lators and to the Manufacture of Electrodes therefor.
Year: 1888

page_text: lators and to the Manufacture of Electrodes therefor.
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I, LEONARD PAGET of No. 7 Wall street City and State of New York, United States
of America Electrician and Chemist, 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 :-
The first part of my invention relates to storage batteries in which the active material
is applied to one of the electrodes, while the other electrode is of what is known as
the Plante type, and its objects are, first, to obtain a porous positive electrode affording
ready exit for the gases developed thereon, and an even circulation of the electrolyte
through it. Second, to construct a negative electrode in such a manner that the
supporting frame shall present a minimum amount of absorbent surface, and that the
greater portion of the support for the active material shall not be directly exposed to
the electrolyte, thereby preventing the development of hydrogen on the surface of
the frame instead of the reduced lead and avoiding the developments of false
electro-motive force attained at the surface of the electrode or plate during the process
of charging.
A further object of this form of support is to more securely hold the active
material.
An additional object of this part of my invention is an improved electrolyte which
gives much more rapid formation of the positive plate or electrode than is possible
with a plain lead electrode suspended in an electrolyte of dilute sulphuric acid.
A still further object of this part of my invention is to increase the capacity and rates
of charge and discharge of the battery as well as to make it more durable.
"
I desire it to be understood that by the term " negative electrode or plate" I mean
that electrode or plate which is to be reduced by the charging current commonly and
erroneously known as the "positive plate," and by the term positive electrode or
plate," I mean the lead plate which it is desired to peroxidise, commonly and
erroneously known as the "negative plate."
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 represents a side elevation of my improved negative plate showing the
active material in position in the left side thereof, and the retaining grids or bars for
holding such active material in the right hand side thereof, the active material being
removed so as to show them.

page_text: Figure 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2, 2 of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a vertical cross section on the line 3, 3, of Figure 1.
Figure 4 is a similar side elevation of the positive or lead plate.
Figure 5 is an end elevation of said lead plate showing one of the suspended strips
broken away at the bottom; and
Figure 6 is a detail view showing a part of the strips separated from each other in
such manner as to disclose their internal or surface portions.
I will first describe the negative pole plate or electrode shown in Figure 1.
I cast the retaining plate A of pure lead in the shape of a frame having the
usual contact lugs or ears E, E, and cross bars a, a, b, b, which divide the frame
into sections for holding the active material, while an additional set of cross bars c, c,
are at the same time cast with the frame but at a lower or depressed level than
the first named cross bars, a, a, b, b. The active material F of the usual type is
pressed into the rectangular spaces on both sides of the plate as clearly shown on
the left hand side of Figures 1 and 2, in such manner as to entirely fill said
spaces. It will be seen that by this arrangement all of the sustaining bars c are
entirely embedded in the active material, the only portion of the frame exposed to the
electrolyte being the ribs a, b, and the end and bottom ribs, and even this surface may
be reduced to a minimum by making the ribs a, a, and b, b V shaped as will be
understood.
I have found by experiment that with electrodes or plates in which portions of
the supporting frame are largely exposed with the active material, there results local
action as well as deleterious effects due to "buckling" by virtue of the expansion and
contraction of such exposed parts, and my improvement avoids these difficulties by
presenting a minimum surface of such parts. The ribs a, b, may be covered by
wooden vulcanite or glass strips as is usual in storage batteries where it is desired
to separate the positive and negative electrodes. While I define this type of elec-
trode as being of negative form and prefer to use it with the hereinafter described
positive electrode of the Plante type, I do not desire to be limited to its use as a
negative electrode per se as it is obvious I might use too such electrodes, one as
the positive and the other as the negative. The positive electrode shown in elevation
in Figure 4, is composed of corrugated lead strips m, m, set as shown in a
suspensory beam of type metal A¹, having ears or lugs E¹, E¹. These strips are
preferably attached to this suspensory beam by being cast into it and rest one
against another, the corrugations of each alternate strip producing grooves which
run in one direction, while those of the succeeding alternate strips produce grooves
which run in the opposite direction, the strips being placed back to back as clearly
shown in Figure 4; the first set of openings i passing from the front of the plate
to the rear, and the second set d passing from the rear to the front, the two sets being
inclined to each other at an angle. The suspensory beam A¹ constitutes the sole
support of these lead strips they being entirely free at their lower ends but always
in contact with each other. It will be understood upon examining the construction
shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6, that the electrolyte has a positive circulation in both
directions through the electrode and that a maximum surface is obtained with a
minimum amount of material, while the corrugated strips are so related to each other
as to make a comparatively solid and firm electrode. I have found by experiment
that during the process of charging and discharging of an electrode of this nature
there is an expansion and contraction of about ten per cent of the normal length
of one of the strips. Were both ends of these strips rigidly fastened, or were they
allowed to dangle freely and independent of each other, serious results would follow.
