Nikola Tesla obtains patents for his entire…

Nikola Tesla obtains patents for his entire system of polyphase alternating-current power in May 1888.

George Westinghouse buys rights to the patents on Tesla’s motor and makes it the basis for the Westinghouse power system, which will soon become the world standard.

In 1887, Tesla had developed an induction motor that ran on alternating current (AC), a power system format that is rapidly expanding in Europe and the United States because of its advantages in long-distance, high-voltage transmission.

The motor uses polyphase current, which generates a rotating magnetic field to turn the motor (a principle that Tesla claims to have conceived in 1882).

This innovative electric motor is a simple self-starting design that does not need a commutator, thus avoiding sparking and the high maintenance of constantly servicing and replacing mechanical brushes.

In late 1886, Tesla had met Alfred S. Brown, a Western Union superintendent, and New York attorney Charles F. Peck.

The two men sre experienced in setting up companies and promoting inventions and patents for financial gain.

Based on Tesla's new ideas for electrical equipment, including a thermo-magnetic motor idea, they agreed to back the inventor financially and handle his patents.

Together they formed the Tesla Electric Company in April 1887, with an agreement that profits from generated patents would go 1/3 to Tesla, 1/3 to Peck and Brown, and 1/3 to fund development.

They set up a laboratory for Tesla at 89 Liberty Street in Manhattan, where he works on improving and developing new types of electric motors, generators, and other devices.

Along with getting Tesla's induction motor patented, Peck and Brown had arranged to get the motor publicized, starting with independent testing to verify it was a functional improvement, followed by press releases sent to technical publications for articles to run concurrent with the issue of the patent.

Physicist William Arnold Anthony (who tested the motor) and Electrical World magazine editor Thomas Commerford Martin arrange for Tesla to demonstrate his AC motor on May 16, 1888 at the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.