Teleforce

Teleforce was mentioned publicly in the New York Sun and The New York Times on July 11, 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. The idea of a "death ray" was a misunderstanding in regard to Tesla's term when he referred to his invention as a "death beam" so Tesla went on to explain that "this invention of mine does not contemplate the use of any so-called 'death rays.' Rays are not applicable because they cannot be produced in requisite quantities and diminish rapidly in intensity with distance. All the energy of New York City (approximately two million horsepower) transformed into rays and projected twenty miles, could not kill a human being, because, according to a well known law of physics, it would disperse to such an extent as to be ineffectual. My apparatus projects particles..." What set Tesla's proposal apart from the usual run of fantasy "death rays" was a unique vacuum chamber with one end open to the atmosphere. Tesla devised a unique vacuum seal by directing a high-velocity air stream at the tip of his gun to maintain "high vacua". The necessary pumping action would be accomplished with a large Tesla turbine.

In total, the components and methods included: • An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. • A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. • A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism. • A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention. It has been said that the charged particles would self-focus via "gas focusing,". In 1940, Tesla estimated that each station would cost no more than $2,000,000 and could have been constructed in a few months. After Tesla died, in a box purported to contain a part of Tesla's "death ray" apparatus, John G. Trump found a 45-year-old multidecade resistance box.

By November 1934, Tesla was attempting (unsuccessfully) to obtain funding from J. P. Morgan's son, Jack Morgan. The idea of Tesla possibly having a new type of weapon and, further, his offer to give it to the League of Nations as a way to prevent future war were seen together as an alarming security threat by one US diplomat – a view not shared by his government. In 1935, the Soviet Union, through the US Amtorg Trading Corporation, an alleged Soviet-arms front in New York City, paid Tesla $25,000 for detailed plans, specifications, and complete information on the method and apparatus, but it is unclear whether a physical device was ever produced. Tesla also attempted to get funding for his device in 1937, sending a paper ("New Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-Dispersive Energy Through Natural Media") outlining his plans to the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and Yugoslavia. The United Kingdom considered Tesla's offer to sell the device to them for $30 million, maybe with the idea that even hinting they had a super weapon would be a deterrent to Adolf Hitler, but by 1938 they had dropped all interest. During this period, Tesla claimed that efforts had been made to steal the invention, saying that his room had been entered and that his papers had been scrutinized, but that the thieves or spies had left empty-handed. He said that there was no danger that his invention could be stolen, for he had at no time committed any part of it to paper; the blueprint for the Teleforce weapon was all in his mind. At his birthday press conference in 1937, Tesla was asked about his weapon, and he made the claim, "But it is not an experiment... I have built, demonstrated and used it. Only a little time will pass before I can give it to the world." At the 1940 birthday press conference, 84-year-old Tesla offered to develop his weapon for the US, but there was no interest in his offer.