INVENTIONS

Nikola Tesla’s Earthquake Machine

Tesla’s 4th lab in NYC was at 46 East Houston Street.

“Here Tesla experimented with the so-called Earthquake Machine, which was a mechanical device that was tuned to the resonant frequency of his lab. He turned it on and it violently shook the lab! Tesla quickly turned it off, but if it left it on for any longer it could have leveled the entire building.

At his 79th birthday in a room filled with 20 journalists, he recounted what happened:

I was experimenting with vibrations. I had one of my machines going and I wanted to see if I could get it in tune with the vibration of the building. I put it up notch after notch. There was a peculiar cracking sound.

I asked my assistants where did the sound come from. They did not know. I put the machine up a few more notches. There was a louder cracking sound. I knew I was approaching the vibration of the steel building. I pushed the machine a little higher.

Suddenly all the heavy machinery in the place was flying around. I grabbed a hammer and broke the machine. The building would have been down about our ears in another few minutes. Outside in the street there was pandemonium. The police and ambulances arrived. I told my assistants to say nothing. We told the police it must have been an earthquake. That’s all they ever knew about it.”