AN IMPROVED MODE OF PRODUCING AN ELEC- PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand Le Comite de Fontaine Moreau,
of the English and Foreign Patent Office, 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, and 89, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, France,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PRODUCING AN ELEC-
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 80th July 1858.
1, PETER ARMAND LE COMTE DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of the English.
and Foreign Patent Office, 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, and
39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, France, do hereby declare that the
nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PRODUCING AN
ELECTRIC CURRENT " to be as follows.―
The Invention communicated to me consists of a generating appara-
tus composed of twenty-eight clectric elements, which are each of them
formed of a large outer vessel, into which an amalgamated zinc

page_text: cylinder is placed in the centre of the vessel a second porous vesse
containg a single carbon or charcoal or several charcoals is placed
These charcoals can assume the form of cylindrical rods, and be set
three together, as in Figure 1, Drawing I., or have the shape of flat
pieces, and united at top, as in Figure 2. They have the faculty of
multiplying the surfaces, and therefore increase the electric action
I compose, also, electric batteries in the form of troughs, that is to
say, with fla or square vessels, instead of making them round
The twenty-eight elements are placed in a long case divided into
two principal compartments, which are themselves divided into four-
teen separate cells, serving to receive each element. Each cell is open
at top and botton, except, however, two small cross pieces set at
bottom, which are in contact with the lower part of the large outer
vessel. The large case or vessel containing the twenty-eight elements
is supported by a stand, each leg of which is provided with a setting
screw to obtain a perfect level. The stand has at top two wooden
rollers having the length of the space separating each leg, and their
two outer extremities are provided with pivots, causing their rotative
motion. One of these extremities is provided with cog wheels having
a diameter similar to that of the cylinder, and catching with each other.
By means of a crank arm the two cylinders rotate simultaneously
together; one of the catching wheels cogs with a bevel wheel having a
catch to stop the motion. The bearings, on which are set the pivots
of the cylinders, and on the same side as that of the catchings, are
moveable, aud fit, by means of a screw, which serves also to uncog
the two cylinders when it is necessary to separate the apparatus in two
parts. The apparatus is also provided with vessels which fill up
themselves, one with nitric acid, and the outer one with water acidu-
lated with sulphuric acid; these vessels receive their different liquids
from two moveable recipients which are raised in such a manner that
they pour their contents into the said vessels, which in their turn, when
full, empty themselves into the recipients, which they cause to take a
lower position. This operation is performed as follows:-Each of these
porous vessels is provided at bottom with an opening having the form
of a socket, which enters into another socket prepared in the bottom of

page_text: the large outer vessel, and which fits by means of an intermediate
vulcanized caoutchoux washer. The large outer vessel has its bottom
provided with another aperture, also having the shape of a socket, to
allow the escape of the liquid which it has to contain. To these two
lower sockets, in communication with and fitting the porous vessel as
well as the outer vessel, is adapted a tube having the shape of an
inverted T, and which, with some other tubes fitting the same kind
of vessels, forms but one long tube all along the length of the large
case or trough containing the twenty-eight electric elements, and
reaches the moveable recipient provided with a tap serving to maintain
the enclosed liquids. One of the smaller recipients is filled up with
nitric acid, and is raised to a proper clevation, according to the
capacity of the vessels, in order that when the porous vessel is full
the level be kept with the recipient, having served for the alimentation.
The same condition is observed for the second recipient, which contains
the acidulated water, but having a larger capacity, which, nevertheless,
is always in due proportion to the whole capacity of the twenty-eight
outer cells. The zinc plates are suspended to the upper cylinders by
means of very thin bands of metal or of any other substance, care being
taken to amalgamate the zinc plates by means of a portable vessel full
of mercurial solution, such as nitrate or sulphate mercury, or by any
other chemical compound capable of amalgamating zinc by simple
immersions. The zinc plates being thus amalgamated and suspended
are lowered by means of the crank arm, and placed into their proper
cell.
The taps of the reservoirs are opened which fill the vessel,
and therefore the battery is in a state to produce a very regular electric
current.
Figure 1, of the Drawing, represents a longitudinal section of the
generating apparatus. In that Figure. A is the stand supporting by
its upper arms the long case or trough, divided in two principal com-
partments, which are divided into 28 cells between them; B, is the
long trough, supported by the stand A; C, C, cylinders, placed to
the upper part of the arms of the stand A; D, catchings, set on each
axis of the rollers C, C; E, bevel wheel, to keep in its position

