The purpose of this post is to save you the expense of purchasing any of the books on the "secrets" of Tesla's work. It seems tieing the words "Tesla", "secret", "suppression", "mystery", "blueprint" etc. is a good marketing ploy for selling books but I've found the ideas they promote are, in a word, hokum and never really lead to understanding anything Tesla did.

I've spent three years researching his work. It started with an artcile I saw on the 1931 Pierce Arrow and led me to many alternative energy sites. With so much conjecture backed up by nothing but more conjecture, I decided to go to the source and study what Tesla actually said rather than what other people say about what Tesla said.

To understand Tesla's work you have to first understand the world he lived in. The things we take for granted today did not exist. I don't think we can truly comprehend his world. Think about the early and late 1800's.

The first industrial revolution, that occurred before his work, concerned transportation. Prior to that everything, absolutely everything, was made or grown locally Distribution was by walking, horseback, or wagon. There was some distribution by sea for valuable minerals but these ships were tiny. The transportation revolution was steam powered and enabled man to transport materials as well as finished products over land and sea in great quantities. Almost everything that occurred after that was, and is, dependent upon transportation.

The second industrial revolution occurred during Tesla's time and was absolutely dependent on transporation to move materials from where they were mined to manufacturing plants. Prior to Tesla's development of industrial scale electrical power entire industries in operation today did not exist. There were telegraph lines but they only connected certain towns. Economical steel production did not exist so it was too expensive to use for large projects and therefore buildings were limited to five or six stories which was the maximum height that could safely be built using brick. The cost of smelting aluminum was so high that it's value was about the same as silver. The petrochemical industry did not exist so everything was powered by burning wood or coal. There were no cars, airplanes, or satellites. Long distance transportation was by train or steam powered ships and neither had electricity.

The most educated people of the day (education was not required and was considered a luxury) probably had less scientific knowledge than a high school graduate of today. The atom was considered the absolute minima of matter. Particle physics didn't exist and wave theory was in its infancy. There were no names for the electronic parts we use today because they didn't exist. The researchers of Tesla's day made up that terminology to explain their works.

After his polyphase electrical work, Tesla turned his mind to two related topics. One was fuelless generation of power. This is what has become known as his "radiant energy" work. Today there is a lot of misunderstanding of what he meant by "radiant energy". In short, it is simply energy which is radiated. Nothing more. There is nothing mysterious about it as many of today's publishers would have you believe. This goes back to understanding his times. They didn't know the specifics of how the sun warmed the earth or a fire warmed their hands and made light. That's what that branch of enquiry was exploring. The following is the earliest quote by Tesla that I've found reagarding radiant energy:

“…streams resembling the cathodic must be emitted by the sun and probably also by other sources of radiant energy, such as an arc light or Bunsen burner.” - “Tesla’s latest Roentgen Ray Investigations”, Electrical Review, New York 28 No.17, 05/22/1896

You also have to understand the things that changed during his lifetime. He incorporated new ideas and findings in his work as he progressed. Ultimately his investigations went from the sun, Bunsen burners, and arc lights to cosmic rays and radioactive materials such as radium. He believed that radio active materials would not be radioactive if they could be shielded from the cosmic rays.

"The phenomena of radioactivity are not the result of forces within the radioactive substances but are caused by this ray emitted by the sun. If radium could be screened effectively against this ray it would cease to be radioactive." Tesla, 75, Predicts New Power Source, New York Times, Section 2, 1, 07/05/1931

IMO, herein lies the "mystery" of Tesla's 1931 Pierce Arrow that could power a home when not in use as a vehicle.

”I have harnessed the cosmic rays and caused them to operate a motive device.” - “Tesla Cosmic Ray Motor May Transmit Power ‘Round Earth”, by John A. O’NEILL for Brooklin Eagle, 07/10/1932

Combining that statement with the other quote above what you have is a nuclear battery powering the car. Atomic batteries are in use today. Here are a couple of interesting links.
Radioisotope Batteries for MEMS

Cadillac Nuclear Powered Concept Car

Again, you have to understand the time. There were no government controls on radio active materials until the late 1940's and early 1950's, after they were used to produce atomic bombs.

But there is some confusion introduced in the title of the Brooklin Eagle article. The generation of electrical power and the transmission of electrical power were, and are, two separate things. The transmission would work regardless of the source of the electrical power. They were not dependent on each other.

The necessity for wireless transmission was to distribute electricity from locations where it is more easily generated, like the Niagra Falls power plant which, by the way, is also a fuelless generating plant, to anywhere it is to be consumed. Besides the obvious savings of not having to run the transmission lines it also opened up the possibility to transmit power to the most remote locations where industrial mining, production, etc. could be located right at the source of the materials without having to transport fuels to a remote location to power tools, vehicles or generators.

In today's discussions of Tesla's wireless transmission of power there is conjecture that he developed some mysterious way to transmit power by some kind of ionized channel to the ionosphere. It seems to never be mentioned in today's discussions that his US Patent No. 645,576  contains the method of aerial transmission between balloons maintained at 30,000 feet. That patent notes that the methods for maintaining the elevated balloons at the stated altitudes above sea level were not available and would need to be developed. There are two features at that altitude which would enhance conduction, namely rarefied air similar to a partial vacuum and very cold temperatures. The temperature at that elevation would be around -40 to -30 degrees. Figure 1c on page 12 of the Colorado Springs notes shows a device reportedly set up in his New York lab to demonstrate the transmission of power through rarefied air for the Examiner-in-Chief of the U.S. Patent office. Also note his US Patent 685,012 issued to him concerned the cooling of conductors to intensify the oscillation of a coil by reducing their impedance.

The method of globally transmitting through the atmosphere was never implemented, probably due to the lack of any suitable way to maintain the elevated balloons at +30,000 feet. It most likely would have failed if attempted because the altitudes stated are within the realm of the jet stream. Again, when we look at what was known at the time, the existence of jet stream is missing. We now know that is has winds of roughly fifty to two hundred fifty miles per hour. It is interesting that his June 26, 1899 Colorado Springs notes describe a method for separating gases using high voltage and he makes particular note of how to capture hydrogen. One may assume that this would be used to maintain the balloons at altitude as stated in the above patent. So at this point he was still thinking of elevated transmission through the atmosphere.

There have been several conjectures that an ionized path to the upper atmosphere could replace the need for the balloons maintained at altitude but again the jet stream would interfere with this method because ionization is, after all, ionized matter and the winds would certainly affect it.

