Skip to content
actionVerified

Tesla is granted U.S. Patent 454,622 for a high-frequency lighting system later called the Tesla coil

On 23 June 1891 the United States issued Patent 454,622 to Tesla for a system of electric lighting using high-frequency currents and a resonant transformer. The apparatus is later called a Tesla coil. In the causal graph this event strengthens Digital Learning Access, a driver that weakens Learning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries) — an improving welfare path.

Sources: [1][2]

Read the full account

On 23 June 1891 the United States issued Patent 454,622 to Tesla for a system of electric lighting using high-frequency currents and a resonant transformer. The apparatus is later called a Tesla coil. This Fact is the patent, not wireless power for cities.

Patent 454,622 for a high-frequency lighting system later called the Tesla coil (1891-06-23).

Context

The 1891 AIEE high-frequency lecture is adjacent. Radio as a commercial service is later and shared with Lodge, Marconi and others.

Nikola Tesla is not the sole author of every later object, law, or museum label that uses the name. Shared work with courts, excavators, printers, spouses, officials, and later states does not erase a documented role, and it does not make an ancient person the signer of a twentieth-century statute.

Why it matters

Knowledge-instrument path.

A resonant transformer is not Wardenclyffe. Keep the later tower on its own row.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Nikola Tesla

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.7 · verified

    He is the named inventor of the 1891 resonant-transformer lighting patent. Later radio and classroom coils are reception, not this grant.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.U.S. Patent 454,622 — System of Electric Lighting (1891)United States Patent and Trademark Office / Google Patents · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Engineering and Technology History Wiki — Nikola TeslaIEEE / ETHW · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

The patent is a federal instrument. IEEE/ETHW independently describes Tesla’s high-frequency transformer work of the early 1890s.

Established: U.S. Patent 454,622 on 23 June 1891. Not established: that the coil already transmitted usable power without wires at utility scale.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorNikola Tesla
  2. contributed toFactTesla is granted U.S. Patent 454,622 for a high-frequency lighting system later called the Tesla coil
  3. strengthensDriverDigital Learning Access
  4. weakensIndicatorLearning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries)

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Tesla is granted U.S. Patent 454,622 for a high-frequency lighting system later called the Tesla coil. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/us-tesla-coil-patent-1891

https://factrail.ai/facts/us-tesla-coil-patent-1891

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

Dispute this factNamed here, or represent someone who is? Request a right of reply.