Nikola Tesla was an inventor who obtained around 300 patents [1] worldwide for his inventions. Some of Tesla's patents are not accounted for, and various sources have discovered some that have lain hidden in patent archives. There are a minimum of 278 patents [1] issued to Tesla in 26 countries that have been accounted for. Many of Tesla's patents were in the United States, Britain, and Canada, but many other patents were approved in countries around the globe. [2] Many inventions developed by Tesla were not put into patent protection.
In various patent logs, it is recorded Tesla applied for US patent #613819 for "Filings Tube" (such as Charles Henry Sewall's "Wireless Telegraphy" (New York, 1904)) but it does not seem to have been issued. [7] [8] The Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade archives have Tesla prepared material and drawings for patents that he never registered. [7]
The following is a list of other countries that hold known patents by Tesla. The number following the country is the number of known patents in their records. This is not an exhaustive list. The total number may be incomplete and additional countries still may hold patents unknown.
Country | Argentina | Australia | Austria | Belgium | Brazil | Canada | Cuba | Denmark | France | Germany | Hungary | India | Italy | Japan | Mexico | New Zealand | Norway | Rhodesia | Russia | Spain | Switzerland | Sweden | Transvaal | United Kingdom |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number | 1 | 5 | 4 | 21 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 28 | 21 | 7 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 29 |
Patent number | Date of application | Equivalent US patent | Name of patent | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | FR190332 | 1888 May 1 | US382282 | Perfectionnements dans les procédés et appareils pour transformer et distribuer les courants électriques |
2 | FR190333 | 1888 May 1 | US382280 | Perfectionnements dans le mode de transmission de la force par l'électricité |
3 | FR197532 | 1889 April 16 | US401520 | Perfectionnements dans le mode de fonctionnement des moteurs électro-magnétiques à l'aide de courants alternatifs |
4 | FR201486 | 1889 October 22 | US413353 | Procédé de conversion des courants électriques alternatifs en courants continus |
5 | FR202372 | 1889 December 3 | US416191 | Perfectionnements dans les moteurs électro-magnétiques à courants alternatifs |
6 | FR202373 | 1889 December 3 | US416192 | Perfectionnements dans la construction et le mode de fonctionnement des moteurs à courants alternatifs |
7 | FR213556 | 1891 May 19 | US454622 | Procédé et appareil perfectionnés pour produire de la force électrique et l'utiliser pour l'éclairage |
8 | FR214718 | 1891 July 7 | US455067 | Perfectionnements dans les moteurs électro-magnétiques à courants alternatifs |
9 | FR236356 | 1894 February 17 | US514169 | Perfectionnements dans les machines à mouvement de va-et-vient et dans les mécanismes ou dispositifs destinés à en régler la période |
10 | FR236357 | 1894 February 17 | Perfectionnements dans les moyens et appareils propres à produire des courants électriques de période déterminée | |
11 | FR259940 | 1896 September 22 | Perfectionnements relatifs à la production, au réglage et à l'utilisation des courants électriques de grande fréquence et aux appareils employés à cet effet | |
12 | FR271641 | 1897 October 25 | Perfectionnements dans les systèmes de transmission de l'énergie électrique et dans les appareils employés à cet effet | |
13 | FR279362 | 1898 July 1 | Perfectionnements aux contrôleurs de circuits électriques | |
14 | FR284352 | 1898 December 24 | Perfectionnements dans le procédé et les appareils de réglage pour les mécanismes des bâtiments flottants ou des véhicules en marche | |
15 | FR303025 | 1900 August 14 | Perfectionnements à l'isolement des conducteurs électriques | |
16 | FR311629 | 1901 Juni 10 | Perfectionnements à l'utilisation des variations ou changements d'état électriques ou d'ordres vibratoires similaires transmis à travers les milieux naturels, et appareils pour leur mise à exécution | |
17 | FR312783 | 1901 July 17 | Perfectionnements à la transmission de l'énergie électrique | |
18 | FR313188 | 1901 August 2 | Perfectionnements à la transmission de l'énergie électrique | |
19 | FR354791 | 1905 October 12 | US649621 | Improvements to the transmission of electrical energy |
20 | FR421543 | 1911 February 24 | Process and apparatus for the production and use of motive power by means of fluids | |
21 | FR515388 | 1921 March 31 | Fountain Enhancements | |
22 | FR540616 | 1922 July 13 | Driving as a valve | |
23 | FR540617 | 1922 July 13 | Enhancements to lightning conductors | |
24 | FR541113 | 1922 July 22 | Method and apparatus for balancing rotating machine parts | |
25 | FR549259 | 1923 February 6 | Process and apparatus for economic conversion of steam energy by means of turbines | |
26 | FR549260 | 1923 February 6 | Method and apparatus for using steam as a driving force | |
27 | FR549261 | 1923 February 6 | Method and apparatus for producing a high vacuum | |
28 | FR549628 | 1923 February 15 | Method and apparatus for air transport |
Devices and projects Tesla proposed and partially designed but did not patent.