Dr. Tesla's July 4, 1899 Colorado Springs notes detail his observation that lightning strikes from a particularly strong storm set up standing waves in the earth. The storm that was providing the lightning was, however, moving across the plains east of Colorado Springs so the source of the standing waves was moving, causing the standing waves to move with the source. This was a turning point in the development of his transmission system. He describes his methods of recording the disturbances made by the storm and concludes:

"This was a wonderful and most interesting experience from the scientific point of view. It showed clearly the existence of stationary waves, for how could the observations be otherwise explained? How can these waves be stationary unless reflected and where can they be reflected from unless from the point where they started? It would be difficult to believe that they were reflected from the opposite point of the Earth's surface, though it may be possible. But I rather think they are reflected from the point of the cloud where the conducting path began; in this case the point where the lightning struck the ground would be the nodal point. It is now certain that they can be produced with an oscillator. (This is of immense importance.)"

At this point he is still thinking of the atmosphere as the transmission medium but notes that it is possible that the standing waves were reflected from the opposite point of the planet's surface. Shortly after returning from Colorado Springs he patented a method of transmission through the earth. In this system the impulses delivered to the ground would be delivered to the same point every time so the standing waves could be enhanced and manipulated. Lightning never strikes the same place twice? Not if Dr. Tesla had anything to do with it.
This second patented method proposed transmission through the earth. Dr. Tesla's U.S. Patent No. 787,412 applied for May 16, 1900 and Canadian Patent No. 142,352 applied for April 17, 1906 are very similar and are both titled "Art of Transmitting Electrical Energy Through Natural Mediums". Note, however, the difference in the application dates of almost six years. Although the patents are similar, they are not the same. The Canadian patent is more complete. Examining that Canadian patent explains many things about the magnifying transmitter. In the example given in the patent he describes transmitting signals but, as usual, says the method may be applied to other valuable uses. It appears that he did not want to disclose too much in the U.S. patent until after the Wardenclyffe project was completed. 1906 was about the time Wardenclyffe was abandoned so it can be assumed that he filed the Canadian patent to protect his ideas. Filing the patent in Canada would also make it somewhat more obscure in that it would have to have been physically examined in those days and, having the same title as the U.S. patent, might have been skipped over because the investigator already thought he was familiar with it. The art work is the same and the text is mostly the same but more specifics are given in the Canadian patent.

There are several statements in these patents that indicate that what Dr. Tesla was doing was creating electrical disturbances on the scale of natural lightning bolts striking the ground that generated waves in the earth. These waves would travel to the diametrically opposite side of the earth and reflect back toward the point of origin. In doing so they would create standing waves. The beauty of this is that with proper timing, constructive interference would increase the strength of the waves.

These are but two examples of Tesla's work. There is another key to understanding his work. He produced so much work throughout his lifetime and worked on so many things simultaneously that what is required to make sense of his work is to gain a laser like focus on one endeavor and track it through the documents without getting distracted by other ideas. That leads to a comprehensive understanding of each topic rather than a mismash of related but separate ideas.

I have written much more detailed documents that I can upload if anyone is interested.

Quote from thx1138v2 on March 21st, 2014, 09:00 AM

I have written much more detailed documents that I can upload if anyone is interested.

Yes, please do.  This was quite an interesting introduction to Dr. Tesla.  I'd love to see more.

I went back and looked at them and they are woefully sloppy. I'll do some cleanup and post them individually as I go. Please understand they are more or less train-of-thought documents I did as I progressed through the research. The ones I've reviewed so far just kind of wander off into oblivion at the end. Now that I'm looking at them, I find that pretty well sums up where I am now - not sure how or in which direction to proceed.

How about I give you a patent number and you can filter everything out that really doesn't come into play with it's creation?

514,168 comes to mind.

Quote from Matt Watts on March 22nd, 2014, 01:27 PM

How about I give you a patent number and you can filter everything out that really doesn't come into play with it's creation?

514,168 comes to mind.

That's one of many circuit interrupters with which he worked. The fact that he spent much of his efforts working on so many variations to accomplish the interruption points out the importance of the unidirectional disruptive discharge. What he was developing, in essence was a semiconductor. Generally speaking, a semiconductor is something that conducts under one set of circumstances and is an insulator under another set of circumstance. The air, gas, or, in this case, oil in a spark gap can be viewed as the semiconductor of his day. He noted in one of his lectures (I don't remember off the top of my head right now which one), the importance of the abruptness of the make and break, i.e. rise and fall times and the interrupters were to improve control over the fall time while the rise time could be controlled via the charge imparted to the electrodes.

Everyone today mostly relates Tesla to alternating current electricity simply because that is what we use today. His work after about 1891, however, focused more on the unidirectional disruptive discharge impulse which is, more or less, lightning. The unidirectional aspect relates to radiant energy like the energy from the sun and cosmic rays is unidirectional with no return. The impulse is related to his investigation of rays or particles impacting the insulated, elevated conductive plate of the radiant energy collector and transferring a charge to same. The insulation is required to prevent neutralization of the acquired charge with charges in the atmosphere surrounding the conductive plate.

One of my files on Radiant Energy attached.

Something I discovered when building my plasma arc ignition system is that a spark gap can act like a switch that no modern semiconductor or otherwise can even remotely approach.  It is a nearly perfect electrical switch when you control it properly.  Nothing else comes close.

I hear a lot of talk about resonance being the key to everything.  This may be true, but it isn't your typical AC current with a sinusoidal waveform, or is it a square wave DC signal.  Where things get interesting is when you use impulses; the shorter they are and the higher their energy content, the more impressive the results.  Spark gaps can provide these impulses and do them extremely well.  I'm curious how Mr. Tesla zeroed in on this revelation.

Quote from Matt Watts on March 23rd, 2014, 05:53 PM

Something I discovered when building my plasma arc ignition system is that a spark gap can act like a switch that no modern semiconductor or otherwise can even remotely approach.  It is a nearly perfect electrical switch when you control it properly.  Nothing else comes close.

Yes indeed and every solid state diode and transistor has some small amount of reverse current regardless of how fast it switches. So they won't do a truly unidirectional impulse. I have noted on a few forums that a spark gap can't be replaced with today's semiconductor devices. That, however, presents its own problems because the electrodes are always slowly burned away. It appears Patent 514,168 was a method of adjusting the gap automatically to adjust for that change in the spark gap distance due to useage.

Quote

I hear a lot of talk about resonance being the key to everything.  This may be true, but it isn't your typical AC current with a sinusoidal waveform, or is it a square wave DC signal.  Where things get interesting is when you use impulses; the shorter they are and the higher their energy content, the more impressive the results.  Spark gaps can provide these impulses and do them extremely well.  I'm curious how Mr. Tesla zeroed in on this revelation.

