Tesla’s Remotely Controlled Boat
A model of the remotely controlled boat that Nikola Tesla presented at the first Electrical Exhibition at Madison Square Garden, New York, in 1898. It was a pioneering step in the field of remote control. At the time, Tesla performed the first public demonstration of the wireless transfer of commands at a distance, by controlling the movements of the boat with radio waves.
The basic patent, Method of and Apparatus for Controlling Mechanism of Moving Vessels or Vehicles, No. 613,809, was submitted by Tesla on July 1, 1898, and approved by the US Patent Office on November 8 the same year. The patent covered the basic apparatus and the technology of remote control.
Tesla presented an improved version of the ship, with diving capabilities, at a lecture he held in Chicago in 1899. This model also presents Tesla’s idea of logical “AND” gate, that he used in this invention, and it is the only working model in the world.