Tesla's Flying Machine

"Not the airplane, the flying machine," responded Dr. Tesla.

Part 2 - Photos

Experimenting out in the back yard, 1993

here I and a friend discovered the frame flexed a little



Testing at an auto body shop, Jan 30th 2008 "at a dead end"

This wood frame etc. was my 1st attempt at building the machine A few weeks later, I traded these motors for 10,000 rpm 1/5hp motors.

second Tesla Space Drive design
Since nothing is said about weight being an issue, my second
(all steel) frame was built to be rigid, not light-weight.

it was right after this that I figured out the speed
requirement and the variables that affect it





Third model, with 10,000 rpm ele. motors:
The shafts and pillow blocks are also, now, aluminum alloy.
This model was fine but, the frame was just a little flimsy
( the top was removed for the purpose of the bottom photo )

Note: I used the red/orange (Lovejoy) jaw couplings because they were a cheap easy
way to atach weights on a shaft. I just replaced the set-screws with bolts.
For a good close-up, see the photo at the top of these pages.


Final design: January 1994 using .090 inch
aircraft aluminum ($9) and 2 22,000rpm air motors ($50)

the frame is rigid and the motors are very light weight

I made the frame taller to accomodate longer arms
and, slower speed requirements but, that was not necessary.
However, there is an increased strength and
reduced stress benefit to the double arms.

My name is Greg Smith. I am a programmer with a degree in Math and Physical Science (+ 2 years work on a 4 year Master of Theology degree, "to decide for myself"). I also majored in Engineering in my sophmore year and, upon graduation, started teaching Math, Physics and Chemistry. I built a Tesla coil back when I was in high school, for a Physics class project, worked for NASA for a few years and, found my interest in Tesla renewed when I bought and started reading a book, about Tesla many years later: There were a couple inventions mentioned in the book, one in particular, where I could visualize the one drawing provided and it seemed simple enough that it could easily be built and either prove or disprove the books claims. . . . see   Tesla's Flying Machine   ( part 1 ) I did build it (see all the photos on this page and more) and, though I did not get it "up to speed", we were close, closer than I realized, and a friend, with some of the equipment that I needed to use, was even more impressed than I was that "Something is going on here". With lighter weights and highter speeds, the vibrations should have diminshed but, they intensified. I had learned how to calculate the necessary speed required, not mentioned in the book. Still, I made an error in my calculations and thought I needed more speed than was the case - and my motors were inadequate - I thought.   I had Tesla's biography by Margaret Cheney, a thick, well received, book with lots of reliable information on the man. There I found how Tesla had contracted with both Allis Chalmers and with Westinghouse's railway and lighting division to build a 36,000 rpm turbine to "fly from New York to Colorado Springs in a contrivance which will resemble a gas stove" - July 7th 1912. If the turbine was to be a, relatively, lightweight power source to drive it, then that was what stopped Tesla. The metals of his day stretched under the centrifigal forces and he got no further, publicly. Today it has been done: "The turbine is inexpensive and easily machined." - SunWind Ltd. 3-12-79 In addition to weak metal alloys, Tesla had to contend with "negative reports" from engineers who did not understand his designs "claiming they would not build it as he wished...They said he refused to supply enough information." Maybe, again, they just could not understand something from Tesla "which had no theoretical precedent". (they probably thought they had to build something to some high precision which Tesla had not specified - because Tesla knew it was not necessaary) Here, near the top of the previous page, is the drawing and brief description. It is very crude. "Not enough information?" Talking to an engineer, it took me undue effort on my part to convince him that the center of gravity of the device, does travel in a circle. How could I explain that a force is generated "according to the right hand rule" (as opposed to the left hand rule for electricty)? How did Tesla know that? And, even if sliding the motor a little off-center, in different directions, could control speed and direction, how did Tesla know how much movment is needed? How did he "SEE" that in his mind, the way he seemed to see everything that he intended to build? Definitions: Motor: anything that produces or imparts motion. an engine for propelling a vehicle Elec.: a machine for converting electrical energy into mechanical energy. Engine: any machine that uses energy to develop mechanical power. - esp for transmitting motion to another machine An electrical coil sends electrons flying in a circle, in orbit about a center-point that is not the nucleus of the atom. The coil is sitting there, going nowhere, but its electrons are flying around in orbit and that paradox sets up a magnetic force-field. The coil is just sitting there. nothing is seen to be moving. But a voltage is applied and suddenly a magnetic force field appears and things do visibly start moving! Here we have a frame with some weights flying around in circles, going nowhere, just spinning, but it is "peculiarly assembled" and the net result is that the center of gravity of the entire device, still just sitting there, is in orbit - now we have the same paradox but the center of mass of the entire object is in orbit, not just the electrons. Now, we have the potential for an atomic force field - the entire atoms are generating an orbital force field instead of just the electrons. Atoms being about 2,000 times more massive than their combined electrons, the force being generated here could be a few thousand times stronger. Because the protons are the charged particles doing the work, instead of the electrons, the force operates by the right-hand rule. However, even the 1/2 hp air motors were not quite powerful enough to handle the weight / inertia of the "eccentrics".   We could not seem to deliver the full air pressure in the tamk to the motors and it did not occur to me to reduce the weight of the eccentrics, even more, where the motors might have the power necessary. The two air motors were great. They totalled only 24 oz. The massive air compressor was not part of the "system". Knowing that even if it takes off so fast that it breaks loose from the air hoses is no problem. Just proving that it works is enough to "turn heads" and start things rolling. - more likely, it will just start to slowly lift off and we will be so startled that we will shut it down I have been told by an engineer that slight imprefections in the balance and geometry of the system are nothing compared to the imbalances caused by the rotating weights. So that is a minor issue. Get "close enough" and we should be fine. From experience, I can tell you that the electric motors I used, started up so fast that 1 or more weights often came loose. The air motors gave more control.