Tesla microfilm letters

[Ernst]

# 0074

The Waldorf-Astoria, New York Nov. 5, 1904.

Dear Mr. Morgan:-
The inclosed bears out my statement made to you over a
year and a half ago. The old plant has never worked beyond a few
hundred miles. Apart of imperfection of the apparatus inside there
were four defects, each of which was fatal to success. It does not
seem probable that the new plant will do much better, for these
faults were of a widely different nature and difficult to dis-
cover.
As to the remedies, I have protected myself in applica-
tions filed 1900 – 1902, still in the office.
Yours faithfully,
N. Tesla.

[Ernst]

# 0075

The Waldorf-Astoria, New York, Nov. 18th, 1904.



Dear Mr. Morgan:-
The inclosed written by the ablest man in the field of
electrical transmission by my system reminds me of the difficulties
I had in convincing people of the value of that invention. What
I have now is immensely more valuable and consequential.
Yours faithfully,
N. Tesla.







(Sent: Editorial by C. F. Scott from Electric Club
Journal, October, 1904.)




Copy.

[Ernst]

# 0076

Copy.

New York, Dec. 16, 1904.

Dear Mr. Morgan:-
1.If you will advance me one hundred thousand dollars,
which will enable me to complete my plant and instal some telegra-
phic and telephonic receivers on a few of the most important points
in the world, I will return on your investment of $250,000 twenty-
five millions. To attain this result it is necessary that the
work be attacked at once.
2. Assuming that you are not willing to do this, if you
will advance me fifty-thousand , which will suffice to finish the
indispensable parts, make everything perfectly fire-proof, as I
have planned and take out an insurance, my ultimate success will be
rendered certain, and although you may have to wait long, I shall
still and without fail carry out my promise of returning to you one
hundred times the sum invested.
3. If you do not want to do this, the only one thing re-
mains. You release me of all obligation, give me back my assign-
ments, and consider the sum you have invested as a generous contri-
bution, leaving it all to my integrity and ability to work out the
best results for you and for myself. In this case I intend to go
on a lecture tour, which I believe will give me enough money to
complete the plant. Once I am so far it would not take me more than
a week to get a few millions in Wall Street. I hope sincerely,
that you will not resolve yourself to this last course. Believe
me, you would give me great pain.

Yours faithfully,
N. Tesla.

[Ernst]

# 0077

23 WALL STREET N.Y Dec 17/04.




N. Tesla, Esq,
Waldorf-Astoria,
City.

Dear Sir:-

I have received your
note of 16th inst and in
reply would state that
I am not willing to
advance you anymore
money, as I have fre-
quently told you.
As to your third
proposition I am not
prepared to accept this
either. I have made
and carried out with

You in good faith a
Contract, and, having
performed my part,
it is not unreasonable
that I expect you to
carry out yours.

Yoursverytruly,



J. Pierpont Morgan
per C.W. King
Private Secretary




(Letter dictated by
Mr JP Morgan.)

[Ernst]

# 0079

New York, Dec. 18th, 1904.


Dear Mr. Morgan:-
To-day is my patron saint, who has always stood by me.
Will you let me complete the important work and tell the
world, in a way which will be forever recorded in history, that I
have to thank only to the generosity of a great man and my own
efforts?
I am fully aware, Mr. Morgan, that your hands are full and
that you are perhaps grieved. But permit me to tell you that in
the eyes of those who see far you have shown yourself greater and
stronger than ever before. (those that show you believe in your
complete triumph?)
Yours most faithfully,
N. Tesla.
















Copy.

[Ernst]

# 0080

Copy.
New York, Dec. 19, 1904.


