IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MATERIALS AND ELEMENTS TO BE USED IN CONSTRUCTING AND WORKING PRIMARY VOLTAIC BATTERIES
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Desmond Gerald Fitz-Gerald of Brixton in the County of
Surrey, Electrician and Thomas John Jones of Princes Street, Hanover
Square in the County of Middlesex, Electrician for an Invention of
IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MATERIALS AND ELEMENTS TO BE USED IN
CONSTRUCTING AND WORKING PRIMARY VOLTAIC BATTERIES
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Desmond Gerald Fitz-
Gerald and Thomas John Jones at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents
on the 1st March 1883.
DESMOND GERALD FITZ GERALD of Brixton in the County of Surrey Electrician
and THOMAS JOHN JONES of Princes Street Hanover Square in the County of
Middlesex Electrician "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MATERIALS AND ELEMENTS
TO BE USED IN CONSTRUCTING AND WORKING PRIMARY VOLTAIC BATTERIES
"
This invention relates to the production of peroxide of lead by the conversion
of an oxide or an insoluble salt of lead which may be in admixture with pyro-
lusite or other oxide of manganese into peroxide of lead or to the production of
other oxidising materials such as chromic acid and to the simultaneous reduction of
certain metals
According to one portion of our invention we construct a tank consisting of one
or of a number of separate cells or receptacles the number being greater or less
according to the electro motive force of the dynamo-machine or other source of
electricity used in the process. Each cell is preferably subdivided into two portions
by means of a diaphragm which may be of felt or porous earthenware.
Taking the case of a single cell we will refer to the compartment on one side of
the diaphragm as the anode compartment and to that on the other side as the
cathode compartment.
In the anode compartment we place plates of lead of any desirable size and
form and preferably exhibiting a highly porous structure; or plates of lead covered
with lead in a state of fine division, or with an oxide or insoluble salt of lead

page_text: maintained by suitable means in contact with the plate; or again, plates of lead
perforated or stamped so as to form cavities which are filled with lead in a state of
fine division or with an oxide or an insoluble salt of lead; or again perforated or
"network" receptacles of any suitable material filled with lead in a state of
fine division or with an oxide or insoluble salt of lead.
In the cathode compartment we place an oxide or salt of lead or a mixture of
carbon fragments with sulphate of lead or an oxide or insoluble salt of lead or
plates of carbon grooved or perforated, the grooves or perforations being filled with
sulphate of lead or other insoluble salt of lead or with an oxide of lead. The
cathode may be carbon or a metal such as lead or tin surrounded with a salt of
lead, or tin or other metal to be reduced. The electrolyte we generally prefer to
use is a solution of sulphate of ammonium which may be acidulated with sulphuric
acid, or in treatment of of sulphate of lead to obtain metallic lead therefrom we
employ a solution of acetate of ammonia in which the lead salt is soluble or in the
cathode compartment the electrolyte may be the solution of a metal such as tin
which it is required to reduce.
In certain cases we obtain materials for the construction and working of primary
voltaic batteries by the electrolysis of a chromate with the object of obtaining
chromic acid and a reduced metal

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Desmond Gerald Fitz Gerald and Thomas John Jones in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 1st September 1883.
DESMOND GERALD FITZ GERALD of Brixton in the County of Surrey, Electrician,
and THOMAS JOHN JONES of Princes Street, Hanover Square in the County of
Middlesex, Electrician, " IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MATERIALS AND ELEMENTS
TO BE USED IN CONSTRUCTING AND WORKING PRIMARY VOLTAIC BATTERIES "
This Invention relates to the electrolytic production of peroxide of lead by the
conversion of metallic lead or of an oxide or an insoluble salt of lead into peroxide
of lead, and to the simultaneous reduction of a metal with a view to employing
the peroxide and the reduced metal in the construction of primary batteries. Or,
instead of the peroxide of lead another oxidant adapted for use in voltaic batteries
viz: Chromic acid, may similarly be produced by electrolysis.
In carrying out our invention we construct a tank or tanks, preferably of wood
rendered water-tight by means of a suitable cement. Each tank consists of one
or several cells or receptacles, the number of these cells arranged in series being
greater or less according to the electro-motive force of the dynamo-machine or
other source of electricity used in the process. Each cell may be subdivided, by
means of a diaphragm, (or two diaphragms with the electrolytic fluid between
them) of porous earthenware, felt or other porous material. Of the two
compartments thus formed, one contains the positive electrode or electrodes, and
the other the negative electrode. We will hereafter refer to the former as the
anode compartment and to the latter as the cathode compartment. Or one of the
electrodes (anode or cathode) consisting of one plate or of several plates connected
together, may be contained together with the salt or oxide of lead to be converted,
in one or several porous vessels, placed within the tank and surrounded with the
other material to be converted by the electrode of opposite sign, which is in contact
with such other material. In this case the porous vessels constitute one of the
compartments and the surrounding space the other compartment. The anode
compartment may contain a plate (or plates) of lead surrounded with red lead to
be converted into peroxide of lead, and the cathode compartment may contain a
plate or plates of lead or carbon in contact with an oxide or insoluble salt of lead
(preferably in admixture with carbon fragments.) to be reduced to metallic lead;
But we find it advantageous excepting when chromic acid is to be produced, to
dispense with the diaphragms or porous vessels and to construct the tanks or cells
of dimensions suitable to allow of certain elements herein-after to be described
(and which are used as positive electrodes or anodes) being suspended vertically
within the tank or cell along its sides so as to hang at some distance from the
bottom. Upon the bottom of the tank is placed the negative element, covered to
any required depth with the oxide or insoluble salt to be reduced. In this case
the tanks should be shallow i.e. less in height than in breadth. The bottom of the
tank is preferably raised somewhat towards the centre.
We prefer, instead of producing in bulk, both the peroxide of lead and the
reduced metal (obtained respectively at the anode and cathode surfaces within the
tanks) to obtain the peroxide of lead in the substance of numerous plates or
separate anodes of suitable size to be employed subsequently as the negative
elements of primary batteries; whilst the reduced metal alone or in admixture
with carbon fragments is obtained in bulk ie. in considerable masses which are
subsequently sub-divided into portions of suitable size for the corresponding

