Nikola Tesla is a name that needs no introduction. The guy is among the greatest inventors to have ever lived on Earth. He has over 270 patents in the 27 countries with 112 in the US only. However, you would be amazed to know that not every invention from this amazing genius made it to reality. We have gone through the records and found seven of Tesla’s inventions that didn’t get built. Check them out below;
Wireless Energy Transmission
Tesla’s majority work is in the electrical field. That is why most of Tesla’s patents are in the field of electricity. You can also thank Tesla for the Alternating Current that is used to provide electricity to your homes and offices. What many people are not aware of is that Tesla also tried building a tower that would have been able to transmit electricity wirelessly. He even was able to get American Financier J.P. Morgan to finance the structure of Wardenclyffe Tower on the North Shore of Long Island. Morgan, however, refused to fund the project when he found out about the electricity transmission and Tesla had to abandon the project.
Supersonic Airships Powered by Wireless Electrical Towers
Nikola Tesla was decades ahead of his time. For instance, while you might have thought wireless charging of your tablets and smartphones was revolutionary; Tesla was working on a supersonic airship that would have been powered by wireless electrical transmission in 1919. According to Tesla, the airship would be powered by ground towers. The airship would be able to fly 40,000 feet off the ground and fly at a speed of 1,000 mph – capable of making a trip from New York to London in under four hours.
Remote Controlled Navies
Tesla was also actively involved in military technology. Similar to Alfred Nobel, Tesla was also of the point of view that in order to prevent wars, it was feasible to either make it pointless or so disastrous that participants would never want to go to war again. Tesla invented a boat that could have been started, stopped, and steered with radio signals. Tesla believed that by taking humans out of the equation, ‘battleships will cease to be built and the most tremendous artillery afloat will be of no more use than so much scrap iron.’
The Thought Camera
Tesla also had the idea of photographing the thoughts of a person. In 1933, Tesla told the reporters at the Kansan City Journal-Post, ‘In 1893, while engaged in certain investigations, I became convinced that a definite image formed in thought, must by reflex action, produce a corresponding image on the retina, which might be read by a suitable apparatus. Now if it is true that thought reflects an image on the retina, it is a mere question of illuminating the same property and taking photographs and then using the ordinary methods which are available to project the image on a screen. If this can be done successfully, then the objects imagined by a person would be clearly reflected on the screen as they are formed, and in this way, every thought of the individual could be read. Our minds would then, indeed, be like open books.’
The Earthquake Machine
Also in 1893, Tesla earned a patent for the steam-powered mechanical oscillator. The vibrations from this contraption could be used for creating electricity. He told the reporters later on that during calibration of his machine for the experiment; the New York City laboratory shook so violently that the building almost came down. He said, ‘Suddenly all the heavy machinery in the place was flying around. I grabbed a hammer and broke the machine. The building would have been down about our ears in another few minutes. Outside in the street, there was pandemonium. The police and ambulances arrived. I told my assistants to say nothing. We told the police it must have been an earthquake. That’s all they ever knew about it.’
This inspired Tesla to come up with telegeodynamic oscillator – an earthquake machine. Although he was not able to build it, scientists and engineers were able to use the same principle.
Artificial Tidal Waves
Tesla was able to come up with ideas of weapons that rivaled the atom bomb when it came to their devastating power. However, not many of them were built. Artificial Tidal wave was among such weapons. He believed that it could prove to be the best defense against naval enemies. The notion was to come up with the idea that would render even the biggest naval force useless thus removing the need for building navies. His solution was ‘teleautomatons.’ These contraptions would carry tons of high-explosive material and would detonate it close to the enemy navy. The produced tidal waves would be 100 ft. high even a mile away from the explosion site.
The Death Ray
Tesla named it Peace Ray though. He believed that by speeding up the mercury isotopes 48 times the speed of sound, the resultant beam would be able to produce enough energy that could annihilate entire armies at a distance that would be limited only by the Earth’s curvature. He tried pitching the idea to various and even experimented in collaboration with the Soviet Union but was not able to come up with a fruitful result.