two-phase, and three-phase currentsand made experiments with fourand six-phase currents. In each of the three principal systems he produced the dynamos for generating the currents, the motors for producing power from them, and transformers for raising and reducing the voltages as well as a variety of devices for automatically controlling the machinery. He not only produced the three systems but provided methods by which they could be interconnected and modifications providing a variety of means of using each of the systems.” 16 He also calculated, in fundamental fashion, the mathematics behind these inventions.
On May 10, Anthony Szigeti landed in New York, and by the end of the week he was working at Liberty Street. With Tesla as designer, Brown as technical expert, and Szigeti as assistant, they began manufacturing their first AC induction motors. Peck, who along with Brown would be associated with Tesla for the next decade as a quiet backer, helped implement the patent applications by seeing investors in California, Pennsylvania, and New York.
Within a few weeks, Electrical World editor T. C. Martin stopped by the shop and coaxed Tesla into writing his first article on the invention. Immediately taken by him, Martin described the long-limbed electrician as having “eyes that recall all the stories one has read of keenness of vision and phenomenal ability to see through things. He is an omnivorous reader, who never forgets; and he possesses the peculiar facility in languages that enables the educated native of eastern Europe to talk and write in at least half a dozen tongues. A more congenial companion cannot be desired…the conversation, dealing at first with things near at hand and next…reaches out and rises to the greater questions of life, and duty, and destiny.” 17
T. C. Martin, with heavy emphasis in his signature on the C, was a complex person who would come to play a significant role in Tesla’s life. In 1893 he edited the most important compilation of Tesla’s writings assembled during his lifetime. Flamboyantly mustachioed and with large, round, soulful eyes and a shaved head, Martin, now married, had been a former seminary student who had emigrated from England when he wasonly twenty-one. Born in the same year as Tesla, Martin had worked for the Wizard of Menlo Park in the late 1870s before moving to the island of Jamaica. Returning to New York in 1883, he quickly became editor of Operator and Electrical World. Started in 1874 by the well manicured W. J. Johnston from a “little four-page telegraph sheet prepared and issued by Western Union operators in New York City, for circulation among their fellows,” 18 the Operator began to gain prominence after Thomas Edison started contributing significant pieces. As soon as Martin was hired, the paper’s name was changed simply to Electrical World.
The following year, in 1884, T. C. Martin became vice president of the newly formed American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE), and in 1886 his first book appeared, The Electrical Motor and Its Applications. A few months later, he was elected president of the AIEE. 19
With his newfound prominence and very British attitude, T. C. Martin’s sense of self-worth rose to the occasion. In very deliberate fashion, he organized a rebellion at Electrical World, with his coeditor Joseph Wetzler and a few other workers, against the owner, the proper, pedantic, and overbearing W. J. Johnston. 20 A capable editor in his own right, Johnston was forced to fire his editors and work on the journal himself, “as if Martin had never existed.”
Along with Wetzler, Martin gained employment with Electrical Engineer, a competing company which gained great prominence when the duo climbed aboard. As a friend of Edison, and with his new base of operations, Martin was prepared to seize the moment. “An industrious writer with graceful style,” 21 T. C. Martin had the capability to cross over into higher social circles.
On May 10, Anthony Szigeti landed in New York, and by the end of the week he was working at Liberty Street. With Tesla as designer, Brown as technical expert, and Szigeti as assistant, they began manufacturing their first AC induction motors. Peck, who along with Brown would be associated with Tesla for the next decade as a quiet backer, helped implement the patent applications by seeing investors in California, Pennsylvania, and New York.
Within a few weeks, Electrical World editor T. C. Martin stopped by the shop and coaxed Tesla into writing his first article on the invention. Immediately taken by him, Martin described the long-limbed electrician as having “eyes that recall all the stories one has read of keenness of vision and phenomenal ability to see through things. He is an omnivorous reader, who never forgets; and he possesses the peculiar facility in languages that enables the educated native of eastern Europe to talk and write in at least half a dozen tongues. A more congenial companion cannot be desired…the conversation, dealing at first with things near at hand and next…reaches out and rises to the greater questions of life, and duty, and destiny.” 17
T. C. Martin, with heavy emphasis in his signature on the C, was a complex person who would come to play a significant role in Tesla’s life. In 1893 he edited the most important compilation of Tesla’s writings assembled during his lifetime. Flamboyantly mustachioed and with large, round, soulful eyes and a shaved head, Martin, now married, had been a former seminary student who had emigrated from England when he wasonly twenty-one. Born in the same year as Tesla, Martin had worked for the Wizard of Menlo Park in the late 1870s before moving to the island of Jamaica. Returning to New York in 1883, he quickly became editor of Operator and Electrical World. Started in 1874 by the well manicured W. J. Johnston from a “little four-page telegraph sheet prepared and issued by Western Union operators in New York City, for circulation among their fellows,” 18 the Operator began to gain prominence after Thomas Edison started contributing significant pieces. As soon as Martin was hired, the paper’s name was changed simply to Electrical World.
The following year, in 1884, T. C. Martin became vice president of the newly formed American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE), and in 1886 his first book appeared, The Electrical Motor and Its Applications. A few months later, he was elected president of the AIEE. 19
With his newfound prominence and very British attitude, T. C. Martin’s sense of self-worth rose to the occasion. In very deliberate fashion, he organized a rebellion at Electrical World, with his coeditor Joseph Wetzler and a few other workers, against the owner, the proper, pedantic, and overbearing W. J. Johnston. 20 A capable editor in his own right, Johnston was forced to fire his editors and work on the journal himself, “as if Martin had never existed.”
Along with Wetzler, Martin gained employment with Electrical Engineer, a competing company which gained great prominence when the duo climbed aboard. As a friend of Edison, and with his new base of operations, Martin was prepared to seize the moment. “An industrious writer with graceful style,” 21 T. C. Martin had the capability to cross over into higher social circles.
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