Page:United States patent 1119732.pdf/2



Be it known that I,, a citizen of the United States, residing at the borough of Manhattan, in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Transmitting Electrical Energy, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the drawing accompanying and forming a part of the same.

In endeavoring to adapt currents or discharges of very high tension to various valuable uses, as the distribution of energy through wires from central plants to distant places of consumption, or the transmission of powerful disturbances to great distances, through the natural or non-artificial media. I have encountered difficulties in confining considerable amounts of electricity to the conductors and preventing its leakage over their supports, or its escape into the ambient air, which always takes place when the electric surface density reaches a certain value.

The intensity of the effect of a transmitting circuit with a free or elevated terminal is proportionate to the quantity of electricity displaced which is determined by the product of the capacity of the circuit, the pressure, and the frequency of the currents employed. To produce an electrical movement of the required magnitude it is desirable to charge the terminal as highly as possible, for while a great quantity of electricity may also be displaced by a large capacity charged to low pressure, there are disadvantages met with in many cases when the former is made too large. These are due to the fact that, an increase of the capacity entails a lowering of the frequency of the impulses or discharges and a diminution of the energy of vibration. This will be understood when it is borne in mind, that a circuit with a large capacity behaves us a slackspring, whereas one with a small capacity acts a stiff spring, vibrating more vigorously. Therefore, in order to attain the highest possible frequency, which for certain purposes is advantageous and, apart from that, to develop the greatest energy in such a transmitting circuit, I employ a terminal of relatively small capacity, which I charge to as high a pressure as practicable. To accomplish this result I have found it imperative to so construct the elevated conductor, that its outer surface, on which the electrical charge chiefly accumulates, has itself a large radius of curvature, or is composed of separate elements which, irrespective of their own radius of curvature, are arranged in close proximity to each so other and so, that the outside ideal surface enveloping them is of a large radius. Evidently, the smaller the radius of curvature the greater, for a given electric displacement, will be the surface-density and, consequently the lower the limiting pressure to which the terminal may he charged without electricity escaping into the air. Such a terminal secure to an insulating support entering more or less into its interior, and I likewise connect the circuit to it inside or, generally, at points where the electric density is small. This plan of constructing and supporting a highly charged conductor I have found to be of great practical importance, and it may be usefully applied in many ways.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, the figure is a view in elevation and part section of an improved free terminal and circuit of large surface with supporting structure and generating apparatus.

The terminal D consists of a suitably shaped metallic frame, in this case a ring of nearly circular cross section, which is covered with half spherical metal plates P P, thus constituting a very large conducting surface, smooth on all places where the electric charge principally accumulates. The frame is carried by a strong platform expressly provided for safety appliances, instruments of observation, etc., which in turn rests on insulating supports F F. These should penetrate far into the hollow space formed by the terminal, and if the electric density at the points where they are bolted to the frame is still considerable, they may specially protected by conducting hoods as H.

A part of the improvements which form the subject of this specification, the transmitting circuit, in its general features, is identical with that described and claimed in my original Patents Nos. 645,576 and 649,621. The circuit comprises a coil A which is in close inductive relation with a primary C, and one end of which is connected to a ground-plate E, while its other end is led through a separate self-induction coil B and a metallic cylinder B' to the terminal D.