" in the inside of the bulb was sli!!ed a highly !olished tube "ade of alu"iniu" sheet,
which fitted the ste" and was held on it by s!ring !ressure. $he function of this alu"iniu"
tube will be e!lained subse5uently. In each bulb an e5ual length of fila"ent !rotruded above
the "etal tube. It is sufficient to say now that under these conditions e5ual lengths of fila"ent
of the sa"e thic#ness&in other words, bodies of e5ual bul#&were brought to
incandescence. $he three bulbs were sealed to a glass tube, which was connected to a
7!rengel !u"!. ,hen a high vacuu" had been reached, the glass tube carrying the bulbs
was sealed off. 1 current was then turned on successively on each bulb, and it was found
that the fila"ents ca"e to about the sa"e brightness, and, if anything, the s"allest bulb,
which was !laced "idway between the two larger ones, "ay have been slightly brighter. $his
result was e!ected, for when either of the bulbs was connected to the coil the lu"inosity
s!read through the other two, hence the three bulbs constituted really one vessel. ,hen all
the three bulbs were connected in "ulti!le arc to the coil, in the largest of the" the fila"ent
glowed brightest, in the net s"aller it was a little less bright, and in the s"allest it only ca"e
to redness. $he bulbs were then sealed off and se!arately tried. $he brightness of the
fila"ents was now such as "ould have been e!ected on the su!!osition that the energy
given off was !ro!ortionate to the surface of the bulb, this surface in each case re!resenting
one of the coatings of a condenser. 1ccordingly, there was less difference between the
largest and the "iddle sited than between the latter and the s"allest bulb.
1n interesting observation was "ade in this e!eri"ent. $he three bulbs were sus!ended
fro" a straight bare wire connected to a ter"inal of the coil, the largest bulb being !laced at
the end of the wire, at so"e distance fro" it the s"allest bulb, and an e5ual distance fro" the
latter the "iddle%si'ed one. $he carbons glowed then to both the larger bulbs about as
e!ected, but the s"allest did not get its share by far. $his observation led "e to echange
the !osition of the bulbs, and I then observed that whichever of the bulbs was in the "iddle it
was by far less bright than it was in any other !osition. $his "ystifying result was, of course,
found to be due to the electrostatic action between the bulbs. ,hen they were !laced at a
considerable distance, or when they were attached to the corners of an e5uilateral triangle of
co!!er wire, they glowed about in the order deter"ined by their surfaces.
1s to the sha!e of the vessel, it is also of so"e i"!ortance, es!ecially at high degrees of
ehaustion. 8f all the !ossible constructions, it see"s that a s!herical globe with the
refractory body "ounted in its centre is the best to e"!loy. In e!erience it has been
de"onstrated that in such a globe a refractory body of a given bul# is "ore easily brought to
incandescence than when otherwise sha!ed bulbs are used. $here is also an advantage in
giving to the incandescent body the sha!e of a s!here, for self%evident reasons. In any case
the body should be "ounted in the centre, where the ato"s rebounding fro" the glass
collide. $his ob3ect is best attained in the s!herical bulb( but it is also attained in a cylindrical
vessel with one or two straight fila"ents coinciding with its ais, and !ossibly also in
!arabolical or s!herical bulbs with the refractory body or bodies !laced in the focus or foci of
the sa"e( though the latter is not !robable, as the electrified ato"s should in all cases
rebound nor"ally fro" the surface they stri#e, unless the s!eed were ecessive, in which
case they !o"ld !robably follow the general law of reflection. =o "atter what sha!e the
vessel "ay have, if the ehaustion be low, a fila"ent "ounted in the globe is brought to the
sa"e degree of incandescence in all !arts( but if the ehaustion be high and the bulb be
s!herical or !ear%sha!ed, as usual, focal !oints for" and the fila"ent is heated to a higher
degree at or near such !oints.
$o illustrate the effect, I have here two s"all bulbs which are ali#e, only one is ehausted to a
low and the other to a very high degree. ,hen connected to the coil, the fila"ent in the
for"er glows unifor"ly throughout all its length( whereas in the latter, that !ortion of the
fila"ent which is in the centre of the bulb glows far "ore intensely than the rest. 1 curious
!oint is that the !heno"enon occurs even if two fila"ent) are "ounted in a bulb, each being
connected to one ter"inal of the coil, and, what is still "ore curious, if they be very near
together, !rovided the vacuu" be very high. I noted in e!eri"ents with such bulbs that the
fila"ents would give way usually at a certain !oint, and in the first trials I attributed it to a
defect in the carbon. /ut when that !heno"enon occurred "any ti"es in succession I
recogni'ed its real cause.
In order to bring a refractory body inclosed in a bulb to incandescence, it is desirable, on
account of econo"y, that all the energy su!!lied to the bulb fro" the source should reach
without lass the body to be heated( fro" there, and fro" nowhere else, it should be radiated.
It is, of course, out of the 5uestion to reach this theoretical result, but it is !ossible by a !ro!er
construction of the illu"inating device to a!!roi"ate it "ore or less.
For "any reasons, the refractory body is !laced in the centre of the bulb and it is usually
su!!orted on a glass ste" containing the leading%in wire. 1s the !otential of this wire is
alternated, the rarefied gas surrounding the ste" is acted u!on inductively, and the glass
ste" is violently bo"barded and heated. In this "anner by far the greater !ortion of the
energy su!!lied to the bulb&es!ecially when eceedingly high fre5uencies are used&"ay
be lost for the !ur!ose conte"!lated. $o obviate this loss, or at least to reduce it to a
"ini"u", I usually screen the rarefied gas surrounding the ste" fro" the inductive action of
the leading%in wire by !roviding( the ste" with a tube or coating of conducting "aterial. It
see"s beyond doubt that the best a"ong "etals to e"!loy for this !ur!ose is alu"iniu", on
account of its "any re"ar#able !ro!erties. Its only fault is that it is easily fusible and,
therefore, its distance fro" the incandescing) body should be !ro!erly esti"ated. <sually, a
thin tube, of a dia"eter so"ewhat s"aller than that of the glass ste", is "ade of the finest
alu"iniu" sheet, and sli!!ed on the ste". $he tube is conveniently !re!ared by wra!!ing
around a rod fastened in a lathe a !iece of alu"iniu" sheet of the !ro!er si'e, gras!ing the
sheet fir"ly with clean cha"ois leather or blotting !a!er, and s!inning the rod very fast. $he
sheet is wound tightly around the rod, and a highly !olished tube of one or three layers of the
sheet is obtained. ,hen sli!!ed on the ste", the !ressure is generally sufficient to !revent it
fro" sli!!ing off, but, for safety, the lower edge of the sheet "ay be turned inside. $he u!!er
inside corner of the sheet&that is, the one which is nearest to the refractory incandescent
body&should be cut out diagonally, as it often ha!!ens that, in conse5uence of the intense
heat, this corner turns toward the inside and co"es very near to, or in contact with, the wire,
or fila"ent, su!!orting the refractory body. $he greater !art of the energy su!!lied to the bulb
is then used u! in heating the "etal tube, and the bulb is rendered useless for the !ur!ose.
$he alu"iniu" sheet should !ro3ect above the glass ste" "ore or less&one inch or so&or
else, if the glass be too close to the incandescing body, it "ay be strongly heated and
beco"e "ore or less conducting, whereu!on it "ay be ru!tured, or "ay, by its conductivity,
establish a good electrical connection between the "etal tube and the leadin5%in wire, in
which case, again, "ost of the energy will be lost in heating the for"er. 0erha!s the best way
is to "a#e the to! of the glass tube for about an inch, of a "uch s"aller dia"eter. $o still
further reduce the danger arising fro" the heating of the glass ste", and also with the view of
!reventing an electrical connection between the "etal tube and the electrode, I !referably
wra!( the ste" with several layers of thin "ica which etends at least as far as the "etal
tube. In so"e bulbs I have also used an outside insulating cover.
$he !receding re"ar#s are only "ade to aid the e!eri"enter in the first trials, for the
difficulties which he encounters he "ay soon find "eans to overco"e in his own way.
$o illustrate the effect of the screen, and the advantage of using it, I have here two bulbs of
the sa"e si'e, with their ste"s, leading%in wires and incandescent la"! fila"ents tied to the
latter, as nearly ali#e as !ossible. $he ste" of one bulb is !rovided with an alu"iniu" tube,
the ste" of the other has none. 8riginally the two bulbs were 3oined by a tube which was
connected to a 7!rengel !u"!. ,hen a high vacuu" had been reached, first the connecting
tube, and then the bulbs, were sealed off( they are therefore of the sa"e degree of
ehaustion. ,hen they are se!arately connected to the coil giving a certain !otential, the
carbon fila"ent in the bulb !rovided with the alu"iniu" screen in rendered highly
incandescent, while the fila"ent in the other bulb "ay, with the sa"e !otential, not even
co"e to redness, although in reality the latter bulb ta#es generally "ore energy than the
for"er. ,hen they are both connected together to the ter"inal, the difference is even "ore
a!!arent, showing the i"!ortance of the screening. $he "etal tube !laced in the ste"
containing the leading%in wire !erfor"s really two distinct functions) First, it acts "ore or less
as an electrostatic screen, thus econo"i'ing the energy su!!lied to the bulb( and, second, to
whatever etent it "ay fail to act electrostatically, it acts "echanically, !reventing the
bo"bard"ent, and conse5uently intense heating and !ossible deterioration of the slender
su!!ort of the refractory incandescent body, or of the glass ste" containing the leading%in
wire. I say slender su!!ort, for it is evident that in order to confine the heat "ore co"!letely
to the incandescing body its su!!ort should be very thin, so as to carry away the s"allest
!ossible a"ount of heat by conduction. 8f all the su!!orts used I have found an ordinary
incandescent la"! fila"ent to be the best, !rinci!ally because a"ong conductors it can
withstand the highest degrees of heat.
$he effectiveness of the "etal tube as an electrostatic screen de!ends largely on the degree
of ehaustion.
1t ecessively high degrees of ehaustion&which are reached by using great care and
s!ecial "eans in connection with the 7!rengel !u"!&when the "atter in the globe is in the
ultra%radiant state, it acts "ost !erfectly. $he shadow of the u!!er edge of the tube is then
shar!ly defined u!on the bulb.
1t a so"ewhat lower degree of ehaustion, which is about the ordinary Jnon%stri#ingJ
vacuu", and generally as long as the "atter "oves !redo"inantly in straight lines, the
screen still does well. In elucidation of the !receding re"ar# it is necessary to state that what
is a Jnon%stri#ingJ vacuu" for a coil o!erated, as ordinarily, by i"!ulses, or currents, of low
fre5uency, is not, by far, so when the coil is o!erated by currents of very high fre5uency. In
such case the discharge "ay !ass with great freedo" through the rarefied gas through which
a low%fre5uency discharge "ay not !ass, even though the !otential be "uch higher. 1t
ordinary at"os!heric !ressures 3ust the reverse rule holds good) the higher the fre5uency, the
less the s!ar# discharge is able to 3u"! between the ter"inals, es!ecially if they are #nobs or
s!heres of so"e site. Finally, at very low degrees of ehaustion, when the gas is well
conducting, the "etal tube not only does not act as an electrostatic screen, but even is a
drawbac#, aiding to a considerable etent the dissi!ation of the energy laterally fro" the
leading%in wire. $his, of course, is to be e!ected. In this case, na"ely, the "etal tube is in
good electrical connection with %the leading%in wire, and "ost of the bo"bard"ent is directed
u!on the tube. 1s long as the electrical connection is not good, the conducting tube is always
of so"e advantage for although it "ay not greatly econo"i'e energy, still it !rotects the
su!!ort of the refractory button, and is a "eans for concentrating "ore energy u!on the
sa"e.
$o whatever etent the alu"iniu" tube !erfor"s the function of a screen, its usefulness is
therefore li"ited to very high degrees of ehaustion when it is insulated fro" the electrode&
that is, when the gas as a whole is non%conducting, and the "olecules, or ato"s, act as
inde!endent carriers of electric charges.
In addition to acting as a "ore or less effective screen, in the true "eaning of the word, the
conducting tube or coating "ay also act, by reason of its conductivity, as a sort of e5uali'er or
da"!ener of the bo"bard"ent against the ste". $o be e!licit, I assu"e the action as
follows) 7u!!ose a rhyth"ical bo"bard"ent to occur against the conducting tube by reason
of its i"!erfect action as a screen, it certainly "ust ha!!en that so"e "olecules, or ato"s,
stri#e the tube sooner than others. $hose which co"e first in contact with it give u! their
su!erfluous charge, and the tube is electrified, the electrification instantly s!reading over its
surface. /ut this "ust di"inish, the energy lost in the bo"bard"ent for two reasons) first, the
charge given u! by the ato"s s!reads over a great area, and hence the electric density at
any !oint is s"all, and the ato"s are rebelled with less energy than they would be if they
would stri#e against a good insulator( secondly, as the tube is electrified by the ato"s which
first co"e in contact with it, the !rogress of the following ato"s against the tube is "ore or
less chec#ed by, the re!ulsion which the electrified tube "ust eert u!on the si"ilarly
electrified ato"s. $his re!ulsion "ay !erha!s be sufficient to !revent a large !ortion of the
ato"s fro" stri#ing the tube, but at any rate it "ust di"inish the energy of their i"!act. It is
clear that when the ehaustion is very low, and the rarefied gas well conducting, neither of the
above effects can occur, and, on the other hand, the fewer the ato"s, with the greater
freedo" they "ove( in other words, the higher the degree of ehaustion, u! to a li"it, the
"ore telling will be both the effects)
,hat I have 3ust said "ay afford an e!lanation of the !heno"enon observed by 0rof.
*roo#es, na"ely, that a discharge through a bulb is established with "uch greater facility
when an insulator than when a conductor is !resent in the sa"e. In "y o!inion, the
conductor acts as a da"!ener of the "otion of the ato"s in the two ways !ointed out( hence,
to cause a visible discharge to !ass through the bulb, a "uch higher !otential is needed if a
conductor, es!ecially of "any surfaces, be !resent.
For the sa#e of clearness of so"e of the re"ar#s before "ade, I "ust now refer to Figs. 18,
19, and 2?, which illustrate various arrange"ents with a ty!e of bulb "ost generally used.
Fig. 18 is a section though a s!herical bulb L, with the glass ste" s, containing the leading%in
wire !, which has a la"! fila"ent l fastened to it, serving to su!!ort the refractory button # in
the centre. > is a sheet of thin "ica wound in several layers around the ste" s, and a is the
alu"iniu" tube.
Fig. 19 illustrates such a bulb in a so"ewhat "ore advanced stage of !erfection. 1 "etallic
tube 7 is fastened by "eans of so"e ce"ent to the nec# of the tube. In the tube is screwed
a !lug 0, of insulating "aterial, in the centre of which is fastened a "etallic ter"inal t, for the
connection to the lead%in wire !. $his ter"inal "ust be well insulated fro" the "etal tube 7,
therefore, if the ce"ent used is conducting and "ost generally it is sufficiently so&the s!ace
between the !lug 0 and the nec# of the bulb should be filled with so"e good insulating
"aterial, as "ica !owder.
