IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC BATTERIES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PAIENT to Joseph Jean Marcais, of Paris, France, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC BATTERIES."
Sealed the 14th June 1859, and dated the 16th December 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Jean Marcais
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, ou
the 16th December 1858.
I, JOSEPH JEAN MARCAIS, of Paris, France, Civil Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC
BATTERIES," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in a particular mode of constructing the
cells of galvanic, zinc, and carbon batteries for one or two exciting
liquids, for which purpose I employ for the carbon, element plates of
prepared carbon formed of powdered pit coal kneaded into a plastic
paste by the addition of treacle and starch, and properly baked; the
porousness of these plates depending on the degree of coarseness of the
coal powder, its nature, and the quantity of treacle and starch, which
porousness may be further increased by the addition of any material
which, after the baking of the plates, remains sufficiently soluble, so
as to allow. of being washed out of these latter; or the porousness of
the plates may be, diminished by introducing in the paste a sufficient
quantity of cokė. powder or other suitable material, or by an external
[Price 8d]

page_text: application of chloride of alumina. With such plates of prepared carbon
I establish my cells in the form of Groove's porous vessels or any other
suitable form, keeping the plates at the required distance apart, and
covering their outside with gutta percha, or any other suitable imper-
vious coating not liable to be acted upon by the exciting liquids, or in
case I intend employing my plates as diaphragms, I leave their surface
uncovered, and only fix them together, and keep them at the required
distance apart by means of stays of gutta percha or other suitable
material. The clamp or pinch screw forming a connecting piece of-the
two plates of each cell is a sort of pincer, to be tightened against the
outer surface of the carbon by means of a screw, a stay of gutta percha
introduced between the two plates, prezenting these latter being injured
by the pressure of the said tightening screw. The zinc element is to be
applied either in the interior or round the outside of the carbon cell,
according to whether this latter is to serve as diaphragm ór as cell; in
the first case, sulphuric or nitric acid, suitably diluted, are put in the
interior, and acidulated water at the outside of the cell, this latter
being introduced in the ordinary manner in an outer vessel, whereas
in the other case acidulated water is put in the inside of the cell with-
out requiring an other vessel. Cells of any size may be constructed
by lining the inside of a trough or vessel of gutta percha or other suit-
able material, with the above described plates of prepared carbon, each
plate being provided with its clamp or pinch screw, these latter being
duly connected together, and the plates properly propped by stays of
gutta percha or other suitable material for preventing the plates being
injured.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Jean Marcais in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPHI
JEAN MARCAIS, of Paris, France, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Joseph Jean Marcais, Her special licence that

page_text: I, the said Joseph Jean Marcais, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Jean Marcais, 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
Joseph Jean Marcais, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Joseph Jean Marcais, 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:-
These improvements relates to an improved mode of constructing the
cells of zinc and carbon batteries for one or for more exciting liquids.
§ 1 Battery with one exciting liquid and without diaphragm.-In
the annexed Drawings, Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal elevation view
of one of my pairs or cells, of which the Figs. 2 and 3 show respectively
a vertical and a horizontal sectional view over the lines x, y, and x¹, y',
of Fig. 1, whereas Fig. 4 shows the mode of connecting the elements.
In these Figures, corresponding parts are indicated by the same letters
of reference. For constructing the carbon element, I take two
rectangular plates of carbon (the mode of manufacturing of which will
be described hereafter), and having slightly heated them. I cause a thin
sheet of gutta percha of a corresponding size to adhere firmly on one of
the broad surfaces of each plate; I further have a sort of mould or core,
being a rectangular frame of wood, or other suitable material, of a
size corresponding about with that of the plates of carbon, while the
thickness depends on the depth of the element. I now apply the two
plates in a symmetrical manner, and with their covered sides turned
outwards on the two opposite faces of the frame, and I further have
a strip of gutta percha, the breadth of which is about that of the thick-
ness of the frame, together with that of the two plates, while the length
of the strip corresponds with the total developement of the small sides

