IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC BATTERIES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Edward Dering, of Lockleys, in the County
of Hertford, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC BATTERIES."
Scaled the 4th April 1856, and dated the 26th November 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Edward Dering
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
26th November 1855..
I, GEORGE EDWARD DERING, of Lockleys, in the County of Hertford, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC
BATTERIES" to be as follows:-
My first improvement consists in a new exciting liquid for, the negative
element of those kinds of batteries in which nitric acid or a mixture of nitric
acid and other acids has usually been employed to excite their negative
clement; and for this purpose I employ a mixture of hydrochloric acid with
nitrate of soda, or nitrate of potash, or other suitable nitrates.
My next improvement consists in applying a granular coating of platinum,
or other suitable metals negative to copper, to the surface of copper and its
alloys, for the purpose of improving their qualities as a negative element in
batteries.
My next improvements have for their object to lessen the tendency of the
liquids of batteries to spill when agitated, and thus to render the batteries
more portable; for which purpose I turn over towards the inside the upper
edge of the containing vessels, and I employ floats of gutta percha or other
suitable material upon the surface of the liquid.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Edward Dering in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th May 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
EDWARD DERING, of Lockleys, in the County of Hertford, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Edward Dering, Her special licence that I, the said George
Edward Dering, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as 1, the said George Edward Dering, 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, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC BATTERIES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Edward Dering, my exccutors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under ny, 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 Edward Dering, 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, that is to say:-
My first improvement consists in a new exciting liquid for the negative
element of those kinds of batteries in which nitric acid or a mixture of nitric
acid and other acids has usually been employed to excite their negative
element; and for this purpose I employ a mixture of hydrochloric acid with
nitrate of soda, or nitrate of potash, or other suitable nitrates. The following
is the method which I prefer of practically carrying out this part of my
Invention Having provided a quantity of the hydrochloric acid of commerce
sufficient for the battery which is to be excited, I pour it into an open vessel,
and then add thereto the crystallized nitrate of soda or potash of commerce
until so much has been taken up by the liquid that the crystals remain undis-
solved after twenty-four hours' immersion. The liquid being now drawn off and

page_text: filtered is ready for use. This liquid may be employed as a substitute for
ordinary nitric acid, with, I believe, equally powerful effects wherever nitric
acid has hitherto been used in batteries, and it may be employed either with or
without the addition of sulphuric acid. One of the advantages which it
possesses over ordinary nitric acid is, that it may be manufactured at a very
much lower price; and another, that the fumes given off during the working
of the batteries are of a far less offensive and hurtful character. The batteries
may be constructed and worked in all other respects in the usual manner,
which is too well understood to need any description here.
My next improvement consists in applying a granular coating of platinum, or
other suitable metals negativo to copper, to the surface of copper and its
alloys, for the purpose of improving their qualities as a negative element in
batteries. I am aware that it is common thus to treat the surface of silver and
certain other metals; but, to the best of my knowledge, no successful attempt
has heretofore been made to treat similarly copper, or its alloys, such as, for
instance, brass. My experiments with a view to this object were for a length
of time fruitless, in consequence of the coating of the negative metals becoming
detached almost as soon as the battery was put in action; but I at length
discovered, that by applying a deposit of the negative metal so minute'as to lead
to the supposition that it could produce no perceptible influence in the working
of the battery, the power is in reality as greatly exalted as if a deposit of
considerable thickness were applied; and there is this advantage gained,
namely, that the effect is permanent; indeed it seems almost impossible by any
amount of rough handling or other careless treatment to deprive the plate of
the powerful electrical qualities which have been imparted to it. The deposit
may be effected by galvanic agency, as is well understood, or by simply
immersing the plate in a suitable solution of the negative metal which it is
intended to deposit. I prefer in practice to employ platinum as the negative
metal, and to deposit it by immersing the plate, which is previously clean e dy
acid or other means, in a very weak acidulated solution of the bichloride. The
plate on being removed from the solution is washed in clean water, and it is
then ready for use. The copper or brass thus prepared is capable of producing,
1 believe, quite as powerful a current of electricity as an equal surface of
platinized silver excited by the same liquid, and being comparatively inex-
pensive, the cost of batteries will thus be very considerably reduced, whilst
plates of sufficient thickness to afford proper mechanical strength are substituted
for the thin and fragile sheets which it is necessary to employ of so costly a
metal as silver. In other respects the batteries may be of similar construction,
and excited by diluted acids, or solutions of salts, or other suitable liquids, as is

page_text: well understood. In some cases I employ. a vessel of copper or brass to contain
the exciting liquid of the battery, and at the same time to perform the office of
the negative element, its interior surface being treated as I have described.
My next improvements have for their object to lessen the tendency of the
liquids of batteries to spill when agitated, and thus to render the batteries more
portable; for which purpose I turn over towards 'the inside the upper edge of
the containing vessels, and I employ floats of gutta percha or other suitable
material upon the surface of the liquid. This part of my Invention is applicable
to various kinds of batteries, and it is especially designed for such as may be
employed to produce motive power for the propulsion of vessels on water. The
ordinary forms of batteries would soon be emptied of their liquids by the
rolling of a ship in a heavy sea; but I find that this may be entirely prevented
by the plan of turning down towards the liquid a narrow width all round of the
upper edge of the containing vessel, and I find that the employment of floats
in the liquid materially prevents it from being thrown out when agitated.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the details of the description which I have given of my Invention, as the
mode of carrying out the same may be greatly varied; but what I claim is,―
First, the use of a mixture of. bydrochloric acid with nitrate of soda, or
nitrate of potash, or other suitable nitrates, as an exciting liquid in galvanic
batteries.
.
Secondly, the application of a granular coating of platinum, or other suitable
metals negative to copper, to the surface of copper and its alloys, for the
purpose of improving their qualities as a negative element in batteries.
Thirdly, the turning over towards the inside the upper edge of the con-
taining vessels of galvanic batteries, and the employment of floats of gutta
percha or other suitable material upon the surface of the liquids of galvanic
batteries, for the purpose of preventing the spilling of the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Edward Dering, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
GEORGE E. DERING. (L.S.)
Witness,
FRANS. HARRIS.