AN IMPROVED PILE OR PORTABLE BATTERY FOR GENERATING ELECTRICITY
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Davies, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's
Inn, in the County of Middlesex, and No. 87, St. Vincent Street,
in the City of Glasgow, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED PILE OR PORTABLE BATTERY FOR GENERATING
ELECTRICITY."-A communication from abroad by Alfred Charles
Garratt, of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States of America,
Doctor of Medicine.
Sealed the 24th November 1868, and dated the 30th July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Davies at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th July 1868.
I, GEORGE DAVIES, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the
County of Middlesex, and No. 87, St. Vincent Street, in the City of
Glasgow, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PILE OR PORTABLE BATTERY FOR
GENERATING ELECTRICITY," (a communication from abroad by Alfred

page_text: Charles Garratt, of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States of
America, Doctor of Medicine,) to be as follows:-
The ordinary arrangement of metals and cloths or other porous
substances constituting the voltaic pile (namely, first, a disc or plate of
copper; second, a plate of zinc placed on the copper; and third, a wet
piece of cloth on the zinc, these being followed by another series of
copper, zinc, and cloth, and so on, piling them up temporarily to any
number) is very well known. It is also known that this arrangement
first made by Volta acts irregularly and only for a short time at best,
and cannot be re-excited to good action again without first taking all
the plates and cloths apart, cleansing the plates and cloths, wetting
and relaying the whole together in pile again as before. For these
reasons the voltaic pile has generally fallen into disuse. Still the
primary current of electricity obtained from a portable and simply moist
pile without the use of destroying acids is exceedingly desirable in
medical practice, also for experimental, philosophical, telegraphic, and
other useful purposes, since the secondary or induced current cannot
replace the primary in very many important cases.
The object of this Invention or improvement is to provide a portable,
constant, and durable primary current pile or battery of great power
both in quantity and intensity yet capable of graduation and inter-
ruption, one not expensive nor liable to get out of order, free from
destroying acids, easily cleansed, and ready for instant use anywhere
with little preparation or delay.
The nature of the Invention consists in a new arrangement of
metallic bars of dissimilar metals so arranged together as to constitute
a very compact yet powerful and constant pile or battery, yet without
cloths or any other porous substance essential in the structure of
the voltaic pile, and on the other hand without caustic acids as
employed in galvanic batteries so liable to get out of order, to slop
over, and to damage whenever moved about. The several bars of this
improved pile or battery are made of two or more metals and fixed
in a regular alternating series, as, for example, one bar of zino or zinc
and magnesium is soldered at its ends to the next bar as its fellow
which bar may be of copper, brass, or yellow metal, and then this pair
is insulated from the next pair by rubber, glass, or gutta percha, and
so on through the whole series contained in the battery frame holder.
Each bar of the series may be rectangular and solid as used in the

page_text: smaller sizes, or rectangular with a longitudinal space or slot, or it may
have any suitable form in its transverse section. The frame of the
battery should be made of some strong insulating material, as hard
rubber or prepared wood, or of metal if lined with gutta percha or
other good insulator, and fastened together with metallic clasps or other
durable metallic connections at each end. There are loops or bands
at one end of the pile attached to the two sides of the frame for con-
necting and adjusting a vibrator thereto, and also notches or openings
between the end bars and the clasps of the frame for the insertion of
connecting wires for joining two or more batteries together, and for
the insertion of conducting cords.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Davies in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 29th January 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
DAVIES, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, and No. 87, St. Vincent Street, in the City of Glasgow, Civil
Engineer and Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said George Davies, Her
special licence that I, the said George Davies, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Davies,
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
"AN IMPROVED PILE OR PORTABLE BATTERY FOR GENERATING ELECTRICITY," (a
communication to me from abroad by Alfred Charles Garratt, of Boston,
Massachusetts, in the United States of America, Doctor of Medicine,)
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Davies, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,

page_text: 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Davies, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, that is to say :-
The ordinary arrangement of metals and cloths or other porous sub-
stances constituting the voltaic pile (namely, first, a disc or plate of
copper; second, a plate of zinc placed on the copper; and, third, a wet
piece of cloth on the zinc, these being followed by another series of
copper, zinc, and cloth, and so on, piling them up temporarily to any
number,) is very well known. It is also known that this arrangement,
first made by Volta, acts irregularly, and only for a short time at best,
and cannot be re-excited to good action again without first taking all the
plates and cloths apart, cleansing the plates and cloths, wetting and
relaying the whole together in pile again as before. For these reasons
the voltaic pile has generally fallen into disuse. Still the primary
current of electricity obtained from a portable and simple moist pile
without the use of destroying acids is exceedingly desirable in medical
practice, also for experimental, philosophical, telegraphic, and other
useful purposes, since the secondary or induced current cannot replace
the primary in very many important cases.
The object of this Invention is to provide a portable, constant, and
durable primary current pile or battery of great power, both in quality
and intensity, yet capable of graduation and interruption, one not
expensive nor liable to get out of order, free from destroying acids, easily
cleansed, and ready for instant use anywhere with little preparation or
delay.
The nature of the Invention consists in a new arrangement of metallic
bars of dissimilar metals, so arranged together as to constitute a very
compact yet powerful and constant pile, yet without cloths or any other
porous substance essential in the construction of the voltaic pile, and on
the other hand without caustic acids, as employed in galvanic batteries,
so liable to get out of order, to slop over, and do damage whenever

