Im- PROVED MEANS FOR OBTAINING ELECTRIC CURRENTS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Smith Owen, of Newman's Court, Corn-
hill, in the City of London, Merchant, for the Invention of "Im-
PROVED MEANS FOR OBTAINING ELECTRIC CURRENTS." -A communication
from abroad by Wenzel Carl Teuchert, of Vienna, in the Empire of
Austria.
Scaled the 3rd June 1873, and dated the 4th December 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Smith Owen
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 4th December 1872.
I, ARTHUR SMITH OWEN, of Newman's Court, Cornhill, in the City of
London, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED MEANS FOR OBTAINING ELECTRIC CURRENTS," to be as follows:
:―
The object of this Invention is to increase the efficiency of the electric
battery, to prevent the development of injurious gases, and the waste of
the elements when the battery is not in use. To attain these ends the
porous tube or vessel is charged with a mixture of equal parts of carbon
(broken into small pieces) and peroxide of manganese, to which is
added chromic acid in crystals in the proportion say of about one ounce
per each battery cell. A small plug of carbon, to which a conducting

page_text: wire is secured is thrust into this mixture, and the porous tube or vessel
containing it is immersed in a glass or earthen vessel charged with salt
and water or other exciting liquid, and containing the zinc or other
.elements to which the other wire of the battery is attached.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Arthur Smith Owen in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 4th June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARTHUR
SMITH OWEN, of Newman's Court, Cornhill, in the City of London, -
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Arthur Smith Owen,
Her special licence that I, the said Arthur Smith Owen, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Arthur Smith Owen, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS FOR OBTAINING ELECTRIC
CURRENTS," being a communication to me from abroad by Wenzel Carl
Teuchert, of Vienna, in the Empire of Austria, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Arthur Smith Owen, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Arthur Smith Owen, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement (that is to say) :—
The object of this Invention is to increase the efficiency of the electric
battery, to prevent the development of injurious gases, and the waste of
the elements when the battery is not in use. To attain these ends the
porous tube or vessel is charged with a mixture of equal parts of carbon
(broken into small pieces) and peroxide of manganese (in powder), to
which is added chromic acid in crystals, in the proportion say of about
one ounce for each pint battery cell. These materials are to be carefully
mixed before being placed in the porous cell. Inserted in this mixture
is a strip of graphite or carbon which extends outwards above the cell
to receive a clamp by which the electric conducting wire is secured.
The porous tube or vessel thus fitted is sealed with wax to keep the
carbon in position, and secure the contents from being upset. When
required for use, the porous tube is inserted in a glass or earthen vessel
charged with salt and water, and a plate or rod of zinc, to which the
other electric conducting wire is attached, being suspended in the
solution, the cell will be complete. Any number of these cells may be
connected together to form a battery as is well understood, or a single
cell may be employed for producing electric currents. In either case no
injurious gases will be developed by the action of the battery, and when
the action has ceased, no waste or expenditure of the positive plate will
take place.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved
Means for Obtaining Electric Currents," as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, I wish it to be understood that under the above
in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the means above described,
whereby electric currents may be generated continuously and inter-
mittently with the advantages above explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Smith Owen, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Fourth day of June in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-