Fig. 2? shows a bulb "ade for e!eri"ental !ur!oses. In this bulb the alu"iniu" tube is
!rovided with an eternal connection, which serves to investigate the effect of the tube under
various conditions. It is referred to chiefly to suggest a line of e!eri"ent followed.
7ince the bo"bard"ent against the ste" containing the leading%in wire is due to the inductive
action of the latter u!on the rarefied gas, it is of advantage to reduce this action as far as
!racticable by e"!loying a very thin wire, surrounded by a very thic# insulation of glass or
other "aterial, and by "a#ing the wire !assing through the rarefied gas as short as
!racticable. $o co"bine these features I e"!loy a large tube $ -Fig. 21., which !rotrudes into
the bulb to so"e distance, and carries on the to! a very short glass ste" s, into which is
sealed the leading%in wire !, and I !rotect the to! of the glass ste" against the heat by a
s"all, alu"iniu" tube a and a layer of "ica underneath the sa"e, as usual. $he wire !,
!assing through the large tube to the outside of the bulb, should be well insulated&with a
glass tube, for instance&and the s!ace between ought to be filled out with so"e ecellent
insulator. 1"ong "any insulating !owders I have tried, I have found that "ica !owder is the
best to e"!loy. If this !recaution is not ta#en, the tube $, !rotruding into the bulb, will surely
be crac#ed in conse5uence of the heating by the brushes which are a!t to for" in the u!!er
!art of the tube, near the ehausted globe, es!ecially if the vacuu" be ecellent, and
therefore the !otential necessary to o!erate the la"! be very high.
Fig. 22 illustrates a si"ilar arrange"ent, with a large tube $ !rotruding into the !art of the bulb
containing the refractory button #. In this case the wire leading fro" the outside into the bulb
is o"itted, the energy re5uired being su!!lied through condenser coatings * *. $he
insulating !ac#ing 0 should in this construction be tightly fitting to the glass, and rather wide,
or otherwise the discharge "ight avoid !assing through the wire !, which connects the inside
condenser coating to the incandescent button #.
$he "olecular bo"bard"ent against the glass ste" in the bulb is a source of great trouble.
1s illustration I will cite a !heno"enon only too fre5uently and unwillingly observed. 1 bulb,
!referably a large one, "ay be ta#en, and a good conducting body, such as a !iece of
carbon, "ay be "ounted in it u!on a !latinu" wire sealed in the glass ste". $he bulb "ay
be ehausted to a fairly high degree, nearly to the !oint when !hos!horescence begins to
a!!ear. ,hen the bulb is connected with the coil, the !iece of carbon, if s"all, "ay beco"e
highly incandescent at first, but its brightness i""ediately di"inishes, and then the discharge
"ay brea# through the glass so"ewhere in the "iddle of the ste", in the for" of bright
s!ar#s, in s!ite of the fact that the !latinu" wire is in good electrical connection with the
rarefied gas through the !iece of carbon or "etal at the to!. $he first s!ar#s are singularly
bright, recalling those drawn fro" a clear surface of "ercury. /ut, as they heat the glass
ra!idly, they, of course, lose their brightness, and cease when the glass at the ru!tured !lace
beco"es incandescent, or generally sufficiently hot to conduct. ,hen observed for the first
ti"e the !heno"enon "ust a!!ear very curious, and shows in a stri#ing "anner how
radically different alternate currents, or i"!ulses, of high fre5uency behave, as co"!ared with
steady currents, or currents of low fre5uency. ,ith such currents&na"ely, the latter&the
!heno"enon would of course not occur. ,hen fre5uencies such as are obtained by
"echanical "eans are used, I thin# that the ru!ture of the glass is "ore or less the
conse5uence of the bo"bard"ent, which war"s it u! and i"!airs its insulating !ower( but
with fre5uencies obtainable with condensers I have no doubt that the glass "ay give way
without !revious heating. 1lthough this a!!ears "ost singular at first, it is in reality what we
"ight e!ect to occur. $he energy su!!lied to the wire leading into the bulb is given off !artly
by direct action through the carbon button, and !arty by inductive action through the glass
surrounding the wire. $he case is thus analogous to that in which a condenser shunted by a
conductor of low resistance is connected to a source of alternating currents. 1s long as the
fre5uencies are low, the conductor gets the "ost, and the condenser is !erfectly safe( but
when the fre5uency beco"es ecessive, the role of the conductor "ay beco"e 5uite
insignificant. In the latter case the difference of !otential at the ter"inals of the condenser
"ay beco"e so great as to ru!ture the dielectric, notwithstanding the fact that the ter"inals
are 3oined by a conductor of low resistance.
It is, of course, not necessary, when it is desired to !roduce the incandescence of a body
inclosed in a bulb by "eans of these currents, that the body should be a conductor, for even a
!erfect non%conductor "ay be 5uite as readily heated. For this !ur!ose it is sufficient to
surround a conducting electrode with a non%conducting "aterial, as, for instance, in the bulb
described before in Fig. 21, in which a thin incandescent la"! fila"ent is coated with a non%
conductor, and su!!orts a button of the sa"e "aterial on the to!. 1t the start the
bo"bard"ent goes on by inductive action through the non%conductor, until the sa"e is
sufficiently heated to beco"e conducting, then the bo"bard"ent continues in the ordinary
way.
1 different arrange"ent used in so"e of the bulbs constructed is illustrated in Fig. 2C. In this
instance a non%conductor # is "ounted in a !iece of co""on arc light carbon so as to !ro3ect
so"e s"all distance above the latter. $he carbon !iece is connected to the leading%in wire
!assing through a glass ste", which is wra!!ed with several layers of "ica. 1n alu"iniu"
tube a is e"!loyed as usual for screening. It is so arranged that it reaches very nearly as
high as the carbon and only the non%conductor " !ro3ects a little above it. $he bo"bard"ent
goes at first against the u!!er surface of carbon, the lower !arts being !rotected by the
alu"iniu" tube. 1s soon, however, as the non%conductor " is heated it is rendered good
conducting, and then it beco"es the centre of the bo"bard"ent, being "ost e!osed to the
sa"e.
I have also constructed during these e!eri"ents "any such single%wire bulbs with or without
internal electrode, in which the radiant "atter was !ro3ected against, or focused u!on, the
body to be rendered incandescent. Fig. 2D illustrates one of the bulbs used. It consists of a
s!herical globe L, !rovided with a long nec# n, on the to!, for increasing the action in so"e
cases by the a!!lication of an eternal conducting coating. $he globe L is blown out on the
botto" into a very s"all bulb b, which serves to hold it fir"ly in a soc#et 7 of insulating
"aterial into which it is ce"ented. 1 fine la"! fila"ent f, su!!orted on a wire !, !asses
through the centre of fila"ent is rendered incandescent In the "iddle !ortion, where the
bo"bard"ent !roceeding fro" the lower inside surface of the globe is "ost intense. $he
lower !ortion of the globe, as far as the soc#et 7 reaches, is rendered conducting, either by g
tinfoil coating or otherwise, and the eternal electrode is connected to a ter"inal of the coil.
$he arrange"ent diagra""atically indicated in Fig. 2D was found to be an inferior one when
it was desired to render incandescent a fila"ent or button su!!orted in the centre of the
globe, but it was convenient when the ob3ect was to ecite !hos!horescence.
In "any e!eri"ents in which bodies of a different #ind were "ounted in the bulb as, for
instance, indicated in Fig. 2C, so"e observations of interest were "ade.
It was found, a"ong other things, that in such cases, no "atter where the bo"bard"ent
began, 3ust as soon as a high te"!erature was reached there was generally one of the bodies
which see"ed to ta#e "ost of the bo"bard"ent u!on itself, the other, or others, being
thereby relieved. $his 5uality a!!eared to de!end !rinci!ally on the !oint of fusion, and on the
facility with which the body was Jeva!orated,J or, generally s!ea#ing, disintegrated&"eaning
by the latter ter" not only the throwing off of ato"s, but li#ewise of larger lu"!s. $he
observation "ade was in accordance with generally acce!ted notions. In a highly ehausted
bulb electricity is carried off fro" the electrode by inde!endent carriers, which are !artly the
ato"s, or "olecules, of the residual at"os!here, and !artly the ato"s, "olecules, or lu"!s
thrown off fro" the electrode. If the electrode is co"!osed of bodies of different character,
and if one of these is "ore easily disintegrated than the others, "ost of the electricity su!!lied
is carried off fro" that body, which is then brought to a higher te"!erature than the others,
and this the "ore, as u!on an increase of the te"!erature the body is still "ore easily
disintegrated.
It see"s to "e 5uite !robable that a si"ilar !rocess ta#es !lace in the bulb even with a
ho"ogenous electrode, and I thin# it to be the !rinci!al cause of the disintegration. $here is
bound to be so"e irregularity, even if the surface is highly !olished, which, of course, is
i"!ossible with "ost of the refractory bodies e"!loyed as electrodes. 1ssu"e that a !oint of
the electrode gets hotter, instantly "ost of the discharge !asses through that !oint, and a
"inute !atch is !robably fused and eva!orated. It is now !ossible that in conse5uence of the
violent disintegration the s!ot attac#ed sin#s in te"!erature, or that a counter force is created,
as in an arc( at any rate, the local tearing off "eets with the li"itations incident to the
e!eri"ent, where u!on the sa"e !rocess occurs on another !lace. $o the eye the electrode
a!!ears unifor"ly brilliant, but there are u!on it !oints constantly shifting and wandering
around, of a te"!erature far above the "ean, and this "aterially hastens the !rocess of
deterioration. $hat so"e such thing occurs, at least when the electrode is at a lower
te"!erature, sufficient e!eri"ental evidence can be obtained in the following "anner)
Ehaust a bulb to a very high degree, so that with a fairly high !otential the discharge cannot
!ass&that is, not a l"#ino"s one, for a wea# invisible discharge occurs always, in all
!robability. =ow raise slowly and carefully the !otential, leaving the !ri"ary current on no
"ote than for an instant. 1t a certain !oint, two, three, or half a do'en !hos!horescent s!ots
"ill a!!ear on the globe. $hese !laces of the glass are evidently "ore violently bo"barded
than others, this being due to the unevenly distributed electric density, necessitated, of
course, by shar! !ro3ections, or, generally s!ea#ing, irregularities of the electrode. /ut the
lu"inous !atches are constantly changing in !osition, which is es!ecially well observable if
one "anages to !roduce very few, and this indicates that the configuration of the electrode is
ra!idly changing.
Fro" e!eriences of this #ind I a" led to infer that, in order to be "ost durable, the refractory
button in the bulb should be in the for" of a s!here with a highly !olished surface. 7uch a
s"all s!here could be "anufactured fro" a dia"ond or so"e other crystal, but a better way
would be to fuse, by the e"!loy"ent of etre"e degrees of te"!erature, so"e oide&as, for
instance, 'irconia&into a s"all dro!, and then #ee! it in the bulb at a te"!erature so"ewhat
below its !oint of fusion.
Interesting and useful results can no doubt be reached in the direction of etre"e degrees of
heat. 9ow can such high te"!eratures be arrived at; 9ow are the highest degrees of heat
reached in nature; /y the i"!act of stars, by high s!eeds and collisions. In a collision any
rate of heat generation "ay be attained. In a che"ical !rocess we are li"ited. ,hen oygen
and hydrogen co"bine, they fall, "eta!horically s!ea#ing, fro" a definite height. ,e cannot
go very far with a blast, nor by confining heat in a furnace, but in an ehausted bulb we can
concentrate any a"ount of energy u!on a "inute button. Leaving !racticability out of
consideration, this, then, would be the "eans which, in "y o!inion, would enable us to reach
the highest te"!erature. /ut a great difficulty when !roceeding in this way is encountered,
na"ely, in "ost cases the body is carried off before it can fuse and for" a dro!. $his difficulty
eists !rinci!ally with an oide such as 'irconia, because it cannot be co"!ressed in so hard
a ca#e that it would not be carried off 5uic#ly. I endeavored re!eatedly to fuse 'irconia,
!lacing it in a cu! or arc light carbon as indicated in Fig. 2C. It glowed with a "ost intense
light, and the strea" of the !articles !ro3ected out of the carbon cu! was of a vivid white( but
whether it was co"!ressed in a ca#e or "ade into a !aste with carbon, it was carried off
before it could be fused. $he carbon cu! containing the 'irconia had to be "ounted very low
in the nec# of a large bulb, as the heating of the glass by the !ro3ected !articles of the oide
was so ra!id that in the first trial the bulb was crac#ed al"ost in an instant when the current
was turned on. $he heating of the glass by the !ro3ected !articles was found to be always
greater when the carbon cu! contained a body which was ra!idly carried off&I !resu"e
because in such cases, with the sa"e !otential, higher s!eeds were reached, and also
because, !er unit of ti"e, "ore "atter was !ro3ected&that is, "ore !articles would stri#e the
glass.
$he before "entioned difficulty did not eist, however, when the body "ounted in the carbon
cu! offered great resistance to deterioration. For instance, when an oide was first fused in
an oygen blast and then "ounted in the bulb, it "elted very readily into a dro!.
2enerally during the !rocess of fusion "agnificent light effects were noted, of which it would
be difficult to give an ade5uate idea. Fig. 2C is intended to illustrate the effect observed with a
ruby dro!. 1t first one "ay see a narrow funnel of white light !ro3ected against the to! of the
globe, where it !roduces an irregularly outlined !hos!horescent !atch. ,hen the !oint of the
ruby fuses the !hos!horescence beco"es very !owerful( but as the ato"s are !ro3ected with
"uch greater s!eed fro" the surface of the dro!, soon the glass gets hot and Jtired,J and now
only the outer edge of the !atch glows. In this "anner an intensely !hos!horescent, shar!ly
defined line, corres!onding to the outline of the dro!, is !roduced, which s!reads slowly) over
the globe as the dro! gets larger. ,hen the "ass begins to boil, s"all bubbles and cavities
are for"ed, which cause dar# colored s!ots to swee! across the globe. $he bulb "ay be
turned downward without fear of the dro! falling off, as the "ass !ossesses considerable
viscosity.
I "ay "ention here another feature of so"e interest, which I believe to have noted in the
course of these e!eri"ents, though the observations do not a"ount to a certitude.
