What is recorded here?
Tesla explains how phase-displaced alternating currents create a rotating magnetic field and describes synchronous and closed-rotor-coil motor forms that use it. A motor can turn without mechanically switching the current in every rotor winding. Tesla connects two phase-displaced circuits to fixed coils so that their combined magnetic attraction travels around a ring. A rotor can follow that attraction synchronously, or receive induced currents in closed coils that supply starting torque. These forms behave differently as the load changes. The 1888 lecture connects the principle to motors and transformers; the contemporaneous patent supplies apparatus details. Earlier induction science, Ferraris's related work and later industrial engineering retain separate credit.
Source-linked catalogue note. A detailed explanatory guide has not yet been prepared for this entry.
Scientific scope
The target is the May 1888 lecture's rotating-field motor and transformer construction, crosschecked with US 381968 and an approved 1894 reprint. A constant field assumes weak-magnetization proportionality, a uniform generator field and constant-speed quadrature currents. Synchronous speed holds within load and capacity limits; closed-rotor-coil torque motors have load-dependent speed and slip. DC-excited and rotating-winding variants differ. Sliding contacts disappear in certain stationary-primary forms, not universally. Claims of instantaneous reversal, equal DC torque and better efficiency are author statements, not independently replayed benchmarks; later tests reported in 1894 are not backdated. A patent discloses a design without certifying performance, safety, deployment or global priority. Ferraris's original body is unread, so exclusive first rotating-field or induction-motor claims are withheld. The lecture transcription and edited reprint are not first-print facsimiles; illustrations were not inspected. Earlier induction and later industrial engineering retain separate credit.
Read the original work
- Nikola Tesla, A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers (May1888), society-hosted lecture transcription
- Nikola Tesla, Electro-magnetic motor, US381968A, original1888patent specification
- Thomas Commerford Martin, The Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla (1894), authorized collected reprint
- Galileo Ferraris, Rotazioni elettrodinamiche prodotte per mezzo di correnti alternate (1888), publisher bibliography
This English explanation is an editorial reading view. It does not replace the complete original work or certify its science.
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People and systems
Nikola Tesla
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English catalogue narrative
Tesla: phase-displaced currents driving rotating-field motors
Tesla explains how phase-displaced alternating currents create a rotating magnetic field and describes synchronous and closed-rotor-coil motor forms that use it.
A motor can turn without mechanically switching the current in every rotor winding. Tesla connects two phase-displaced circuits to fixed coils so that their combined magnetic attraction travels around a ring. A rotor can follow that attraction synchronously, or receive induced currents in closed coils that supply starting torque. These forms behave differently as the load changes. The 1888 lecture connects the principle to motors and transformers; the contemporaneous patent supplies apparatus details. Earlier induction science, Ferraris's related work and later industrial engineering retain separate credit.
Scientific scope
The target is the May 1888 lecture's rotating-field motor and transformer construction, crosschecked with US 381968 and an approved 1894 reprint. A constant field assumes weak-magnetization proportionality, a uniform generator field and constant-speed quadrature currents. Synchronous speed holds within load and capacity limits; closed-rotor-coil torque motors have load-dependent speed and slip. DC-excited and rotating-winding variants differ. Sliding contacts disappear in certain stationary-primary forms, not universally. Claims of instantaneous reversal, equal DC torque and better efficiency are author statements, not independently replayed benchmarks; later tests reported in 1894 are not backdated. A patent discloses a design without certifying performance, safety, deployment or global priority. Ferraris's original body is unread, so exclusive first rotating-field or induction-motor claims are withheld. The lecture transcription and edited reprint are not first-print facsimiles; illustrations were not inspected. Earlier induction and later industrial engineering retain separate credit.
People and systems
Nikola Tesla
Original sources
- Nikola Tesla, A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers (May1888), society-hosted lecture transcription
- Nikola Tesla, Electro-magnetic motor, US381968A, original1888patent specification
- Thomas Commerford Martin, The Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla (1894), authorized collected reprint
- Galileo Ferraris, Rotazioni elettrodinamiche prodotte per mezzo di correnti alternate (1888), publisher bibliography