IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO SOLUTIONS USED IN GALVANIC BATTERIES
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the firm of Haseltine Lake
"
& Co, Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings London for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO SOLUTIONS USED IN GALVANIC BATTERIES:
communicated to him from abroad by Fenner Harris Peckham junior, o
Providence, Rhode Island United States of America Physician
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th September 1883.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, "IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO SOLUTIONS USED
IN GALVANIC BATTERIES: [a communication to him from abroad by Fenner
Harris Peckham junior, of Providence, Rhode Island United States of America
Physician]
This invention relates to the solutions with which galvanic batteries are charged,
and consists in employing glycerine in combination with other ingredients or
chemicals to form battery solutions.
The proportion of glycerine relatively to the water in the battery solution, or
relatively to the solution as a whole, may vary with circumstances. Excellent
results are obtained in batteries to be used for ordinary purposes when the solution
contains about twenty five (25) per cent of glycerine, although this amount may
be increased or diminished according to the use for which the battery is required.
In all cases where water is employed as an ingredient of the solution, I prefer to
combine the glycerine and water and then add the chemicals.
The advantages resulting from the employment of glycerine in battery solutions
are as follows, that is to say :-
In gravity batteries the deposit of crystals on the jars and on the connections
is almost wholly avoided. The blue vitriol solution is prevented from rising and
depositing copper on the zincs. The zincs are more easily cleansed, and the specific
gravity of the solution is more constant.
:

page_text: In the Leclanche and similar batteries the deposit of crystals on the porous cups
and around the metal fastenings of the carbons is prevented, and the rapid
deterioration of the battery, caused by such deposits, is thereby avoided.
In batteries charged with a solution containing glycerine, as above described,
evaporation is reduced to a minimum; and attention to the battery is required
only at comparatively long intervals. The electromotive force of the battery is
not diminished when it is exposed to extreme cold, to so great an extent as in
batteries charged with the usual solutions; and the glycerine solution will not
freeze except at a very low temperature.
Although the electro-motive force of a battery may be somewhat diminished by
the employment of glycerine in the solution with which the cells are charged, yet
the above-recited and other advantages due to this invention, resulting as they do
in diminished expense in the care and maintenance of the battery, more than
compensate for the cost of any additional cells which may be required to obtain
the desired strength of current, and also for any increased cost of cells so charged.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Robert Lake in the Patent Office on the 18th March
1884.
.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London "IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO SOLUTIONS USED
IN GALVANIC BATTERIES"-A communication to me from abroad by Fenner
Harris Peckham junior of Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America,
Physician
This invention relates to the solutions with which galvanic batteries are charged,
and consists in employing glycerine in combination with other ingredients or
chemicals to form battery solutions
The proportion of glycerine relatively to the water in the battery solution, or
relatively to the solution as a whole, may vary with circumstances, Excellent
results are obtained in batteries to be used for ordinary purposes when the solution
contains about twenty-five (25) per cent of glycerine, although this amount may
be increased or diminished according to the use for which the battery is required.
In all cases where water is employed as an ingredient of the solution, I prefer to
combine the glycerine and water and then add the chemicals.
The advantages resulting from the employment of glycerine in battery solutions
are as follows:—that is to say; In gravity batteries the deposit of crystals on the
jars and on the connections is almost wholly avoided. The blue vitriol solution is
prevented from rising and depositing copper on the zincs. The zincs are more
easily cleansed: and the specific gravity of the solution is more constant,

page_text: In the Le Clanché and similar batteries the deposit of crystals on the porous
cups and around the metal fastenings of the carbons is prevented, and the rapid
deterioration of the battery caused by such deposits, is thereby avoided.
In batteries charged with a solution containing glycerine, as above described,
evaporation is reduced to a minimum; and attention to the battery is required
only at comparatively long intervals. The electro-motive force of the battery is
not diminished when it is exposed to extreme cold, to so great an extent as in
batteries charged with the usual solutions; and the glycerine solution will not
freeze except at a very low temperature.
Although the electro-motive force of a battery may be somewhat diminished by
the employment of glycerine in the solution with which the cells are charged, yet
the above recited and other advantages due to this invention, resulting as they do
in diminished expense in the care and maintenance of the battery, more than
compensate for the cost of any additional cells which may be required to obtain
the desired strength of current, and also for any increased cost of cells so charged.
Having thus fully described the said invention as communicated to me by my
Foreign Correspondent and the manner of performing the same I wish it understood
that I Claim :—
The employment of glycerine in galvanic battery solutions, substantially as
described.
In Witness whereof I the said William Robert Lake have hereunto set my hand
and seal this Eighteenth day of March in the year of Our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and eighty four