CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF ELECTRICITY
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Arnand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau,
of 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, and 89, Rue de l'Echiquier,
Sealed the 22nd February 1854, and dated the 29th August 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand Le
Comte de Fontaine Moreau at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th August 1858.
I, PETER ARMAND LE COMTE DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South
Street, Finsbury, & 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, France, Patent
Agent, do hereby declare that the nature of the Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF ELECTRICITY" to be as follows:-
The Invention consists in using hydrochloric acid diluted in water
until it ceases to emit smoke in the vessel which is in contact with the
charcoal. that is to say, with the electro positive element; and in sub-
stituting (in the vessel containing the electro negative element) hydro-
chloric acid diluted with four or five times its volume of water for.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th February 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
PETER ARMAND LE COMTE DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, and 89, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, France, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most. Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent. bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Peter Armand Le Comte
de Fontaine Morean, Her special licence that I, the said Peter
Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Armand Le Comte
le Fontaine Moreau, 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, excreise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION
OF ELECTRICITY," communicated to me from a foreigner residing abroad,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter Armand
Le Comte de Fontaine Morcau, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Peter Armand Le Comte de
Fontaine Moreau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention,

page_text: and in what manuer the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof.
reference being had to the Drawing hereto annexed, and to the figures
and letters marked thereon, that is to say:
The Invention communicated to me consists in employing for tlic
poles of a battery constructed as herein-after described either hydro-
chloric acid alone at different degrees of concentration, or hydrochloric
and another acid, and in maintaining the required strength of the
hydrochloric acid by introducing hydrochloric acid gas or chlorine gas
thereto, by which electric currents are produced in a regular and
advantageous manner.
The hydrochloric acid is diluted in six or eight times its volume of
water for the zinc pole, and is employed in a concentrated state for.
the carbon pole. The strength of the solution may be increased by
employing for the carbon pole one part of nitric and two parts of hydro-
chloric acid. The action of the battery may be maintained at an
almost regular degree of strength by causing a stream of hydrochloric
acid gas or chlorine gas to arrive in the trough containing the carbon
pole. The employment of hydrochloric acid alone is advantageous on
account of the solubility of the compound it forms with the zinc.
I also employ sulphuric acid for the carbon pole, and hydrochloric
acid for the zinc pole, the said acids being diluted with water according.
to the degree of strength required. The vessels used should be the least
porous possible to prevent the liquids mixing too quickly together.
I can also employ a concentrated solution of nitrate of soda or other
salt with hydrochloric acid.
I will now procced to describe the Figures of the Drawing, in which
the same letters of reference, wherever they occur, represent parts
which are similar. Figure 1, elevation, and Figure 2, plan of a
battery with cylindrical vessels. When I make use of a battery with
cylindrical vessels the porous vessel is covered over with a plate having
three perforations. One of the perforations serves for the introduction
of the carbon; another for a tube E, permanently set at, top, and
united to another tube F, serving to conduct the gas from a vessel M,
which receives it from a suitable generator by means of an india-

page_text: rubber or gutta-percha elbow piece. The tube E, descends nearly to
the bottom of the porous vessel C, and is made fast to its upper part
with cement, as also the carbon. The third perforation G, which may
be at top or bottom of the vessel, serves to discharge its contents either
direct, or by means of a syphon communicating by means of a series
of tubes with the various cells of the battery. A, trough of carthen-
ware or other suitable material; B, zinc cylinder. Instead of -zinc,
cast or wrought iron may be employed. D, carbon.
Figure 8, elevation, and Figure 4, plan of the troughs made of a
square form. In the two opposite sides of the trough A, a groove B,
is made for receiving a porous plate C, which is fixed to it at top by
means of-mastic, its other end being received in a groove d, at bottom;
f, covering plate; B, zinc plate. Porous carbon is preferable to coke
from the gas furnaces;, it should have a large surface. _
Having thus described the nature of the Invention communicated to
me, and the manner of performing the same, I would have it under-
stood that I do not confine myself to the precise proportions herein
laid down. But what I claim is, the employment of hydrochloric acid
alone at different degrees of concentration, or hydrochloric and another
acid or saline solution, for the two poles of a battery, and in main-
taining the strength of the hydrochloric acid by the addition of the
gas of hydrochloric acid or of chlorine for obtaining a more constant
and regular supply of clectricity, as herein-before described and referred
to in the Figures of the annexed Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand Le Comte de
Fontaine Moreau, have hereto set my hand and seal, this
Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
L DE FONTAINE MOREAU. (L.S.)