ting and receiving circuits are attained, and owing to the fact that the points of highest potential in the coils or conductors A A′ are coincident with the elevated terminals the maximum flow of current will take place in the two coils, and this, further, necessarily implies that the capacity and the inductance in each of the circuits have such values as to secure the most perfect condition of synchronism with the impressed oscillations.
When the source of current G is in operation and produces rapidly pulsating or oscillating currents in the circuit of coil C, corresponding induced currents of very much higher potential are generated in the secondary coil A, and since the potential in the same gradually increases with the number of turns toward the center and the difference of potential between the adjacent turns is comparatively small a very high potential impracticable with ordinary coils may be successively obtained.
As the main object for which the apparatus is designed is to produce a current of excessively-high potential, this object is facilitated by using a primary current of very considerable frequency; but the frequency of the currents is in large measure arbitrary, for if the potential be sufficiently high and the terminals of the coils be maintained at the proper elevation where the atmosphere is rarefied the stratum of air will serve as a conducting medium for the current produced and the latter will be transmitted through the air, with, it may be, even less resistance than through an ordinary conductor.
As to the elevation of the terminals D D′, it is obvious that this is a matter which will be determined by a number of things, as by the amount and quality of the work to be performed, by the condition of the atmosphere, and also by the character of the surrounding country. This if there be high mountains in the vicinity the terminals should be at a greater height, and generally they should always be at an altitude much greater than that of the highest objects near them. Since by the means described practically any potential that is desired may be produced, the currents through the air strata may be very small, thus reducing the loss in the air.
The apparatus at the receiving-station responds to the currents propagated from the transmitter in a manner which will be well understood from the foregoing description. The primary circuit of the receiver—that is, the thin wire coil A′—is excited by the currents propagated by conduction through the intervening natural medium from the transmitter, and these currents induce in the secondary coil C′ other currents which are utilized for operating the devices included in the circuit thereof.
Obviously the receiving-coils, transformers, or other apparatus may be movable—as, for instance, when they are carried by a vessel floating in the air or by a ship at sea. In the former case the connection of one terminal of the receiving apparatus to the ground might not be permanent, but might be intermittently or inductively established without departing from the spirit of my invention.
It is to be noted that the phenomenon here involved in the transmission of electrical energy is one of true conduction and is not to be confounded with the phenomena of electrical radiation which have heretofore been observed and which from the very nature and mode of propagation would render practically impossible the transmission of any appreciable amount of energy to such distances as are of practical importance.
What I now claim as my invention is—
1. The combination with a transmitting coil or conductor connected to ground and to an elevated terminal respectively, and means for producing therein electrical currents or oscillations, of a receiving coil or conductor similarly connected to ground and to an elevated terminal, at a distance from the transmitting-coil and adapted to be excited by currents caused to be propagated from the same by conduction through the intervening natural medium, a secondary conductor in inductive relation to the receiving-conductor and devices for utilizing the current in the circuit of said secondary conductor, as set forth.
2. The combination with a transmitting coil or conductor having its ends connected to ground and to an elevated terminal respectively, a primary coil in inductive relation thereto and a source of electrical oscillations in said primary circuit, of a receiving conductor or coil having its ends connected to ground and to an elevated terminal respectively and adapted to be excited by currents caused to be propagated from the transmitter through the natural medium and a secondary circuit in inductive relation to the receiving-circuit and receiving devices connected therewith, as set forth.
3. The combination with a transmitting instrument comprising a transformer having its secondary connected to ground and to an elevated terminal respectively, and means for impressing electrical oscillations upon its primary, of a receiving instrument comprising a transformer having its primary similarly connected to ground and to an elevated terminal, and a translating device connected with its secondary, the capacity and inductance of the two transformers having such values as to secure synchronism with the impressed oscillations, as set forth.
4. The combination with a transmitting instrument comprising an electrical transformer having its secondary connected to ground and to an elevated terminal respectively, and means for impressing electrical oscillations upon its primary, of a receiving instrument comprising a transformer having its primary similarly connected to ground and to an elevated terminal, and a translat-