The spark gap itself is just a modified arc light and I think they were in general use if not in the public, then scientifically. Here's something you'll find interesting regarding the disruptive discharge. It's also in one of my docs I'll post after cleaning it up. IMO, it is critical to obtaining Tesla's results. The following is from Experiments with Alternate Currents of Very High Frequency and Their Applications to Methods of Artificial Illumination in   The Nikola Tesla Treasury by Wilder Publications, 2007, beginning on page 68. This lecture that takes up 41 pages in the book and was delivered before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers at Columbia College in February of 1892.

Quote

Pg 100 ¶ 2 Superimposed vibrations are impossible when we work with an alternate current machine. If a spring be gradually tightened and gradually released at the same rate, it does not perform independent vibrations; for this a sudden release is necessary. So with alternate currents from a dynamo machine, the medium is harmonically strained and released, this giving rise to only one kind of waves; a sudden contact or break, or a sudden giving way of the dielectric, as in the disruptive discharge of a Leyden jar [capacitor], are essential for the production of superimposed waves.

Pg 102 ¶ 2 When the terminals of a high tension induction coil [Fig. 31] are connected to a capacitor, and the capacitor is disruptively discharging into a circuit, we may look upon the arc playing between the spark gap as being a source of alternating, or generally speaking, undulating currents, and then we have to deal with the familiar system of a generator of such currents, a circuit connected to it, and a condenser bridging the circuit. The capacitor in such case is a veritable transformer, and since the frequency is excessive, almost any ratio in the strength of the currents in both branches may be obtained. In reality the analogy is not quite complete, for in the disruptive discharge we have most generally a fundamental instantaneous variation of comparatively low frequency, and a superimposed harmonic vibration, and the laws governing the flow of currents are not the same for both.

The following is from On Light and Other High Frequency Phenomena in The Nikola Tesla Treasury by Wilder Publications, 2007, beginning on page 204. This lecture takes up 59 pages in the book and was delivered before The National Electric Light Association in St. Louis in March, 1893.

The comments here begin in the section titled “On the Apparatus and Method of Conversion” beginning on page 210. This portion deals largely with construction of devices which produce disruptive discharges.

Quote

Pg 210 ¶ 1 ...The general plan is to charge capacitors from a current source with high tension and to discharge them disruptively while observing well known conditions necessary to maintain the oscillations of the current.

When the capacitor is charged to a certain potential the air or insulating space gives way and a disruptive discharge occurs. There is then a sudden rush of current and generally a large portion of accumulated electrical energy spends itself. The capacitor is thereupon quickly charged and the same process is repeated in more or less the same fashion.

If the rate at which the capacitor is discharged is the same as that at which it is charged, then, clearly, in the assumed case the capacitor does not come into play. If the rate of discharge be smaller than the rate of charging, then, again, the capacitor cannot play an important part. But, if, on the contrary, the rate of discharging is greater than that of charging, then a succession of rushes of current is obtained.

It is evident that, if the rate at which energy is dissipated by the discharge is very much greater than the rate of supply to the capacitor, the sudden rushes will be comparatively few, with long time intervals between. This always occurs when a capacitor of considerable capacity is charged by means of a comparatively small machine.

If the rates of supply and dissipation are not widely different, then the rushes of current will be in quicker succession, and this the more, the more nearly equal the rates are, until limitations incident to each case and depending upon on a number of causes are reached. Thus we are able to obtain from a continuous current generator as rapid a succession of discharges as we like.

Of course the higher the tension of the generator, the smaller need be the capacitance of the capacitor, and for this reason, principally, it is of advantage to employ a generator of very high tension

The rushes of current may be of the same direction under the conditions before assumed, but most generally there is an oscillation superimposed upon the fundamental vibration of the current. When the conditions are so determined that there are no oscillations, the current impulses are unidirectional and thus a means is provided of transforming a continuous current of high tension into a direct current of lower tension, which I think may find employment in the arts.

Pg 216 ¶ 1  The ideal medium for a discharge gap should only crack, and the ideal electrode should be of some material which cannot be disintegrated. With small currents through the gap it is best to employ aluminum but not when the currents are large.

To return to the ideal medium; think for the sake of illustration, of a piece of glass or similar body clamped in a vice, and the vice tightened more and more. At a certain point a minute increase of the pressure will cause the glass to crack. The loss of energy involved in splitting the glass may be practically nothing, for though the force is great, the displacement need be but extremely small.

So you can see from the above lectures the importance of the interrupters of which a magnetically quenched spark gap and Patent 514,168 are but two versions of the same thing.

That last section at Pg 216 is what got me thinking about semiconductors. He is basically describing a transistor - using a small change to switch a much larger current. In his terms, above, a transistor is a self-healing piece of glass placed in the vice.

It's nice that I can put that in one post but regarding the dates there is a year between the two lectures. In that probably lies the answer to your question of how Tesla came to zero in on the spark gap - a year's building, experimenting, and tinkering and thinking about what he was seeing and what he wanted to accomplish. All the more amazing, he had no oscilloscopes or spectrum analysers or mutlimeters or any of the tools we take for granted today. He was building the components and on the experiments that made those tools possible!

And he spent the next five or six years continually working on raising the voltages (tensions) and frequencies and perfecting the devices. When he got to high enough voltages and sufficient control he went to Colorado Springs to see what he could do with them on a global scale.

Take a look at the attachment and note the ringing after a spark gap impulse is quenched. The secondary is still oscillating long after the primary has stopped supplying power. This illustrates the importance of the loose coupling between the primary and secondary in a Tesla coil. The secondary continues oscillating for some time and this is the time used to recharge the cap for the disruptive discharge. Get the timing right and you build and build and build that secondary oscillation with minimal input from the primary.

Update 08/30/2014
I just stumbled across this in another forum. Tesla used mercury in many of his circuit interrupters. This identifies a unique property of those interrupters and why he used mercury.
Mercury arc rectifiers
Excerpt: "Mercury arc rectifiers, also known as "Cooper Hewitt Rectifiers" were used in the early 20th century before the use of semiconductors to convert alternating current to direct current in high-voltage and -current applications. Constructed of glass for low-power applications and steel tanks for higher-power applications, Mercury Arc rectifiers work on the principle that an arc of electricity between an anode and a pool of mercury will only pass current in one direction."

Hence aiding the creation of unidirectional impulses.

More info: Mercury Arc Rectifiers
Excerpt: "Mercury arc rectifiers (also known as Cooper-Hewitt or Hewittic rectifiers) were extensively used to provide DC in high power applications, powers ranging from kilowatts up to a few megawatts, at voltages ranging from 110V to 30KV."