page_text: moved about. The several bars of this improved pile or battery are
made of two or more metals, and fixed in a regular alternating series,
as, for example, one bar of zinc, or zinc and magnesium, is soldered at its
ends to the next bar as its fellow, which bar may be of copper, brass, or
yellow metal, and then this pair is insulated from the next pair by
rubber, glass, or gutta percha, and so on through the whole series con-
tained in the battery frame holder. Each bar of the series may be
rectangular and solid, as used in the smaller sizes, or rectangular with
a longitudinal space or solt, or may have any suitable form in its
transverse section.
Such being the nature and object of the said Invention for "An
Improved Pile or Portable Battery for Generating Electricity," I will
now proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same
is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect; and in
order that the same may be distinctly understood I have annexed here-
unto a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the same
with figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in the
following explanation thereof, that is to say :-
Figure 1 on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings is an elevation of
the improved battery showing the mode of connecting two or more
frames together; Figure 2 is a sectional view of a portion of the battery
showing the arrangement of its metallic bars with their spaces, solderings,
and insulations, also vibrator attached; Figure 3 is a view of one pair of
metallic bars used in batteries of the larger size detached from the frame
of the battery showing soldering elevations on both ends of one side of
yellow metal, and longitudinal inner spaces; Figure 4 shows a section
of the frame of the battery, both sides with metal bars removed; this
Figure also shows the method of fastening the two sides of the frame
together.
A is the frame of the battery, which should be made of some strong
insulating material, as hard rubber or prepared wood (prepared in hot
oil, asphaltum, or other insulating material), or of metal if lined with
gutta percha, or other good insulator. a, a, represents zinc bars;
b, b, represents copper, brass, or yellow metal bars; c, c, represents a
clasp or band for holding the frames of a battery together; d, d, are
loops or bands at one end of the pile attached to the two sides of the
frame for adjusting the vibrator v, o; e, e, shows the grooves in the
frame for holding the bars; f,f, is a connector used in connecting two

page_text: or more batteries together; 9, 9, shows transverse notches in the bars
for inserting conductor cords; h, h, are insulators of glass, gutta percha,
vulcanite, or equivalent insulating material; b, 1, shows elevations on
one side of both ends of the yellow metal bars; these elevations are
used to preserve a space between the bars; k, k, shows space between
the zinc and copper bars, while i, i, shows space between the pairs of
bars; m, m, seen in Figure 3, more plainly shows the soldering used in
fastening the zinc and copper or yellow metal bars together to form a
pair in the construction of the larger sized batteries; 8, 8, shows a
rectangular longitudinal space or slot in the bars, both zinc and yellow
metal, of the pairs used in the larger sized batteries; this slot or space
is introduced so as to make when the pile or battery is completed a
space through the whole length of the battery, the use of which is
shown hereafter; t, t, shows a space in the clasp or band c, c, which
shall come directly over space or slot 8, 8, in a completed pile or battery
of the larger size; w, w, are screws; z, z, is a little hole in band d¹;
this hole is used for inserting the end wire of the conductor cord when-
ever a rapid interruption of the current is required.
I will now explain the construction and operation of this pile or bar
battery, so that those skilled in the art can manufacture and operate
them.
In the construction of this improved pile or bar battery each bar of
zinc and each bar of copper or other metal must have metallic con-
nection, thus forming a pair of bars of dissimilar metals. Each pair
must be insulated from the next pair of bars by adjusting between
their ends as bearings small bits of rubber cloth. The Inventor has a
great variety of these batteries manufactured on his model, and composed
of bars of different metals and alloys of metals, in size from two to
twenty inches long, and on the whole he finds that two sizes out of all
these appear to be best adapted to medical purposes. The smaller size,
for example, made of rolled metals, is an intensity current pile composed
of bars two inches long, thrce-sixteenths of an inch wide, cut by means
of a die out of rolled metals, as follows:-The zinc (or zine with twenty
per centum of magnesium) is four thirty-seconds of an inch in thickness,
the yellow metal is three thirty-seconds of an inch in thickness. While
soldering these small bars together at their ends in pairs of one zinc bar
with one copper or yellow metal, brass, or other metal bar, a very thin
strip of tin or sheet brass about one-fortieth of an inch thick shall be

