Tesla’s speech to the American Instutite of Electrical Engineers was primarily a discussion of his AC motor in order to make himself and his invention known in the field. Tesla not only discussed his AC motor and it’s advantages over DC motors, but he also demonstrated his motor. Additionally, Tesla explained why all the existing motors were “wrong”, as his AC polyphase motor fixed all the issues of the current generation of motors. Additionally, Tesla publically defended his posisition as developing a uniquie AC motor, and that his design, while similar to Professor Thomson’s, didn’t use a commutator, and thus wasn’t the same.
Tesla’s polyphase motor was truly unique, and worked differently from any other motor available at the time. Prior to Tesla’s motor, all motors used commutators, which was a device that supplied power to the rotating magnets inside the motor. The AC polyphase motor, however, used two out of sync AC currents to provide power to the motor, bypassing the need for a commutator and metal brushes that wore out over time.
