Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower Patent (U.S. 1,119,732), Explained

3 minute read. Published October 17, 2026.

In short: U.S. Patent No. 1,119,732, titled Apparatus for Transmitting Electrical Energy, is Nikola Tesla's patent for the tower-and-terminal design behind Wardenclyffe Tower on Long Island, New York. He filed it on January 18, 1902, and it was granted on December 1, 1914. The tower was meant to send messages, and eventually power, without wires. It was never finished, and it was demolished in 1917.

FIG. 1 of Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower patent, U.S. 1,119,732, restored in amber on black — FIG. 1 from U.S. Patent 1,119,732, restored by SEEKER VII.

What is U.S. Patent 1,119,732?

It's a patent for a transmitter: a tall framework topped with a large, rounded terminal, connected deep into the ground. Tesla's idea was that a structure like this could charge up to very high voltages and use both the air and the earth itself to carry electrical energy over long distances. The application sat for more than a decade, being renewed in 1907, before the patent was finally granted in 1914.

What was Wardenclyffe Tower for?

Tesla began building Wardenclyffe in Shoreham, New York, around 1901, with financial backing from J. P. Morgan. Publicly, the first goal was wireless communication across the Atlantic. Tesla's larger ambition was a world system that could also transmit power, so that energy could be drawn from the air almost anywhere.

Why was it never finished?

The money ran out. Morgan declined to keep funding the project, and Tesla couldn't raise enough to complete it. Meanwhile, Guglielmo Marconi had already sent a wireless signal across the Atlantic in December 1901 using much simpler equipment, which undercut the case for Tesla's far more ambitious design. Work stalled within a few years, and the tower was torn down in 1917.

What does the patent drawing show?

FIG. 1 shows the structure in elevation: a tall, tapering framework, a central shaft, and the large terminal at the top, with the base anchored into the ground below. It's an engineering drawing, but it reads almost like a monument, which is why it's the anchor design of our first collection.

Can you visit Wardenclyffe today?

The tower is gone, but Tesla's laboratory building still stands in Shoreham. The site is now home to the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, a nonprofit museum project dedicated to his legacy.