I construct these corrugated strips in such manner that the corrugations thereof must
be equal in width or length to the width of the strip and they are located at such an
angle as to connect the diagonal points of the rhomboid which is formed by them. I
find that a plate or electrode constructed after this manner presents such an enlarged
surface that it is rendered much more porous and allows much freer passage for
the gases and for the interchange of the electrolyte than with any of the known
forms with which I am acquainted.

page_text: I am aware that it is old to utilize two electrodes of this general corrugated type in
a storage battery, the one being positive and the other negative, and I make no claim
to such feature broadly, one branch of my invention being directed to the combination
of this type of electrode with the negative electrode above described.
I will now describe the electrolyte which is designed especially for the purpose of
reducing the positive plate in the quickest possible time. It is composed of dilute
sulphuric acid of the proportions of 1 to 5 with 10% of nitrite of ethyl or acetate
of ethyl, the nitrite being more active if acidified with not more than 1% nitric
acid, the acetate also with not more than 2% of acetic acid. I find that if these
proportions are exceeded the plate will be dissolved. I immerse the two plates or
electrodes in this electrolyte and pass through them a current of electricity suffi-
ciently powerful to cause a commotion of the solution, it being electrolized with a
current of from 6 to 10 amperes per square foot of actual positive pole plate or
electrode surface. There results from this action an exceedingly rapid peroxidation
of the positive pole plate or electrode in the nature of a coherent hard deposit. I
find that an electrode can be peroxidized in this electrolyte in a very brief space of
time whereas with the Plante method and electrolyte of dilute sulphuric acid, days
and even weeks are required. With my improvement only one charge is required of
one and a half times to twice the ultimate capacity of the plates. The plates are then
removed, washed with water and set up in the usual electrolyte.
The objects of the second part of my invention are, first to provide an electrode
which shall as far as possible be free from the annoying fault known as "buckling."
Second to so construct the electrode as to overcome the fault technically known as
"stripping" or "scaling." Buckling as is well known is the result of unequal electro
chemical action over the surfaces of the electrode or piate whereby it is caused to
expand unequally and thereby warp or twist the entire plate thus often rendering the
battery useless. Or it sometimes is due to inequalities of expansion between the
active material or material adapted to become active and the metallic supporting
frame.
The fault known as "stripping," "scaling," or falling off of the active material or
material adapted to become active is due also in a measure to this unequal expansion as
well as to lack of actual cohesion between it and the frame or support the latter being
the chief reason for such disintegration. The active material or material adapted to
become active to which I refer is ordinarily composed of an oxide of lead made into
paste with water and then mechanically applied to the support or plate in this pasty
condition by pressure or other well known processes not necessary to enumerate
here; said processes, however, producing cohesion between the two parts rather than
an actual union which makes them integral.
There results therefore in the practice of such processes of uniting the aforesaid
parts an inferior union and therefore there is in addition to the liability to strip off
an additional fault in that there is insufficient conducting capacity between the two.
This part of my invention is designed to overcome these objections as far as possible,
and it will be fully understood by referring to the following description taken in
connection with Figures 7 to 10 of the drawings in which the figures are all
perspective views.
Figure 7, illustrates one form of support in the nature of a corrugated stirrup or
loop in which the active material lies in the stirrup or loop.
Figure 8, illustrates a modified form composed of coiled or spiral wire, two coils in
a single piece, one within the other.
Figure 9, illustrates still another modified form in the nature of a single strip of
corrugated metal having holes to better retain the active material or material adapted
to become active.
Figure 10, represents an electrode entire with the retaining stirrups or loops in
position and showing the active material or material adapted to become active held in
place in all of the stirrups or loops.
.