Itappeared that under the "olecular i"!act caused by the ra!idly alternating !otential the
body was fused and "aintained in that state at a lower te"!erature in a highly ehausted
bulb than was the case at nor"al !ressure and a!!lication of heat in the ordinary way&that
is, at least, 3udging fro" the 5uantity of the light e"itted. 8ne of the e!eri"ents !erfor"ed
"ay be "entioned here by way of illustration. 1 s"all !iece of !u"ice stone was stuc# on a
!latinu" wire, and first "elted to it in a gas burner. $he wire was net !laced between two
!ieces of charcoal and a burner a!!lied so as to !roduce an intense heat, sufficient to "elt
down the !u"ice stone into a s"all glass%li#e button. $he !latinu" wire had to be ta#en of
sufficient thic#ness to !revent its "elting in the fire. ,hile in the charcoal fire, or when held in
a burner to get a better idea of the degree of heat, the button glowed with great brilliancy. $he
wire with the button was then "ounted in a bulb, and u!on ehausting the sa"e to a high
degree, the current was turned on slowly so as to !revent the crac#ing of the button. $he
button was heated to the !oint of fusion, and when it "elted it did not, a!!arently, glow with
the sa"e brilliancy as before, and this would indicate a lower te"!erature. Leaving out of
consideration the observer4s !ossible, and even !robable, error, the 5uestion is, can a body
under these conditions be brought fro" a solid to a li5uid state with evolution of less light;
,hen the !otential of a body is ra!idly alternated it is certain that the structure is 3arred.
,hen the !otential is very high, although the vibrations "ay be few&say 2?,??? !er second
&the effect u!on the structure "ay be considerable. 7u!!ose, for ea"!le, that a ruby is
"elted into a dro! by a steady a!!lication of energy. ,hen it for"s a dro! it will e"it visible
and invisible waves, which will be in a definite ratio, and to the eye the dro! will a!!ear to be
of a certain brilliancy. =et, su!!ose we di"inish to any degree we choose the energy
steadily su!!lied, and, instead, su!!ly energy which rises and falls according to a certain law.
=ow, when the dro! is for"ed, there will be e"itted fro" it three different #inds of vibrations&
the ordinary visible, and two #inds of invisible waves) that is, the ordinary dar# waves of all
lengths, and, in addition, waves of a well%defined character. $he latter would not eist by a
steady su!!ly of the energy( still they hel! to 3ar and loosen the structure. If this really be the
case, then the ruby dro! will e"it relatively less visible and "ore invisible waves than before.
$hus it would see" that when a !latinu" wire, for instance, is fused by currents alternating
with etre"e ra!idity, it e"its at the !oint of fusion less light and "ore invisible radiation than
it does when "elted by a steady current, though the total energy used u! in the !rocess of
fusion is the sa"e in both cases, 8r, to cite another ea"!le, a la"! fila"ent is not ca!able
of withstanding as long with currents of etre"e fre5uency as it does with steady currents,
assu"ing that it be wor#ed at the sa"e lu"inous intensity. $his "eans that for ra!idly
alternating currents the fila"ent should be shorter and thic#er. $he higher the fre5uency&
that is, the greater the de!arture fro" the steady flow&the worse it would be for the fila"ent.
/ut if the truth of this re"ar# were de"onstrated, it would be erroneous to conclude that such
a refractory button as used in these bulbs would be deteriorated 5uic#er by currents of
etre"ely high fre5uency than by steady or low fre5uency currents. Fro" e!erience I "ay
say that 3ust the o!!osite holds good) the button withstands the bo"bard"ent better with
currents of very high fre5uency. /ut this is due to the fact that a high fre5uency discharge
!asses through a rarefied gas with "uch greater freedo" than a steady or low fre5uency
discharge, and this will say that with the for"er we can wor# with a lower !otential or with a
less violent i"!act. 1s long, then, as the gas is of no conse5uence, a steady or low
fre5uency current is better( but as soon as the action of the gas is desired and i"!ortant, high
fre5uencies are !referable.
In the course of these e!eri"ents a great "any trials were "ade with all #inds of carbon
buttons. Electrodes "ade of ordinary carbon buttons were decidedly "ore durable when the
buttons were obtained by the a!!lication of enor"ous !ressure. Electrodes !re!ared by
de!ositing carbon in well #nown ways did not show u! well( they blac#ened the globe very
5uic#ly. Fro" "any e!eriences I conclude that la"! fila"ents obtained in this "anner can
be advantageously used only with low !otentials and low fre5uency currents. 7o"e #inds of
carbon withstand so well that, in order to bring the" to the !oint of fusion, it is necessary to
e"!loy very s"all buttons. In this case the observation is rendered very difficult on account
of the intense heat !roduced. =evertheless there can be no doubt that all #inds of carbon are
fused under the "olecular bo"bard"ent, but the li5uid state "ust be one of great instability.
8f all the bodies tried there were two which withstood best&dia"ond and carborundu".
$hese two showed u! about e5ually, but the latter was !referable, for "any reasons. 1s it is
"ore than li#ely that this body is not yet generally #nown, I will venture to call your attention to
it.
It has been recently !roduced by >r. E. 2. 1cheson, of >onongahela *ity, 0a., <. 7. 1. It is
intended to re!lace ordinary dia"ond !owder for !olishing !recious stones, etc., and I have
been infor"ed that it acco"!lishes this ob3ect 5uite successfully. I do not #now why the
na"e Jcarborundu"J has been given to it, unless there is so"ething in the !rocess of its
"anufacture which 3ustifies this selection. $hrough the #indness of the inventor, I obtained a
short while ago so"e sa"!les which I desired to test in regard to their 5ualities of
!hos!horescence and ca!ability of withstanding high degrees of heat.
*arborundu" can be obtained in two for"s&in the for" of JcrystalsJ and of !owder. $he
for"er a!!ear to the na#ed eye dar# colored, but are very brilliant( the latter is of nearly the
sa"e color as ordinary dia"ond !owder, but very "uch finer. ,hen viewed under a
"icrosco!e the sa"!les of crystals given to "e did not a!!ear to have any definite for", but
rather rese"bled !ieces of bro#en u! egg coal of fine 5uality. $he "a3ority were o!a5ue, but
there were so"e which were trans!arent and colored. $he crystals are a #ind of carbon
containing so"e i"!urities( they are etre"ely hard, and withstand for a long ti"e even an
oygen blast. ,hen the blast is directed against the" they at first for" a ca#e of so"e
co"!actness, !robably in conse5uence of the fusion of i"!urities they contain. $he "ass
withstands for a very long ti"e the blast without further fusion( but a slow carrying off, or
burning, occurs, and, finally, a s"all 5uantity of a glass%li#e residue is left, which, I su!!ose, is
"elted alu"ina. ,hen co"!ressed strongly they conduct very well, but not as well as
ordinary carbon. $he !owder, which is obtained fro" the crystals in so"e way, is !ractically
non%conducting. It affords a "agnificent !olishing "aterial for stones.
$he ti"e has been too short to "a#e a satisfactory study of the !ro!erties of this !roduct, but
enough e!erience has been gained in a few wee#s I have e!eri"ented u!on it to say that it
does !ossess so"e re"ar#able !ro!erties in "any res!ects. It withstands ecessively high
degrees of heat, it is little deteriorated by "olecular bo"bard"ent, and it does not blac#en
the globe as ordinary carbon does. $he only difficulty which I have found in its use in
connection with these e!eri"ents was to find so"e binding "aterial which would resist the
heat and the effect of the bo"bard"ent as successfully as carborundu" itself does.
I have here a nu"ber of bulbs which I have !rovided with buttons of carborundu". $o "a#e
such a button of carborundu" crystals I !roceed in the following "anner) I ta#e an ordinary
la"! fila"ent and di! its !oint in tar, or so"e other thic# substance or !aint which "ay be
readily carboni'ed. I net !ass the !oint of the fila"ent through the crystals, and then hold it
vertically over a hot !late. $he tar softens and for"s a dro! on the !oint of the fila"ent, the
crystals adhering to the surface of the dro!. /y regulating the distance fro" the !late the tar
is slowly dried out and the button beco"es solid. I then once "ore di! the button in tar and
hold it again over a !late until the tar is eva!orated, leaving only a hard "ass which fir"ly
binds the crystals. ,hen a larger button is re5uired I re!eat the !rocess several ti"es, and I
generally also cover the fila"ent a certain distance below the button with crystals. $he button
being "ounted in a bulb, when a good vacuu" has been reached, first a wea# and then a
strong discharge is !assed through the bulb to carboni'e the tar and e!el all gases, and later
it is brought to a very intense incandescence.
,hen the !owder is used I have found it best to !roceed as follows) I "a#e a thic# !aint of
carborundu" and tar, and !ass a la"! fila"ent through the !aint. $a#ing then "ost of the
!aint off by rubbing the fila"ent against a !iece of cha"ois leather, I hold it over a hot !late
until the tar eva!orates and the coating beco"es fir". I re!eat this !rocess as "any ti"es as
it is necessary to obtain a certain thic#ness of coating. 8n the !oint of the coated fila"ent I
for" a button in the sa"e "anner.
$here is no doubt that such a button&!ro!erly !re!ared under great !ressure&of
carborundu", es!ecially of !owder of the best 5uality, will withstand the effect of the
bo"bard"ent fully as well as anything we #now. $he difficulty is that the binding "aterial
gives way, and the carborundu" is slowly thrown off after so"e ti"e. 1s it does not see" to
blac#en the globe in the least, it "ight be found useful for coating the fila"ents of ordinary
Incandescent la"!s, and I thin# that it is even !ossible to !roduce thin threads or stic#s of
carborundu" which will re!lace the ordinary fila"ents in an incandescent la"!. 1
carborundu" coating see"s to be "ore durable than other coatings, not only because the
carborundu" can withstand high degrees of heat, but also because it see"s to unite with the
carbon better than any other "aterial I have tried. 1 coating of 'irconia or any other oide, for
instance, is far "ore 5uic#ly destroyed. I !re!ared buttons of dia"ond dust in the sa"e
"anner as of carborundu", and these ca"e in durability nearest to those !re!ared of
carborundu", but the binding !aste gave way "uch "ore 5uic#ly in the dia"ond buttons)
this, however, I attributed to the site and irregularity of the grains of the dia"ond.
It was of interest to find whether carborundu" !ossesses the 5uality of !hos!horescence.
8ne is, of course, !re!ared to encounter two difficulties) first, as regards the rough !roduct,
the Jcrystals,J they are good conducting, and it is a fact that conductors do not !hos!horesce(
second, the !owder, being eceedingly fine, would not be a!t to ehibit very !ro"inently this
5uality, since we #now that when crystals, even such as dia"ond or ruby, are finely
!owdered, they lose the !ro!erty of !hos!horescence to a considerable degree.
$he 5uestion !resents itself here, can a conductor !hos!horesce; ,hat is there in such a
body as a "etal, for instance, that would de!rive it of the 5uality of !hos!horescence, unless
it is that !ro!erty which characteri'es it as a conductor; For it is a fact that "ost of the
!hos!horescent bodies lose that 5uality when they are sufficiently heated to beco"e "ore or
less conducting. $hen, if a "etal be in a large "easure, or !erha!s entirely de!rived of that
!ro!erty, it should be ca!able of !hos!horescence. $herefore it is 5uite !ossible that at so"e
etre"ely high fre5uency, when behaving !ractically as a non%conductor, a "etal of any other
conductor "ight ehibit the 5uality of !hos!horescence, even though it be entirely inca!able
of !hos!horescing under the i"!act of a low%fre5uency discharge. $here is, however,
another !ossible way how a conductor "ight at least appear to !hos!horesce.
*onsiderable doubt still eists as to what really is !hos!horescence, and as to whether the
various !heno"ena co"!rised under this head are due to the sa"e causes. 7u!!ose that in
an ehausted bulb, under the "olecular i"!act, the surface of a !iece of "etal or other
conductor is rendered strongly lu"inous, but at the sa"e ti"e it is found that it re"ains
co"!aratively cool, would not this lu"inosity be called !hos!horescence; =ow such a result,
theoretically at least, is !ossible, for it is a "ere 5uestion of !otential of s!eed. 1ssu"e the
!otential of the electrode, and conse5uently the s!eed of the !ro3ected ato"s, to be
sufficiently high, the surface of the "etal !iece against which the ato"s are !ro3ected would
be rendered highly incandescent, since the !rocess of heat generation would be inco"!atibly
faster than that of radiating or conducting away fro" the surface of the collision. In the eye of
the observer a single i"!act of the ato"s would cause an instantaneous flash, but if the
i"!act were re!eated with sufficient ra!idity they would !roduce a continuous i"!ression
u!on his retina. $o hi" then the surface of the "etal would a!!ear continuously
incandescent and of constant lu"inous intensity, while in reality the light would be either
inter"ittent or at least changing !eriodically in intensity. $he "etal !iece would rise in
te"!erature until e5uilibriu" was attained&that is, until the energy continuously radiated
would e5ual that inter"ittently su!!lied. /ut the su!!lied energy "ight under such conditions
not be sufficient to bring the body to any "ore than a very "oderate "ean te"!erature,
es!ecially if the fre5uency of the ato"ic i"!acts be very low&3ust enough that the fluctuation
of the intensity of the light e"itted could not be detected by the eye. $he body would now,
owing to the "anner in which the energy is su!!lied, e"it a strong light, and yet be at a
co"!aratively very low "ean te"!erature. 9ow could the observer call the lu"inosity thus
!roduced; Even if the analysis of the light would teach hi" so"ething definite, still he would
!robably ran# it under the !heno"ena of !hos!horescence. It is conceivable that in such a
way both conducting and nonconducting bodies "ay be "aintained at a certain%lu"inous
intensity, but the energy re5uired would very greatly vary with the nature and !ro!erties of the
bodies.
$hese and so"e foregoing re"ar#s of a s!eculative nature were "ade "erely to bring out
curious features of alternate currents or electric i"!ulses. /y their hel! we "ay cause a body
to e"it #ore light, while at a certain "ean te"!erature, than it would e"it if brought to that
te"!erature by a steady su!!ly( and, again, we "ay bring a body to the !oint of fusion, and
cause it to e"it less light than when fused by the a!!lication of energy in ordinary ways. It all
de!ends on how we su!!ly the energy, and what #ind of vibrations we set u!) in one case the
vibrations are "ore, in the other less, ada!ted to affect our sense of vision.
7o"e effects, which I had not observed before, obtained with carborundu" in the first trials, I
attributed to !hos!horescence, but in subse5uent e!eri"ents it a!!eared that it was devoid
of that 5uality. $he crystals !ossess a noteworthy feature. In a bulb !rovided with a single
electrode in the sha!e of a s"all circular "etal disc, for instance, at a certain degree of
ehaustion the electrode is covered with a "il#y fil", which is se!arated by a dar# s!ace fro"
the glow filling the bulb. ,hen the "etal disc is covered with carborundu" crystals, the fil" is
far "ore intense, and snow%white. $his I found later to be "erely an effect of the bright
surface of the crystals, for when an alu"iniu" electrode was highly !olished it ehibited "ore
or less the sa"e !heno"enon. I "ade a nu"ber of e!eri"ents with the sa"!les of crystals
obtained, !rinci!ally because it would have been of s!ecial interest to find that they are
ca!able of !hos!horescence, on account of their being conducting. I could not !roduce
!hos!horescence distinctly, but I "ust re"ar# that a decisive o!inion cannot be for"ed until
other e!eri"enters have gone over the sa"e ground.
