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Gratitude

 * Original msg to: Oldradio-at-cheney-dot-net
 * Carbons sent to: usa-tesla-at-usa-dot-net

Quoting "James M. Watson" <oldradio-at-cheney-dot-net>:

> Richard, thanks for all of the help that you have given me so 
> far.  I don't see how you do it;  you respond so often to so 
> many people.  I do something similar for antique radios, but 
> not to the scale that you help with the people here on 
> USA-TESLA.  I really appreciate your efforts. 

Resentment is a great motivator.

Years and years ago when I was in high school I first learned
about Tesla. I don't remember where I first heard the name, but
my curiosity was piqued. I researched and searched for many hours
over a period of many weeks to gather information, and the
results were nothing short of pitiful. I spent money for plans in
the back of Popular Science, I leaned on the inter-library loan
system, I wrote the US Patent Office. I wanted more than anything
to understand the purpose of Tesla's research, and to experiment
with real Tesla coils. I was thwarted at every turn.

The plans produced coils that I was sure Tesla would scorn; they
did not work and they were expensive and difficult to build and
maintain. The only book I could get through the inter-library
system was _PRODIGAL GENIUS  THE LIFE OF NIKOLA TESLA_ by John J.
O'Neil; a wonderful and sad story that ignited my quest for hard
science on Tesla, but a work that would not help me reproduce
even the simplest experiment or apparatus. The patents sent by
the U.S. Patent Office were nothing short of cryptic.

There was no knowledgeable person available anywhere that I could
find capable of answering even the simplest of questions on this
subject. The more I learned, the more ridiculous this seemed.
Tesla was a great man, clearly on par with Einstein. That the
best encyclopedias in the world have barely a paragraph on Tesla
borders on the obscene.

My efforts were stalled, or even ran backwards, for nearly 10
years for lack of reliable information and people with whom to
discuss it. The best educators that I could seek out did not even
recognize the name! Finally I was put in contact with Harry
Goldman, founder of the Tesla Coil Builders Assoc., and Richard
Hull of Richmond Virginia. Then the damned dam broke.

Somewhere in the back of my mind lies ten years of resentment.
Resentment for the historical treatment of Tesla, and resentment
for the lack of practical coil building techniques available in
the public domain. For a number of years I have been directing
this negative energy in an effort to improve the situation. I
wish that some knowledgeable person had existed and had taken the
time to teach me about things Tesla when I first heard the name
in high school. As a result I am really bothered when I see a
genuinely earnest person, a person with a desire to learn, ask a
question that goes unanswered. I feel that maybe I can help. I
can't do much, but people have told me my efforts have not been
in vain.


Richard Quick


... If all else fails... Throw another megavolt across it!
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