书城传记特斯拉自传
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第24章 放大发射机的发明(2)

我曾提议在小范围内做无线电力传输的演示,取得了非常不错的成效。除了这些已经提到的,我还会在将来的适当时候介绍我的发明在其他方面极为重要的作用。

我们在长岛建了一座高187英尺,顶端有一个直径68英尺的球形框架的发电站。这些尺寸适合任何级别的能量的传输。刚开始我们只用了200~300千瓦的功率,但我打算以后增加到几千马力。这个发射机发射的是具有特殊性质的综合波,我已经发明了一种用电话控制任何形式的能量的特殊方法。

两年前,试验塔被摧毁了,但我的项目正在进行,另一个即将建成的试验塔在很多方面都有所改进。在这里,我想就此前广泛流传的一个关于政府出于备战考虑,强行拆毁了我的试验塔的谣言做出回应。这种谣言可能会使某些人产生偏见。他们不知道三十年前政府授予我美国国籍的文件至今都还被锁在保险柜里,而我的嘉奖令、证书、金质奖章和其他荣誉证明都被锁在旧箱子里。若这一谣言属实,那政府将赔偿我一大笔钱,因为我花了很多资金在塔的建设上。相反,保护这座试验塔才是政府的利益所在,尤其是它能实现一些可能,具有相当重要的价值。例如,它可以定位世界上任何地方的一艘潜艇。长久以来,我的设备以及所有发明的改进都在为政府提供服务。欧洲爆发冲突以来,我牺牲了自己项目的研究时间,一直致力于空中导航、轮船动力、无线传输等工作,这些都对国家具有重要作用。见识广的人都知道,我的发明已经使美国的工业彻底发生了变化。就这方面而言,我不知道还有哪个发明家能像我一样幸运,能使其发明在战争中投入使用。此前,我一直没有对此事公开发表意见,在整个世界都面临严重的危机时,过分沉湎于个人问题是不当的。

我想对关于我的谣言作进一步说明。有人说,J.皮尔庞特·摩根先生对所资助的我的研究事业毫无兴趣,而帮助了很多其他的专家。他极为慷慨地实践了对我资助的承诺,若再期望从他那得到更多的话,将是不合情理的。他十分尊重我的发明成就,并且绝对相信我有能力最终完成计划中的发明项目。我不会让那些思想狭隘、嫉妒心强的人来挫败我的努力,我不会让他们感到满意。这些人对于我而言,不过是导致严重疾病的细菌。由于当下的世界及自然法则还未对我的项目的到来做好准备,所以它被暂时推迟了。它遥遥领先于这个时代,但是自然法则最终会获胜,使我的项目成功到来。

V.The Magnifying Transmitter

As Ireview the events of my past life Irealize how subtle are the influences that shape our destinies.An incident of my youth may serve to illustrate.One winter"s day Imanaged to climb a steep mountain,in company with other boys.The snow was quite deep and a warm southerly wind made it just suitable for our purpose.We amused ourselves by throwing balls which would roll down a certain distance,gathering more or less snow,and we tried to outdo one another in this exciting sport.Suddenly a ball was seen to go beyond the limit,swelling to enormous proportions until it became as big as a house and plunged thundering into the valley below with a force that made the ground tremble.Ilooked on spellbound,incapable of understanding what had happened.For weeks afterward the picture of the avalanche was before my eyes and Iwondered how anything so small could grow to such an immense size.Ever since that time the magnification of feeble actions fascinated me,and when,years later,Itook up the experimental study of mechanical and electrical resonance,Iwas keenly interested from the very start.Possibly,had it not been for that early powerful impression,Imight not have followed up the little spark Iobtained with my coil and never developed my best invention,the true history of which I"ll tell here for the first time.

Not a few technical men,very able in their special departments,but dominated by a pedantic spirit and nearsighted,have asserted that excepting the induction motor Ihave given to the world little of practical use.This is a grievous mistake.Anew idea must not be judged by its immediate results.My alternating system of power transmission came at a psychological moment,as a long-sought answer to pressing industrial questions,and altho considerable resistance had to be overcome and opposing interests reconciled,as usual,the commercial introduction could not be long delayed.Now,compare this situation with that confronting my turbine,for example.One should think that so simple and beautiful an invention,possessing many features of an ideal motor,should be adopted at once and,undoubtedly,it would under similar conditions.But the prospective effect of the rotating field was not to render worthless existing machinery;on the contrary,it was to give it additional value.The system lent itself to new enterprise as well as to improvement of the old.My turbine is an advance of a character entirely different.It is a radical departure in the sense that its success would mean the abandonment of the antiquated types of prime movers on which billions of dollars have been spent.Under such circumstances the progress must needs be slow and perhaps the greatest impediment is encountered in the prejudicial opinions created in the minds of experts by organized opposition.

Only the other day Ihad a disheartening experience when Imet my friend and former assistant,Charles F.Scott,now professor of Electrical Engineering at Yale.Ihad not seen him for a long time and was glad to have an opportunity for a little chat at my office.Our conversation naturally enough drifted on my turbine and Ibecame heated to a high degree."Scott,"Iexclaimed,carried away by the vision of a glorious future,"my turbine will scrap all the heat-engines in the world."Scott stroked his chin and looked away thoughtfully,as though making a mental calculation."That will make quite a pile of scrap,"he said,and left without another word!

These and other inventions of mine,however,were nothing more than steps forward in certain directions.In evolving them Isimply followed the inborn sense to improve the present devices without any special thought of our far more imperative necessities.The "Magnifying Transmitter"was the product of labors extending through years,having for their chief object the solution of problems which are infinitely more important to mankind than mere industrial development.