Read Online Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla by Marc Seifer - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Marc Seifer
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hundreds of miles, and then not only for lighting but for running household appliances and industrial machines in factories. Tesla’s creation was a leap ahead in a rapidly advancing technological revolution.
4
T ESLA M EETS THE W IZARD OF M ENLO PARK (1882-85)
O, he’s a great talker, and, say, he’s a great eater too. I remember the first time I saw him. We were doing some experimenting in a little place outside Paris, and one day a long, lanky lad came in and said he wanted a job. We put him to work thinking he would soon tire of his new occupation for we were putting in 20-24 hours a day, then, but he stuck right to it and after things eased up one of my men said to him: “Well, Tesla, you’ve worked pretty hard, now I’m going to take you into Paris and give you a splendid supper.” So he took him to the most expensive cafe in Parisa place where they broil an extra thick steak between two thin steaks. Tesla stowed away one of those big fellows without any trouble and my man said to him: “Anything else, my boy? I’m standing treat.” “Well, if you don’t mind, sir,” said my apprentice, “I’ll try another steak.” After he left me he went into other lines and has accomplished quite a little.
T HOMAS E DISON 1
T aking the advice of Ferenc Puskas, Tesla left Budapest for Paris in April 1882 delighted with the chance to meet the Edison people from America and ready to build his motor and to find investors. Concurrently, he was getting paid for the experience. Paris in the 1880s was a center of modern fashion: men in their cutaway coats and silk top hats, women with braided hair, in long frilled dresses with bustles, and wealthy tourists ready to take back the latest fineries to their respective nations. Tesla was met by Ferenc’s brother Tivadar Puskas, a hard driver but also a man known to talk in “air balloons.” 2 Tesla, whose head could also soar into the clouds, had met a powerful ally. Mindful of the need for secrecy, they discussed strategies for approaching Charles Batchelor,manager of the newly formed Compagnie Continental Edison, with Tesla’s new motor as the young inventor was introduced to operations.
Formerly a resident of Manchester, England, Batchelor, a “master mechanic,” had been sent to America a decade earlier to present innovative threadmaking machinery recently created by his employers, the Coates Thread Company. 3 There he met Edison and shortly became his most trusted associate. Batchelor worked on the first phonographs and on perfecting the filament for the lightbulb. He also ran operations in New Jersey and then in Europe, owning a 10 percent share of Edison’s many worldwide companies. 4 An open-minded individual, Batchelor was approachable, although also rather busy.
Anthony Szigeti probably emigrated from Budapest at the same time as Tesla, since both were hired by Puskas and “were together almost constantly in Paris.” Szigeti wrote, “Tesla [was very]…much excited over the ideas which he then had of operating motors. He talked with me many times about them and told me his plan…[of] constructing and operating motors…[and] dispensing with the commutator.” 5
Having just purchased a large factory at Ivry-sur-Seine, for the construction of generators and manufacture of lightbulbs, Batchelor, as Edison’s closest partner, was planning on erecting central lighting stations throughout Europe. He also had plans in England, where the Crystal Palace Exposition was then displaying Edison’s new incandescent lamp. 6 Batchelor would need good men to run the concerns and wrote Edison frequently as to the expertise of the various workers. He was particularly impressed with Puskas, who had successfully run the Edison lighting exhibit at the Paris Exposition of 1881. “Puskas…[is the only worker] having any idea of ‘push,’” he wrote, “and I think that you should insist on him [becoming a partner].” 7
Within six months Edison Continental would be
4
T ESLA M EETS THE W IZARD OF M ENLO PARK (1882-85)
O, he’s a great talker, and, say, he’s a great eater too. I remember the first time I saw him. We were doing some experimenting in a little place outside Paris, and one day a long, lanky lad came in and said he wanted a job. We put him to work thinking he would soon tire of his new occupation for we were putting in 20-24 hours a day, then, but he stuck right to it and after things eased up one of my men said to him: “Well, Tesla, you’ve worked pretty hard, now I’m going to take you into Paris and give you a splendid supper.” So he took him to the most expensive cafe in Parisa place where they broil an extra thick steak between two thin steaks. Tesla stowed away one of those big fellows without any trouble and my man said to him: “Anything else, my boy? I’m standing treat.” “Well, if you don’t mind, sir,” said my apprentice, “I’ll try another steak.” After he left me he went into other lines and has accomplished quite a little.
T HOMAS E DISON 1
T aking the advice of Ferenc Puskas, Tesla left Budapest for Paris in April 1882 delighted with the chance to meet the Edison people from America and ready to build his motor and to find investors. Concurrently, he was getting paid for the experience. Paris in the 1880s was a center of modern fashion: men in their cutaway coats and silk top hats, women with braided hair, in long frilled dresses with bustles, and wealthy tourists ready to take back the latest fineries to their respective nations. Tesla was met by Ferenc’s brother Tivadar Puskas, a hard driver but also a man known to talk in “air balloons.” 2 Tesla, whose head could also soar into the clouds, had met a powerful ally. Mindful of the need for secrecy, they discussed strategies for approaching Charles Batchelor,manager of the newly formed Compagnie Continental Edison, with Tesla’s new motor as the young inventor was introduced to operations.
Formerly a resident of Manchester, England, Batchelor, a “master mechanic,” had been sent to America a decade earlier to present innovative threadmaking machinery recently created by his employers, the Coates Thread Company. 3 There he met Edison and shortly became his most trusted associate. Batchelor worked on the first phonographs and on perfecting the filament for the lightbulb. He also ran operations in New Jersey and then in Europe, owning a 10 percent share of Edison’s many worldwide companies. 4 An open-minded individual, Batchelor was approachable, although also rather busy.
Anthony Szigeti probably emigrated from Budapest at the same time as Tesla, since both were hired by Puskas and “were together almost constantly in Paris.” Szigeti wrote, “Tesla [was very]…much excited over the ideas which he then had of operating motors. He talked with me many times about them and told me his plan…[of] constructing and operating motors…[and] dispensing with the commutator.” 5
Having just purchased a large factory at Ivry-sur-Seine, for the construction of generators and manufacture of lightbulbs, Batchelor, as Edison’s closest partner, was planning on erecting central lighting stations throughout Europe. He also had plans in England, where the Crystal Palace Exposition was then displaying Edison’s new incandescent lamp. 6 Batchelor would need good men to run the concerns and wrote Edison frequently as to the expertise of the various workers. He was particularly impressed with Puskas, who had successfully run the Edison lighting exhibit at the Paris Exposition of 1881. “Puskas…[is the only worker] having any idea of ‘push,’” he wrote, “and I think that you should insist on him [becoming a partner].” 7
Within six months Edison Continental would be
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