Drone

In 1898 Nikola Tesla won the world’s first patent for a radio-controlled device, which he termed a “teleautomaton.” In my book, that makes him the father of all remotely piloted and autonomous vehicles, which would surely include drones but also missile and robotic systems. Even the Mars rover “Curiosity” bears the imago Tesla.

Now nineteenth-century observations about the teleautomaton’s possible twenty-first-century applications are, typically, both anachronistic and prescient. Here is an excerpt from his patent:

Be it known that I, Nikola Tesla a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in methods of and apparatus for controlling from a distance the operation of the propelling-engines, the steering apparatus, and other mechanism carried by moving bodies or floating vessels, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming part of the same… The invention which I have described will prove useful in many ways. Vessels or vehicles of any suitable kind may be used, as life, dispatch, or pilot boats or the like, or for carrying letters, packages, provisions, instruments, objects, or materials of any description, for establishing communication with inaccessible regions and exploring the conditions existing in the same, for killing or capturing whales or other animals of the sea, and for many other scientific, engineering, or commercial purposes; but the greatest value of my invention will result from its effect upon warfare and armaments, for by reason of its certain and unlimited destructiveness it will tend to bring about and maintain permanent peace among nations.

From: “Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 613,809, dated November 8, 1898.” The full original text and diagrams can be found at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website: http://patimg1.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=00613809&SectionNum=1&IDKey=CC2FD2DDACBB&HomeUrl=http://pimg-piw.uspto.gov/ If you use a Mac, however, you’re out of luck. You can still view it through another fantastic website, Free Patents Online: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/0613809.pdf

In an article published thirteen days later in The Sun (New York) newspaper, Tesla expanded upon his thoughts concerning both the fascinating origins and unexpected ramifications of his marvelous invention. Here’s an excerpt: