[MD2000]

Forget Hydrogen.

Excerpt from a book about Tesla, where he ran a car without fuel.


The Black Box

Himself an Austrian military man and a trained aviator, Mr. Savo was extremely opened about certain long-cherished incidents in which his uncle's genius was consistently made manifest. Mr. Savo reported that in 1931, he participated in an experiment involving aetheric power. Unexpectedly, almost inappropriately, he was asked to accompany his uncle on a long train ride to Buffalo. A few times in this journey, Mr. Savo asked the nature of their journey. Dr. Tesla remained unwilling to disclose any information, speaking rather directly to this issue. Taken into a small garage, Dr. Tesla walked directly to a Pierce Arrow, opened the hood and began making a few adjustments. In place of the engine, there was an AC motor. This measured a little more than 3 feet long, and a little more than 2 feet in diameter. From it trailed two very thick cables, which connected with the dashboard. In addition, there was an ordinary 12-volt storage battery. The motor was rated at 80horsepower. Maximum rotor speed was stated to be 30 turns per second. A 6-foot antenna rod was fitted into the rear section of the car.

Dr. Tesla stepped into the passenger side and began making adjustments on a "power receiver" which had been built directly into the dashboard. The receiver, no larger than a short-wave radio of the day, used 12 special tubes, which Dr. Tesla brought with him in a box-like case. Mr. Savo told Mr. Ahler that Dr. Tesla built the receiver in his hotel room, a device 2 feet in length, nearly 1 foot wide, and 1/2 foot high. These curiously constructed tubes having been properly installed in their sockets, Dr. Tesla pushed in 2 contact rods and informed Mr. Savo that power was now available to drive. Several additional meters read values, which Dr. Tesla would not explain. No sound was heard. Dr. Tesla handed Mr. Savo the ignition key and told him to start the engine, which he promptly did. Yet hearing nothing, the accelerator was applied, and the car instantly moved. Tesla's nephew drove this vehicle without other fuel for an undetermined long interval. Mr. Savo drove a distance of 50 miles through the city and out to the surrounding countryside. The car was tested to speeds of 90 mph, with the speedometer rated to 120.

After a time, and with increasing distance from the city itself, Dr. Tesla felt free enough to speak. Having now become sufficiently impressed with the performance of both his device and the automobile. Dr. Tesla informed his nephew that the device could not only supply the needs of the car forever, but could also supply the needs of a household "with power to spare". When originally asked how the device worked, Tesla was initially adamant and refused to speak. Many who have read this "apocryphal account" have stated it to be the result of an "energy broadcast". This misinterpretation has simply caused further confusions concerning this stage of Tesla's work. He had very obviously succeeded in performing, with this small and compact device, what he had learned in Colorado and Shoreham.

As soon as they were on the country roads, clear of the more congested areas, Tesla began to lecture on the subject. Of the motive source he referred to "a mysterious radiation, which comes out of the aether". The small device very obviously and effectively appropriated this energy. Tesla also spoke very glowingly of this providence, saying of the energy itself that "it is available in limitless quantities". Dr. Tesla stated that although "he did no know where it came from, mankind should be very grateful for its presence". The two remained in Buffalo for 8 days, rigorously testing the car in the city and countryside. Dr. Tesla also told Mr. Savo that the device would soon be used to drive boats, planes, trains, and other automobiles. Once, just before leaving the city limits, they stopped at a streetlight and a bystander joyfully commented concerning their lack of exhaust fumes. Mr. Savo spoke up whimsically, saying that they had "no engine". They left Buffalo and traveled to a predetermined location, which Dr. Tesla knew, an old farmhouse barn some 20 miles from Buffalo. Dr. Tesla and Mr. Savo left the car in this barn, took the 12 tubes and the ignition key, and departed.

Later on, Mr. Savo heard a rumor that a secretary had spoken candidly about both the receiver and the test run, being promptly fired for the security breach. About a month after the incident, Mr. Savo received a call from a man who identified himself as Lee De Forest, who asked how he enjoyed the car. Mr. Savo expressed his joy over the mysterious affair, and Mr. DeForest declared Tesla the greatest living scientist in the world. Later, Mr. Savo asked his uncle whether or not the power receiver was being used in other applications. He was informed that Dr. Tesla had been negotiating with a major shipbuilding company to build a boat with a similarly outfitted engine. Asked additional questions, Dr. Tesla became annoyed. Highly concerned and personally strained over the security of this design, it seems obvious that Tesla was performing these tests in a desperate degree of secrecy for good reasons. Tesla had already been the victim of several manipulations, deadly actions entirely sourced in a single financial house. For this reason, secrecy and care had become his only recent excess.