page_text: placed between the bars, so that when soldered this strip is removed,
leaving a very narrow space between all the pairs so united. The side
pieces of the frame A composed of the material described should be, for
example, some twelve inches long, half an inch wide, three-eights of
an inch thick, and grooved lengthwise, quarter of an inch deep by
three-sixteenths of an inch wide, just so as to receive and hold together
the ends of the bars of a whole pile or bar battery. These side pieces of
frame A, A, are held together and thus firmly binding all the bars of the
pile by brass end bands c, c, reaching across from the end of one side of
the frame A, A, to the other, and then bending over on the back of the
side pieces of the frame A, A, an inch or two it is held firmly to the
frame by means of screws to, 20.
In order to conveniently put together this peculiar pile or battery,
first place the frame A, A, in an erect position and adjust in each
bottom corner a small block of rubber cloth, for example, three-
sixteenths of an inch square and one-fortieth of an inch thick, directly
upon the inside of the end band c, c. Commence with a single bar
of zinc, first filing on its side two little transverse notches g, g, for
receiving the wire ends of conductor cords and for connecting one
frame with another whenever a number of batteries is required to be
worked together. Dip the ends of this first bar in dissolved rubber
and quickly adjust it on the rubber blocks in the frame, so that when
dry all shall remain firm in place. Then proceed carefully placing
the rubber blocks and double bars in alternate series, first smearing
the ends of each pair of bars in the soft rubber so that each pair shall
be thoroughly insulated from the next pair and from the frame. The
pairs are fixed with zinc bar up so that when the pile is finished the
bars shall be strictly alternate, that is, first a zinc bar, then a brass,
copper, or yellow metal bar, and the last bar must be single, and a
brass, copper, or yellow metal bar. The frame will thus hold, for
example, some forty or fifty pairs of elements. The object of these
single end bars, one being of zinc and the other of brass, copper, or
some metal dissimilar to zinc, is for the purpose of rendering the
poles of this pile or battery in unison with the poles of ordinary
galvanic (primary current) batteries, namely, the zinc end bar to
signify and is in effect the negative pole, while the copper or brass
end bar signifies and is in effect the positive pole. It is well known
that the poles of the old voltaic pile were the reverse of this and led

page_text: to much confusion. When the frame A, A, is thus fitted with bars
fixed alternately to each other, and small spaces are secured on both
sides of each and every bar, one space being secured by the soldering
and the next space being secured by the block of rubber cloth that
is placed between every pair of bars and its fellow pair, the pile is
held together by fastening band c, c, over the open end of the frame
in like manner as the bottom band. Over this end band is fixed a
slender vibrator v, v, some two inches or more long, while a guard d, d,
over its free end at x, x, and secured on the other hand by a cross
band d¹, d, fastened on the side of the end of one of the side pieces
to frame A, A. In this band d, d, is provided a small hole z, z,
for receiving the end wire of the conductor cord whenever a rapid
interruption of the current is required. I have given the above dimen-
sions, method of construction, and description of the smaller size of this
improved pile or battery as a convenient example to go by in manu-
facturing them. The same principles of construction and operation of
the smaller size are preserved of course in the larger sized batteries,
nevertheless, the method of construction differs somewhat; therefore
that electricians and others may fully understand this improved pile
or bar battery, I choose to describe the larger size. The advantages
of the larger sized battery over the smaller is one respect in obtaining
a protracted current by using means of keeping the surface wet with
weak acid, or whatever may be used for an exciting liquid. Again,
while the small battery is an intensity one, it is not essentially a
quantity one; now as the larger battery by its peculiar construction
presents more metal to the surface in proportion to the smaller size,
it is evident that the larger size is not only an intensity but a quantity
battery. This gives a very valuable and convenient battery for medical
and other purposes.
In constructing the larger sized battery the Inventor uses cast bars
of metal, because rolled metals or otherwise wrought metals are more
compact in their particles and are less susceptible to the action of water
or very weak acids like vinegar, or a chemical like sea water, especially
when a quantity as well as an intensity current is required. These bars
are conveniently cast rectangular in their transverse section and straight
in their length so as to be placed parallel with very narrow spaces
between, or better still if moulded with an opening 8, 8, extending the
most of their length, as shown in Figure 3, which opening or space