The investigation also implies that total number of Tesla's patents could be about 300, though it is considered that the number of the Tesla's original patents is final.
An electromagnetic coil is an electrical conductor such as a wire in the shape of a coil. Electromagnetic coils are used in electrical engineering, in applications where electric currents interact with magnetic fields, in devices such as electric motors, generators, inductors, electromagnets, transformers, and sensor coils. Either an electric current is passed through the wire of the coil to generate a magnetic field, or conversely, an external time-varying magnetic field through the interior of the coil generates an EMF (voltage) in the conductor.
A relay is an electrically operated switch. It consists of a set of input terminals for a single or multiple control signals, and a set of operating contact terminals. The switch may have any number of contacts in multiple contact forms, such as make contacts, break contacts, or combinations thereof.
A Tesla coil is an electrical resonant transformer circuit designed by inventor Nikola Tesla in 1891. It is used to produce high-voltage, low-current, high-frequency alternating-current electricity. Tesla experimented with a number of different configurations consisting of two, or sometimes three, coupled resonant electric circuits.
Electromagnetic or magnetic induction is the production of an electromotive force (emf) across an electrical conductor in a changing magnetic field.
An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a wire winding to generate force in the form of torque applied on the motor's shaft. An electric generator is mechanically identical to an electric motor, but operates in reverse, converting mechanical energy into electrical energy.
In electricity generation, a generator is a device that converts motion-based power or fuel-based power into electric power for use in an external circuit. Sources of mechanical energy include steam turbines, gas turbines, water turbines, internal combustion engines, wind turbines and even hand cranks. The first electromagnetic generator, the Faraday disk, was invented in 1831 by British scientist Michael Faraday. Generators provide nearly all the power for electrical grids.
A commutator is a rotary electrical switch in certain types of electric motors and electrical generators that periodically reverses the current direction between the rotor and the external circuit. It consists of a cylinder composed of multiple metal contact segments on the rotating armature of the machine. Two or more electrical contacts called "brushes" made of a soft conductive material like carbon press against the commutator, making sliding contact with successive segments of the commutator as it rotates. The windings on the armature are connected to the commutator segments.
An alternator is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field with a stationary armature. Occasionally, a linear alternator or a rotating armature with a stationary magnetic field is used. In principle, any AC electrical generator can be called an alternator, but usually the term refers to small rotating machines driven by automotive and other internal combustion engines.
A rotating magnetic field is the resultant magnetic field produced by a system of coils symmetrically placed and supplied with polyphase currents. A rotating magnetic field can be produced by a poly-phase current or by a single phase current provided that, in the latter case, two field windings are supplied and are so designed that the two resulting magnetic fields generated thereby are out of phase.
A polyphase system is a means of distributing alternating-current (AC) electrical power that utilizes more than one AC phase, which refers to the phase offset value between AC in multiple conducting wires; phases may also refer to the corresponding terminals and conductors, as in color codes. Polyphase systems have two or more energized electrical conductors carrying alternating currents with a defined phase between the voltage waves in each conductor; early systems used 4 wire two-phase with a 90° phase angle but for three-phase voltage, the phase angle is 120° or 2π/3 radians as Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrovolsky mathematically had shown this reduce the magnetic field fluctuation from 40% to a mere 15%. Polyphase systems are particularly useful for transmitting power to electric motors which rely on alternating current to rotate. The most common example is the three-phase power system used for industrial applications and for power transmission. Compared to a single-phase, two-wire system, a three-phase three-wire system transmits three times as much power for the same conductor size and voltage.
Dynamic braking is the use of an electric traction motor as a generator when slowing a vehicle such as an electric or diesel-electric locomotive. It is termed "rheostatic" if the generated electrical power is dissipated as heat in brake grid resistors, and "regenerative" if the power is returned to the supply line. Dynamic braking reduces wear on friction-based braking components, and regeneration lowers net energy consumption. Dynamic braking may also be used on railcars with multiple units, light rail vehicles, electric trams, trolleybuses, and electric and hybrid electric automobiles.