page_text: of the carbon plates (A,B, + B,C, + C,D,) of Fig. 1, and I cause this
strip to adhere in a solid manner over the edges of the gutta percha
of the plates, so that on withdrawing the frame from between the plates,
the strip of gutta percha will form the bottom and the sides of a vessel,
which will be the carbon element, the electrode of which will be obtained
by denudating at the two upper opposite angles a small portion of the
carbon plates, and taking hold of the denudated parts between the jaws
of a copper connecting piece, which may be fixed more or less tightly
by means of a screw (see Fig. 4), a stay H, formed of a solid piece of
guttà percha, having been interposed previously between the two carbon
plates at the place where the connecting piece is to be applied. The
zinc element is formed by an amalgamated zinc plate, dipping at the
required depth in the carbon element, and kept in the required position
by a stay or shoulder of gutta percha or by any other suitable means.
The liquid I prefer making use of is water acidulated by the addition
of sulphuric acid, but in case a more powerful effect should be required
for a short time, I add some bichromate of potash. In the Figs. 1, 2,
3, and 4, A, B, C, D, represents the outside lining or vase of gutta
percha, against the inner surface of the two broad sides of which are
fixed the two carbon plates T, T; K, L, M, N, is the amalgamated zinc
plate; E, F, G, V, (Fig. 4) contact or connecting piece for the carbon
plates, kept apart by the stay H of gutta percha. The pairs or cells
of these batteries may be connected into sets in the ordinary manner,
while the small compass the pairs take, their form, and small weight,
and their construction, allows of certain economical and commodious
dispositions when a constant number of elements is made use of, allow-
ing either to produce or to interrupt the current by exposing suddenly
the entire battery to the action of the exciting liquid, or by withdraw-
ing it therefrom. These dispositions may be obtained either by
immersion or by communicating vessels. 1ly, a series immerged in a
vessel containing acidulated water, I connect, for instance, ten pairs
of my cells, side by side, either for surface action or for intensity, by
causing their gutta percha coverings to stick together, or by fixing them
in one single frame. I further have an impervious box or vessel, in
which the entire set may be immerged when the action is required, and
which box is filled with acidulated water, which is allowed to enter into
each cell by a hole formed in the bottom thereof, or by having a cell
without a bottom. I now may, by means of a lever arm, a toothed
rack, a pulley, or any other suitable mechanical means, immerge the

page_text: entire set of cells at once in the exciting liquid, or withdraw the same
therefrom; or 2oly, I may cause the exciting liquid itself to rise or fall,
or entirely leave the box, in which the set of cells in this case ought to
be fixed; for this purpose I connect, by means of a tube, the liquid
in the box with another vessel, in which a variable level may be estab-
lished by any suitable means. Or the box may be done away with, and
the cells themselves fixed together may serve instead of it, by simply
causing the holes in their bottoms to communicate with one connect-
ing tube, and by which tube the cells may be filled at any required height
with the exciting liquid, or this latter withdrawn therefrom. In respect to
the carbon elements, I must observe here, that in Bunsen's battery the
carbon seems solely to act by its conductibility, whereas in my arrange-
ment it acts principally by its molecular state, and requires consequently
to offer a great porosity and a suitable thickness. A pair formed of
carbon plates cut out of gas coke produces only a middling electric
effect; besides, the aid of an agitator is required in order to prevent the
neutralising action of the evolved hydrogen. On the contrary, a pair
formed of very porous carbon affords, without the aid of any stirring
apparatus, a continuous, regular, and considerable production of
electricity; the hydrogen being evolved in the very bottom of the pores
of the plates, removes the bubbles already formed before, and thus
acts itself as a stirrer; on the other hand, spongious bodies possess
certain particular properties not yet entirely known. For these reasons
I manufacture my carbon plates in a molecular state not hitherto made
use of for this purpose, and by which I obtain the above-mentioned
results; and, as I consider this part as very essential, I will give a full
description of my mode of manufacturing the carbon elements. I form
a very thick paste by means of finely pulverised smith's coal, and a liquid
composed of boiled starch and treacle, preferable in equal parts or
thereabouts, or one of these substances only; if a very spongious carbon
is required, I take very bituminous coals, such, for instance, as Cannal
coal, and pulverize the same just sufficient to form a paste with the
starch and treacle, and I add some pulverized chalk, having previously
ascertained that the coal does not contain any substance which might
form glass by the lime of the chalk. After the firing the carbon is
treated with hydrochloric acid for illiminating the lime. It will be
understood that the chalk may be replaced by various other substances
acting in a similar manner; when a more compact carbon is required,
a coal that bakes well, without much swelling, is made use of, reduced