I take a strip of lead or analogous material (Figure 7) and corrugate it as shown
and then bend it in the form of a stirrup or loop having shanks (s s), I then place

page_text: .
this stirrup or loop in a mould and fill it with a mass of molten active material or material
adapted to become active then allow the whole to cool thereby firmly uniting the
two parts so that at their point of juncture they are integral. I then arrange a
series of these loops or stirrups thus prepared in a row and unite them at the upper
ends by casting or otherwise to a suspensory conducting bar (A¹) around the
shanks (s s), as clearly indicated in Figure 10, the lower ends being free or dis-
connected. This bar has the usual binding attachments for uniting the electrodes as
the exterior circuit connections. In the form shown in Fig. 8, I cast the molten
metal consisting preferably of a lead oxide and a flux as saltpetre or nitre around the
entire compound spiral as shown by dotted lines, and similarly I cast it about the
corrugated strip shown in Figure 9 the holes (a¹ a¹) causing firm union between
the strip and active material when it cools.
It will be understood that by reason of the peculiar expansible form of the supports.
shown in Figures 7, 8 and 9 they may expand and contract with the surrounding or
sustained active material thus avoiding the faults above named. I may cast the
active material or material adapted to become active upon the supports indicated by
moulding it as above noted, or by dipping them into the molten material and
removing them and then repeating the action until the desired thickness of deposited
material has been obtained.
The third part of my invention relates particularly to a novel arrangement of
parts as hereinafter described. Its objects are, first, to so construct or arrange the
elements comprising a storage battery as to occupy a minimum space.
Second, to devise a secondary battery having electrodes or plates carrying or
supporting the active material held firmly or securely in fixed relation to each other
and to the intervening plates of opposite polarity.
This, the third part of my invention, will be fully understood by referring to
Figures 11 to 13 of the drawings, in which,
Figure 11, is a vertical section taken through my improved secondary battery in a
plane parallel to the faces of the electrodes and shewing one of that series of the
electrodes which carries or sustains the active material, the lid of the jar or box being
removed.
Figure 12 is a plan view as seen looking down upon the lid or top of a battery
box or jar and
Figure 13 is a side elevational view partly in section and partly broken away
shewing two cells of my improved battery in operative relation as well as the interior
construction.
In the electrode in the first part of my invention shewn in Figure 1 the frames A
carrying the active material have lugs or ears E E at their upper sides which
constitute hangers adapted to support said frames by resting on the sides of the
battery box, the intervening corrugated or strip electrodes being similary held in
place, so that the battery as a whole while adapted for use in places where it is not
liable to be disturbed or when used in stationary locations gives satisfactory results.
I find that for use on moving vehicles the electrodes are liable to swing into contact
or get displaced. By the present improvement described in the third part of my
invention I entirely avoid this objectionable feature and devise a battery baving
permanent or fixed electrodes practically integral with the battery box or jar.
I construct a battery box or cell A³, preferably of metal such as type metal, although
it may be made of any good conducting material whatever, the essential feature in
this particular being that the battery box, cell or jar shall itself be a good conductor
of electricity.
I then prepare a set of electrode frames for supporting or sustaining the active
material, preferably of the form described in the first part of my invention above
referred to. The ears or lugs E E at the top, and the legs L L at the bottom of said
frames are then cast, soldered or otherwise integrally attached to the walls and bottom
of the conducting box or cell A³, as clearly shewn in Figures 11 and 13. L' L' ar
legs which are integral with the box A³.
It will be seen that I provide in this manner a very firm and compact structur

page_text: thoroughly braced throughout; the whole construction constituting one electrode, the
plates F F being securely held at four or more points each if necessary, so that there
is no possibility of any shifting from shaking or jostling.
In addition, the well known objectionable feature of buckling is by this means
further avoided. This structure constitutes as 1 have noted, one electrode, and a
binding post B¹ is firmly secured in direct electrical contact with the conducting
containing box, jar, or vessel A. On the upper rim or edge of the box, jar or vessel,
I place an insulating strip 1 preferably of soft rubber, thereby constituting an
insulator as well as an elastic support for the lid and upper electrode support which
I will now describe. This lid D, is made preferably of type metal, but may, like the
box or vessel A, be of any good conductor of electricity. It fits snugly over the
insulating strip or collar I, or said strip or collar may be firmly securely to it and
made removable from the box with it. m, m, m, are corrugated strip electrodes cast
into supporting ribs A', and these ribs are in turn cast soldered, brazed, or otherwise
integrally attached to the conducting lid D, at such distances apart as to hang when
in place directly between the rigid or fixed electrodes P above described. The lower
ends of the corrugated strips are held out of direct contact with the rigid electrodes
by the rubber or analogous strips o o, interwoven between their ends.