Some Tesla patents using mercury:
Tesla Patents Search using mercury

Another of my documents attached. I spent some time attempting to determine what Tesla's "3, 6, 9" comment meant. It may just be BS considering that for over a year I have not found any citation for when and where Tesla made such a comment. After doing the work on the attached document I tried finding the citation to get the context in which the comment was made. So far, no joy, so I'm beginning to believe it is something made up by the "Tesla Secrets" shucksters as a marketing ploy.

The attachment covers evanescent waves (3) and Forster resonant energy transfer (6) which may apply to many things including Stan Meyer's work.

here i the secret. tesla turbine is his greatest invention, to understand this search turbo chargers, with a tesla turbine you can make a sterling motor. it will be the first of its kind, it can also a faraday motor, it is also the pump for a plasma reactor. it gets hot. add a glow plug. add a geet reacor. or simple sonic tranducer. now you have much to work on. he was right. now many advancments can be made. O:-) O:-)

See 08/30/2014 update at the end of reply #7 above. RE mercury in Tesla's interrupters and unidirectional impulses.

 thx1138v2
This has been a most enjoyable read, as I am on vacation this week and now have had the time to delve into this. I would encourage all to read this and can only hope you continue to post your indepth research about a man who is virtually unknown by the public in general.
I want to thank you for your contirbution to this forum. :D

Another interesting link to Tesla's work with Radiant Energy from Patent 685,958 - Method of Utilizing Radiant Energy.

Speaking of the insulated, elevated plate he says, "...the surface should be clean and preferably highly polished or amalgamated."

In metallurgy, amalgamated means to mix or alloy a metal with mercury.

In this case, maybe adding some unidirectional current flow from the insulated, elevated plate to the condenser in the apparatus so that the captured charge from the radiant energy does not neutralize in the environment or within the insulation.

Edited because TL;DR and nonsense...

i have read Tesla claim by saving money for farmers by extracting nitrogen directly from the air..

i cant find any patents on this, but have researched his claim. i cant find much info on this, does any one know how Tesla had done this with high voltages, and ionization of the air. also how did he accumulate it to work as a fertilizer?

Matt any info? ty

added to include what is becoming a high concern for food production.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmLDu6NdIsw#ws O:-)

the same way Stan Meyer´s gas processor works.

Quote from freethisone on November 21st, 2014, 12:49 PM

i have read Tesla claim by saving money for farmers by extracting nitrogen directly from the air..

i cant find any patents on this, but have researched his claim. i cant find much info on this, does any one know how Tesla had done this with high voltages, and ionization of the air. also how did he accumulate it to work as a fertilizer?

Matt any info? ty

added to include what is becoming a high concern for food production.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmLDu6NdIsw#ws O:-)

If I remember correctly he mentioned that in "The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". As far as I know he never performed that task but his thoughts were that any element in the atmosphere could be extracted using HV electricity of a specific frequency - kind of like creating ozone with a spark gap. There are some entries in the Colorado Springs Notes about extracting hydrogen from the atmosphere to maintain his wireless transmission balloons at 30,000 feet but I don't think he ever did that either because he realized he could transmit through the crust of the earth. My supposition is that if he had tried to maintain balloons at 30,000 feet there would have been photographs of the endeavor and there are none that I've ever seen.

With the cost of electricity being what it is today I'm not sure it would be economically competitive with current methods although removing the storage and transportation costs might make it so if it could be produced on the farms where it is to be used.

On the other hand, I have no idea what havoc having the world's population extracting nitrogen from the atmosphere might cause.

Quote from Gunther Rattay on November 21st, 2014, 01:13 PM

the same way Stan Meyer´s gas processor works.

This isn't directly Tesla related but your post reminded me of an article I saw this morning. It sounds weird but apparently works: Brain water signal extender

This might need reposting in a more appropriate thread.

Quote from Gunther Rattay on November 21st, 2014, 01:13 PM

the same way Stan Meyer´s gas processor works.

As Edward Mitchell, True Green Solutions, explains in the Boulder 2013 video Stan Meyer answered to a question that the Gas Processor´s job is to tear apart molecules by extracting electrons with minimum energy input. Then you can recombine the atoms as you like.

Every time I go into one of my previous documents to try to clean it up for posting here I find new information. I've found that Tesla didn't "discover" radiant energy.

I previously stated my opinion that "radiant energy" and "wireless transmission" of energy were two separate things. What I found recently has convinced be that they are, indeed, the same thing but that Tesla developed different processes. One was to collect natural radiant energy. The other was to transmit energy without wires by utilizing radiant energy as the transmission medium. The following is my recent experience.

The following is from a lecture delivered by Tesla before the Institution of Electrical Engineers in London during February of 1892 titled Experiments with Alternate Currents of High Potential and High Frequency.

"…but one (name), at least, I must mention – a name which could not be omitted in a demonstration of this kind. It is a name associated with the most beautiful invention ever made: it is Crookes!

When I was at college, a good while ago, I read, in translation (for then I was not familiar with your magnificent language), the description of his experiments on radiant matter."
https://archive.org/stream/experimentswith00teslgoog#page/n17/mode/2up - Experiments with Alternate Currents of High Potential and High Frequency

What is this book? On radiant matter by Sir William Crookes. Tesla attended  various schools from 1870 to 1880 so it was probably 1880 that he read the book, the lecture which it contains being presented August 22, 1879.
http://www.teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla-timeline-1856-birth-of-tesla - Tesla timeline

In On radiant matter by Sir William Crookes he references an even earlier lecture by Michael Faraday on radiant matter given in 1816.
http://www.archive.org/download/https://archive.org/details/OnRadiantMatter - Crookes’ lecture

http://www.archive.org/download/https://archive.org/details/lifelettersoffar01joneuoft" - The life and letters of Faraday

What is the device that Tesla calls “the most beautiful invention ever made”? The radiometer (1873) or the Crookes Tube (1879)?

“[The radiometer] was invented in 1873 by the chemist Sir William Crookes as the by-product of some chemical research. In the course of very accurate quantitative chemical work, he was weighing samples in a partially evacuated chamber to reduce the effect of air currents, and noticed the weighings were disturbed when sunlight shone on the balance. Investigating this effect, he created the device named after him.”
Crookes radiometer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Crookes Radiometer

Today it is accepted that the vanes in the Crookes Radiometer turn due to heat rather than radiation rays impacting the vanes. That is of little importance to this chronology because at the time it was thought that the motion was caused by radiant matter. 

