IMPROVEMENTS IN VOLTAIC BATTERIES
Year: 1885

page_text: I, HENRY INKSON HARRIS of. No 184 Cheltenham Road in the city and county
of Bristol, Electrician and Working Jeweller do hereby declare the nature of my
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VOLTAIC BATTERIES " to be as follows:-
My improved battery is constructed substantially in practice in the following
manner: a wooden box six inches square by six inches deep is divided by vertical
partitions into four compartments, forming four cells of equal capacity, and the
inner sides of the said cells are coated with paraffin or other suitable substance in
the usual way. A porous cell five and a half inches long by one and a half inches
diameter, provided with a flange or foot at the bottom is placed in each wooden
cell and paraffin being poured into the bottom of the cell, holds the said porous
cells firmly in position, so that the battery may be inverted without affecting them.
The battery is provided with a wooden cover faced with sheet indian rubber and
held down by bolts and nuts or other suitable devices, and the tops of the porous
pots being flush with the tops of the wooden cells, the various compartments and
cells are effectually sealed. Four carbon rods five inches long, by three eighths of
an inch diameter are held firmly by one end in holes in the said cover and enter
the porous pots, and four brass screw clips, also affixed to the cover, hold zinc
cylinders two inches diameter by four inches deep, which dip into the wooden
cells and surround the porous pots. The battery is charged with the following
ingredients; eight parts of sulphuric acid are added to. eight parts of water and
sodium nitrate is dissolved to saturation therein, one part of potassium bichromate
is then added and the resulting solution is placed in the porous cells. The outer
cells are charged with one part sulphuric acid to sixteen parts of water. By reason
of the indian rubber employed to close the tops of the cells as hereinbefore
mentioned, the battery will work equally well when inverted as none of the
solutions can escape or mix with each other. The cover of the battery is made
hollow and the connections between the zincs and carbons are within such hollow
cover and are all well coated with paraffin after being made. The cells are
preferably coupled in series, and a set of four cells of the dimensions described
will give, when thus coupled, a constant current of 34 ampères for twelve hours,
with an electro-motive force of 6.953 volts and an internal resistance of 2.00 ohms.
They will light a 3 candle power incandescent lamp and still show a current of
11 ampères. The cost of charging for the above period only amounts to about
one penny.

page_text: I wish it to be understood that in place of wood, I may employ vulcanite, gutta-
percha, glass or other suitable substance, of which to construct the outer cells,
and that I do not necessarily confine myself to the exact forms, dimensions nor
proportions of the various parts as described, though I find such to be the most
convenient in practice.
Upon the outer side of the cover of the battery are two metal studs, which form
the terminals of the circuit, and to the said studs the wires from a lamp, electro-
motor, or other electrical apparatus may be attached.
The said metal studs are each connected with two cells in series, but the wire
from the second cell of each such pair. is led to a stud on the outside of the cover
to which stud is pivotted a flat metal strip, the said strips are of such a size that
when turned around into line with each other their ends overlap or otherwise make
contact and thus complete the circuit. Two more similarly pivotted metal strips
are also provided connected to the wires leading to the terminals and when these
latter are also in contact, the battery is short circuited.
In place of constructing my improved battery with four cells only, I may make
it with eight, twelve or other larger number desired and in such cases I prefer to
keep the battery only two cells in width, and to add the extra cells in the length,
and for greater convenience, I divide the cover into parts, each such part covering
four cells only and being provided with two central terminals and four pivotted
contact plates as before, described, and by these means a greater or less number of
the cells can be readily combined or cut out as desired, or certain of the cells may
be combined and used for one purpose and certain other of the cells may be used
for another purpose, thus one set of four may be used, to light a lamp, another set
to work a motor, and so on. The battery is so arranged that a handle can be
attached to it for carrying about, and by fixing an incandescent lamp on the cover
it thus becomes a convenient miner's lamp.
Dated this Seventh day of June 1885.
AMBROSE MYALL,
Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: I, HENRY INKSON HARRIS of No. 184 Cheltenham Road, in the city and
county of Bristol, Electrician and working jeweller do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My improved battery is constructed substantially in practice in the following
manner, a wooden box about six inches square by about six inches deep is
divided by vertical partitions into four compartments forming four cells of equal
capacity and the inner sides of the said cells are coated with paraffin or other
suitable substance in the usual way. A porous cell about five and a half inches
long, by about one and a half inches diameter, provided with a flange or foot at
the bottom is placed in each wooden cell and paraffin or other suitable composition
being poured into the bottom of the cell holds the said porous cells firmly in
position, so that the battery may be inverted without affecting them. The battery
is provided with a wooden cover faced with sheet indian rubber, and held down
by bolts and nuts or other suitable devices, and the tops of the porous cells being
flush with the tops of the wooden cells, the various compartments and cells are
effectually sealed-Four carbon rods about five inches long by about three eights
of an inch diameter are held firmly by one end in holes in the said cover and
enter the porous pots, and four brass screw clips also affixed to the cover, hold
zinc cylinders about two inches diameter by about four inches deep which dip
into the wooden cells and surround the porous pots. The battery is preferably
charged with the following ingredients; eights parts sulphuric acid are added to
eight parts of water and sodium nitrate is dissolved to saturation therein, one
part of potassium bichromate is then added and the resulting solution is placed
in the porous cells. I may however dispense with the potassium bichromate if
desired. The outer cells are charged with dilute sulphuric acid. By reason of
the indian rubber employed to close the tops of the cells, as herein before
mentioned, the battery will work equally well when inverted as none of the
solutions can escape or mix with each other. The cover of the battery is made
hollow and the connections between the zincs and carbons are within such hollow
cover and are all well coated with paraffin or other suitable composition after
being made.
The composition which I find gives the best result in practice and which I
prefer to use for this purpose, as also for the lining of the wooden cells before
mentioned, consists of one part of bitumen and one and a half parts of wax,
preferably that known as vegetable or Japan wax, these ingredients are melted
together and applied in the usual way.
The cells are preferably coupled in series, and a set of four cells of the
dimensions described will give when thus coupled, a constant current of about
34 ampères for 12 hours with an electro motive force of about 6.953 volts, and
in practice I make use of a battery of this size as a standard battery.
I wish it to be understood that in place of wood I may employ vulcanite,
gutta percha, glass or other suitable substance or material of which to construct

