Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing

Soon after leaving the Edison company, Tesla was working on patenting an arc lighting system, possibly the same one he had developed at Edison. In March 1885, he met with patent attorney Lemuel W. Serrell, the same attorney used by Edison, to obtain help with submitting the patents. Serrell introduced Tesla to two businessmen, Robert Lane and Benjamin Vail, who agreed to finance an arc lighting manufacturing and utility company in Tesla's name, the Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. Tesla worked for the rest of the year obtaining the patents that included an improved DC generator, the first patents issued to Tesla in the US, and building and installing the system in Rahway, New Jersey Tesla's new system gained notice in the technical press, which commented on its advanced features.

The investors showed little interest in Tesla's ideas for new types of alternating current motors and electrical transmission equipment. After the utility was up and running in 1886, they decided that the manufacturing side of the business was too competitive and opted to simply run an electric utility. They formed a new utility company, abandoning Tesla's company and leaving the inventor penniless. Tesla even lost control of the patents he had generated, since he had assigned them to the company in exchange for stock. He had to work at various electrical repair jobs and as a ditch digger for $2 per day. Later in life Tesla would recount that part of 1886 as a time of hardship, writing "My high education in various branches of science, mechanics and literature seemed to me like a mockery".

• Outline of Nikola Tesla (1856-1943)
  

  HISTORIC PEOPLE

  Nikola Tesla (1856-1943)

  Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist who is best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system. View Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) »

  Early Years: Tesla would later write that he became interested in demonstrations of electricity by his physics professor. Tesla noted that these demonstrations of this "mysterious phenomena" made him want "to know more of this wonderful force".

  Working at Edison: Edison manager Charles Batchelor, who had been overseeing the Paris installation, was brought back to the US to manage the Edison Machine Works, a manufacturing division situated in New York City, and asked that Tesla be brought to the US as well.

  Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing: The investors showed little interest in Tesla's ideas for new types of alternating current motors and electrical transmission equipment.

  AC and the induction motor: In 1887, Tesla developed an induction motor that ran on alternating current, a power system format that was rapidly expanding in Europe and the United States because of its advantages in long-distance, high-voltage transmission.

  New York laboratories: Tesla and his hired staff would conduct some of his most significant work in these workshops.

  Wireless Power: At the time Tesla was formulating his ideas there was no feasible way to wirelessly transmit communication signals over long distances, let alone large amounts of power.

  Later Years: Before World War I, Tesla sought overseas investors. After the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries.

  Death: On 12 January, two thousand people attended a state funeral for Tesla at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine.

  Personal Life: For exercise, Tesla walked between 8 and 10 miles (13 and 16 km) per day. He curled his toes one hundred times for each foot every night, saying that it stimulated his brain cells.

RESOURCES
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Nikola Tesla (1856-1943)", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.