page_text: the roller C, C, by means of a catch, when the zincs have been
made to ascend by one or two revolutions of their strings of sus-
pension round the rollers C, C; F, crank arm, serving to turn the
rollers C, C, by means of the catchings D; G, screw, serving to
level the apparatus; H, porous vessel, with its socket; e, charcoal,
placed in the porous vessel; I, suspension strings, connecting zincs
to the rollers C, C; J, joint point of the string to the rollers C, C;
L, zinc plates; M, outer vessel; N, conduct, in the shape of an
inverted T, and jointed by a vulcanized caoutchoux washer, & which
can be bent as represented in O, to isolate the clements.
Figure 2, represents a section at one end of the generating apparatus.
Tho letters of reference of Figure 1, apply equally to Figure 2, except
a, b, c, which represent the piece necessary to hend; the caoutchoux
washers serving to isolate the elements.
Figure 8, is a section of the apparatus & of the moveable recipients
of the acids; a, a, a, a, is a wooden trough, in the centre of which
one of the acid recipients is placed; b, suspended recipient; c, con-
duct, in communication with the tube N, of Figure 1, to fill up
the outer vessels; d, d, vulcanised caoutchoux washers, for the joints
of the conducts, in their two positions; e, cylinder, having a bevel
wheel, catch, & crank arm, to raise the recipient by means of the
string fg, level line, to be placed between the recipient and the
outer vessels M, of the Figure 1. The same letters, but in double
number, represent the recipient or receiver and conduct placed in
their lower position.
It will be easily understood that this part of the apparatus must be
double, as two recipients are necessary, and that the double one in the
samo condition is to communicate to the porous vessel by the same
means as those described.
Figure 4, represents another mode of raising the porous vessel,
having their charcoals as it has been described for the zincs, by means
of the cylinders C, C, of Figure 1.
In that Figure the porous vessel is provided with a small side tube «,
fitting with a tube b, which is provided at its other extremity with

page_text: a piece having the form of an inverted T; the small side tube a, and
the tube b, are united together, as N, Figure 1, and when they are
lowered the vessel is suspended, allow the last to be filled up and
emptied, and when the vessel is lowered the recipient is suspended.
Tỵ, is the cylindric zinc in a state of suspension; M, outer vessel.
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 30th January 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
PETER ARMAND LE COMTE DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of the English and
Foreign Patent Office, 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue
de l'Echiquier, Paris, France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria. by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of July, in the of
year
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seventeenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, 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 Comite de Fontaine
Moreau, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time at all times there
after 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 Inven-
tion for AN IMPROVED MODE OF PRODUCING AN ELECTRIC CURRENT,"
communicated to me from a foreigner residing abroad, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter Armand Le Comte
de Fontaine Moreau, 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 performed, and

page_text: 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,
and in what manner 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, firstly, in a new mode
of insulating the electric battery and elements thereof; secondly, in a
mode of arranging the electric battery and apparatus in connection
therewith, by which its cells are self-supplied with acid.
The battery herein-after described is adapted for the production of
light; it will be obvious, however, that it is equally applicable to other
known uses of the electric current.
The electric battery is composed of twenty-eight electric clements.
ench being formed of a trough, an amalgamated zinc cylinder, and a
porous vessel containing one or more charcoal elements lisposed within.
each other in the usual manner. The charcoal may have the form of a
cylinder, and a set of three may be employed as shown at Figure 1, or
of plates united at top as shewn at Figure 2, in order to multiply the
surface and increase electric action. The troughs may be of a flat or
square shape in lieu of round. The twenty-eight troughs are placed in a
long outer casing divided into two principal compartments, which are
sub-divided into fourteen cells to receive the several elements. These
cells are open at top and bottom, and have two small cross pieces set
at the bottom part for receiving the troughs. The casing is supported
by a trestle at each end, being set at half their height from the ground.
Set screws on the feet of the trestle serve to put them on a level.
On the top of the trestle two wooden axes are set, extending from one
end to the other, and turning on pivots. Cog wheels of the same
diameter as the axes are set on one of the pivots, which, by means of a
handle, gives a rotary motion to the two axes simultaneously. One of

