For a man who had many more inventions than patents, over 276
documented patents are in his name! Tesla invented the AC motor
and had something more than 10 variations patented within the
first couple years. They are still in use today as many of our
most efficient motors, like the shaded pole induction motor.
Nikola Tesla’s name is on 13 of the 19 patents on the generators
which first harnessed hydroelectric power at Niagra Falls, which
he saw a postcard of when he was a kid in what’s now Croatia.
The power grid in the US is just as he invented it over 100
years ago, 60 Hz AC transformer boosted. He also suggested 50 Hz
in Europe because of less transmission line distance, which is
what it is to this day. He outdid all of that with the pinnacle
of technology at his super lab in Long Island New York called
Wardenclyff. The wireless transmission tower reached 185 feet in
the air and the facility below the laboratory had super duper
grounding for that tower, which still reaches 120 feet into the
ground. That fa