History of the Tesla coil

Henry Rowland's 1889 spark-excited resonant transformer,[1] a predecessor to the Tesla coil.[2]
Steps in Tesla's development of the Tesla transformer around 1892.[3] (1) Closed-core transformers used at low frequencies, (2-7) rearranging windings for lower losses, (8) removed iron core, (9) partial core, (10-11) final conical Tesla transformer, (12-13) Tesla coil circuits

Nikola Tesla patented the Tesla coil circuit on April 25, 1891.[4][5] and first publicly demonstrated it May 20, 1891 in his lecture "Experiments with Alternate Currents of Very High Frequency and Their Application to Methods of Artificial Illumination" before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers at Columbia College, New York.[6][7][8] Although Tesla patented many similar circuits during this period, this was the first that contained all the elements of the Tesla coil: high voltage primary transformer, capacitor, spark gap, and air core "oscillation transformer".

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Thomson was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Strong was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tesla1899 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Denicolai, 2001, Tesla Transformer for Experimentation and Research, Ch.1, p. 1-6
  5. ^ U.S. Patent No. 454,622, Nikola Tesla, SYSTEM OF ELECTRIC LIGHTING, filed 25 April 1891; granted 23 June 1891
  6. ^ The lecture "Experiments with Alternate Currents of Very High Frequency and Their Application to Methods of Artificial Illumination" is reprinted in Martin, Thomas Cummerford (1894). The Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla: With Special Reference to His Work in Polyphase Currents and High Potential Lighting, 2nd Ed. The Electrical Engineer. pp. 145–197. The Tesla coil circuit is shown p. 193, fig. 127
  7. ^ The lecture is reprinted in Tesla, Nikola (2007). The Nikola Tesla Treasury. Wilder Publications. pp. 68–107. ISBN 978-1934451892. The Tesla coil illustration is shown p. 103, fig. 32
  8. ^ Sarkar, T. K.; Mailloux, Robert; Oliner, Arthur A.; et al. (2006). History of Wireless. John Wiley and Sons. pp. 268–270. ISBN 978-0471783015., archive Archived 2016-05-17 at the Portuguese Web Archive