Page - 45 - in Nikola Tesla and the Graz Tech

45 It should be remembered that around 1880, electrical energy and electric mo- tors had to compete against the already existing and well-established sources of power and energy of the time, such as steam engines and pressurised, hot- air and gas engines. Gas networks for light and power, which were already in place in many towns, delayed electrification in part for many years. Moreover, operation and maintenance of the novel electric motors led to high operating costs due to high personnel costs. Which system should finally establish itself was dependent on the economic interests of industry, political interests of the city and the demands of special industrial applications /3/. To develop his alternating-current motor, Tesla had to invent a completely new electrical system. To implement his ideas, he moved from Budapest to the Continental Edison Company in Paris in 1882. At Strasbourg in 1883, he managed to make the first working alternating-current motor, although this event was met with little attention. In 1884, Tesla accepted an offer to work directly with Edison in New York. At the beginning, Tesla and Edison worked together very successfully. Tesla improved Edison’s dynamos but was cheated out of some money by Edison in the end, since he reneged on a promised bonus payment in 1885. After one year, their working relationship was ended. Tesla and Edison were two com- pletely different characters and preferred two different electricity systems. Tesla pursued his ideas of AC as being the superior technology of the future, while Edison favoured the DC system. The essential disadvantage of the DC system was recognised by Tesla very clearly. DC for supplying lighting sys- tems could not be transported over long distances since it was impossible to produce the necessary high voltages. Hence Edison was forced to build his DC power stations at distances no further than 3 km away. With the help of financiers Charles Peck and Alfred Brown, Tesla was able to found the Tesla Electric Company in New York in the spring of 1887. He convinced both of them with a simple demonstration by rotating a metallic egg and making it stand on its end using an electrical rotating field. In the Tesla Electric Company, Nicola Tesla could dedicate himself to optimising his AC motor and further develop the polyphase AC system in his own laboratory in New York.