A VOLTAIC PILE, AND OF THE APPLICATION OF ITS ELECTRIC FLUID,EITHER TO THE DECOMPOSITION OF WATER, OR TO ENABLE THE GASES TO REPLACE THE STEAM POWER ACTUALLY IN USE
Year: 1855

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by Epaminonda Frascara at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration, on
the 1st January 1855, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent Law
Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EPAMINONDA
FRASCARA, of Alessandria, in Piedmont, now of Alfred Place, Bedford Square,
send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "A VOLTAIC PILE,
AND OF THE APPLICATION OF ITS ELECTRIC FLUID, EITHER TO THE DECOMPOSITION OF
WATER, OR TO ENABLE THE GASES TO REPLACE THE STEAM POWER ACTUALLY IN
USE," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have
made solemn declaration that I verily believe myself to be the first and true
Inventor thereof:
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Epaminonda Frascara, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification; under my hand and seal,
fully describes and ascertains the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed (videlicet) :-
The nature of my said Invention consists in a new voltaic pile of electro.
moving (electro motive) power, and of the application of its fluid either to the
decomposition of water, or to replace the steam power now in use by the
gases,

page_text: or to use it in the electric 'telegraphs, or for the production of the light, or in
whatever other way it may be applied as an electro-magnetic power. My
new pile is of the same form as those now in use; my Invention consisting
only in this, that the porous diaphragm which separates the two liquids consists
of a paper prepared in the following manner :-
I put some nitric acid (azotico), concentrated to a supreme degree, in a vase
of china or crystal, and immerse in it cylinders or leaves of a paper made
(without gum) of rags of linen, and not of any other material, taking care to
immerse it completely and at once; I then.cover the vase and leave the paper
in it for the space of an hour or more, the duration of the immersion being in
ratio inversa of the density of the acid. When I retire the paper I imme-
diately immerse it in succession in many vases of clear water, and let it
afterwards dry by a moderate heat. I form the diaphragm of this paper with
two cylinders, or by two concentric leaves of paper in contact together in the
less polished part. The principal liquid elements of the pile are an acid and a
basis; nitric acid or sulphuric acid on one side, and liquid ammoniaca or any
other, alkaline solution on the other, always to be used at an equal specific
density; the metallic elements conductors are the cast iron containing the acid
and the coal immersed in the alkali.
The following is the description of my voltaic pile (Fig. 1):-Let S, S, be
a recipient, of cast iron, which serve as negative conductor; X, X, the dia-
phragm of paper, Xiloide; T, the coal, the positive conductor; a, a, the acid;
b, b, the alkali;, K, K, a stratum of gutta percha, round the recipient of cast
iron to isolate it. Now, from the negative and positive poles the current
ascends and goes through the conductors S, T, in the two alembics A, B, at the
base of which pass the water of the voltameter C, C, where the water is decom-
posed by the agency of cylinders of platinum I, and the alembic A becomes
full of hydrogene, and the alembic B of oxigene, which in R" has got a valve.
In o, o, there are the manometers, to ascertain the tension of the gases in the
voltameter, and as at first the alembics and the box of the voltameter are full of
water, so when the decomposition begins by the opening y, enough of water must
be let out to make room for the necessary gas, having in pa pump of supply
to keep it always full, which pump being put in motion by the piston forces
the water from the recipient f in the box C, C; the water decomposed into gas
by the alembic A goes through the tube D¹ in the condensor E (Figs. 2, 3, 4),
which is large in proportion to the power which it is to exercise. This con-
densor is composed of circular tubes, caloriferous, (Fig. 2,) within which blaze
the flames of the gases, hydroxigene, e, e, e, &c.; or these flames e, e, e, &c.

page_text: vibrate at the exterior of the condensor E (Fig. 3), so that the gas thus shut
up will acquire a power greater than that of the steam. In the gas steam
will pass to the piston; in R will be a valve of safety; in S there is a mano-
meter, to ascertain the tension of the gas steam; in r there is an opening for the
tubes; there will be in F a pump lifting the gas steam after it has served in
the piston, and it will force through the tube m, m, in its recipient Z, in which
at first will be introduced by the key D² of the voltameter A, and through the
key tube b will pass in the caloriferous and flaming tubes e, e, e, &c. In X
there will be the recipient of the oxigene, which from the tube G will be intro-
duced by the ordinary compression of the voltameter B, and by the key tube c
will go to invest in e, e, e, &c. the hydro-oxigene flame's' which passing through
the circular caloriferous tubes in the condensor E (Fig. 2), or vibrating around
it (Fig. 3), the gas steam, to shut up in the condensor E, under the ordinary
compression of the voltameter of 5 or 6 atomospheres, will acquire a power far
superior to that of the steam (Fig. 3) ; x will serve to maintain the heat
round the condensor E, and 7 will serve as an opening for the flames e, e, e, &c.
In the third apparatus (Fig. 4), instead of using the caliroferous or flaming
tubes, there are in the condensor E many strata of nets of wire of platinum of
half meltimeter in diameter, all of which go to join together on the small
cylinders of iron isolated in the condensor which communicate with the con-
ductors S, T, at the exterior. Now, through the agency of the electric current
the wire of platinum becomes incandescent, and the gas greatly heated will
acquire a tension of eighteen or twenty atmospheres.
In the gas steam will pass to the piston; in R there will be a safety
valve; in S there will be an exterior manometer, to ascertain the tension of
the gas steam; in O there will be a cylinder repelling the electricity, which
will make four revolutions for each revolution of the wheel L, moved by the
piston. In this cylinder are four concentric wheels M, I; two of them M², M³,
communicate with the positive pole (+) of the pile, the two others N³, N4, .with
the negative pole (-). Now, when the first and the third wheel, which com-
municate with the condensor E, touch the conductors, the other two wheels, the
second and the fourth, remain motionless, and vice versa, and this happens
twice for every revolution of the cylinder O. In U there is another ecentric
wheel, to open and shut at every revolution of the cylinder the valve in D',
and so at every stroke of the piston the gas is condensed twice, and twice
reproduced in the alembics of the voltameter. The cylinder V, upon which
are fixed with double springs the conductors S, T, may be brought nearer or
placed further, as desired, from the cylinder O.

page_text: These Figures may be changed, according to the form and position of the
engines to which they may be applied.
In witness whereof, I, the said Epaminonda Frascara, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
EPAMINONDA FRASCARA. (L.S.)