Further experiments led to Crookes developing the Crookes tube which is a modification of the earlier Geissler tube invented in 1857 by Heinrich Geissler which was the first gas-discharge lamp that caused fluorescence of matter in the bulb by electrification. We know them today as neon tubes. Crookes and others used modified versions of Geissler tubes to further study cathode rays.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geissler_tube - Geissler Tube
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crookes_tube - Crookes Tube

In 1888 Philipp Lenard began studying cathode rays using modified Crookes tubes. He used the aluminum “Lenard windows” of his tubes to confirm some of J. J. Thomson’s work that showed cathode rays are negatively charged energetic particles rather than electromagnetic waves.
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1905/lenard-bio.html - Philipp Lenard

Sidebar: At the time aluminum was more expensive than gold and silver because of the difficulty of isolating it from its ore. What eventually made aluminum as cheap as it is today was Tesla’s alternating current and the development of the induction furnace using AC electricity.
http://www.aluminum.org/aluminum-advantage/history-aluminum - History of aluminum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_furnace - Induction furnace

In 1895 Wilhelm Roentgen discovers the X-ray using modified Crookes and Lenard tubes, the X being taken from mathematics where it designates an unknown value, meaning an unknown cathode ray.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_R%C3%B6ntgen - Wilhelm Roentgen

To understand the significance of studying cathode rays we must understand that at the time the investigations were occurring the atom was considered the absolute minima of matter – there were no subatomic particles and, in the mind of the scientists of the day, there could be no subatomic particles. These investigations led to the realization that the cathode rays were particles of matter smaller than atoms traveling in straight lines at very high velocities in the tubes, that the trajectory of the particles could be manipulated by magnetic and electrical fields, and that the particles could pass through the wall of the tube without breaking it. The very notion of subatomic particles overthrew the idea that the atom was absolute minima of matter, a very fundamental change in physics.

Not only were the particles subatomic but they carried an electrical charge and could be manipulated with electromagnetic fields. And their charge existed both inside and outside the vacuum tubes, i.e. wireless transmission of electrical charge.

I have been unable to locate any direct reference to Tesla using the term “stinging rays”. His March, 11, 1896 On Roentgen Rays article in Electrical Review does, however, contain the following: “It may not be known that even an ordinary streamer, breaking out suddenly and under great pressure from the terminal of a disruptive coil, passes through a thick glass plate as though the latter were not present. Unquestionably, with such coils pressures are practicable which will, project the particles in straight lines even under atmospheric pressure. I have obtained distinct impressions in free air, not by streamers, as some experimenters have done, using static machines or induction coils, but by actual projection, the formation of streamers being absolutely prevented by careful static screening.” This may relate to the “stinging rays” as it is often stated that he felt the stinging through both glass and copper plates between himself and the radiant energy source.
On Roentgen Rays from Electrical Review, March 11th, 1896
 - On Roentgen Rays – March 11, 1896 – Nikola Tesla

In the April 22, 1896 Electrical Review, Tesla’s article Tesla’s latest Roentgen Ray Investigations he states “…streams resembling the cathodic must be emitted by the sun and probably also by other sources of radiant energy, such as an arc light or Bunsen burner.” This is the earliest use I found of his use of the term “radiant energy” though there may be earlier usages. Note that he references both natural and artificial sources.
Tesla?s Latest Roentgen Ray Investigations from Electrical Review, April 22nd, 1896 - More Roentgen Rays

Referring again to the stinging rays, Tesla warns about problems of being exposed to cathode rays. He describes various discomforts encountered when experimenting with cathode rays at high power including tingling sensations and burns on flesh in his article in Electrical Review of May 5, 1897 titled On Hurtful Actions of Lenard and Roentgen Tubes.  This is critical information for anyone experimenting with radiant energy.
On Hurtful Actions of Lenard and Roentgen Tubes from Electrical Review, May 5th, 1897 - On Hurtful Actions of Lenard and Roentgen Tubes – May 5, 1897

Sidebar: A link to Tesla and “cold electricity” can be found in the On Roentgen Rays  article of March 11, 1896 in Electrical Review: “After some time the reddish light subsides, the streams becoming again white, whereupon they get weaker and weaker, wavering around the electrode until they finally disappear: Meanwhile, the phosphorescence of the glass grows more and more intense, and the spot where the stream strikes the wall becomes very hot, while the phosphorescence around the electrode ceases and the latter cools down to such an extent that the glass near it may be actually ice cold to the touch. The gas in the bulb has then reached the required degree of rarefaction.”

There are references to some frightful experiences in the above articles when considered today with what we now know about X-rays and human biology. “An outline of the skull is easily obtained with an exposure of 20 to 40 minutes. In one instance an exposure of 40 minutes gave dearly not only the outline, but the cavity of the eye, the chin and cheek and nasal bones, the lower jaw and connections to the upper one, the vertebral column and connections to the skull, the flesh and even the hair. By exposing the head to a powerful radiation strange effects have been noted. For instance, I find that there is a tendency to sleep and the time seems to pass away quickly.” Brain wave modification? Another: “At times it has seemed to me as though I myself heard a whispering voice, and I have searched eagerly among my dusty bulbs and bottles. I fear my imagination has deceived me, but there they are still, my dusty bulbs, and I am still listening hopefully.” Aural hallucination? Could these and other of his high frequency high voltage experiments be the cause of his obsessive compulsive disorder? I remember seeing in an article or interview that he put his head inside an energized high voltage high frequency coil to show how safe they were but I can’t seem to locate it again.

Nikola Tesla filed his application for patent titled Apparatus for the Utilization of Radiant Energy on March 21, 1901 and the patent was granted November 5, 1901 under patent number 685,957. Some quotes from that patent are instructive regarding radiant energy. Highlights are added by me.
Tesla Patent 685,957 - Apparatus for the Utilization of Radiant Energy - Apparatus for the Utilization of Radiant Energy

“It is well known that certain radiations – such as those of ultra-violet light, cathodic, Roentgen rays, or the like – posses the property of charging and discharging conductors of electricity…”

“My own experiments and observations, however, lead me to conclusions more in accord with the theory heretofore advanced by me that sources of such radiant energy throw off with great velocity minute particles of matter that are strongly electrified, and therefore capable of charging an electrical conductor…”

“My present application is based upon a discovery which I have made that when rays or radiations of the above kind are permitted to fall upon an insulated conducting-body connected to one of the terminals of a condenser while the other terminal of the same is made by independent means to receive or to carry away electricity a current flows into the condenser so long as the insulated body is exposed to the rays, and under the conditions hereinafter specified an indefinite accumulation of electrical energy in the condenser takes place. This energy after a suitable time interval, during which the rays are allowed to act, may manifest itself in a powerful discharge…”

“It is very important, particularly in view of the fact that electrical energy is generally supplied at a very slow rate to the condenser, to construct the same with the greatest care.”

