Tesla and the AC motor – Stephen I

Tesla’s first lecture for his AC motor was done at the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.  This was where he spoke about his improvements to the motor and how it worked.  He also demonstrated the motor and explained how it was better than the DC motor.

Tesla’s AC induction motor was different from motors around at that time.  Tesla’s Ac motor did not have a use for the commutator brushes.  A commutator is an electrical device that reverses the direction of the flowing current.  Since his motor did not need the commutator this means that the motor is more reliable because it has less parts.  Tesla uses two AC currents because there is always a force turning the motor.  As one power dies the other one comes on and keeps the revolutions going.  This process keeps going on in order to make an electrical current.  This was what made Tesla’s AC motor so important to the electrical industry.

Westinghouse bought the patents from Tesla because they were working on the same idea.  If Westinghouse did purchase them then he would have had to stop working on his ideas because they were protected by patents.  Tesla had a hard time working with Westinghouse because Tesla liked to work by himself.  Westinghouse’s engineers did not like Tesla because he told them that their knowledge on the electricity was useless.