A² A² A² A² are stiffening ribs running across the lid directly above the
bars A A A¹ A¹.
B is a binding post integral with the lid D.
HHH are ventilating holes of sufficient diameter to admit a hydrometer to test
the specific gravity of the electrolyte. It should be noted here that the electrolyte
should immerse or partly immerse the upper bars A¹ of the corrugated electrodes so
as to avoid local action on the corrugated strips where they join said bars.
In charging this battery the dynamo or other charging source is connected in the
usual manner to binding posts B and B³, and in discharging in series the cells are
simply set one upon another as shewn in Figure 13, and the translating devices
connected in circuit through both cells from B at the top left hand side to B' at the
bottom right hand side, the boxes, jars or cells themselves being directly in circuit.
With a battery of such a construction I find there is little possibility of any short
circuit between the electrodes, and that it is particularly adapted for use in moving
vehicles or has special advantages where it is necessary to often move or disturb the
individual cells. My improved arrangement of the electrodes also possesses an
additional advantage in that it permits a free circulation of the electrolyte around
them.
I am aware that speaking broadly it is old to construct both primary and storage
batteries in such manner that the retaining vessel which carries the solution or
electrolyte constitutes one of the electrodes. My improvement does not lie in such
feature, as the retaining vessel is not in fact an electrode in the sense implied, that is
that it is an active element of the battery.
I am also aware that it is old to dispose a series of cells made of conducting
material one upon another, and to utilize the conductivity of the cells for connecting
them up in series arrangement, such a construction being well known in that form of
battery in which the electrodes are "nested." I am also aware that it is old in the
art to fix or fasten the electrode frames carrying the active material to the side
walls and bottom of the battery box but so far as I am aware the battery boxes in
every instance were of nonconducting material.
I therefore make no claim to these broad features.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
First: A negative electrode for a secondary or storage battery consisting of a
sustaining frame or plate having the active material held in place in its depressed
faces by parts of the frame wholly beneath it, substantially as described.
Second A negative electrode for a secondary or storage battery consisting of a

page_text: plate or frame having the active material packed in sections thereof and wholly
embedding the parts which sustain or support it, substantially as described.
Third A negative electrode for a secondary or storage battery consisting of a
frame having depressed spaces filled with active material and rigid sustaining bars
wholly buried beneath said active material, substantially as described.
Fourth-A negative electrode for secondary or storage batteries consisting of a
conducting frame having two or more cross ribs dividing it into sections, and a series
of depressed cross bars lying below the level of said ribs for holding the active
material in place, substantially as described.
Fifth The combination in a secondary battery of a positive electrode having
corrugated oxidizable strips with a negative electrode consisting of a frame composed
of stiffening cross bars and depressed sustaining bars located wholly beneath the
surface of the active material, substantially as described.
Sixth-An electrolyte for secondary or storage batteries consisting of dilute
sulphuric acid in combination with nitrite of ethyl or its described equivalent in
substantially the proportions enumerated, substantially as described.
Seventh-An electrode for a secondary or storage battery having the active
material or material adapted to become active composed of oxidizable matter integrally
attached to one or more corrugated sustaining strips, substantially as described.
Eighth An electrode for a secondary or storage battery having the active material
or material adapted to become active composed of a salt of lead cast upon the surface
of a support, substantially as described.
Ninth An electrode for a secondary or storage battery having the active material
or material adapted to become active composed of a salt of lead cast upon an expansible
support, substantially as described.
Tenth: An electrode for a secondary or storage battery having the active material
or material adapted to become active composed of a salt of lead cast upon a support
which is attached at its upper end to a sustaining bar and free at its lower end
substantially as described.
Eleventh An electrode for a secondary battery having the active material or
material adapted to become active cast upon corrugated strips attached at their upper
ends to a sustaining bar and free at their lower ends, substantially as described.
Twelfth-An electrode for a secondary or storage battery having the active
material or material adapted to become active cast upon the surface of a series of
corrugated strips supported or sustained at their upper ends only, substantially.as
described.
Thirteenth-The within described method or process of preparing an electrode for
use in a secondary or storage battery which consists in fusing the active material or
material adapted to become active; then immersing the frame or support in said fused
mass and finally allowing the whole to cool whereby the active material or material
adapted to become active is firmly united to the frame or support, substantially as
described.