Mr. J. P. Morgan,
New York City.
Sir:-
Owing to a habit contracted long ago, in defiance of su-
perstition, I prefer to make important communications on Fridays
and the 13th of each month, but my house is afire and I have not an
hour to waste.
I knew that you would refuse.. What chance have I to land
the biggest Wall Street monster with the soul's spider thread!
Your letter reached me just on the day of my patron saint
- the greatest of all – St. Nikola. There was a silent agreement
between St. Nikola and myself that we would stick to each other.
He did well for a time, but during the last three years he has for-
gotten me, - as you have.
You say that you have fulfilled your contract with me.
You have not.
I came to you to enlist your genius and power, not be-
cause of money. You should know that I have honored you in so do-
ing as much as I have honored myself. You are a big man, but your
work is wrought in passing form, mine is immortal. I came to you
with the greatest invention of all times. I have more original
creations named after me than any other man that has gone before,
not excepting Archimedes and Galileo – the giants of invention.
Six thousand million dollars are invested in enterprises based on
my discoveries in the United States to-day. I could draw on you at
sight for a million dollars, if you were the Pierpont Morgan of old.
When we entered our contract I furnished 1) patent-rights,
2) my ability as engineer and electrician, 3) my good will. You
were to furnish 1) money, 2) your business ability, 3) your good
will. I assigned patent-rights which, in the worst case, are worth
ten times your cash investment. You advanced the money, true, but
even this first clause of our contract was violated. There was a
delay of two months in furnishing the last $50,000 – a delay which
was fatal.
I complied conscientiously with the second and third ob-
ligations. You ignored yours deliberately. Not only this, but you
discredited me.
There is only one way to do, Mr. Morgan. Give me the
money to finish a great work, which will advance the world a centu-
ry and reflect honor on all that come after you. Or else, make me
a present and let me work out my salvation. Your interest is sa-
cred to me and my hearty wishes for your happiness and welfare will
always be with you.
Faithfully yours,
N. Tesla.

[Bob Smith]

Ernst
Thanks for posting this - timely stuff. We only see one side of Tesla, largely from what others have written about his quirks and foibles. It's heartbreaking to see how he was kind of hung out to dry by Morgan. It seems all the more likely that Morgan smelled an end to his profits if he were to continue funding Tesla. Again, very timely; I wonder how many other inventors have found themselves way ahead of their time, only to be shunned by those they considered allies or supporters once they made real progress.

As they say, the truth shall prevail.
Bob

[Bob Smith]

Scherff 0001-0007

My contribution to the cause (below)
Bob

G Scherff 0001

New York, Jan. 4th, 1899
46 & 48 East Houston Str.

Nikola Tesla Esq.
Alta Vista Hotel
Colorado Springs, Colo

Dear Mr. Tesla,
Mr. Czito has returned here to work yesterday.
He told me that you would come in a few days, and therefore I did
not write yesterday, thinking that my letter would not reach you.
But hearing that you might have been detained, I write again:
All parts of the oscillator will be finished tomorrow,
except the condenser, on which the work is progressing. Mr. Clark
and Mr. Czito are now working on parts for a second oscillator.

Respectfully,
Signed: Geo. Scherff

-------------------------
G Scherff 0002

New York, Jan. 5th, 1899
46 & 48 East Houston Str.

Nikola Tesla Esq.
Alta Vista Hotel
Colorado Springs, Colo

Dear Mr. Tesla,
Your telegraph of this date was received this af-
ternoon, and in reply I have wired Mr. Uhlmann’s address. And also
the amount of money I shall be obliged to draw for the payroll
this week. I will draw to-morrow $110, which,
together with the amount on hand, will leave about $10 for shop expenses after pay-
ing the men. The pay-roll this week is $100.
The work on the second oscillator will be continued, as
directed. All parts of the first one, except the condenser, are
now finished, and Mr. Johannesen is putting the same together.
I obtained mail from the Waldorf today, but found
nothing of importance.

Respectfully,
Signed: Geo. Scherff
-------------------------
G. Scherff 0003

New York, March 8th, 1899
46 & 48 East Houston Str.

Mr. Nikola Tesla, President,
Nikola Tesla Co., 46 E Houston St.

Dear Sir: -
I hereby resign as Secretary of the Nikola Tesla Company,
to take effect upon its acceptance.

Yours truly,
Signed: George Scherff


-------------------------
G. Scherff 0004

New York, March 8th, 1899
46 & 48 East Houston Str.

Mr. Nikola Tesla, President,
Nikola Tesla Co., 46 E Houston St.

Dear Sir: -
I hereby resign as Director in the Nikola Tesla Company,
to take effect upon its acceptance.

Yours truly,
Signed: George Scherff
-------------------------

G. Scherff 0005

New York, May 13th, 1899
#46 & 48 E. Houston Str.