page_text: the outer cells, and that I do not necessarily confine myself to the exact forms,
dimensions nor proportions of the various parts as described though I find such
to be the most convenient in practice.
Upon the outer side of the cover of the battery are two metal studs which
forin the terminals of the circuit and to the said studs the wires from a lamp, 5
electro-motor, or other electrical apparatus may be attached.
The said metal studs are either connected with the four cells in series or are
each connected with two cells in series, but in the latter case the wire from the
second cell of each such pair is led to a stud on the outside of the cover to which
stud is pivotted a flat metal strip, the said strips are of such a size that when 1
turned round into line with each other, their ends overlap or otherwise make
contact and thus complete the circuit. Two more similarly pivotted metal strips
are also provided connected to the wires leading to the terminals and when these
latter are also in contact, the battery is short circuited.
In place of constructing my improved battery with four cells only, I may make 1
it with 8, 12 or other larger number desired and in such cases I prefer to keep
the battery only, two cells in width and to add the extra cells in the length, and
for greater convenience, I divide the cover into parts, each such part covering
four cells only and being provided with two central terminals and four pivotted
contact plates as before described, and by these means a greater or less number
of the cells can be readily combined or cut out as desired, or certain of the cells
may be combined and used for one purpose and certain other of the cells may
be used for another purpose thus one set of four may be used to light a lamp,
another set to work a motor, and so on.
The battery is so arranged that a handle can be attached to it for carrying
about, and by fixing an incandescent lamp on the cover it thus becomes a convenient
miner's lamp.
In the accompanying sheet of drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, Figure 2 is
a sectional elevation through the line X X on Figure 3 and Figure 3 is a cross
section on the line Y Y on Figure 2 of a voltaic battery constructed according to
my invention. Figure 4 is a plan of the cover of the same with the top removed
shewing the connections. Figure 5 is a plan of the top of a voltaic battery of
12 cells constructed according to my invention, shewing the electrical connections
between the cells. Figure 6 is a perspective view of a porous cell constructed
according to my invention. Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the
drawings. a is the box or outer case of the battery divided into four cells by
vertical partitions b. d d are the porous cells constructed with a flange or foot ď¹
by which means they are securely retained within the cells by the composition as
before described. e is the cover of the battery faced with indian rubber f. 9g are
the carbon rods secured in holes in the cover e and h h are the zinc cylinders
affixed to the cover by clips z. The zincs shewn in the drawing do not entirely
surround the porous cells, but I do not necessarily confine myself to the form
shewn.
In figure 4, cccc are the extremities of the carbon rods. zzzz are the
terminals of the zincs and the dotted circles tt are the terminal studs on the
outside of the cover (as shewn in figure 1). The connections are indicated by
the thick black lines. In this case the four cells are, as will be seen, connected in
series with the terminals t t.
In figure 1,jj are two screws on the cover e which enter eyes k k affixed to the
battery. Nutellare provided so that the cover can be held tightly in position
and thus by means of the indian rubber make a perfect joint with the tops of the
cells and the porous pots as before described. m is a handle pivotted to ji by
means of which the apparatus may be conveniently carried about.
+
In figure 5, n n n are three batteries of four cells each, made similarly to
that shewn in figures 1, 2. 8 and 4, with the exception that in each battery instead
of all the four cells being connected in series with their respective terminals, two
cells only are coupled in series with each terminal, and on each cover four studs

page_text: Ppp på are provided. p, p³ have contact plates 9 9¹ pivotted to them while
short contact plates r¹ are affixed to the studs p¹ p².
Of the aforesaid studs pl p³ are connected with the second of each pair of cells
while pp² are connected with the terminals tt. It will clearly be seen that by
means of these pivotted contact plates the cells may, as previously described in
this my specification, be coupled up in a variety of ways to suit different purposes.
In practice I prefer to provide in the cover of the battery small outlets for the
escape of gas from the porous cells only.
I wish it to be understood that I do not necessarily confine myself to the exact
shape or proportions of the various parts of my improved battery as shewn in the
said drawings.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim, is :-
(1.) A voltaic battery constructed substantially in the manner and for the
purposes as herein shewn and described.
(2.) Porous cells, for use in a voltaic battery, having a flange or foot d¹, substan-
tially as and for the purposes herein shewn and described.
(3.) In a voltaic battery the use of a hollow cover containing the various
connections and the protection of the said connections from oxidisation by means
of suitable composition, substantially as herein shewn and described.
(4.) In a voltaic battery the arrangement of hinged contact plates, substantially
as herein shewn and described with reference to Figure 5.
(5.) In a closed voltaic battery, providing an outlet for the escape of gas from
the porous cells only, substantially as herein described.
Dated this 7th day of April 1886.
AMBROSE MYALL, C.E.,
Agent for the Applicant.