Fourteenth -The within described method or process of preparing an electrode
for use in a secondary or storage battery which consists, first, in mixing the active
material or material adapted to become active with a flux.
mixture, and third, immersing the support or frame in said molten mass and allowing
Second, melting said
the whole to cool, substantially as described.
Fifteenth :-The within described method or process of preparing an electrode for
use in a secondary or storage battery which consists, first, in fusing a metallic salt and
a flux, and then casting said molten mass, about a conducting support, substantially as 5
described.
Sixteenth-The described process of preparing an electrode for use in a secondary
or storage battery which consists in casting a molten metallic salt about the conducting
electrode or support, substantially as described.
Seventeenth-The described process of preparing an electrode for a secondary or
storage battery, consisting in casting a combined molten metallic salt and flux about*
the conducting electrode, or support substantially as described.

page_text: Eighteenth The within described process of preparing an electrode for use in a
secondary or storage battery which consists in first, fusing the active material or
material adapted to become active, then immersing the support for said material in
this molten mass, and then removing it and allowing the whole to cool, repeating the
operation till the coating of such material has assumed the desired thickness, substan-
tially as described.
Nineteenth The within described method or process of preparing an electrode for
use in a secondary or storage battery which consists in first, mixing with the active
material or material adapted to become active with a flux. Second, melting or fusing
said mixture; and third, immersing the support or frame for holding said material in
this molten mass and then removing it and allowing the whole to cool repeating the
action until the coating of the material upon the support has attained the desired
thickness, substantially as described.
Twentieth-A storage battery box or vessel made of conducting material in com-
bination with one or more electrodes integrally attached to its inner walls, substantially
as described.
Twenty-first: A storage battery box. or vessel made of conducting material and
having one or more electrodes integrally attached at one or more points on the inside
of said box, substantially as described.
Twenty-second: A storage battery box or vessel made of conducting material in
combination with a series of conducting supports or frames carrying active material or
material adapted to become active, said supports or frames being arranged in planes
substantially parallel and having their upper edges connected integrally to the sides of
the box while their lower edges are connected similarly to the bottom thereof, substan-
tially as described.
Twenty-third -A storage battery box or vessel made of conducting material
having legs, also of conducting material and integral therewith, substantially as
described.
described.
Twenty-fourth-A storage battery box or vessel made of conducting material
having one or more electrodes electrically connected thereto, substantially as
Twenty-fifth-A storage battery box or vessel made of conducting material
having one or more electrodes of one polarity integrally connected to it, in combina-
tion with a conducting lid or cover sustaining electrodes of opposite polarity, said lid
and box being electrically separated from each other by insulation, the electrodes
being immersed in an electrolyte contained in the box or vessel, substantially as
described.
Twenty-sixth-In a secondary or storage battery, the combination of a battery,
box, or vessel of conducting material supporting one or more electrodes electrically
attached to said box, in combination with a conducting lid or cover for said box or
vessel supporting one or more electrodes, said box and cover being electrically
insulated from each other, and the electrodes immersed in an electrolyte contained in
the box, substantially as described.
Twenty-seventh-A storage battery composed of a conducting box or vessel for
the electrolyte having one or more electrodes rigidly secured inside said box, in com-
bination with a conducting lid insulated therefrom and sustaining one or more
electrodes and separated therefrom by insulating strips located near the lower ends of
said depending electrodes substantially as described.
Twenty-eighth-A storage battery composed of a conducting box having a binding
post one or more electrodes and legs integrally connected to it, in combination with a
conducting lid having an additional binding post and electrodes integrally connected
to it, said lid and box being insulated from each other at the points of support for the
lid, substantially as described.
Twenty-ninth-A lid or cover for a storage battery consisting of conducting
material sustaining or supporting one or more electrodes, in combination with stiffening
ribs extending across the lid, substantially as described.

page_text: Thirtieth-Two or more secondary batteries composed of conducting vessels and
lids with insulation between said lids and vessels and electrodes attached respectively
to the lids and vessels, said vessels being placed one upon the other, substantially as
described.
Thirty-first-The combination in a storage battery of the following elements, a
conducting box or vessel A³ having a series of electrodes P P integrally attached to
its inner walls and bottom, a conducting lid D having a series of depending
electrodes m m integrally connected to it with insulating strips o near their bottom
and an insulating strip or band I between said lid and box with binding
posts B B and legs L' L' integrally attached to the box or vessel, substantially as
described.
Dated this 27th day of November 1888
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London,
Agents for the Applicant.