Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Lost_vob t1_j4alubn wrote

Reply to comment by Tesla-Punk3327 in [Image] "I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work." ~ Thomas A. Edison by Butterflies_Books

No, there is one time where Tesla wrote an editorial about how he didn't like Edison's empirical methods. That isn't an indictment of the man in any way.

There was no war of the currents. The real war was between Pulitzer and Hearst trying to make the most sensational headlines they could. The truth is scientists were debating the pros and cons of the 2 currents across the globe. It wasn't a uniquely American debate. If there was anyone you can call a rival to Edison, I'd be Westinghouse. Westinghouse was working right AC years before Tesla.

1

Tesla-Punk3327 t1_j4amduy wrote

I'm aware, and Tesla's inventions were orientated around the use of AC, not DC. He sided with Westinghouse. And it was a war in that Westinghouse and Edison had very different views of the future, as was the case in terms of power stations. However, Tesla was a rival in that he wasn't a business man caring for profits. He cared for the generation of free electricity. J.P Morgan would deny investing in his ideas, yet did with Edison's inefficient methods, due to the desire for profit.

1

Lost_vob t1_j4anwwd wrote

JP Morgan spent more time and money on Tesla and his wardenclyff tower than he even did on Edison. In fact, Morgan is the reason the "war" ended. Tired of Edison's moral grandstanding about public health, the plotted a murger with another electric company he owned. They ousted Edison and immediately got up to speed on AC technology. That company is still around, GE.

Tesla didn't want cost free energy, he wanted wire free energy. He still intended to charge for it. By the time he was done selling his parents to Westinghouse, he was a multimillionaire (adjusted for inflation). But after 20 of research and no progress (not greed, progress was the issue), JP Morgan and JJ Ashor stopped finding him, so he used his own money.

1

Tesla-Punk3327 t1_j4arcc2 wrote

He did want cost-free electricity; it was Morgan who asked for a meter in order to continue funding Tesla. It was most likely due to this, the funding ceased around Wardenclyffe, combined with the fact that Morgan expected it to be similar to Marconi's ideas, when it actually was about transmitting the wireless energy. Westinghouse eventually signed off Tesla's patents to Morgan, meaning Tesla made nothing from his inventions, and in so doing Morgan had a monopoly. The Tower worked, and was seen used by nearby residents, but at that point Morgan had preferred Marconi's ideas. Then Tesla was abandoned by him, because it would have been unlimited, post-scarce, and therefore free, in Morgan's eyes a useless invention, in breach of contract too. The plans started in 1901, and any funding ceased by 1906, probably after the money was given to Tesla. Marconi had succeeded by 1901. It was after 1906 that Tesla used his own funds, not after "20 years" of funding. By 1901, prices also increased, and gaining the materials for construction, with inflation, was not within the first grant, with Morgan having a 51% interest on it.

1