page_text: allows air and moisture also to circulate throughout the interior or
length of the whole pile or battery, thus preventing more surface of
metal to be acted upon. When protracted action is demanded, the
wetting of the battery can be greatly prolonged by drawing through
and leaving in this longitudinal space or opening through all the bars
a folded piece of cotton, flannel, or other porous substance saturated
with exciting liquid. The side pieces of the frame to this larger sized
battery should be made of material described for smaller size, for
example, about one foot in length, one inch in width, and half an
inch thick, with groove e, e, a quarter of an inch deep, a quarter of an
inch at bottom bevilled out to three-quarters of an inch, so as to
readily receive and hold the ends of the bars used in the larger sized
pile. The ends of these side pieces, when the pile is completed, are
secured and held together by cast brass end bands, for this larger size
are provided with openings, as shewn at t, t, Figure 4, so as to open
over the spaces 8, 8, in the bars. These larger bars, for example, are
about four inches long, three-quarters of an inch wide, with longitudinal
spaces 8, 8, through the middle, quarter of an inch wide, three inches
and three-quarters (about) long, and the bars are tapered for a quarter
of an inch at sides of ends to half an inch in width. The zinc bars are
five thirty-seconds of an inch in thickness, and the brass or copper bars
are four thirty-seconds of an inch in thickness, both having the longi-
tudinal space or opening 8, 8; the copper bar has an elevation 1, 1,
cast on both ends of one of its sides, one thirty-second of an inch
high, for a shoulder or bearing for its fellow zinc bar to rest against
while soldering to secure the narrow uniform spaces between the zinc
and copper bars, the same as herein-before described for the smaller sized
pile, and the spaces between the pairs are preserved by the insula-
tors h, h, quarter of an inch by half an inch, and one thirty-second of
an inch in thickness, for example. In laying up this pile the groove e, e,
of the frame A, A, must be well smeared in soft rubber as well as the
ends of the bars, as described for laying up the smaller bars. The zinc
and copper bars are soldered together at the ends shown at m, m, to
form the pairs or elements. The end bars of this battery or pile of the
larger size must be single, the same as in the small size, while the whole
must be laid up in regular alternating order with respect to the whole
series, beginning with a zinc bar and terminating with a copper bar or a
bar of some metal dissimilar to zinc. For attaching one battery with
another, also for attaching the end wires of the two conductor cords that

page_text: lead to the electrodes, two small notches g, g, are filed in the last side
of the end bar some half-inch from its ends, and likewise a similar
notch g, g, should be made in every tenth pair of bars, into which a
wire may be pressed to convey as much or little current as required
at any given time; a vibrator v, v, may likewise be attached to this
larger size, the same as in the smaller.
If two or more batteries are required to work together it is only
necessary to make metallic contact of the zinc end of one frame with
the yellow metal end of another frame, and so on for any number,
taking care to place the two piles as shewn in Figure 1, for if both
ends touch the current would be neutralized, and they must be placed
upon dry and non-conducting material, with one end a little elevated.
In order to have the battery operate to advantage uniformly each of
the spaces between the bars, and especially those between the several
pairs of bars, between the ends of which are rubber insulation, must
be merely capillary or not more than one thirty-second of an inch wide,
so narrow at least as to readily catch and hold between the bars drops
or portions of the exciting liquid, whenever it may be brushed over or
otherwise applied to the series of bars for exciting them to action, for if
only one space is not wet just as it is when one element in a galvanic
series fails so will the current fail to pass in this.
To set the battery in action it is only necessary to wet all the bars
with water, vinegar and water, vinegar, sea or salt water, or, better still,
vinegar that contains one or two drachms of sulphate of copper to the
pint. When work is done cleanse the pile by simply pouring water
or warm water over it and the keeping is perfect. Thus great electricity
is obtained from little expenditure.
The Inventor wishes it to be understood that he does not confine
himself to the dimensions given in this Specification, but those given
are convenient and are given for examples. He disclaims the order and
series of discs or plates of zinc and copper metals with cloths as arranged
in the common voltaic pile, or the arrangement of metals and acid
liquids in cups or cells as in the various galvanic batteries.
Having now fully described the improved pile or portable battery
for conveniently generating electricity with economy at any time or
in any place, what I claim as the Invention communicated to me by
the said Alfred Charles Garratt is, the improved pile or battery composed
of two or more dissimilar metals in the form of bars, either solid or with

page_text: longitudinal openings, so arranged that there shall be a narrow space on
each side of every bar, also through the middle of the larger sized
bars, as herein-before described, with the bars of each pair of dissimilar
metals insulated, as described, and the several pairs so arranged by safe
and durable metallic connections at their ends, and securely held in a
frame provided with a vibrator, as specified, the whole being substantially
as herein-before set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Davies, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.