Dear Mr. Tesla:-
I noticed in the mail this morning a letter from
the U. S. Treasury Department, and, thinking it might be of im-
portance, I took the liberty to open it. I inclose a copy of the
letter.
Shall I send an acknowledgement of this or any similar
letters which may arrive during your absence? I forgot to ask,
before you left.
Permit me also to inquire about your health,
after all the anxiety, and the strain of the railroad journey.

Respectfully,
Signed: George Scherff

---------------------------
G. Scherff 0006

[Handwritten pencil notation, upper right] ca. May 13, 1899

[Letterhead]
Auditorium Hotel
Breslin & Southgate
R.H. Breslin, Manager

[Handwritten in ink]
The trouble in the new brake
is that the oil in the bore
does not stand sufficiently below
the highest point the mercury can
rise in the hollow shaft. It
would be desirable to make
an overflow hole so that the
oil when it is poured in can
not rise beyond a certain height
above the mercury. The height of
shaft should be so calibrated
that when the oil and mercury
are poured together in-to where
the pulley is taking[?] oil and
put it again in the oil can
before use with the pulley.
[unsigned. end of note]

--------------------------
G. Scherff 0007
[continuation of G. Scherff 0006]

This can be done by changing
the hollow piece. That first
is[?] in put[?] try to keep the oil
level or low as possible. If
the oil still gets in, the
bottom piece will have to be
changed.
This should be attested to
at once, on both the oscillator
and independent brake.
For the oscillator / [illegible]
The size of the disks[?] size 3/8
diam/[?] make another disk
[illegible] that [illegible].
Teeth leave as before.

[Ernst]

REALLY, REALLY great, Bob Smith!



Ernst.

[Bob Smith]

Glad to help, Ernst. It would be great if folks could chip in and each transcribe a small chunk of this collection you've graciously made available.
Bob

[dR-Green]

Thank you Ernst and Bob. We're still working on getting some sort of system set up to organise it, but in the meantime the entire archive is available for download here as a festive giveaway.

http://www.theteslasociety.com/thete...ristmas.tar.gz

Total size is about 7.2 or 7.4GB and can be extracted using a free program such as WinRAR WinRAR archiver, a powerful tool to process RAR and ZIP files

[Jeff Pearson]

Morgan 0001 very very hard to read
New York Nov. 26th. 1900
46 & 48 ..... Houston St.
.....Morgan
Wall Street, New York:

Dear Mr. Morgan:
Since last Friday, when I took the liberty to bring my
project to your kind attention, I have carefully considered the
facts ..... Lectures, which seem to me essential and ...... , briefly
stated, are as follows:
...... I have ... in .......... ,
which ... the transmission of messages to any distance without
.........long and expansive cables, ..........
.........commercial impossibility. These inventions render
.....................................safe manipulation of elec-
trical pressures up to a hundred million volts and movements of ....
.....by rates of hundred of thousands of horse-
power which are capable of bringing into action instruments at any
point of the globe, no matter how distant from the transmitting
station.....,practical experience with apparatus of this kind and
......embracing....of nearly 700 miles,
......to construct plants for such telegraphic communication
......... across the pacific ocean, with
the fullest assurance of success.
.....I have devised means for operating selectively a
great number of instruments without mutual interference,
.............privacy of all messages.
.........rights have been secured .... these methods
........ or allowed
....... true and unhampered to enter into such agree-
ments regarding the exploitation of these, .... inventions
in this field, as you might desire.
..........................your..............
identity..............which might be eventually
.................................................. ....................
.......Although the development of these inventions ......
....... effort, knowing that I have to deal with a great
................apportionment of my interest
..............your generosity.

[Ernst]

Thank you dR-Green and Jeff!
Some letters are almost impossible to read/transcribe but still, every attempt is greatly appreciated. And not only by me! There must be 100's or 1000's who will enjoy reading these letters and that is not counting future generations.
Maybe someone can decipher one or two more words in those difficult handwritten letters. There are so many of us, together we can get this almost impossible work done.



(again)

Ernst.

[Ernst]

Lil'Bro and all other distractors, derangers, and other trolls,
Please do everyone a favour and refrain from posting here unless you wish to make your first useful contribution to this forum and transcribe one of the letters.

Ernst.

[Ernst]

To all serious contributors,
Please do not respond to my last post and keep this thread on track.

Thanks,
Ernst.