page_text: positive elements of the primary batteries. These anodes may be used as the
-negative elements of a primary battery not only in conjunction with a positive
element of reduced lead, but also, if preferred, in conjunction with a positive
element of zinc in lieu of the lead.
The plates, constructed wholly or mainly of lead, to be employed as anodes
within the tank or tanks, should be highly porous in structure in order that a
large proportion of the lead of which they are formed may be converted into
peroxide.
One mode of constructing them is to place lead in a state of fine sub-division,
such as that obtained by the chemical or electro chemical reduction of an oxide or
salt of lead, within an envelope or casing of lead, or of a suitable alloy of this
metal perforated with small perforations, subjecting the material to great pressure
by hydraulic machinery or otherwise, and subsequently securing the edges of the
envelope or casing by folding and pressure, by "burning" or by other suitable
means. The contact piece of such elements may be constituted by a projecting
portion of the substance of the receptacle or casing, in addition to which a strip of
lead or a suitable alloy of this metal compressed into the mass of finely divided
lead, may advantageously be used to obtain the contact. The anode elements may
be protected from disintegration by covering both sides of the perforated envelope
above described and also of the central contact plate or strip with an adherent
network of impervious and insulating material so as to preserve a honeycomb-like
structure of unaltered metal as specified in reference to Figure 2 of a Patent of
even date herewith granted to one of us and numbered 1122. Or the anode
elements may be constructed as described and shown in reference to Figure 1 of
the aforesaid Patent, that is to say, constructed of lead plates whose surfaces are
minutely punctured and similarly protected. But any element which is adapted
for the anode of, a secondary battery and which will also bear transport without
injury, may be used as an anode within the tank with a view to its subsequent
employment as the negative element of a primary voltaic couple.
The tanks or receptacles may be connected together "in inultiple arc" or "in
series" according to the electro-motive force of the dynamo-machine or other source
of electricity employed to produce the reactions; each cell in series requiring an
electro-motive force of from three to four volts., although a higher electromotive
force may be employed when rapidity of action rather than economy is required.
The electrolyte we prefer to employ is a dilute solution of sulphate of Ammonia
acidulated with sulphuric acid in the proportion of one part of the concentrated
acid to twelve or fifteen parts of the half saturated, quarter saturated or still more
diluted solution of the salt.
But in the treatment of sulphate of lead to obtain reduced lead therefrom at the
cathode we sometimes employ a solution of acetate of Ammonia, in which the lead
salt is soluble.
The cathode element as in the case when porous vessels are used should be lead
or carbon in contact with an oxide or insoluble salt of lead, preferably in admixture
with carbon fragments, such cathode together with the material to be reduced
occupying, when a diaphragm is dispensed with, the bottom of the tank or
receptacle. When a diaphragm is employed the cathode and material to be
reduced occupies the whole of the negative compartment of the cell or tank.
"4
Instead of obtaining the peroxide of lead as the material to be employed as a
depolarizer" in the negative elements of primary voltaic batteries, we may obtain
chromic acid by electrolysing the solution of a soluble chromate such as the
chromate or bichromate of potash with a platinum anode and with a cathode of lead
or carbon in contact with an insoluble salt, or an oxide of lead or tin. If such
insoluble salt of lead be the sulphate, we find it advantageous to employ the
sulphate of Ammonia in solution with the chromate salt. The chromic acid and
the reduced metal thus obtained may be used in the construction and working of
primary voltaic batteries,

page_text: Having described the nature of our Invention and the manner of performing the
same, we declare that what we claim as the Invention to be protected by the
hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent. is:
The electrolytic production of peroxide of lead in bulk or "in situ" or of
chromic acid, simultaneously with the reduction of a metal from an insoluble salt
or oxide, and the use and application of the peroxide of lead and chromic acid and
of the reduced metal in the construction and working of primary batteries as
specified.
In witness whereof I the said Desmond Gerald Fitz-Gerald, for myself and on
behalf of the said Thomas John Jones have hereunto set my hand and seal this
thirty first day of August A.D. 1883.
Witness:-
T. W. KENNARD
Clerk to A. M. & W. Clark
53 Chancery Lane
Patent Agents
DESMOND. G. FITZ-GERALD. (L.S.)