IMPROVEMENTS GENERATING ELECTRICITY." IN PILES FOR PROVISIONAL SPFICATION
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Lionel Leclanche, Civil Engineer, or
Rue Gaillon, Paris, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
GENERATING ELECTRICITY."
IN PILES
FOR
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Lionel Leclanche
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th March 1866.
I, GEORGE LIONEL LECLANCHE, Civil Engineer, of 13, Rue Gaillon, Paris,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PILES FOR GENERATING ELECTRICITY," to be as follows:---
Electric piles composed of two liquids in which the constancy of the
current is obtained by means of the decomposition of a soluble salt of copper
have two serious disadvantages; firstly, the evaporation of the liquids; and,
secondly, the permanent mixture of the two liquids of whatever nature the
porous diaphragm may be. The principal results of these two facts, are,
firstly, the necessity of renewing evaporated liquids; secondly, a considerable
[Paid]

page_text: waste of salt of copper; thirdly, a short duration of the pile; and, fourthly,
a sensible weakening of the current. By substituting for the soluble salts of
copper insoluble or slightly soluble salts of copper I obtain the following
advantages-Firstly, the facility of closing and sealing hermetically the
piles; secondly, a duration at least double that of the piles hitherto used;
thirdly, avoiding the necessity of superintendence; fourthly, the consump-
tion of the salt of copper reduced to the theoretical proportion; fifthly,
the total absence of all internal chemical action when the pile is not at
work; and, sixthly, the possibility and facility of storing the piles ready
prepared without any waste. I have found that the salt of copper insoluble
or slightly soluble which has given me the best results is carbonate of copper.
I have also found in practice the following arrangements of parts to be the
most preferable: I place in the bottom of a jar having a large mouth a plate
of copper or any other metal, or even any other electrophil substance, such as,
for instance, graphite or any other carbon good conductor of electricity, to
which I attach a wire to be used as one of the poles, and I cover this plate
with carbonate of copper reduced into a powder, and I then fill the jar nearly
up to its mouth with sand or pulverized sandstone, in the middle of which I
place the zinc bearing a copper wire to be used as the negative pole; I then
moisten the whole with a liquid containing a salt in solution capable by its
decomposition of rendering soluble the salt employed.
In the case above mentioned (carbonate of copper) I moisten the whole
with water containing about twenty per cent. of chlorhydrate of ammonia, the
apparatus may then be hermetically closed. It is well understood that the
two wires must be allowed to pass through the mouth of the jar.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Lionel Leclanche, in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th September 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
LIONEL LECLANCHE, Civil Engineer, of 13, Rue Gaillon, Paris, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the

page_text: said George Lionel Leclanche, Her special licence that I, the said George
Lionel Leclanche, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said George Lionel Leclanche, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PILES FOR GENERATING ELECTRICITY,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Lionel Leclanche,
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 George Lionel Leclanche, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-—
Piles composed of two liquids in which the constancy of the current is
obtained by means of the decomposition of a soluble salt of copper have two
serious disadvantages; firstly, the evaporation of the liquids; and, secondly,
the permanent mixture of the two liquids of whatever nature the porous
diaphragm may be. The principal results of these two facts are, firstly, the
necessity of renewing the evaporated liquids; secondly, a considerable waste
of salt of copper; thirdly, the short duration of the pile; and, fourthly, a
sensible weakening of the current.
By substituting for the soluble salts of copper insoluble or slightly soluble
salts of copper I obtain the following advantages:-Firsly, the facility of
closing and sealing hermetically the piles; secondly, a duration at least double
that of the piles hitherto used; thirdly, avoiding the necessity of super-
intendence; fourthly, the consumption of the salt of copper will be reduced to
the theoretical or atomic proportion; fifthly, the total absence of all internal
chemical action when the pile is not at work; and, sixthly, the possibility and
facility of storing the piles ready prepared without any waste. I have found
that the salt of copper insoluble or but slightly soluble which has given me
the best results is carbonate of copper.

page_text: I have also found in practice the following arrangements of parts to be the
most preferable:-I place in the bottom of a bottle or jar, having a large
mouth, a plate of copper or any other metal, or even any other electrophil
substance, such, for instance, as graphite, or any other carbon or good con-
ductor of electricity, to which I attach a wire to be used as one of the poles,
I cover this plate with carbonate of copper reduced to a powder; and I then
fill the bottle or jar nearly up to its mouth with sand or pulverized sandstone,
"in the middle of which I place the zinc provided with a copper wire, to be
used as the negative pole; I then moisten the whole with a liquid containing
a salt in solution capable by its decomposition of rendering soluble the salt
employed.
In the case above-mentioned. (carbonate. of copper) I moisten the whole
with water containing about twenty per cent. of hydrochlorate of ammonia;
the apparatus may then be hermetically closed. It is of course under-
stood that the two wires must be allowed to pass through the mouth of the
bottle.
:
In order that my improvements may be better understood I have repre-
sented in the accompanying Drawing a pile constructed on my new system, in
which A is the bottle or jar; B, the plate of copper or of any other metal
or even any other electrophil substance, such, for instance, as graphite, or any
other carbon or good conductor of electricity; C, the carbonate of copper
(u, Cu O C. 0) reduced to a powder; and D, the wire attached to the plate,
and to be used as one of the poles; E is the zinc; F, the sand or pulverised
sandstone; G, the copper wire attached to the zinc, and used as the negative
pole; H, the cock or bung; and I the sealing wax.
(Nota Bene). The whole (sand and carbonate of copper) is to be moistened
with water containing hydrochlorate of ammonia.
Having thus explained the nature of my Invention, and the best. means
that I am acquainted with for carrying the same into practice, I claim,―
Firstly, constructing galvanic or electric piles in the manner herein set
forth. I claim particularly the use in electrical piles of insoluble or but
slightly soluble salts of copper moistened with a liquid containing a salt in
solution which is capable by its decomposition of rendering the said salts of
copper soluble, such, for instance, as the hydrochlorate of ammonia or any
other analogous substance answering the same purpose.
Secondly, although for the purposes above-mentioned I prefer to use the
carbonate of copper to the other salts of copper, insoluble, or but slightly
soluble, I claim also the use for the purpose of my. Invention of the chloride

page_text: sulphates, basic sulphates, oxychlorides, and even oxide of copper, which can
give excellent results.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Lionel Leclanche, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
D. H. BRANDON,
13, Rue Gaillon,
Paris.
GEORGE LIONEL LECLANCHE. (L.S.)