Last week Suffolk’s own Tom Vales gave a demonstration of the power and maintenance of high voltage. His first characterization tied into commonplace uses of such energy throughout history, namely the Sterling Engine and its gas compression mechanisms. Invented to replace the steam engine, Vales made note of the differences between energy today and in the 1800s: “if you had anything that required power, you didn’t have a whole lot of energy options.” The Stirling Engine was the first main alternative to the steam engine and has become the first of many innovations since.

Vales continued to speak of the Mendocino motor as well. Created in California, the Mendocino motor operates by means of magnetic repulsion. Silver disks support the motor, and as long as the top piece is cold and bottom warm it will operate through its magnetism, solar cells, and dc motor theory. Current runs through the coil and transfers through the magnetic field and can even be manipulated by a shining light.

Tesla coils were another huge progression made. Eponymously named for Nikola Tesla, the Tesla coil (shown above) is a tightly wound apparatus designed to enable electric current to pass through and create electricity. As you can see, Tom is demonstrating this and the electricity’s potency by holding out a conductor. He also used a comb electrode (similar to the “violet ray”) to comb his hair and showed its colors to be result of argon gas.

Perhaps the most interesting point made by Tom concerned phony apparatuses colloquially known as “quack medical devices.” The tesla coil itself has earned this title, as Tom explained that “transmission of energy doesn’t work today because these coils put out lots of garbage; anything with microprocessors just destroys signal.” With the perpetual influx of radio waves and transmissions of all sorts, there is not enough clarity for the tesla coil to function as it did in Tesla’s era before peripheral interference became so widespread. Even so, Tesla became a martyr of electricity– despite over 700 patents, helping George Westinghouse “electrify” Niagara Falls, and having friends such as Mark Twain, Tesla has become overshadowed by Thomas Edison as the ostensible father of electricity. In truth, Edison had an incomparable advantage in staff, funding, and news coverage around his studies that Tesla outright rejected, for his sole desire in life was his studies. This is a notion Tom clearly respects and understands, as Tesla’s true contribution to our modern day society can only be truly understood by those who attend to these studies as he did. Thanks to Tom for the demonstration and dialogue throughout.