Page - 49 - in Nikola Tesla and the Graz Tech

49 With this, Tesla realised the requirements of a practical system of transmit- ting electrical power using a guaranteed and consistent motor speed at any loads within the normal work boundaries without using an auxiliary genera- tor /3/. Motor and generator ran synchronously and the direct effect of the electricity ensured great performance capability as neither the motor nor generator were equipped with commutators. The big advantage lay in the uncomplicated and economical mechanical construction. Tesla’s electrical AC machines were easy to operate and regulate, and offered diminished risk of injury and damage to persons. Scientist and physics professor William Anthony gave his attention to Tesla’s discoveries and examined two of the developed motors. Thereupon, Antony urged the 32-year old Tesla who was almost unknown in specialist circles to present his discoveries to the public and to hold a lecture in front of a spe- cialist public. On 16 May 1888, Nicola Tesla held his highly respected lecture entitled ‘A new system of alternating current motors and transformers’ at the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) in New York. Tesla showed diagrams from his patents concerning his discoveries of the rotary magnetic field and the machines based on it to help explain it to the public. In the dis- cussion, Anthony confirmed the high efficiency of Tesla’s polyphase motors. Tesla’s lecture at the AIEE was published in important technology journals and his polyphase motor heralded as a significant advance. This represented a breakthrough for Tesla’s discoveries. His work captured the interest of industrial magnate George Westinghouse from Pittsburgh. With the help of his engineers, he recognised the future im- portance of Tesla’s new polyphase system, and that it enabled electricity to be transmitted over great distances with very little loss. Above all, not only houses could be electrically illuminated, but also industrial companies could be supplied with electrical energy for machines. A contract concluded be- tween Westinghouse and Tesla in July 1888 and the acquisition of the patents specified in it by Westinghouse sealed the future collaboration between en- trepreneurial capital and human intellect for the nationwide deployment of electrical energy in the United States of America