$he !owder behaved in so"e e!eri"ents as though it contained alu"ina, but it did not
ehibit with sufficient distinctness the red of the latter. Its dead color brightens considerably
under the "olecular i"!act, but I a" now convinced it does not !hos!horesce. 7till, the tests
with the !owder are not conducive, because !owdered carborundu" !robably does not
behave li#e a !hos!horescent sul!hide, for ea"!le, which could be finely !owdered without
i"!airing the !hos!horescence, but rather li#e !owdered ruby or dia"ond, and therefore it
would be necessary, in order to "a#e a decisive test, to obtain it in a large lu"! and !olish u!
the surface.
If the carborundu" !roves useful in connection with these and si"ilar e!eri"ents, its chief
value will be found in the !roduction of coatings, thin conductors, buttons, or other electrodes
ca!able of withstanding etre"ely high degrees of heat.
$he !roduction of a s"all electrode ca!able of withstanding enor"ous te"!eratures I regard
as of the greatest i"!ortance in the "anufacture of light. It would enable us to obtain, by
"eans of currents of very high fre5uencies, certainly 2? ti"es, if not "ore, the 5uantity of light
which is obtained in the !resent incandescent la"! by the sa"e e!enditure of energy. $his
esti"ate "ay a!!eal% to "any eaggerated, but in reality I thin# it is far fro" being so. 1s this
state"ent "ight be "isunderstood I thin# it necessary to e!ose clearly the !roble" with
which in this line of wor# we are confronted, and the "anner in which, in "y o!inion, a
solution will be arrived at.
1ny one who begins a study of the !roble" will be a!t to thin# that what is wanted in a la"!
with an electrode is a very high degree of incandescence of the electrode. $here he will be
"ista#en. $he high incandescence of the button is a necessary evil, but what is really wanted
is the high incandescence of the gas surrounding thee button. In other words, the !roble" in
such a la"! is to bring a "ass of gas to the highest !ossible incandescence. $he higher the
incandescence, the 5uic#er the "ean vibration, the greater is the econo"y of the light
!roduction. /ut to "aintain a "ass of gas at a high degree of incandescence in a glass
vessel, it will always be necessary to #ee! the incandescent "ass away fro" the glass( that
is, to confine it as "uch as !ossible to the central !ortion of the globe.
In one of the e!eri"ents this evening a brush was !roduced at the end of a wire. $his brush
was a fla"e, a source of heat and light. It did not e"it "uch !erce!tible heat, nor did it glow
with an intense light( but is it the less a fla"e because it does not scorch "y hand; Is it the
less a fla"e because it does not hurt "y eye by its brilliancy; $he !roble" is !recisely to
!roduce in the bulb such a fla"e, "uch s"aller in site, but inco"!arably "ore !owerful.
,ere there "eans at hand for !roducing electric i"!ulses of a sufficiently high fre5uency, and
for trans"itting the", the bulb could be done away with, unless it were used to !rotect the
electrode, or to econo"i'e the energy by confining the heat. /ut as such "eans are not at
dis!osal, it beco"es necessary to !lace $he ter"inal in a bulb and rarefy the air in the sa"e.
$his is done "erely to enable the a!!aratus to !erfor" the wor# which it is not ca!able of
!erfor"ing at ordinary air !ressure. In the bulb we are able to intensify the action to any
degree&so far that the brush e"its a !owerful light.
$he intensity of the light e"itted de!ends !rinci!ally on the fre5uency and !otential of the
i"!ulses, and on the electric density on the surface of the electrode. It is of the greatest
i"!ortance to e"!loy the s"allest !ossible button, in order to !ush the density very far.
<nder the violent i"!act of the "olecules of the gas surrounding it, the s"all electrode is of
course brought to an etre"ely high te"!erature, but around it is a "ass of highly
incandescent gas, a fla"e !hotos!here, "any hundred ti"es the volu"e of the electrode.
,ith a dia"ond, carborundu" or 'ircon button the !hotos!here can be as "uch as one
thousand ti"es the volu"e of the button. ,ithout "uch reflecting one would thin# that in
!ushing so far the incandescence of the electrode it would be instantly volatili'ed. /ut after a
careful consideration he would find that, theoretically, it should not occur, and in this fact&
which, however, is e!eri"entally de"onstrated&lies !rinci!ally the future value of such a
la"!.
1t first, when the bo"bard"ent begins, "ost of the wor# is !erfor"ed on the surface of the
button, but when a highly conducting !hotos!here is for"ed the button is co"!aratively
relieved. $he higher the incandescence of the !hotos!here the "ore it a!!roaches in
conductivity to that of the electrode, and the "ore, therefore, the solid and the gas for" one
conducting body. $he conse5uence is that the further is forced the incandescence the "ore
wor#, co"!aratively, is !erfor"ed on the gas, and the less on the electrode. $he for"ation of
a !owerful !hotos!here is conse5uently the very "eans for !rotecting the electrode. $his
!rotection, of course, is a relative one, and it should not be thought that by !ushing the
incandescence higher the electrode is actually less deteriorated. 7till, theoretically, with
etre"e fre5uencies, this result "ust be reached, but !robably at a te"!erature too high for
"ost of the refractory bodies #nown. 2iven, then, an electrode which can withstand to a very
high li"it the effect of the bo"bard"ent and outward strain, it would be safe no "atter how
"uch it is forced beyond that li"it. In an incandescent la"! 5uite different considerations
a!!ly. $here the gas is not at all concerned) the whole of the wor# is !erfor"ed on the
fila"ent( and the life of the la"! di"inishes so ra!idly with the increase of the degree of
incandescence the econo"ical reasons co"!el us to wor# it at a low incandescence. /ut if
an incandescent la"! is o!erated with currents of very high fre5uency, the action of the gas
cannot be neglected, and the rules for the "ost econo"ical wor#ing "ust be considerably
"odified.
In order to bring such a la"! with one or two electrodes to a great !erfection, it is necessary
to e"!loy i"!ulses of very high fre5uency. $he high fre5uency secures, a"ong others, two
chief advantages, which have a "ost i"!ortant bearing u!on the econo"y of the light
!roduction. First, the deterioration of the electrode is reduced by reason of the fact that we
e"!loy a great "any s"all i"!acts, instead of a few violent ones, which shatter 5uic#ly the
structure( secondly, the for"ation of a large !hotos!here is facilitated.
In order to reduce the deterioration of the electrode to the "ini"u", it is desirable that the
vibration be har"onic, for any suddenness hastens the !rocess of destruction. 1n electrode
lasts "uch longer when #e!t at incandescence by currents, or i"!ulses, obtained fro" a
high%fre5uency alternator, which rise and fall "ore or less har"onically, than by i"!ulses
obtained fro" a disru!tive discharge coil. In the latter case there is no doubt that "ost of the
da"age is done by the funda"ental sudden discharges.
8ne of the ele"ents of loss in such a la"! is the bo"bard"ent of the globe. 1s the !otential
is very high, the "olecules are !ro3ected with great s!eed( they stri#e the glass, and usually
ecite a strong !hos!horescence. $he effect !roduced is very !retty but for econo"ical
reasons it would be !erha!s !referable to !revent, or at least reduce to the "ini"u", the
bo"bard"ent against the globe, as in such case it is, as a result, not the ob3ect to ecite
!hos!horescence, and as so"e loss of energy results fro" the bo"bard"ent. $his loss in
the bulb is !rinci!ally de!endent on the !otential of the i"!ulses and on the electric density
on the surface of the electrode. In e"!loying very high fre5uencies the loss of energy by the
bo"bard"ent is greatly reduced, for, first, the !otential needed to !erfor" a given a"ount of
wor# is "uch s"aller( and, secondly, by !roducing a highly conducting !hotos!here around
the electrode, the sa"e result is obtained as though the electrode were "uch larger, which is
e5uivalent to a s"aller electric density. /ut be it by the di"inution of the "ai"u" !otential
or of the density, the gain is effected in the sa"e "anner, na"ely, by avoiding violent shoc#s,
which strain the glass "uch beyond its li"it of elasticity. If the fre5uency could be brought
high enough, the loss due to the i"!erfect elasticity of the glass would be entirely negligible.
$he loss due to bo"bard"ent of the globe "ay, however, be reduced by using two electrodes
instead of one. In such case each of the electrodes "ay be connected to one of the
ter"inals( or else, if it is !referable to use only one wire, one electrode "ay be connected to
one ter"inal and the other to the ground or to an insulated body of so"e surface, as, for
instance, a shade on the la"!. In the latter case, unless so"e 3udg"ent is used, one of the
electrodes "ight glow "ore intensely than the other.
/ut on the whole I find it !referable when using such high fre5uencies to e"!loy only one
electrode and one connecting wire. I a" convinced that the illu"inating device of the near
future will not re5uire for its o!eration "ore than one lead, and, at any rate, it will have no
leading%in wire, since the energy re5uired can be as well trans"itted through the glass. In
e!eri"ental bulbs the leading%in wire is "ost generally used on account of convenience, as
in e"!loying condenser coatings in the "anner indicated in Fig. 22, for ea"!le, there is
so"e difficulty in fitting the !arts, but these difficulties would not eist if a great "any bulbs
were "anufactured( otherwise the energy can be conveyed through the glass as well as
through a wire, and with these high fre5uencies the losses are very s"all. 7uch illu"inating
deices will necessarily involve the use of very high !otentials, and this, in the eyes of !ractical
"en, "ight be an ob3ectionable feature. :et, in reality, high !otentials are not ob3ectionable&
certainly not in the least as far as the safety of the devices is concerned.
$here are two ways of rendering an electric a!!liance safe. 8ne is to use low !otentials, the
other is to deter"ine the di"ensions of the a!!aratus so that it is safe no "atter how high a
!otential is used. 8f the two the latter see"s to "e the better way, for then the safety is
absolute, unaffected by any !ossible co"bination of circu"stances which "ight render even
a low%!otential a!!liance dangerous to life and !ro!erty. /ut the !ractical conditions re5uire
not only the 3udicious deter"ination of the di"ensions of the a!!aratus( they li#ewise
necessitate the e"!loy"ent of energy of the !ro!er #ind. It is easy, for instance, to construct
a transfor"er ca!able of giving, when o!erated fro" an ordinary alternate current "achine of
low tension, say G?,??? volts, which "ight be re5uired to light a highly ehausted
!hos!horescent tube, so that, in s!ite of the high !otential, it is !erfectly safe, the shoc# fro"
it !roducing no inconvenience. 7till, such a transfor"er would be e!ensive, and in itself
inefficient( and, besides, what energy was obtained fro" it would not be econo"ically used
for the !roduction of light. $he econo"y de"ands the e"!loy"ent of energy in the for" of
etre"ely ra!id vibrations. $he !roble" of !roducing light has been li#ened to that of
"aintaining a certain high%!itch note by "eans of a bell. It should be said a barel%
a"dible note( and even these words would not e!ress it, so wonderful is the sensitiveness of
the eye. ,e "ay deliver !owerful blows at long intervals, waste a good deal of energy, and
still not get what we want( or we "ay #ee! u! the note by delivering fre5uent gentle ta!s, and
get nearer to the ob3ect sought by the e!enditure of "ud&1 less energy. In the !roduction
of light, as far as the illu"inating device is concerned, there can be only one rule&that is, to
use as high fre5uencies as can be obtained( but the "eans for the !roduction and
conveyance of i"!ulses of such character i"!ose, at !resent at least, great li"itations. 8nce
it is decided to use very high fre5uencies, the return wire beco"es unnecessary, and all the
a!!liances are si"!lified. /y the use of obvious "eans the sa"e result is obtained as though
the return wire were used. It is sufficient for this !ur!ose to bring in contact with the bulb, or
"erely in the vicinity of the sa"e, an insulated body of so"e surface. $he surface need, of
course, be the s"aller, the higher the fre5uency and !otential used, and necessarily, also, the
higher the econo"y of the la"! or other device.
$his !lan of wor#ing has been resorted to on several occasions this evening. 7o, for
instance, when the incandescence of a button was !roduced by gras!ing the bulb with the
hand, the body of the e!eri"enter "erely served to intensify the action. $he bulb used was
si"ilar to that illustrated in Fig. 19, and the coil was ecited to a s"all !otential, not sufficient
to bring the button to incandescence when the bulb was hanging fro" the wire( and
incidentally, in order to !erfor" the e!eri"ent in a "ore suitable "anner, the button was
ta#en so large that a !erce!tible ti"e had to ela!se before, u!on gras!ing the bulb, it could
be rendered incandescent. $he contact with the bulb was, of course, 5uite unnecessary. It is
easy, by using a rather large bulb with an eceedingly s"all electrode, to ad3ust the conditions
so that the latter is brought to bright incandescence by the "ere a!!roach of the
e!eri"enter within a few feet of the bulb, and that the incandescence subsides u!on his
receding.
In another e!eri"ent, when !hos!horescence was ecited, a si"ilar bulb was used. 9ere
again, originally, the !otential was not sufficient to ecite !hos!horescence until the action
was intensified&in this case, however, to !resent a different feature, by touching the soc#et
with a "etallic ob3ect held in the hand. $he electrode in the bulb was a carbon button so
large that it could not be brought to incandescence, and thereby s!oil the effect !roduced by
!hos!horescence.
1gain, in another of the early e!eri"ents, a bulb was used as illustrated in Fig. 12. In this
instance, by touching the bulb with one or two fingers, one or two shadows of the ste" inside
were !ro3ected against the glass, the touch of the finger !roducing the sa"e result as the
a!!lication of an eternal negative electrode under ordinary circu"stances.
In all these e!eri"ents the action was intensified by aug"enting the ca!acity at the end of
the lead connected to the ter"inal. 1s a rule, it is not necessary to resort to such "eans, and
would be 5uite unnecessary with still higher fre5uencies( but when it is desired, the bulb, or
tube, can be easily ada!ted to the !ur!ose.
In Fig. 2D, for ea"!le, an e!eri"ental bulb L is shown, which is !rovided with a nec# n on
the to! for the a!!lication of an eternal tinfoil coating, which "ay be connected to a body of
larger surface. 7u" a la"! as illustrated in Fig. 2G "ay also be lighted by connecting the
tinfoil coating on the nec# n to the ter"inal, and the leading%in wire ! to an insulated !late. If
the bulb stands in a soc#et u!right, as shown in the cut, a shade of conducting "aterial "ay
be sli!!ed in the nec# n, and the action thus "agnified.
1 "ore !erfected arrange"ent used in so"e of these bulbs is illustrated in Fig. 2E. In this
case the construction of the bulb is as shown and described before, where reference was
"ade to Fig. 19. 1 'inc sheet Z, with a tubular etension T, is sli!!ed over the "etallic
soc#et S. $he bulb hangs downward fro" the ter"inal t, the 'inc sheet Z, !erfor"ing the
double office of intensifier and reflector. $he reflector is se!arated fro" the ter"inal t by an
etension of the insulating !lug P.