page_text: to a very fine or almost impalpable powder, and if still more compact-
ness is required, a portion of finely pulverized coke is mixed therewith.
I even may obtain nearly no porosity at all by wetting the carbon on
leaving the kiln with a solution of chloride of aluminium, and heating
to about 400° cent, and if required, repeating the operation several
times; but those latter descriptions of carbon cannot serve for the cells
above described, but may be employed for those with a carbon
diaphragm, which will be described hereafter. I now have a frame or
mould (similar to that made use of in moulding bricks) of metal, wood,
or any other suitable resistant material, and place the same on a board
or other suitable smooth surface, having previously interposed a piece
of fine linnen cloth, and fill the mould with the coal paste, which I cover
with another piece of cloth, and press the paste by passing over with a
roller. The tile or plate of carbon being thus formed, the upper cloth
is removed, and the tile, mould, and board turned topside down on a
plate of sheet iron or zinc; and having removed the mould and cloth the
tile is left to dry, after which the same is put into the kiln. The quality
of the bricks, tiles, or plates of carbon depending in great part of the
firing, great attention is to be paid to the mode of piling them in the
kiln, by which is to be observed that, 1ly. they receive the action of the
fire directly on their broad faces, but never on the sides or angles; and,
2ly, that in the beginning the heat in the kiln must be very low, and is to
be increased very gradually up to the point required for the suitable
baking of the materials, which latter degree of heat is then to be kept
up for about 24 hours. Of course the admission of air in the kiln must be
prevented, as otherwise the carbon would burn away. The kiln I prefer
making use of is shown in plan view in Fig. 5; the Figs. 6 and 7 repre-
sent respectively vertical sectional views over the lines x, y, and R, S,
of Fig. 5; in these Figs. 5, 6, and 7, corresponding parts are indicated
by the same letters of reference. Ps is the door, and F the fire-place,
of which G are the bars, and H the bridge; C, C, C, are the flues
through which the flame circulates round the outside M', N', O¹, P¹,
of the real kiln or box made of fire bricks, and in the inside M, N, O, P,
of which are piled the carbon plates or tiles E, which latter are shown
in front view in Fig. 6, and in section in Fig. 7; D, D, are strong tiles
or slabs of fire clay for covering the kiln after the same has been filled,
after which earth J is heaped on the top. The carbon plates E are
piled in the kiln, and the interstices between them duly filled up by
powdered coke; a layer of this coke is also introduced all round the

page_text: entire set of plates. As may be observed from the Drawings, the longi-
tudinal sides of the box are much thinner than the ends, particularly
the end towards the fire-place, so as to cause the heat to penetrate in
the box by the side, and as the carbon plates are arranged vertically on
each other, and according to plans parallel to the longitudinal sides of
the box, these plates will receive the greatest amount of heat on their
broad surfaces. The plates being sufficiently baked, the earth J and
the slabs D are removed, and the carbon plates taken out of the box,
which latter may then be filled again for a fresh operation. Instead
of the kiln just described, a reverberatory furnace may likewise be
made use of, in which case the carbon plates are laid on the hearth,
covered with a thick layer of coke powder, and the whole covered with
slabs of fire clay; but I prefer the first description of kiln, the filling
and emptying of which is easier than by the second method. Various
other arrangements of kilns might lead to the same result; I only wish
to add that my Invention herein consists more particularly in firing in
such manner that the carbon plates receive the direct action of the fire
on their broad surfaces and not so much on. their sides. Instead of the
gutta percha I may further make use of any suitable varnish or cement
for giving sufficient strength to the carbon plates, and rendering their
outside impervious. For preserving the connecting pieces from the
action of the exciting liquid, the parts of the carbon plates where the
connecting pieces are to be applied are dipped previously into molten
wax, or stearine purified by caustic potash.
§ 2-A battery with carbon diaphragms, and which may act with
two acids of different nature or strength.-From what has been explained
in 1, it will be readily understood, that instead of covering one of the
outsides of my carbon plates with gutta percha or any other suitable
covering, they may be connected together at the ends, parallel to each
other, by which means a sort of flat vessel may be obtained, the broad
or large surfaces of which will be of carbon, which vessel may serve as
a diaphragm in case the carbon is made about of the same porosity as
the ordinary earthenware diaphragms used in galvanic batteries; if then
this carbon vessel be placed in another vessel, a double fluid battery
may be obtained, in which the carbon will serve at the same time as
element and as diaphragm; the connection may take place in any suitable
manner, the carbon plates bieng propped by a stay of gutta percha.
The liquid to be employed may be on one side water acidulated with
sulphuric acid, and on the other side, sulphuric acid diluted with one

page_text: half of water, or equal parts of nitric acid and water, or suitable
quantities of bichromate of potash may be added to the acids. In order
to prevent in great measure the evolution of sulphuretted hydrogen in
the above-described arrangements of batteries, I either metallise the
surface of the carbon plates, either by galvanic means or otherwise, or
I add a small quantity of sulphate of mercury to the exciting liquid.
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
Invention, and the means in which the same is or may be put into effect,
I would observe in conclusion that I do not confine or restrict myself to
the precise details or arrangements described, as many variations may
be made therefrom without deviating from the principles or main
features of the Invention; but what I consider to be novel and original,
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
1ly, constructing the carbon elements of galvanic batteries by means
of plates of carbon manufactured according to the method and by the
means described.
2ly, the methods and means described for manufacturing the said
plates of carbon.
3ly, the application of the above-described elements to the construction
of galvanic batteries.
4ly, the methods described for feeding the cells with the exciting
liquids.
5ly, the addition of sulphate of mercury, or any other suitable salt to
the exciting liquids, or the preparatory metallization of the carbon
plates.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Jean Marcais, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Fourteenth day of June, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
J. SOUTH.
J. MARCAIS. (L.S.)