“The insulated plate or conducting-body should present as large a surface as practicable to the rays or streams of matter, I having ascertained that the amount of energy conveyed to it per unit of time is under otherwise identical conditions proportionate to the area exposed, or nearly so.”

The reason I highlighted the statements about time, above, is that we must realize that we cannot extract energy from such a device faster than it is accumulated and it is accumulated slowly depending on the size of insulated, elevated plate and the quality of the capacitor.

“Furthermore, the surface should be clean and preferably highly polished or amalgamated.”
Amalgamated, in terms of metallurgy, means to mix or alloy a metal with mercury.  Why mercury? “Mercury arc rectifiers (also known as Cooper-Hewitt or Hewittic rectifiers) were extensively used to provide DC in high power applications, powers ranging from kilowatts up to a few megawatts, at voltages ranging from 110V to 30KV. Their operation is based on the discovery that an arc between a pool of mercury and a metal anode only allows current to pass in one direction.”

Many of Tesla’s patented circuit controllers used a pool of mercury and we can now see why – unidirectional current flow.
Mercury Arc Rectifiers - Mercury Arc Rectifiers
Tesla Patent 609,245 - Electrical Circuit Controller - Controller
Tesla Patent 609,246 - Electric Circuit Controller - Controller
Tesla Patent 609,248 - Electric Circuit Controller - Controller
http://www.teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla-patents-609,249-electric-circuit-controller?pq=bWVyY3VyeQ== - Controller
http://www.teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla-patents-609,251-electric-circuit-controller?pq=bWVyY3VyeQ== - Controller
http://www.teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla-patents-611,719-electrical-circuit-controller?pq=bWVyY3VyeQ== - Controller
http://www.teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla-patents-613,735-electric-circuit-controller?pq=bWVyY3VyeQ== - Controller

“Fig. 3 shows a modified form of apparatus used in connection with an artificial source of radiant energy, which in this instance may be an arc emitting copiously ultra-violet rays. A suitable reflector may be provided for concentrating and directing the radiations.”

“Still another modification is shown in Fig. 4, in which the source S of radiant energy is a special form of Roentgen tube devised by me, having one terminal k, generally of aluminum, in the form of half a sphere, with a plain polished surface on the front side, from which the streams are thrown off. It may be excited by attaching it to one of the terminals of any generator of sufficiently high electromotive force; but whatever apparatus be used it is important that the tube be exhausted to a high degree, as otherwise it might prove entirely ineffective.”

Nikola Tesla filed his application for patent titled Method of Utilizing of Radiant Energy on March 21, 1901 and the patent was granted November 5, 1901 under patent number 685,958. This patent has the same application and granting dates as the patent for the apparatus above. This patent and the one above are substantially the same but there is some information in this one not covered in the above patent.

“The rays or radiations which are to be utilized for the operation of the apparatus above described in general terms may be derived from a natural source, as the sun, or may be artificially produced by such means, for example, as an arc-lamp, a Roentgen tube, and the like, and they may be employed for a great variety of useful purposes.”

“The source S may be any form of Roentgen or Lenard tube…”
http://www.teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla-patents-685,958-utilizing-radiant-energy?pq=Njg1LDk1OA== - Method of utilizing Radiant Energy

Part of what is interesting about these patents is the application dates which are after he returned from Colorado Springs. While his work there was generally about wireless transmission of power through the atmosphere between balloons maintained at altitudes of 30,000 feet, he witnessed thunderstorms and their attendant lightning on July 4, 1899 that made an impression on him. The entry in his notes about the experience ends with the note “This is important!”
http://www.teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla-patents-645,576-transmission-of-energy?pq=NjQ1LDU3Ng== - 30,000 feet
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/tesla/coloradonotes/coloradonotes.htm - Colorado Springs Notes

The July 4, 1899 notes are well worth a read in regard to radiant energy because lightning is a form of radiant energy and we now know that sufficiently strong lightning emits X-rays and gamma rays. I personally witnessed the emissions from lightning intensifying the charge on a radiant energy collector from which I was reading the voltage when the lightning occurred some miles away. The voltage reading immediately jumped to four times what it was and then over about 10 seconds returned to its previous level. This also emphasizes one of the reasons the elevated plate is insulated – to prevent it from ionizing the air around the plate like a Franklin lightning rod which actually attracts lightning.
http://www.teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla-patents-1,266,175-lightning-protector?pq=MTI2NjE3NQ== - Lightning Protector

Sidebar: In his notes the following day, July 5, 1899, there is a note about the balloons. So at that point Tesla was still considering transmission between balloons maintained at altitude. I believe that on reflection after his return from Colorado Springs he realized that he could transmit power through the crust of the earth and didn’t need the balloons because he never attempted to transmit between balloons. There would surely be photos if he had but there are no photographs and Wardenclyffe had no such facility. He did, however, do a demonstration for a patent examiner through a long tube in his laboratory that had been partially evacuated to simulate the air density at high altitudes. There is a drawing of the device in the Preface of the above link to the Colorado Springs Notes. The reason I make note of his transmission plans here is that, although the transmission could be accomplished with whatever source of electricity generation was available, it has the same general principal as the rays transmitting energy wirelessly. His Wardenclyffe project did not use radiant energy but a steam powered generator. Considering that Tesla was planning to transmit power between balloons at 30,000 feet it raises the question of whether he was planning on placing the insulated elevated plate of the radiant energy collector at some similar altitude. With the advent of air travel we discovered the higher radiation exposure at higher altitudes. He does not, however, mention this anywhere that I found.

In 1896 Henri Becquerel discovered that uranium salts emitted rays that resembled the cathode rays discovered by Roentgen in 1895 in their penetrating power. He demonstrated that this radiation did not depend on an external source of energy but seemed to arise spontaneously from uranium itself.
Henri Becquerel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Henri Becquerel

So here we have a natural source of radiating particles carrying an electrical charge that does not require an artificially generated stimulation to cause the emission of the charged particle.