page_text: the wheels cogs with a bevil wheel, which is provided with a catch to
stop the motion. The bearings of the pivots for the cog wheels are
moveable, and regulated by means of a screw, which serves also to set
free the two axes, and separate the apparatus into two parts. The cells
of the troughs are rendered self-supplying; the internal one with nitric
acid, and the external one with diluted sulphuric acid, by means of two
moveable reservoirs, which by their greater elevation allow their
contents to flow into the said cells, which may empty themselves into
the reservoirs by causing the latter to occupy a lower position. The
porous vessels are provided at bottom with an opening, which, adjusted
to a similar opening in the bottom of the trough, may communicate:
with it by means of an intermediate washer of vulcanized caoutchouc.
The trough is also provided with another opening to allow the escape
of the liquid. A tube in the form of an inverted T, is adjusted to these
openings, which have a socket form, so as to form one tube of the whole,
which extends along the casing as far as the moveable reservoir, which
is provided with a tap. One of the smaller reservoirs is filled with nitric
acid, and suspended at a height varying according to the capacity of the
cells, so that when the porous cells are once filled, the same level may
be kept up in it as in the feeding recipient. The same observation
applies to the reservoir of diluted acid, which should have a capacity
proportionate to the total capacity of the twenty-eight troughs. The zinc
cylinders are suspended to the axes by means of thin slips of metal or
other substance, and lowered into the cells after having been amalgamated
by means of a portable vessel containing a solution of nitrate, chloride,
or sulphate of mercury, or by other chemical compounds susceptible of
amalgamating with zinc by simple immersion. The taps of the reser-
voirs are opened, and the cells being filled, the battery is charged and
ready to produce a regular electric current. To effect the insulation of
any of the elements put in communication by means of the lower
conduct pipe, a piece is employed having the form of pincers, extending
the whole length of the said pipe, and on approaching it by means of
hinges closes its sides at the intervals between the inverted T pieces..
A flap is disposed upon the taps of the two reservoirs to open and shut

page_text: them by means of an electro-magnet set in motion by a weak con-
tinuous battery independent of the apparatus.
Figure 1, of the Drawing represents a longitudinal section of the
galvanic battery. A, trestle; B, the longitudinal casing supported by
the trestle A; C, C, wooden axes set on the upper part of the trestle;
D, cog wheels set on the axes C, C; E, bevil wheel provided with a
stop; F, handle; G, G, screws for setting the apparatus on a level;
HI, porous vessel with its socket formed opening; e, charcoal set in the
porous vessel; I, suspension strings connecting the zinc cylinder L,
with the axes C, C, at the point J; M, trough; N, conduct pipes of
an inverted T form, united to a similar pipe by vulcanized caoutchouc
washers 0, 0.
Figure 2, represents a vertical section of the battery; a, b, c, the
parts serving to insulate the elements.
Figure 3, a section of the feeding apparatus. a, a, a, a, wooden frame
in which an acid recipient b, is suspended; c, conduct pipe communica-
ting with the pipes N, to fill the troughs; d, d, vulcanized caoutchouc
washer for the joints of the conduct pipe c; e, cylinder with bevil wheel
and handle for raising the reservoir by means of the string f; g, level
line between the recipient and the troughs M, Figure 1. The same
letters double represent the reservoir and conduct pipe underneath.
This apparatus must be composed of two reservoirs; the seccond is put
in communication with the porous cells by similar means as the first.
The porous and zinc vessels, with their charcoal clements, may also be
raised as seen in Figure 4, in a similar manner to the zinc cylinders, as
shewn in Figure 1. In this case the porous vessel A, is provided with
a side tube a; to which is jointed a tube b, provided at its lower
extremity with another tube of an inverted T form, as at N, Figure 1,
serving to put the two vessels in communication; this tube allows
the suspended vessel in lowering to empty and fill again; L, zinc
cylinder in a state of suspension; M, trough.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be put into execution, I wish it to be
understood that what I claim is,―

page_text: Firstly, the arrangement of apparatus for insulating the electric
battery and elements thereof, as hercin-before described and referred to
in Figures 1, 2, and 4, of the Drawing.
Secondly, the arrangements for rendering the battery self-supplying
with acid, as herein-before described and referred to in Figures 1, and 8,
of the Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand Le Comte de
Fontaine Moreau, have hereto set my hand and scal, this
Twenty-eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord Onc
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
L' DE FONTAINE MOREAU. (LS.)

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