Wireless power transfer (WPT), wireless power transmission, wireless energy transmission (WET), or electromagnetic power transfer is the transmission of electrical energy without wires as a physical link. In a wireless power transmission system, an electrically powered transmitter device generates a time-varying electromagnetic field that transmits power across space to a receiver device; the receiver device extracts power from the field and supplies it to an electrical load. The technology of wireless power transmission can eliminate the use of the wires and batteries, thereby increasing the mobility, convenience, and safety of an electronic device for all users. Wireless power transfer is useful to power electrical devices where interconnecting wires are inconvenient, hazardous, or are not possible.
A DC motor is an electrical motor that uses direct current (DC) to produce mechanical force. The most common types rely on magnetic forces produced by currents in the coils. Nearly all types of DC motors have some internal mechanism, either electromechanical or electronic, to periodically change the direction of current in part of the motor.
A single-wire transmission line is a method of transmitting electrical power or signals using only a single electrical conductor. This is in contrast to the usual use of a pair of wires providing a complete circuit, or an electrical cable likewise containing two conductors for that purpose.
An AC motor is an electric motor driven by an alternating current (AC). The AC motor commonly consists of two basic parts, an outside stator having coils supplied with alternating current to produce a rotating magnetic field, and an inside rotor attached to the output shaft producing a second rotating magnetic field. The rotor magnetic field may be produced by permanent magnets, reluctance saliency, or DC or AC electrical windings.
In electrical engineering, electric machine is a general term for machines using electromagnetic forces, such as electric motors, electric generators, and others. They are electromechanical energy converters: an electric motor converts electricity to mechanical power while an electric generator converts mechanical power to electricity. The moving parts in a machine can be rotating or linear. While transformers are occasionally called "static electric machines", since they do not have moving parts, generally they are not considered "machines", but as electrical devices "closely related" to the electrical machines.
The World Wireless System was a turn of the 20th century proposed telecommunications and electrical power delivery system designed by inventor Nikola Tesla based on his theories of using Earth and its atmosphere as electrical conductors. He claimed this system would allow for "the transmission of electric energy without wires" on a global scale as well as point-to-point wireless telecommunications and broadcasting. He made public statements citing two related methods to accomplish this from the mid-1890s on. By the end of 1900 he had convinced banker J. P. Morgan to finance construction of a wireless station based on his ideas intended to transmit messages across the Atlantic to England and to ships at sea. His decision to change the design to include wireless power transmission to better compete with Guglielmo Marconi's new radio based telegraph system was met with Morgan's refusal to fund the changes. The project was abandoned in 1906, never to become operational.
This glossary of electrical and electronics engineering is a list of definitions of terms and concepts related specifically to electrical engineering and electronics engineering. For terms related to engineering in general, see Glossary of engineering.
A shading coil or shading ring is a single turn of electrical conductor located in the face of the magnet assembly or armature of an alternating current solenoid. The alternating current in the energized primary coil induces an alternating current in the shading coil. This induced current creates an auxiliary magnetic flux which is 90 degrees out of phase from the magnetic flux created by the primary coil.
In engineering, a solenoid is a device that converts electrical energy to mechanical energy, using an electromagnet formed from a coil of wire. The device creates a magnetic field from electric current, and uses the magnetic field to create linear motion. In electromagnetic technology, a solenoid is an actuator assembly with a sliding ferromagnetic plunger inside the coil. Without power, the plunger extends for part of its length outside the coil; applying power pulls the plunger into the coil. Electromagnets with fixed cores are not considered solenoids. In simple terms, a solenoid converts electrical energy into mechanical work. Typically, it has a multiturn coil of magnet wire surrounded by a frame, which is also a magnetic flux carrier to enhance its efficiency. In engineering, the term may also refer to a variety of transducer devices that convert energy into linear motion, more sophisticated than simple two–position actuators. The term "solenoid" also often refers to a solenoid valve, an integrated device containing an electromechanical solenoid which actuates either a pneumatic or hydraulic valve, or a solenoid switch, which is a specific type of relay that internally uses an electromechanical solenoid to operate an electrical switch; for example, an automobile starter solenoid or linear solenoid. Solenoid bolts, a type of electromechanical locking mechanism, also exist.