Learning of Becquerel’s work, Marie Curie decided to study the rays emitted by uranium salts for a thesis. Her husband Pierre and his brother had previously developed a device to detect weak electrical charge. She used it to discover that the air around a sample of uranium salts was electrified and that the strength of the electrification was dependent only on the quantity of the sample. She hypothesized that the radiated electrification was not a result of molecular interactions but came from the atom itself. During her work she isolated polonium, thorium, and radium.
Marie Curie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Marie Curie

Earnest Rutherford worked on the conductive effects of X-rays with J. J. Thomson and, hearing of Henri Becquerel’s work on uranium, experimented with radioactivity and discovered two different types with energy levels that he called alpha rays and beta rays in 1899. In 1903 he worked with a type of radiation discovered but unnamed by Paul Villard and called it gamma rays. The three terms are still used today for alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. In following years he worked with a who’s who of scientists in the nuclear field including Hans Geiger, Thomas Royds, Ernest Marsten, Niels Bohr, and James Chadwick and was responsible for the developing the theory of the structure of the atom which James Chadwick is credited with proving in 1932.
Ernest Rutherford - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  – Earnest Rutherford
James Chadwick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - James Chadwick

There was an overlapping of time when Tesla was studying radiant energy from the macrocosm (he mentions the sun  and cosmic rays regularly) and others were studying radiant energy from the microcosm of the atom. They are essentially the same thing – charged particles traveling in straight lines, or “rays”, that can move electrical charge from one place to another – wireless transmission of energy. Tesla confirms this with his position in an Electrical World and Engineer article of January 7, 1905: “I have noted with satisfaction the first signs of a change of scientific opinion. The brilliant discovery of the exceptionally ‘radio-active’ substance, radium and polonium, by Mrs. Sklodowska Curie, has likewise afforded me much personal gratification, being  [a resounding] confirmation of my early experimental demonstrations, of electrified radiant streams of primary matter or corpuscular emanations (Electrical Review, New York, 1896-1897), which were then received with incredulity.”
Tesla Said, Compiled by John Ratzlaff – “Tesla Said” by John Ratzlaff
http://teslacollection.com - Searchable collection of articles about Tesla’s work which can be searched by date to find the articles related to the 1896-1897 time period.

While others were using the rays to create images, Tesla was capturing and using that transmitted charge in his patented electrical devices. With the exceptions of Geissler, Crookes, Becquerel, and Tesla the above mentioned people were academics. Geissler focused on what we today call neon lamps, Crookes on fluorescence and imaging, and Becquerel on spontaneous radioactivity. It was Tesla who focused his energies on the electrical properties of their discoveries and developed devices and methods for utilizing the electrical charge of those particles. Tesla was able to translate their scientific discoveries into machines for utilization of their work. That was Tesla’s genius.

Construction on the Wardenclyffe project began in 1901. Due to Tesla’s inability to raise funds to build the facility as originally envisioned he was required to scale the original plan down and encountered many problems in doing so which occupied much of his time.
Wardenclyffe Tower - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Warcdenclyffe

In 1905 Dr. Tesla’s patents for alternating current motors and power distribution expired halting his royalty income from same and in 1906 the Wardenclyffe project was abandoned.

We don’t hear much from Tesla about radiant energy for some time thereafter. In 1909 he applies for a patent of his turbine. It is interesting to note that he says in the patent application that it is applicable to gases, fluids, and particles. He also notes that the device, with modifications, can be used as a pump or a motor.
Tesla Patent 1,061,142 - Fluid Propulsion – Fluid Propulsion

In 1917 Tesla moved to Chicago to work for the Pyle National Company and spent his time there perfecting his turbine.

In 1918 Tesla files for patent of his Lightning Protector which operates opposite of the Franklin pointed lightning rod by draining the adjacent atmosphere of charge to equalize charges between the ground and atmosphere to prevent a lightning strike as opposed to the Franklin pointed lightning rod which ionizes the air around the point and actually attracts lightning to the rod. There is an article on page 380 of the October 1918 issue of Electrical Experimenter about Tesla’s Lightning Protector. It is interesting because it shows the device attracting charge from the atmosphere whereas the patent application does not show this feature. Unfortunately the illustrator for the article is not given.
Tesla Patent 1,266,175 - Lightning-Protector - Lightning Protector patent
"The Tesla Collection" - "Tesla Has New Pointless Lightning Rod". ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTER, October 1, 1918 - Electrical Experimenter article

In the November 1928 Popular Science magazine there is an article titled “A Prophet of Science Looks into the Future” by Alden P. Armagnac in which he interviews Tesla. That article contains the following: “And – more widely interesting in this day of radio – this strange, many-sided man clings to the opinion he expressed in his scientific investigations published from 1896-1898, that the source of all rays we know is always a stream of tangible particles or ‘corpuscles,’ rather than waves or vibrations. Even before the discovery of radium, Tesla expressed his belief that radioactive rays were of this sort, a view ridiculed at that time. When radium was discovered it was found actually to emit particles of matter – flying nuclei of helium atoms, called ‘alpha’ rays. Tesla has maintained ever since that radium is not a generator but a transformer of energy, the emanations being caused by cosmic rays of immense power capable of penetrating all obstacles however thick.” The “capable of penetrating all obstacles however thick” relates to neutrinos.
Popular Science Archive | Popular Science – Popular Science article

In an article titled “Tesla, 75, Predicts New Power Source” in the July 5, 1931 New York Times Tesla states “The phenomena of radioactivity are not the result of forces within the radioactive substances but are caused by this ray emitted by the sun. If radium could be screened effectively against this ray it would cease to be radioactive.” It matters little for this article whether or not this is true or not because it is what Tesla believed. I personally think there might be something to it because today the only explanation we get from modern science is that the radioactive material is unstable. Unstable? Why is it unstable? I’ve not yet seen an explanation for this instability.

In the article “Tesla Cosmic Ray Motor May Transmit Power ‘Round Earth” by John A. O’NEILL for the Brooklin Eagle dated July 10, 1932 Tesla states, “The attractive feature of the cosmic rays is their constancy. They shower down on us throughout the whole 24 hours, and if a plant is developed to use their power it will not require devices for storing energy as would be necessary with devices using wind, tide or sunlight. All of my investigations seem to point to the conclusion that they are small particles, each carrying so small a charge that we are justified in calling them neutrons.” I believe he was speaking of what we today call neutrinos. There are billions of them passing through your body every second of every day. We don’t notice them because they rarely interact with matter. That’s not to say they never interact with matter and it seems probable, to me at least, they could be the thing that makes radioactive matter radioactive because it is unstable and this tiny amount of energy tips the balance and the radioactive matter ejects a particle.

In the same article Tesla says, ”I have harnessed the cosmic rays and caused them to operate a motive device.”
Note the year is 1932. We have some documentation from an interview with Tesla’s nephew, Peter Salvo, that Tesla developed an automobile with an electric motor that had an unexplained power source. The documentation is not good on these claims and it is unlikely to ever be clarified. So the following is speculation.

