The morning call., 1893-01-27
BOTTLING UP ELECTRICITY.

A Brief Resume Of the Progress Of Storage Bat
teries.
To the general reader electricity is a great
mystery. It's effects are manifest and that
is All.
You press a button and the bell ring 4;
you press another and the boy brings up
so me iee-water. The electricity or the syS-
tenn used is seldom understood.
Yet all intelligent persons know some
thing Of the constitution OF the ordinary
battery, and they will be the more inter
ested to learn something more exactly about
the latest discovery in the electrical world.
In order that they may understand better
the d ffcul.les which had to oe met the fol-
lowing short history is subjOined, showing
the gradual progress Of the storage Of cleo
tricity.
In the early '70's CASTOR Plante, French
man. discovered that two electrodes of lead
sheets introduced into u solution OF ten
parts OF sulphurc acid to ninety parts OF
water upon receiving charge OF electricity
from generator would retain that charge
and give Ii back IN certain proportions, de-
pending on the number of consecutive
charges passed through the electrodes. II
appeared that the reason for this was the
peroxidatiou of the lead on the surface of
the lead sheets, and the reduction TO spOngy
or porous lead on the negative sheets or
electrodes.
by this process Plante, BY tedious sue
cesson Of charges and discharges covering
period OF months, was enabled TO manu-
facture In his laboratory cells Of sufl Gent
capacity % give him sutlicien. potential for
laboratory uses.
This, however, would not be commercial
success because Of the high cost of the
necessary current to form the peroxides of
lead necessary.
Abont ten years later Camille Faure con-
cclyed the idea o! pasting the lead sheets
with oxides Of lead or red lead aud then
subjectjng them when thus coated to cleo
tr0liiic action within the cell He found
that the oxides Of lead were changed to
peroxides on the positive plates and reduced
10 spOngy lead on tbs negative plates in
about 100 hours, instead o! 100 DAYS or more
as by the Plante process.
In the Faure process just described it was
necessary TO BIND the paste upon the sheets
OF lead " TIL felt cloth 10 support them.
This felt cloth was soon destroyed by the
acid OF the solution, and the active mate
rial, or peroxides and red lead, formed on
the positive and negative plates, sealed off
from the sheets aud fell TO the bottom of
the containing jar, thus destroying the use
iuness OF the cell.
A year or two later German. named
Nolkmar, conceived the idea OF perforating
the sheets Of lead or electrodes with small
holes or retlcules, making what's commonly
known IN storage battery construction as
into these holes or reticeles so that they
would be supported thereby.
Tins last Invention seemed TO have over
come the difficulty Of the falling away of
the active material, but upon permanent
use 1t was discovered that constant charg-
ing and dlschaTging of the cells caused n
disintegration OF tue active material. and il
would jump from its support and gradually
get 10 the bottom Of the cell
Another difficulty which permanent use
disclosed was the fact that the positive and
negative electrodes gradually "buckled" or
bent toward each other and eventually came
In contact. causing what is known as a
short circuit" within the cell, thus destroy
ing its usefulness.
This particularly applied to calls called
upon to receive and give out large currents
Oh electricity, such as were used for street
car traction work.
Such, according TO the authorities ora
the principles upon which all storage hat
terles nave been constructed and such the
dlihcuities by which they have been beset.
III Is known that storage batteries will
drlVe streetcar, but they are considered
too expensive, troublesome aud irregular
to prove financial success
Apropos OF the popular belief as to storing
electricity, gentleman in the business said
III was erroneous TO suppose that me
electricity was stored In the batteries used
lhey nave no more electricity in them
be said. 'A'
What is done by the dynamo charging
them is to disturb the equilibrium of tbe
elements. The latter. as soon as they get a
chance. oy means OF connecting wire
hasten TO Te-estahlish the lost equilibrium.
and in so doing give off current
The public think it is easy enough To
bottle up electricity and then serve il ont a q
required. but this explanation NAV throw a
Inherent hight upon the hitherto almost in
RIlueflbla iii ffipultiaa of ha ., ~ -