The Magnifying Transmitter
Tesla construction a huge Magnifying Transmitter at Shoreham, Long Island, a site which he named Wardenclyffe. Following his return to New York City from Colorado Springs in 1899. Tesla was jubilant and full of enthusiasm to implement his plan for the commercial application of Radiant energy. He turned to JP Morgan (An Investor) for a substantial portion of the funding to finance the huge project at Wardenclyffe. Tesla told him that the transmitter could transmit "intelligence to the world, Morgan assumed that he meant ordinary radio communications, but Tesla was not referring to ordinary radio transmissions. He was talking about electricity, but avoided revealing all to Morgan during this early phase of the Wardenclyffe project. Some considerable time later, Tesla eventually felt compelled to tell Morgan the larger possibilities offered by the Magnifying Transmitter when he needed more funding to complete the project. Tesla thought that Morgan would be overwhelmed by his expanded explanation of the true capacities of the transmitter and would be anxious to complete the work, but Tesla's assumption had backfired and Morgan refused to lay out any more money for the transmitter. Sadly, the enormous benefits that could have been made available to society by Tesla's Magnifying Transmitter project, died then and there.
· One Man's Greed
Morgan had already orchestrated circumstances in Tesla's life in order to force Tesla to be dependent on him for financial backing. During an earlier period, when Tesla himself had millions from his Polyphase AC generator royalty payments and other earnings, Morgan wanted to woo Tesla with a deal that effectively gave Morgan majority control over his patent rights and projects, but Tesla turned him down, telling Morgan that he had enough money of his own to fund his projects. While returning to his hotel from that very meeting with Morgan, however, Tesla was told that his laboratory had been burned to the ground. It represented a tremendous loss to Tesla and it shook him deeply.
Everyone, of course, felt convinced that Morgan was behind the arson. In order to save face, Morgan was embarrassed by Tesla into putting up the money to pay for the rebuilding of a new lab as an act of "philanthropy". From that time forward, however, other financial backers were not to be found. Morgan was powerful enough to black list Tesla among the Eastern Establishment elites that previously had hobnobbed and feted with Tesla as if he was one of their own. Black listing and ostracization by officialdom and financiers lifted somewhat after Morgan's death, but generally continued to haunt Tesla for the rest of his life.
· Tesla Success
Despite the loss of Wardenclyffe, Tesla continued to refine his understanding of Radiant Energy and miniaturize the equipment needed to produce it. He eventually was able to reduce the equipment down to the size of a suit case. Such reduction in size meant a reduction is output as well – therefore the concept of having free electricity for everyone with his device was not strictly possible. But we will discuss about his invention in the next PARTS.