1 si"ilar dis!osition with a !hos!horescent tube is illustrated in Fig. 2F. $he tube T is
!re!ared fro" two short tubes of a different dia"eter, which are sealed on the ends. 8n the
lower end is !laced an outside conducting coating C, which connects to the wire !. $he wire
has a hoo# on the u!!er end for sus!ension, and !asses through the centre of the inside
tube, which is filled with so"e good and tightly !ac#ed insulator. 8n the outside of the u!!er
end of the tube, T, is another conducting coating C1, u!on which is sli!!ed a "etallic
reflector Z, which should be se!arated by a thic# insulation fro" the end of wire !.
$he econo"ical use of such a reflector or intensifier would re5uire that all energy su!!lied to
an air condenser should be recoverable, or, in other words, that there should not be any
losses, neither in the gaseous "ediu" nor through its action elsewhere. $his is far fro"
being so, but, fortunately, the losses "ay be reduced to anything desired. 1 few re"ar#s are
necessary on this sub3ect, in order to "a#e the e!eriences gathered in the course of these
investigations !erfectly clear.
7u!!ose a s"all heli with "any well insulated turns, as in e!eri"ent Fig. 1F, had one of its
ends connected to one of the ter"inals of the induction coil, and the other to a "etal !late, or,
for the sa#e of si"!licity, a s!here, insulated in s!ace. ,hen the coil is set to wor#, the
!otential of the s!here is alternated, and the s"all heli now behaves as though its free end
were connected to the other ter"inal of the induction coil. If an iron can be held within the
s"all heli it is 5uic#ly brought to a high te"!erature, indicating the !assage of a strong
current through the heli. 9ow does the insulated s!here act in this case; It can be a
condenser, storing and returning the energy su!!lied to it, or it can be a "ere sin# of energy,
and the conditions of the e!eri"ent deter"ine whether it is "ore one or the other. $he
s!here being charged to a high !otential, it acts inductively u!on the surrounding air, or
whatever gaseous "ediu" there "ight be. $he "olecules, or ato"s, which are near the
s!here are of course "ore attracted, and "ove through a greater distance than the farther
ones. ,hen the nearest "olecules stri#e the s!here they are re!elled, and collisions occur at
all distances within the inductive action of the s!here. It is now clear that, if the !otential be
steady, but little loss of energy can be caused in this way, for the "olecules which are nearest
to the s!here, having had an additional charge i"!arted to the" by contact, are not 1ttracted
until they have !arted, if not with all, at least with "ost of the additional charge, which can be
acco"!lished only after a great "any collisions. Fro" the fact that with a steady !otential
there is but little loss in dry air, one "ust co"e to such a conclusion. ,hen the !otential of
the s!here, instead of being steady, is alternating, the conditions are entirely different. In this
case a rhyth"ical bo"bard"ent occurs, no "atter whether the "olecules after co"ing in
contact with the s!here lose the i"!arted charge or not( what is "ore, if the charge is not lost,
the i"!acts are only the "ore violent. 7till if the fre5uency of the i"!ulses be very s"all, the
loss caused hg the i"!acts and collisions would not be serious unless the !otential were
ecessive. /ut when etre"ely high fre5uencies and "ore or less high !otentials are used,
the loss "ay be very great. $he total energy lost !er unit of ti"e is !ro!ortionate to the
!roduct of the nu"ber of i"!acts !er second, or the fre5uency and the energy lost in each
i"!act. /ut the energy of an i"!act "ust be !ro!ortionate to the s5uare of the electric
density of the s!here, since the charge i"!arted to the "olecule is !ro!ortionate to that
density. I conclude fro" this that the total energy lost "ust be !ro!ortionate to the !roduct of
the fre5uency and the s5uare of the electric density( but this law needs e!eri"ental
confir"ation. 1ssu"ing the !receding considerations to be true, then, by ra!idly alternating
the !otential of a body i""ersed in an insulating gaseous "ediu", any a"ount of energy
"ay be dissi!ated into s!ace. >ost of that energy then, I believe, is not dissi!ated in the for"
of long ether waves, !ro!agated to considerable distance, as is thought "ost generally, but is
consu"ed&in the case of an insulated s!here, for ea"!le&in i"!act and collisional losses
&that is, heat vibrations&on the surface and in the vicinity of the s!here. $o reduce the
dissi!ation it is necessary to wor# with a s"all electric density the s"aller the higher the
fre5uency.
/ut since, on the assu"!tion before "ade, the loss is di"inished with the s5uare of the
density, and since currents of very high fre5uencies involve considerable waste when
trans"itted through conductors, it follows that, on the whole, it is better to e"!loy one wire
than two. $herefore, if "otors, la"!s, or devices of any #ind are !erfected, ca!able of being
advantageously o!erated by currents of etre"ely high fre5uency, econo"ical reasons will
"a#e it advisable to use only one wire, es!ecially if the distances are great.
,hen energy is absorbed in a condenser the sa"e behaves as though its ca!acity were
increased. 1bsor!tion always eists "ore or less, but generally it is s"all and of no
conse5uence as long as the fre5uencies are not very great. In using etre"ely high
fre5uencies, and, necessarily in such case, also high !otentials, the absor!tion&or, what is
here "eant "ore !articularly by this ter", the loss of energy due to the !resence of a
gaseous "ediu"&is an i"!ortant factor to be considered, as the energy absorbed it the air
condenser "ay be any fraction of the su!!lied energy. $his would see" to "a#e it very
difficult to tell fro" the "easured or co"!uted ca!acity of an air condenser its actual ca!acity
or vibration !eriod, es!ecially if the condenser is of very s"all surface and is charged to a
very high !otential. 1s "any i"!ortant results are de!endent u!on the correctness of the
esti"ation of the vibration !eriod, this sub3ect de"ands the "ost careful scrutiny of other
investigators. $o reduce the !robable error as "uch as !ossible in e!eri"ents of the #ind
alluded to, it is advisable to use s!heres or !lates of large surface, so as to "a#e the density
eceedingly s"all. 8therwise, when it is !racticable, an oil condenser should be used in
!reference. In oil or other li5uid dielectrics there are see"ingly no such losses as in gaseous
"edia. It being i"!ossible to eclude entirely the gas in condensers with solid dielectrics,
such condensers should be i""ersed in oil, for econo"ical reasons if nothing else( they can
then be strained to the ut"ost and will re"ain cool. In Leyden 3ars the loss due to air is
co"!aratively s"all, as the tinfoil coatings are large, close together, and the charged surfaces
not directly e!osed( but when the !otentials are very high, the loss "ay be "ore or less
considerable at, or near, the u!!er edge of the foil, where the air is !rinci!ally acted u!on. If
the 3ar be i""ersed in boiled%out oil, it will be ca!able of !erfor"ing four ti"es the a"ount of
wor# which it can for any length of ti"e when used in the ordinary way, and the loss will be
ina!!reciable.
It should not be thought that the loss in heat in an air condenser is necessarily associated
with the for"ation of $isible strea"s or brushes. If a s"all electrode, inclosed in an
unehausted bulb, is connected to one of the ter"inals of the coil, strea"s can be seen to
issue fro" the electrode and the air in the bulb is heated( if, instead of a s"all electrode, a
large s!here is inclosed in the bulb, no strea"s are observed, still the air is heated.
=or should it be thought that the te"!erature of an air condenser would give even an
a!!roi"ate idea of the loss in heat incurred, as in such case heat "ust be given off "uch
"ore 5uic#ly, since there is, in addition to the ordinary radiation, a very active carrying away
of heat by inde!endent carriers going on, and since not only the a!!aratus, but the air at
so"e distance fro" it is heated in conse5uence of the collisions which "ust occur.
8wing to this, in e!eri"ents with such a coil, a rise of te"!erature can be distinctly observed
only when the body connected to the coil is very s"all. /ut with a!!aratus on a larger scale,
even a body of considerable bul# would be heated, as, for instance, the body of a !erson( and
I thin# that s#illed !hysicians "ight "a#e observations of utility in such e!eri"ents, which, if
the a!!aratus were 3udiciously designed, would not !resent the slightest danger.
1 5uestion of so"e interest, !rinci!ally to "eteorologists, !resents itself here. 9ow does the
earth behave; $he earth is an air condenser, but is it a !erfect or a very i"!erfect one&a
"ere sin# of energy; $here can be little doubt that to such s"all disturbance as "ight be
caused in an e!eri"ent the earth behaves as an al"ost !erfect condenser. /ut it "ight be
different when its charge is set in vibration by so"e sudden disturbance occurring in the
heavens. In such case, as before stated, !robably only little of the energy of the vibrations
set u! would be lost into s!ace in the for" of long ether radiations, but "ost of the energy, I
thin#, would s!end itself in "olecular i"!acts and collisions, and !ass off into s!ace in the
for" of short heat, and !ossibly light, waves. 1s both the fre5uency of the vibrations of the
charge and the !otential are in all !robability ecessive, the energy converted into heat "ay
be considerable. 7ince the density "ust be unevenly distributed, either in conse5uence of
the irregularity of the earth4s surface, or on account of the condition of the at"os!here in
various !laces, the effect !roduced would accordingly vary fro" !lace to !lace. *onsiderable
variations in the te"!erature and !ressure of the at"os!here "ay in this "anner be caused
at any !oint of the surface of the earth. $he variations "ay be gradual or very sudden,
according to the nature of the general disturbance, and "ay !roduce rain and stor"s, or
locally "odify the weather in any way.
Fro" the re"ar#s before "ade one "ay see what an i"!ortant factor of loss the air in the
neighborhood of a charged surface beco"es when the electric density is great and the
fre5uency of the i"!ulses ecessive. /ut the action as e!lained i"!lies that the air is
insulating&that is, that it is co"!osed of inde!endent carriers i""ersed in an insulating
"ediu". $his is the case only when the air is at so"ething li#e ordinary or greater, or at
etre"ely s"all, !ressure. ,hen the air is slightly rarefied and conducting, then true
conduction losses occur also. In such case, of course, considerable energy "ay be
dissi!ated into s!ace even with a steady !otential, or with i"!ulses of low fre5uency, if the
density is very great.
,hen the gas is at very low !ressure, an electrode is heated "ore because higher s!eeds
can be reached. If the gas around the electrode is strongly co"!ressed, the dis!lace"ents,
and conse5uently the s!eeds, are very s"all, and the heating is insignificant. /ut if in such
case the fre5uency could be sufficiently increased, the electrode would be brought to a high
te"!erature as well as if the gas were at very low !ressure( in fact, ehausting the bulb is
only necessary because we cannot !roduce -and !ossibly not convey. currents of the
re5uired fre5uency.
Leturning to the sub3ect of electrode la"!s, it is obviously of advantage in such a la"! to
confine as "uch as !ossible the heat to the electrode by !reventing the circulation of the gas
in the bulb. If a very s"all bulb be ta#en, it would confine the heat better than a large one, but
it "ight not be of sufficient ca!acity to be o!erated fro" the coil, or, if so, the glass "ight get
too hot. 1 si"!le way to i"!rove in this direction is to e"!loy a globe of the re5uired si'e, but
to !lace a s"all bulb, the dia"eter of which is !ro!erly esti"ated, over the refractory button
contained in the globe. $his arrange"ent is illustrated in Fig. 28.
$he globe L has in this case a large nec# n, allowing the s"all bulb b to sli! through.
8therwise the construction is the sa"e as shown in Fig. 18, for ea"!le. $he s"all bulb is
conveniently su!!orted u!on the ste" s, carrying the refractory button #. In tube a by
several layers of "ica M, in order to !revent the crac#ing of the nec# by the ra!id heating of
the alu"iniu" tube u!on a sudden turning on of the current. $he inside bulb should be as
s"all as !ossible when it is desired to obtain light only by incandescence of the electrode. If
it is desired to !roduce !hos!horescence, the bulb should be larger, else it would be a!t to
get too hot, and the !hos!horescence would cease. In this arrange"ent usually only the
s"all bulb shows !hos!horescence, as there is !ractically no bo"bard"ent against the outer
globe. In so"e of these bulbs constructed as illustrated in Fig. 28 the s"all tube was coated
with !hos!horescent !aint, and beautiful effects were obtained. Instead of "a#ing the inside
bulb large, in order to avoid undue heating, it answers the !ur!ose to "a#e the
electrode # larger. In this case the bo"bard"ent is wea#ened by reason of the s"aller
electric density.
>any bulbs were constructed on the !lan illustrated in Fig. 29. 9ere a s"all bulb b,
containing the refractory button #, u!on being ehausted to a very high degree was sealed in
a large globe L, which was then "oderately ehausted and sealed off. $he !rinci!al
advantage of this construction was that it allowed of reaching etre"ely high vacua, and, at
the sa"e ti"e use a large bulb. It was found, in the course of e!eriences with bulbs such as
illustrated in Fig. 29, that it was well to "a#e the ste" s near the seal at c very thic#, and the
leading%in wire ! thin, as it occurred so"eti"es that the ste" at e was heated and the bulb
was crac#ed. 8ften the outer globe L was ehausted only 3ust enough to allow the discharge
to !ass through, and the s!ace between the bulbs a!!eared cri"son, !roducing a curious
effect. In so"e cases, when the ehaustion in globe L was very low, and the air good
conducting, it was found necessary, in order to bring the button # to high incandescence, to
!lace, !referably on the u!!er !art of the nec# of the globe, a tinfoil coating which was
connected to an insulated body, to the ground, or to the other ter"inal of the coil, as the
highly conducting air wea#ened the effect so"ewhat, !robably by being acted u!on
inductively fro" the wire !, where it entered the bulb at e. 1nother difficulty&which, however,
is always !resent when the refractory button is "ounted in a very s"all bulb&eisted in the
construction illustrated in Fig. 29, na"ely, the vacuu" in the bulb b would be i"!aired in a
co"!aratively short ti"e.
$he chief idea in the two last described constructions was to confine the heat to the central
!ortion of the globe by !reventing the echange of air. 1n advantage is secured, but owing to
the heating of the inside bulb and slow eva!oration of the glass the vacuu" is hard to
"aintain, even if the construction illustrated in Fig. 28 be chosen, in which both bulbs
co""unicate.
/ut by far the better way&the ideal way&would be to reach sufficiently high fre5uencies.