In the same article, above, Tesla states “The attractive feature of the cosmic rays is their constancy. They shower down on us throughout the whole 24 hours, and if a plant is developed to use their power it will not require devices for storing energy as would be necessary with devices using wind, tide or sunlight.” The power source for the car was said to be capable of powering a home when not in use in the vehicle and it was said to have no battery, i.e. the neutrinos shower down the whole 24 hours to activate the radioactive material so power will be available to power a home at night.

In a New York Times article published on July 11, 1937 titled “Sending of Messages to Planets Predicted by Dr. Tesla On Birthday" is the following statement: “Reports of discoveries by which it will be possible to communicate with the planets and to produce radium in unlimited quantity for $1 a pound were announced by Dr. Nikola Tesla yesterday at a luncheon on his eighty-first birthday at which he was honored with high orders from the Yugoslav and Czechoslovak Governments.”

Why would the cost of producing radium be of concern to Tesla? To grasp the importance of one dollar per pound of radium we need to look at the radium reserves of the time. The following article is from The Sydney Morning Herald published on February 11, 1935 and titled "Price of Radium. Big Drop Expected."
London Feb. 10.
"The 'Sunday Express' says: - 'By the development of sources of radium in the Great Bear Lake (Canada), which are believed to be sufficient to supply the whole Empire, it is expected that the value of radium will drop from £10,000 to £1,000 per gramme. The present world's stock is 600 grammes; London hospitals between them have three-quarters of an ounce (about 31 grammes) valued at £250,000.'"
11 Feb 1935 - PRICE OF RADIUM. BIG DROP EXPECTED. Developing C... - Price of radium

A British Pound in 1935 has the purchasing power of about £58 GBP today. So in 1935 the cost in today's money was £580,000 per gram and was expected to be reduced to £58,000 per gram. Dr. Tesla speaks of obtaining radium for $1.00 per pound and there are roughly 450 grams in a pound so that would be $0.0022 per gram at that time.  Examine the following for a grasp of this. What Things Cost in 1935: Car, $580; Gasoline, 19 cents/gal; House, $6,300;  Bread, 8 cents/loaf; Milk, 47 cents/gal; Postage Stamp, 3 cents; Stock Market, 144; Average Annual Salary, $1,500.
Google Answers: Cost of household items in 1935? - What Things Cost in 1935

Again, why would Tesla care about the cost of radium? Consider the possibility that Tesla developed what we know today as a radioisotope battery. It is called a battery but is not what we normally think of as a battery that would be used in a car because once assembled they can supply power for up to 40 years. So they are a primary battery (non-rechargeable) but with a very, very long life. I propose that Tesla’s 1931 Pierce-Arrow was powered by such a device. And the statement that it could power a home when not in use for transportation fits this idea also.

On page 13 of the PDF document at the following link is shown a diagram of an early 1950’s radioisotope battery. It is, essentially, a Tesla radiant energy collector. The source is Sr-90 which would take the place of the Roentgen or Lenard tube in his patent, the dielectric is the insulation around the elevated plate, and the collector is the elevated plate. The page states the voltage is high – 7kV.
http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~blanchar/res/BlanchardKorea.pdf - Radioisotope batteries

It is necessary here, again, to understand history. There were absolutely no government controls whatsoever on radioactive materials until after it was proven that they could be weaponized by the use of atomic bombs in Japan. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that governments started imposing controls. So in the 1932 to 1937 time frame there would be no government involvement or prohibition against using radioactive materials in an energy generator.
http://www.orau.org/ptp/PTP%20Library/library/DOT/miscelaneous/ramreview.pdf - Radioactive Material Regulations History

Radioisotope batteries are in use today. The two Voyager spacecraft which are just now exiting the solar system into interstellar space use a variation known as a radioisotope thermoelectric generator for both power and heat. Its primary output is heat and thermocouples convert some of the heat to electricity. Their distance from the sun makes solar arrays useless and service is out of the question. They were launched in 1977 and are expected to have enough power to transmit data through 2020 and possibly 2025. Radioisotope batteries were also used in the Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Galileo, Ulysses, Cassini, New Horizons and the Mars Science Laboratory. RTGs were used to power the two Viking landers and for the scientific experiments left on the moon by the crews of Apollo 12 through 17.
Radioisotope thermoelectric generator - Wikipedia
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/flash_html.html - Voyager
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/26/us/voyager-s-heartbeat-is-nuclear-battery.html-Votager battery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_battery - Atomic battery

The powers that be have created an aversion to anything related to “radiation”. Yet today we are exposed to radiation on a daily basis: natural background radiation; medical X-rays; some smoke detectors use Americium; elevated radiation exposure at high altitudes while flying; non-electrically powered emergency lights in stairwells of buildings, etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americium - Smoke detectors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetohydrodynamic_generator - Generator
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritium_illumination - Tritium
http://depletedcranium.com/my-attempt-to-import-tritium-key-chains/ - Modern regulations nightmare

In fact, the antipathy toward any form of radiation is not well founded for low level radiation. The radiation exposure guidelines that are in place today were developed from the effects seen after atomic bombs were detonated in a linear fashion. There is, however, a known threshold under which no ill effects occur but the exposure guidelines ignore this threshold. It was known at the time the standards were developed but it was ignored:  ‘The first of Calabrese's recent articles is a straightforward history of the LNT [linear no threshold] model for ionizing radiation mutation, a concept accepted by radiation geneticists in the 1950s and recommended by national and international advisory committees for risk assessment and human exposure guidelines and later generalized to chemical carcinogens ever since. It is now used by public health and regulatory agencies worldwide, he notes.

In the second of the two articles, Calabrese repeats his earlier accusations that the distinguished radiation geneticist Hermann Muller, in his acceptance speech for the 1946 Nobel Prize, "made deceptive statements" intended to "promote the acceptance of the linear dose-response model for risk assessment for ionizing radiation" and that Muller's advocacy agenda was "masked" by long-time colleague Curt Stern. Their actions affected "key publications in the mutation literature," enhancing acceptance of the linear dose-response and hiding "Muller's deceptions," Calabrese adds.’
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130813201434.htm - NAS misleads the world

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If you have an old TV, computer monitor, or oscilloscope that uses a CRT you already have a cathode ray radiant energy device, albeit low power. Its is the "electron gun" that is used to excite the phosphors on the display.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/27/cash_n_carrion_glowrings_mugs/ - Tritium radiant energy device for sale

http://www.unitednuclear.com/ - Nuclear materials for sale

x points..


but yea there are your needles, and they are rays of light that travel in straight lines..