$he higher the fre5uency the slower would be the echange of the air, and I thin# that a
fre5uency "ay be reached at which there would be no echange whatever of the air
"olecules around the ter"inal. ,e would then !roduce a fla"e in which there would be no
carrying away of "aterial, and a 5ueer fla"e it would be, for it would be rigid+ ,ith such high
fre5uencies the inertia of the !articles, would co"e into !lay. 1s the brush, or fla"e, would
gain rigidity in virtue of the inertia of the !articles, the echange of the latter would be
!revented. $his would necessarily occur, for, the nu"ber Mf the i"!ulses being aug"ented,
the !otential energy of each would di"inish, so that finally only ato"ic vibrations could be set
u!, and the "otion of translation through "easurable s!ace would cease. $hus an ordinary
gas burner connected to a source of ra!idly alternating !otential "ight have its efficiency
aug"ented to a certain li"it, and this for two reasons&because of the additional vibration
i"!arted, and because of a slowing down of the !rocess of carrying off. /ut the renewal
being rendered difficult, and renewal being necessary to "aintain theb"rner, a continued
increase of the fre5uency of the i"!ulses, assu"ing they could be trans"itted to and
i"!ressed u!on the fla"e, would result in the JetinctionJ of the latter, "eaning by this ter"
only the cessation of the che"ical !rocess.
I thin#, however, that in the case of an electrode i""ersed in a fluid insulating "ediu", and
surrounded by inde!endent carriers of electric charges, which can be acted u!on inductively,
a sufficiently high fre5uency of the i"!ulses would !robably result in a gravitation of the gas
all around toward the electrode. For this it would be only necessary to assu"e that the
inde!endent bodies are irregularly sha!ed( they would then turn toward the electrode their
side of the greatest electric density, and this would be a !osition in which the fluid resistance
to a!!roach would be s"aller than that offered to the receding.
$he general o!inion, I do not doubt, is that it is out of the 5uestion to reach any such
fre5uencies as "ight&assu"ing so"e of the views before e!ressed to be true !roduce any
of the results which I have !ointed out as "ere !ossibilities. $his "ay be so, but in the
course of these investigations, fro" the observation of "any !heno"ena I have gained the
conviction that these fre5uencies would be "uch lower than one is a!t to esti"ate at first. In
a fla"e we set u! light vibrations by causing "olecules, of ato"s, to collide. /ut what is the
ratio of the fre5uency of the collisions and that of the vibrations set u!; *ertainly it "ust be
inco"!arably s"aller than that of the #noc#s of the bell and the sound vibrations, or that of
the discharges and the oscillations of the condenser. ,e "ay cause the "olecules of the gas
to collide by the use of alternate electric i"!ulses of high fre5uency, and so we "ay i"itate
the !rocess in a fla"e( and fro" e!eri"ents with fre5uencies which we are now able to
obtain, I thin# that the result is !roducible with i"!ulses which are trans"issible through a
conductor.
In connection with thoughts of a si"ilar nature, it a!!eared to "e of great interest to
de"onstrate the rigidity of a vibrating gaseous colu"n. 1lthough with such low fre5uencies
as, say 1?,??? !er second, which I was able to obtain without difficulty fro" a s!ecially
constructed alternator, the tas# loo#ed discouraging at first, I "ade a series of e!eri"ents.
$he trials with air at ordinary !ressure led to no result, but with air "oderately rarefied I obtain
what I thin# to be an un"ista#able e!eri"ental evidence of the !ro!erty sought for. 1s a
result of this #ind "ight lead able investigators to conclusions of i"!ortance I will describe
one of the e!eri"ents !erfor"ed.
It is well #nown that when a tube is slightly ehausted the discharge "ay be !assed through it
in the for" of a thin lu"inous thread. ,hen !roduced with currents of low fre5uency,
obtained fro" a coil o!erated as usual, this thread is inert. If a "agnet be a!!roached to it,
the !art near the sa"e is attracted or re!elled, according to the direction of the lines of force
of the "agnet. It occurred to "e that if such a thread would be !roduced with currents of very
high fre5uency, it should be "ore or less rigid, and as it was visible it could be easily studied.
1ccordingly I !re!ared a tube about 1 inch in dia"eter and 1 "etre long, with outside coating
at each end. $he tube was ehausted to a !oint at which, by a little wor#ing the thread
discharge could be obtained. It "ust be re"ar#ed here that the general as!ect of the tube,
and the degree of ehaustion, are 5uite different than when ordinary low fre5uency currents
are used. 1s it was found !referable to wor# with one ter"inal, the tube !re!ared was
sus!ended fro" the end of a wire connected to the ter"inal, the tinfoil coating being
connected to the wire, and to the lower coating so"eti"es a s"all insulated !late was
attached. ,hen the thread was for"ed it etended through the u!!er !art of the tube and
lost itself in the lower end. If it !ossessed rigidity it rese"bled, not eactly an elastic cord
stretched tight between two su!!orts, but a cord sus!ended fro" a height with a s"all weight
attached at the end. ,hen the finger or a "agnet was a!!roached to the u!!er end of the
lu"inous thread, it could be brought locally out of !osition by electrostatic or "agnetic action(
and when the disturbing ob3ect was very 5uic#ly re"oved, an analogous result was !roduced,
as though a sus!ended cord would be dis!laced and 5uic#ly released near the !oint of
sus!ension. In doing this the lu"inous thread was set in vibration, and two very shar!ly
"ar#ed nodes, and a third indistinct one, were for"ed. $he vibration, once set u!, continued
for fully eight "inutes, dying gradually out. $he s!eed of the vibration often varied
!erce!tibly, and it could be observed that the electrostatic attraction of the glass affected the
vibrating thread( but it was clear that the electrostatic action was not the cause of the
vibration, for the thread was "ost generally stationary, and could always be set in vibration by
!assing the finger 5uic#ly near the u!!er !art of the tube. ,ith a "agnet the thread could be
s!lit in two and both !arts vibrated. /y a!!roaching the hand to the lower coating of the tube,
or insulated !late if attached, the vibration was 5uic#ened( also, as far as I could see, by
raising the !otential of fre5uency. $hus, either increasing the fre5uency or !assing a stronger
discharge of the sa"e fre5uency corres!onded to a tightening of the cord. I did not obtain
any e!eri"ental evidence with condenser discharges. 1 lu"inous band ecited in a bulb by
re!eated discharges of a Leyden 3ar "ust !ossess rigidity, and if defor"ed and suddenly
released should vibrate. /ut !robably the a"ount of vibrating "atter is so s"all that in s!ite
of the etre"e s!eed the inertia cannot !ro"inently assert itself. /esides, the observation in
such a case is rendered etre"ely difficult on account of the funda"ental vibration.
$he de"onstration of the fact&which still needs better e!eri"ental confir"ation&that a
vibrating gaseous colu"n !ossesses rigidity, "ight greatly "odify the views of thin#ers.
,hen with low fre5uencies and insignificant !otentials indications of that !ro!erty "ay be
noted, how "ust a gaseous "ediu" behave under the influence of enor"ous electrostatic
stresses which "ay be active in the interstellar s!ace, and which "ay alternate with
inconceivable ra!idity+ $he eistence of such an electrostatic, rhyth"ically throbbing force&of
a vibrating electrostatic field&would show a !ossible way how solids "ight have for"ed fro"
the ultra%gaseous uterus, and how transverse and all #inds of vibrations "ay be trans"itted
through a gaseous "ediu" filling all s!ace. $hen, ether "ight be a true fluid, devoid of
rigidity, and at rest, it being "erely necessary as a connecting lin# to enable interaction. ,hat
deter"ines the rigidity of a body; It "ust be the s!eed and the a"ount of "oving "atter. In a
gas the s!eed "ay be considerable, but the density is eceedingly s"all( in a li5uid the s!eed
would be li#ely to be s"all, though the density "ay be considerable( and in both cases the
inertia resistance offered to dis!lace"ent is !ractically nil. /ut !lace a gaseous -or li5uid.
colu"n in an intense, ra!idly alternating electrostatic field, set the !articles vibrating with
enor"ous s!eeds, then the inertia resistance asserts itself. 1 body "ight "ove with "ore or
less freedo" through the vibrating "ass, but as a whole it would be rigid.
$here is a sub3ect which I "ust "ention in connection with these e!eri"ents) it is that of high
vacua. $his is a sub3ect the study of which is not only interesting, but useful, for it "ay lead to
results of great !ractical i"!ortance. In co""ercial a!!aratus such as incandescent la"!s,
o!erated fro" ordinary syste"s of distribution, a "uch higher vacuu" than obtained at
!resent would not secure a very great advantage. In such a case the wor# is !erfor"ed on
the fila"ent and the gas is little concerned( the i"!rove"ent, therefore, would be but trifling.
/ut when we begin to use very high fre5uencies and !otentials, the action of the gas
beco"es all i"!ortant, and the degree of ehaustion "aterially "odifies the results. 1s long
as ordinary coils, even very large ones, were used, the study of the sub3ect was li"ited,
because 3ust at a !oint when it beca"e "ost interesting it had to be interru!ted on account of
the Jnon%stri#ingJ vacuu" being reached. /ut !resently we are able to obtain fro" a s"all
disru!tive discharge coil !otentials "uch higher than even the largest coil was ca!able of
giving, and, what is "ore, we can "a#e the !otential alternate with great ra!idity. /oth of
these results enable us now to !ass a lu"inous discharge through al"ost any vacua
obtainable, and the field of our investigations is greatly etended. $hin# we as we "ay, of all
the !ossible directions to develo! a !ractical illu"inant, the line of high vacua see"s to be the
"ost !ro"ising at !resent. /ut to reach etre"e vacua the a!!liances "ust be "uch "ote
i"!roved, and ulti"ate !erfection will not be attained until we shall have discarded the
"echanical and !erfected an electrical vacuu" !u"!. >olecules and ato"s can be thrown
out of a bulb under the action of an enor"ous !otential)this will be the !rinci!le of the vacuu"
!u"! of the future. For the !resent, we "ust secure the best results we can with "echanical
a!!liances. In this res!ect, it "ight not be out of the way to say a few words about the
"ethod of, and a!!aratus for, !roducing ecessively high degrees of ehaustion of which I
have availed "yself in the course of these investigations. It is very !robable that other
e!eri"enters have used si"ilar arrange"ents( but as it is !ossible that there "ay be an ite"
of interest in their descri!tion, a few re"ar#s, which will render this investigation "ore
co"!lete, "ight be !er"itted.
$he a!!aratus is illustrated in a drawing shown in Fig. C?. 7 re!resents a 7!rengel !u"!,
which has been s!ecially constructed to better suit the wor# re5uired. $he sto!coc# which is
usually e"!loyed has been o"itted, and instead of it a hollow sto!!er has been fitted in the
nec# of the reservoir L. $his sto!!er has a s"all hole h, through which the "ercury
descends( the si'e of the outlet o being !ro!erly deter"ined with res!ect to the section of the
fall tube t, which is sealed to the reservoir instead of being connected to it in the usual
"anner. $his arrange"ent overco"es the i"!erfections and troubles, which often arise fro"
the use of the sto!coc# on the reservoir and the connection of the latter with the fall tube.
$he !u"! is connected through a U%sha!ed tube t to a very large reservoir L1. Es!ecial care
was ta#en in fitting the grinding surfaces of the sto!!ers p and p1 and both of these and the
"ercury ca!s above the" were "ade ece!tionally long. 1fter the U%sha!ed tube was fitted
and !ut in !lace, it was heated, so as to soften and ta#e off the strain resulting fro" i"!erfect
fitting. $he U%sha!ed tube was !rovided with a sto!coc# *, and two ground
connections and 1&one for a s"all bulb b, usually containing caustic !otash, and the other
for the receiver r, to be ehausted.
$he reservoir L1 was connected by "eans of a rubber tube to a slightly larger reservoir R2,
each of the two reservoirs being !rovided with a sto!coc# C1 and C2 res!ectively. $he
reservoir R2 could be raised and lowered by a wheel and rac#, and the range of its "otion
was so deter"ined that when it was filled with "ercury and the sto!coc# C, closed, so as to
for" a $orricellian vacuu" in it when raised, it could be lifted so high that the "ercury in
reservoir R1 would stand a little above sto!coc# C1) and when this sto!coc# was closed and
the reservoir L2 descended, so as to for" a $orricellian vacuu" in reservoir R1, it could be
lowered so far as to co"!letely e"!ty the latter, the "ercury filling the reservoir R2 u! to a
little above sto!coc# C2.
$he ca!acity of the !u"! and of the connections was ta#en as s"all as !ossible relatively to
the volu"e of reservoir, R1, since, of course, the degree of ehaustion de!ended u!on the
ratio of these 5uantities.
,ith this a!!aratus I co"bined the usual "eans indicated by for"er e!eri"ents for the
!roduction of very high vacua. In "ost of the e!eri"ents it was convenient to use caustic
!otash. I "ay venture to say, in regard to its use, that "uch ti"e is saved and a "ore !erfect
action of the !u"! insured by fusing and boiling the !otash ! soon as, or even before, the
!u"! settles down. If this course is not followed the stic#s, as ordinarily e"!loyed, "ay give
"oisture off at a certain very slow rate, and the !u"! "ay wor# for "any hours without
reaching a very high vacuu". $he !otash was heated either by a s!irit la"! or by !assing a
discharge through it, or by !assing a current through a wire contained in it. $he advantage in
the latter case was that the heating could be "ore ra!idly re!eated.
2enerally the !rocess of ehaustion was the following)&at the start, the
sto!coc#s C and C1 being o!en, and all other connections closed, the reservoir R2 was raised
so far that the "ercury filled the reservoir R1 and a !art) of the narrow connecting U%sha!ed
tube. ,hen the !u"! was set to wor#, the "ercury would, of course, 5uic#ly rise in the tube,
and reservoir R2 was lowered, the e!eri"enter #ee!ing the "ercury at about the sa"e
level. $he reservoir R2 was balanced by a long s!ring which facilitated the o!eration, and the
friction of the !arts was generally sufficient to #ee! it al"ost in any !osition. ,hen the
7!rengel !u"! had done its wor#, the reservoir R2 was further lowered and the "ercury
descended in R1 and filled R2, whereu!on sto!coc# C2 was closed. $he air adhering to the
walls of R, and that absorbed by the "ercury was carried off, and to free the "ercury of all air
the reservoir R2 was for a long ti"e wor#ed u! and down. During this !rocess so"e air,
which would gather below sto!coc# C2, was e!elled fro" R2 by lowering it far enough and
o!ening the sto!coc#, closing the latter again before raising the reservoir. ,hen all the air
had been e!elled fro" the "ercury, and no air would gather in R2 when it was lowered, the
caustic !otash was resorted to. $he reservoir R2 was now again raised until the "ercury
in R1 stood above sto!coc# C1. $he caustic !otash was fused and boiled, and the "oisture
!artly carried off by the !u"! and !artly re%absorbed( and this !rocess of heating and cooling
was re!eated "any ti"es, and each ti"e, u!on the "oisture being absorbed or carried off,
the reservoir R2 was for a long ti"e raised and lowered. In this "anner all the "oisture was
carried off fro" the "ercury, and both the reservoirs were in !ro!er condition to be used. $he
reservoir R2 was then again raised to the to!, and the !u"! was #e!t wor#ing for a long ti"e.
,hen the highest vacuu" obtainable with the !u"! had been reached the !otash bulb was
usually wra!!ed with cotton which was s!rin#led with ether so as to #ee! the !otash at a very
low te"!erature, then the reservoir R2 was lowered, and again reservoir R1 being e"!tied the
receiver r was 5uic#ly sealed u!.
,hen a new bulb was !ut on, the "ercury was always raised above sto!coc# C1, which was
closed, so as to always #ee! the "ercury and both the reservoirs in fine condition, and the
"ercury was never withdrawn fro" R1 ece!t when the !u"! had reached the highest
degree of ehaustion. It is necessary to observe this rule if it is desired to use the a!!aratus
to advantage.
/y "eans of this arrange"ent I was able to !roceed very 5uic#ly, and when the a!!aratus
was in !erfect order it was !ossible to reach the !hos!horescent stage in a s"all bulb in less
than fifteen "inutes, which is certainly very 5uic# wor# for a s"all laboratory arrange"ent
re5uiring all in all about 1?? !ounds of "ercury. ,ith ordinary s"all bulbs the ratio of the
ca!acity of the !u"!, receiver, and connections, and that of reservoir R was about 1 to 2?,
and the degrees of ehaustion reached were necessarily very high, though I a" unable to
"a#e a !recise and reliable state"ent how far the ehaustion was carried.
,hat i"!resses the investigator "ost in the course of these e!eriences is the behavior of
gases when sub3ected to great ra!idly alternating electrostatic stresses. /ut he "ust re"ain
in doubt as to whether the effects observed are due wholly to the "olecules, or ato"s, of the
gas which che"ical analysis discloses to us, or whether there enters into !lay another
"ediu" of a gaseous nature, co"!rising ato"s, or "olecules, i""ersed in a fluid !ervading
the s!ace. 7uch a "ediu", surely "ust eist, and I a" convinced that, for instance, even if
air were absent, the surface and neighborhood of a body in s!ace would be heated by ra!idly
alternating the !otential of the body( but no such heating of the surface or neighborhood could
occur if all free ato"s were re"oved and only a ho"ogeneous, inco"!ressible, and elastic
fluid&such as ether is su!!osed to be&would re"ain, for then there would be no i"!acts, no
collisions. In such a case, as far as the body itself is concerned, only frictional losses in the
inside could occur.
It is a stri#ing fact that the discharge through a gas is established with ever increasing
freedo" as the fre5uency of the i"!ulses is aug"ented. It behaves in this res!ect 5uite
contrarily to a "etallic conductor. In the latter the i"!edance enters !ro"inently into !lay as
the fre5uency is increased, but the gas acts "uch as a series of condensers would) the
facility with which the discharge !asses through see"s to de!end on the rate of change of
!otential. If it act so, then in a vacuu" tube even of great length, and no "atter how strong
the current, self%induction could not assert itself) to any a!!reciable degree. ,e have, then,
as far as we can now see, in the gas a conductor which is ca!able of trans"itting electric
i"!ulses of any fre5uency which we "ay be able to !roduce. *ould the fre5uency be
brought high enough, then a 5ueer syste" of electric distribution, which would be li#ely to
interest gas co"!anies, "ight be reali'ed ) "etal !i!es filled with gas&the "etal being the
insulator, the gas the conductor&su!!lying !hos!horescent bulbs, or !erha!s devices as yet
uninvented. It is certainly !ossible to ta#e a hollow core of co!!er, rarefy the gas in the sa"e,
and by !assing i"!ulses of sufficiently high fre5uency through a circuit around it, bring the
gas inside to a high degree of incandescence( but as to the nature of the forces there would
be considerable uncertainty, for it would be doubtful whether with such i"!ulses the co!!er
core would act as a static screen. 7uch !aradoes and a!!arent i"!ossibilities we encounter
at every ste! in this line of wor#, and therein lies, to a great etent, the char" of the study.
I have here a short and wide tube which is ehausted to a high degree and covered with a
substantial coating of bron'e, the coating allowing barely the light to shine through. 1 "etallic
clas!, with a hoo# for sus!ending the tube, is fastened around the "iddle !ortion of the latter,
the clas! being in contact with the bron'e coating. I now want to light the gas inside by
sus!ending the tube on a wire connected to the coil. 1ny one who would try the e!eri"ent
for the first ti"e, not having any !revious e!erience, would !robably ta#e care to be 5uite
alone when "a#ing the trial, for fear that he "ight beco"e the 3o#e of his assistants. 7till, the
bulb lights in s!ite of the "etal coating, and the light can be distinctly !erceived through the
latter. 1 long tube covered with alu"iniu" bron'e lights when held in one hand&the other
touching the ter"inal of the coil&5uite !owerfully. It "ight be ob3ected that the coatings arc
not sufficiently conducting( still, even if they were highly resistant, they ought to screen the
gas. $hey certainly screen it !erfectly in a condition of rest, but not by far !erfectly when the
charge is surging in the coating. /ut the loss of energy which occurs within the tube,
notwithstanding the screen, is occasioned !rinci!ally by the !resence of the gas. ,ere we to
ta#e a large hollow "etallic s!here and fill it with a !erfect inco"!ressible fluid dielectric,
there would be no loss inside of the s!here, and conse5uently the inside "ight be considered
as !erfectly screened, though the !otential be very ra!idly alternating. Even were the s!here
filled with oil, the loss would be inco"!arably s"aller than when the fluid is re!laced by a gas,
for in the latter case the force !roduces dis!lace"ents( that "eans i"!act and collisions in
the inside.
=o "atter what the !ressure of the gas "ay be, it beco"es an i"!ortant factor in the bearing
of a conductor when the electric density is great and the fre5uency very high. $hat in the
heating of conductors by lightning discharges air is an ele"ent of great i"!ortance, is al"ost
as certain as an e!eri"ental fact. I "ay illustrate the action of the air by the following
e!eri"ent) I ta#e a short tube which is ehausted to a "oderate degree and has a !latinu"
wire running through the "iddle fro" one end to the other. I !ass a steady or low fre5uency
current through the wire, and it is heated unifor"ly in all !arts. $he heating here is due to
conduction, or frictional losses, and the gas around the wire has&as far as we can see&no
function to !erfor". /ut now let "e !ass sudden discharges, or a high fre5uency current,
through the wire. 1gain the wire is heated, this ti"e !rinci!ally on the ends and least in the
"iddle !ortion( and if the fre5uency of the i"!ulses, or the rate of change, is high enough, the
wire "ight as well be cut in the "iddle as not, for !ractically all the heating is due to the
rarefied gas) 9ere the gas "ight only act as a conductor of no i"!edance diverting the
current fro" the wire as the i"!edance of the latter is enor"ously increased, and "erely
heating the ends of the wire by reason of their resistance to the !assage of the discharge.
/ut it is not at all necessary that the gas in the tube should be conducting( it "ight be at an
etre"ely low !ressure, still the ends of the wire would be heated&as, however, is
ascertained by e!erience %only the two ends would in such case not be electrically
connected through the gaseous "ediu". =ow what with these fre5uencies and !otentials
occurs in an ehausted tube occurs in the lightning discharges at ordinary !ressure. ,e only
need to re"e"ber one of the facts arrived at in the course of these investigations, na"ely,
that to i"!ulses of very high fre5uency the gas at ordinary !ressure behaves "uch in the
sa"e "anner as though it were at "oderately low !ressure. I thin# that in lightning
discharges fre5uently wires or conducting ob3ects are volatili'ed "erely because air is
!resent, and that, were the conductor i""ersed in an insulating li5uid, it would be safe, for
then the energy would have to s!end itself so"ewhere else. Fro" the behavior of gases to
sudden i"!ulses of high !otential I a" led to conclude that there can be no surer way of
diverting a lightning discharge than by affording it a !assage through a volu"e of gas, if such
a thing can be done in a !ractical "anner.
$here are two "ore features u!on which I thin# it necessary to dwell in connection with these
e!eri"ents&the Jradiant stateJ and the non%stri#ing vacuu".J
1ny one who has studied *roo#es wor# "ust have received the i"!ression that the 44radiant
state44 is a !ro!erty of the gas inse!arably connected with an etre"ely high degree of
ehaustion. /ut it should be re"e"bered that the !heno"ena observed in an ehausted
vessel are li"ited to the character and ca!acity of the a!!aratus which is "ade use of. I thin#
that in a bulb a "olecule, or ato", does not !recisely "ove in a straight line because it "eets
no obstacle, but because the velocity i"!arted to it is sufficient to !ro!el it in a sensibly
straight line. $he "ean free !ath is one thing, but the velocity&the energy associated with
the "oving body&is another, and under ordinary circu"stances I believe that it is "ere
5uestion of !otential or s!eed. 1 disru!tive discharge coil, when the !otential is !ushed very
far, ecites !hos!horescence and !ro3ects shadows, at co"!aratively low degrees of
ehaustion. In a lightning discharge, "atter "oves in straight lines at ordinary !ressure when
the "ean free !ath is eceedingly s"all, and fre5uently i"ages of wires or other "etallic
ob3ects have been !roduced by the !articles thrown off in straight lines.
I have !re!ared a bulb to illustrate by an e!eri"ent the correctness of these assertions. In a
globe L -Fig. C1., I have "ounted u!on a la"! fila"ents of a !iece of li"e l. $he la"!
fila"ent is connected with a wire which leads into the bulb, and the general construction of
the latter is as indicated in Fig. 19, before described. $he bulb being sus!ended fro" a wire
connected to the ter"inal of the coil, and the latter being set to wor#, the li"e !iece l and the
!ro3ecting !arts of the fila"ent f are bo"barded. $he degree of ehaustion is 3ust such that
with the !otential the coil is ca!able of giving !hos!horescence of the glass is !roduced, but
disa!!ears as soon as the vacuu" is i"!aired. $he li"e containing "oisture, and "oisture
being given off as soon as heating occurs, the !hos!horescence lasts only for a few
"o"ents. ,hen the li"e has been sufficiently heated, enough "oisture has been given off to
i"!air "aterially the vacuu" of the bulb. 1s the bo"bard"ent goes on, one !oint of the li"e
!iece is "ore heated than other !oints, and the results is that finally !ractically all the
discharge !asses through that !oint which is intensely heated, and a white strea" of li"e
!articles -Fig. C1. then brea#s forth fro" that !oint. $his strea" is co"!osed of JradiantJ
"atter, yet the degree of ehaustion is low. /ut the !articles "ove in straight lines because
the velocity i"!arted to the" is great, and this is due to three causes&to the great electric
density, the high te"!erature of the s"all !oint, and the fact that the !articles of the li"e are
easily torn and thrown off&far "ore easily than those of carbon. ,ith fre5uencies such as
we are able to obtain, the !articles are bodily thrown off and !ro3ected to a considerable
distance, but with sufficiently high fre5uencies no such thing would occur) in such case only a
stress would s!read or a vibration would be !ro!agated through the bulb. It would be out of
the 5uestion to reach any such fre5uency on the assu"!tion that the ato"s "ove with the
s!eed of light( but I believe that such a thing is i"!ossible( for this an enor"ous !otential
would be re5uired. ,ith !otentials which we are able to obtain, even with a disru!tive
discharge coil, the s!eed "ust be 5uite insignificant.
1s to the Jnon%stri#ing vacuu",J the !oint to be noted is that it can occur only with low
fre5uency i"!ulses, and it is necessitated by the i"!ossibility of carrying off enough energy
with such i"!ulses in high vacuu" since the few ato"s which are around the ter"inal u!on
co"ing in contact with the sa"e are re!elled and #e!t at a distance for a co"!aratively long
!eriod of ti"e, and not enough wor# can be !erfor"ed to render the effect !erce!tible to the
eye. If the difference of !otential between the ter"inals is raised, the dielectric brea#s down.
/ut with very high fre5uency i"!ulses there is no necessity for such brea#ing down, since
any a"ount of wor# can be !erfor"ed by continually agitating the ato"s in the ehausted
vessel, !rovided the fre5uency is high enough. It is easy to reach&even with fre5uencies
obtained fro" an alternator as here used&a stage at which the discharge does not !ass
between two electrodes in a narrow tube, each of these being connected to one of the
ter"inals of the coil, but it is difficult to reach a !oint at which a lu"inous discharge would not
occur around each electrode.
1 thought which naturally !resents itself in connection with high fre5uency currents, is to
"a#e use of their !owerful electro%dyna"ic inductive action to !roduce light effects in a
sealed glass globe. $he leading%in wire is one of the defects of the !resent incandescent
la"!, and if no other i"!rove"ent were "ade, that i"!erfection at least should be done
away with. Following this thought, I have carried on e!eri"ents in various directions, of
which so"e were indicated in "y for"er !a!er. I "ay here "ention one or two "ore lines of
e!eri"ent which have been followed u!.
>any bulbs were constructed as shown in Fig. C2 and Fig. CC.
In Fig. C2 a wide tube T was sealed to a s"aller W%sha!ed tube <, of !hos!horescent glass.
In the tube T was !laced a coil C of alu"iniu" wire, the ends of which were !rovided with
s"all s!heres t and t1 of alu"iniu", and reached into the < tube. $he tube T was sli!!ed into
a soc#et containing a !ri"ary coil through which usually the discharges of Leyden 3ars were
directed, and the rarefied gas in the s"all U tube was ecited to strong lu"inosity by the high%
tension currents induced in the coil C. ,hen Leyden 3ar discharges were used to induce
currents in the coil C, it was found necessary to !ac# the tube T tightly with insulating !owder,
as a discharge would occur fre5uently between the turns of the coil, es!ecially when the
!ri"ary was thic# and the air ga!, through which the 3ars discharged, large, and no little
trouble was e!erienced in this way.
In Fig. CC is illustrated another for" of the bulb constructed. In this case a tube T is sealed to
a globe L. $he tube contains a coil C, the ends of which !ass through two s"all glass
tubes t and t1, which are sealed to the tube $. $wo refractory buttons # and #1 are "ounted
on la"! fila"ents which are fastened to the ends of the wires !assing through the glass
tubes t and t1. 2enerally in bulbs "ade on this !lan the globe L co""unicated with the
tube T. For this !ur!ose the ends of the s"all tubes t and t1 were 3ust a trifle heated in the
burner, "erely to hold the wires, but not to interfere with the co""unication. $he tube T, with
the s"all tubes, wires through the sa"e, and the refractory buttons # and #1 was first
!re!ared, and then sealed to globe L, whereu!on the coil C was sli!!ed in and the
connections "ade to its ends. $he tube was then !ac#ed with insulating !owder, 3a""ing
the latter as tight as !ossible u! to very nearly the end, then it was closed and only a s"all
hole left through which the re"ainder of the !owder was introduced, and finally the end of the
tube was closed. <sually in bulbs constructed as shown in Fig. CC an alu"iniu" tube a was
fastened to the u!!er end s of each of the tubes t and t1, in order to !rotect that end against
the heat. $he buttons # and #1 could be brought to any degree of incandescence by !assing
the discharges of Leyden 3ars around the coil C. In such bulbs with two buttons a very curious
effect is !roduced by the for"ation of the shadows of each of the two buttons.
1nother line of e!eri"ent, which has been assiduously followed, was to induce by electro%
dyna"ic induction a current or lu"inous discharge in an ehausted tube or bulb. $his "atter
has received such able treat"ent at the hands of 0rof. 6. 6. $ho"son that I could add but little
to what he has "ade #nown, even had I "ade it the s!ecial sub3ect of this lecture. 7till, since
e!eriences in this line have gradually led "e to the !resent views and results, a few words
"ust be devoted here to this sub3ect.
It has occurred, no doubt, to "any that as a vacuu" tube is "ade longer the electro"otive
force !er unit length of the tube, necessary to !ass a lu"inous discharge through the latter,
gets continually s"aller( therefore, if the ehausted tube be "ade long enough, even with low
fre5uencies a lu"inous discharge could be induced in such a tube closed u!on itself. 7uch a
tube "ight be !laced around a hall or on a ceiling, and at once a si"!le a!!liance ca!able of
giving considerable light would be obtained. /ut this would be an a!!liance hard to
"anufacture and etre"ely un"anageable. It would not do to "a#e the tube u! of s"all
lengths, because there would be with ordinary fre5uencies considerable loss in the coatings,
and besides, if coatings were used, it would be better to su!!ly the current directly to the tube
by connecting the coatings to a transfor"er. /ut even if all ob3ections of such nature were
re"oved, still, with low fre5uencies the light conversion itself would be inefficient, as I have
before stated. In using etre"ely high fre5uencies the length of the secondary&in other
words, the site of the vessel&can be reduced as far as desired, and the efficiency of the light
conversion is increased( !rovided that "eans are invented for efficiently obtaining such high
fre5uencies. $hus one is led, fro" theoretical and !ractical considerations, to the use of high
fre5uencies, and this "eans high electro"otive forces and s"all currents in the !ri"ary.
,hen he wor#s with condenser charges&and they are the only "eans u! to the !resent
#nown for reaching these etre"e fre5uencies&one gets to electro"otive forces of several
thousands of volts !er turn of the !ri"ary. 9e cannot "ulti!ly the electro%dyna"ic inductive
effect by ta#ing "ore turns in the !ri"ary, for he arrives at the conclusion that the best way is
to wor# with one single turn&though we "ust so"eti"es de!art fro" this rule&and we "ust
get along with whatever inductive effect we can obtain with one turn. /ut before he has long
e!eri"ented with the etre"e fre5uencies re5uired to set u! in a s"all bulb an electro"otive
force of several thousands of volts he reali'es the great i"!ortance of electrostatic effects,
and these effects grow relatively to the electro%dyna"ic in significance as the fre5uency is
increased.
=ow, if anything is desirable in this case, it is to increase the fre5uency, and this would "a#e
it still worse for the electro%dyna"ic effects. 8n the other hand, it is easy to ealt the
electrostatic action as far as one li#es by ta#ing "ore turns on the secondary, or co"bining
self%induction and ca!acity to raise the !otential. It should also be re"e"bered that, in
reducing the current to the s"allest value and increasing the !otential, the electric i"!ulses of
high fre5uency can be "ore easily trans"itted through a conductor.
$hese and si"ilar thoughts deter"ined "e to devote "ore attention to the electrostatic
!heno"ena, and to endeavor to !roduce !otentials as high as !ossible, and alternating as
fast as they could be "ade to alternate. I then found that I could ecite vacuu" tubes at
considerable distance fro" a conductor connected to a !ro!erly constructed coil, and that I
could, by converting the oscillatory current of a condenser to a higher !otential, establish
electrostatic alternating fields which acted through the whole etent of a roo", lighting u! a
tube no "atter where it was held in s!ace. I thought I recogni'ed that I had "ade a ste! in
advance, and I have !ersevered in this line( but I wish to say that I share with all lovers of
science and !rogress the one and only desire&to reach a result of utility to "en in any
direction to which thought or e!eri"ent "ay lead "e. I thin# that this de!arture is the right
one, for I cannot see, fro" the observation of the !heno"ena which "anifest the"selves as
the fre5uency is increased, what there would re"ain to act between two circuits conveying,
for instance, i"!ulses of several hundred "illions !er second, ece!t electrostatic forces.
Even with such stifling fre5uencies the energy would be !ractically all !otential, and "y
conviction has grown strong that, to whatever #ind of "otion light "ay be due, it is !roduced
by tre"endous electrostatic stresses vibrating with etre"e ra!idity.
8f all these !heno"ena observed with currents, or electric i"!ulses, of high fre5uency, the
"ost fascinating for an audience are certainly those which are noted in an electrostatic field
acting through considerable distance, and the best an uns#illed lecturer can do is to begin
and finish with the ehibition of these singular effects. I ta#e a tube in the hand and "ove it
about, and it is lighted wherever I "ay hold it( throughout s!ace the invisible forces act. /ut I
"ay ta#e another tube and it "ight not light, the vacuu" being very high. I ecite it by "eans
of a disru!tive discharge coil, and now it will light in the electrostatic field. I "ay !ut it away
for a few wee#s or "onths, still it retains the faculty of being ecited. ,hat change have I
!roduced in the tube in the act of eciting it; If a "otion i"!arted to the ato"s, it is difficult to
!erceive how it can !ersist so long without being arrested by frictional losses( and if a strain
eerted in the dielectric, such as a si"!le electrification would !roduce, it is easy to see how it
"ay !ersist indefinitely but very difficult to understand why such a condition should aid the
ecitation when we have to deal with !otentials which are ra!idly alternating.
7ince I have ehibited these !heno"ena for the first ti"e, I have obtained so"e other
interesting effects. For instance, I have !roduced the incandescence of a button, fila"ent, or
wire enclosed in a tube. $o get to this result it was necessary to econo"i'e the energy which
is obtained fro" the field and direct "ost of it on the s"all body to be rendered incandescent.
1t the beginning the tas# a!!eared difficult, but the e!eriences gathered !er"itted "e to
teach the result easily. In Fig. CD and Fig. CG two such tubes are illustrated which are
!re!ared for the occasion. In Fig. CD a short tube T1, sealed to another long tube T, is
!rovided with a ste" s, with a !latinu" wire sealed in the latter. 1 very thin la"! fila"ent & is
fastened to this wire, and connection to the outside is "ade through a thin co!!er wire !. $he
tube is !rovided with outside and inside coatings, C and C1 res!ectively, and is filled as far as
the coatings reach with conducting, and the s!ace above with insulating !owder. $hese
coatings are "erely used to enable "e to !erfor" two e!eri"ents with the tube&na"ely, to
!roduce the effect desired either by direct connection of the body of the e!eri"enter or of
another body to the wire !, or by acting inductively through the glass. $he ste" s is !rovided
with an alu"iniu" tube a for !ur!oses before e!lained, and only a s"all !art of the fila"ent
reaches out of this tube. /y holding the tube T1 anywhere in the electrostatic field the fila"ent
is rendered incandescent.
1 "ore interesting !iece of a!!aratus is illustrated in Fig. CG. $he construction is the sa"e as
before, only instead of the la"! fila"ent a s"all !latinu" wire p, sealed in a ste" s, and bent
above it in a circle, is connected to the co!!er wire !, which is 3oined to an inside coating C. 1
s"all ste" s1 is !rovided with a needle, on the !oint of which is arranged to rotate very freely
a very light fan of "ica $. $o !revent the fan fro" falling out, a thin ste" of glass is bent
!ro!erly and fastened to the alu"iniu" tube. ,hen the glass tube is held anywhere in the
electrostatic field the !latinu" wire beco"es incandescent, and the "ica vanes are rotated
very fast.
Intense !hos!horescence "ay be ecited in a bulb by "erely connecting it to a !late within
the field, and the !late need not be any larger than an ordinary la"! shade. $he
!hos!horescence ecited with these currents is inco"!arably "ore !owerful than with
ordinary a!!aratus. 1 s"all !hos!horescent bulb, when attached to a wire connected to a
coil, e"its sufficient light to allow reading ordinary !rint at a distance of five to si !aces. It
was of interest to see how so"e of the !hos!horescent bulbs of 0rofessor *roo#es would
behave with these currents, and he has had the #indness to lend "e a few for the occasion.
$he effects !roduced are "agnificent, es!ecially by the sul!hide of calciu" and sul!hide of
'inc. Fro" the disru!tive discharge coil they glow intensely "erely by holding the" in the
hand and connecting the body to the ter"inal of the coil.
$o whatever results investigations of this #ind "ay lead, their chief interest lies for the !resent
in the !ossibilities they offer for the !roduction of an efficient illu"inating device. In no branch
of electric industry is an advance "ore desired than in the "anufacture of light. Every thin#er,
when considering the barbarous "ethods e"!loyed, the de!lorable losses incurred in our
best syste"s of light !roduction, "ust have as#ed hi"self, ,hat is li#ely to be the light of the
future; Is it to be an incandescent solid, as in the !resent la"!, or an incandescent gas, or a
!hos!horescent body, or so"ething li#e a burner, but inco"!arably "ore efficient;
$here is little chance to !erfect a gas burner( not, !erha!s, because hu"an ingenuity has
been bent u!on that !roble" for centuries without a radical de!arture having been "ade&
though this argu"ent is not devoid of force&but because in a burner the higher vibrations
can never be reached ece!t by !assing through all the low ones. For how is a fla"e
!roduced unless by a fall of lifted weights; 7uch !rocess cannot be "aintained without
renewal, and renewal is re!eated !assing fro" low to high vibrations. 8ne way only see"s
to be o!en to i"!rove a burner, and that is by trying to reach higher degrees of
incandescence. 9igher incandescence is e5uivalent to a 5uic#er vibration( that "eans "ore
light fro" the sa"e "aterial, and that, again, "eans "ore econo"y. In this direction so"e
i"!rove"ents have been "ade, but the !rogress is ha"!ered by "any li"itations.
Discarding, then, the burner, there re"ain the three ways first "entioned, which are
essentially electrical.
7u!!ose the light of the i""ediate future to be a solid rendered incandescent by electricity.
,ould it not see" that it is better to e"!loy a s"all button than a frail fila"ent; Fro" "any
considerations it certainly "ust be concluded that a button is ca!able of a higher econo"y,
assu"ing, of course, the difficulties connected with the o!eration of such a la"! to be
effectively overco"e. /ut to light such a la"! we re5uire a high !otential( and to get this
econo"ically we "ust use high fre5uencies.
7uch considerations a!!ly even "ore to the !roduction of light by the incandescence of a
gas, or by !hos!horescence. In all cases we re5uire high fre5uencies and high !otentials.
$hese thoughts occurred to "e a long ti"e ago.
Incidentally we gain, by the use of very high fre5uencies, "any advantages, such as a higher
econo"y in the light !roduction, the !ossibility of wor#ing with one lead, the !ossibility of
doing away with the leading%in wire, etc.
$he 5uestion is, how far can we go with fre5uencies; 8rdinary conductors ra!idly lose the
facility of trans"itting electric i"!ulses when the fre5uency is greatly increased. 1ssu"e the
"eans for the !roduction of i"!ulses of very great fre5uency brought to the ut"ost
!erfection, every one will naturally as# how to trans"it the" when the necessity arises. In
trans"itting such i"!ulses through conductors we "ust re"e"ber that we have to deal
with press"re and flo!, in the ordinary inter!retation of these ter"s. Let the !ressure
increase to an enor"ous value, and let the flow corres!ondingly di"inish, then such i"!ulses
&variations "erely of !ressure, as it were&can no doubt be trans"itted through a wire even
if their fre5uency be "any hundreds of "illions !er second. It would, of course, be out of
5uestion to trans"it such i"!ulses through a wire i""ersed in a gaseous "ediu", even if
the wire were !rovided with a thic# and ecellent insulation for "ost of the energy would be
lost in "olecular bo"bard"ent and conse5uent heating. $he end of the wire connected to
the source would be heated, and the re"ote end would receive but a trifling !art of the energy
su!!lied. $he !ri"e necessity, then, if such electric i"!ulses are to be used, is to find "eans
to reduce as "uch as !ossible the dissi!ation.
$he first thought is, e"!loy the thinnest !ossible wire surrounded by the thic#est !racticable
insulation. $he net thought is to e"!loy electrostatic screens. $he insulation of the wire
"ay be covered with a thin conducting coating and the latter connected to the ground. /ut
this would not do, as then all the energy would !ass through the conducting coating to the
ground and nothing would get to the end of the wire. If a ground connection is "ade it can
only be "ade through a conductor offering an enor"ous i"!edance, or through a condenser
of etre"ely s"all ca!acity. $his, however, does not do away with other difficulties.
If the wave length of the i"!ulses is "uch s"aller than the length of the wire, then
corres!onding short waves will be sent u! in the conducting coating, and it will be "ore or
less the sa"e as though the coating were directly connected to earth. It is therefore
necessary to cut u! the coating in sections "uch shorter than the wave length. 7uch an
arrange"ent does not still afford a !erfect screen, but it is ten thousand ti"es better than
none. I thin# it !referable to cut u! the conducting coating in s"all sections, even if the
current waves be "uch longer than the coating.
If a wire were !rovided with a !erfect electrostatic screen, it would be the sa"e as though all
ob3ects were re"oved fro" it at infinite distance. $he ca!acity would then be reduced to the
ca!acity of the wire itself, which would be very s"all. It would then be !ossible to send over
the wire current vibrations of very high fre5uencies at enor"ous distance without affecting
greatly the character of the vibrations. 1 !erfect screen is of course out of the 5uestion, but I
believe that with a screen such as I have 3ust described tele!hony could be rendered
!racticable across the 1tlantic. 1ccording to "y ideas, the gutta%!ercha covered wire should
be !rovided with a third conducting coating subdivided in sections. 8n the to! of this should
be again !laced a layer of gutta%!ercha and other insulation, and on the to! of the whole the
ar"or. /ut such cables will not be constructed, for ere long intelligence&trans"itted without
wires will throb through the earth li#e a !ulse through a living organis". $he wonder is that,
with the !resent state of #nowledge and the e!eriences gained, no atte"!t is being "ade to
disturb the electrostatic or "agnetic condition of the earth, and trans"it, if nothing else,
intelligence.
It has been "y chief ai" in !resenting these results to !oint out !heno"ena or features of
novelty, and to advance ideas which I a" ho!eful will serve as starting !oints of new
de!artures. It has been "y chief desire this evening to entertain you with so"e novel
e!eri"ents. :our a!!lause, so fre5uently and generously accorded has told "e that I have
succeeded.
In conclusion, let "e than# you "ost heartily for your #indness and attention, and assure you
that the honor I have had in addressing such a distinguished audience, the !leasure I have
had in !resenting these results to a gathering of so "any able "en and a"ong the" also
so"e of those in whose wor# for "any years !ast I have found enlighten"ent and constant
!leasure&I shall never forget.