AN IMPROVED METHOD OF REGENERATING OR RESTORING THE ENERGY OF ELECTRIC BATTERIES
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for an Invention of
"AN IMPROVED METHOD OF REGENERATING OR RESTORING THE ENERGY OF
ELECTRIC BATTERIES." A communication from abroad by Louis Maiche, of
Paris. France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th May 1881.
#
OF
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent
Buildings, London.
METHOD
Agents, Southampton
AN IMPROVED
REGENERATING OR. RESTORING THE ENERGY OF ELECTRIC BATTERIES." [A
communication from abroad by Louis Maiche, of Paris, France.]
My Invention relates to an improved method of regenerating or restoring the
energy of electric batteries, the elements whereof are capable of being easily recon-
stituted or regenerated, viz., rendered fit for renewed action by simply passing
through the same an electric current whose direction is opposite to that of the
current produced when said batteries are in operation.
The said Invention is especially applicable to batteries in which natural or
agglomerated peroxide of manganese is used with or without a porous vessel
immersed with the zinc in a solution of hydrochlorate of ammonia or some other
exciting liquid, but it is obvious that the said Invention is applicable to all batteries
capable of being regenerated by the method above indicated.
In carrying my Invention into practice I proceed as follows:-the operations
being described as applied to a battery of say twenty elements, consisting of zinc-
plates and plates of agglomerated peroxide of manganese. When this battery is
caused to operate the zinc is oxidized and dissolved in the hydrochlorate of
ammonia, and the peroxide of manganese is deoxidized or passes into a state of
diminished oxidation. After a few hours working the battery has lost a part of.
its energy, and to restore this lost energy to the same I cause the current from
another battery or from any generator of electricity to pass through the battery
to be regenerated in a direction opposite to that of the current generated by the

page_text: latter, this having the effect of reducing the dissolved zinc to the metallic state
and of re-oxidising the peroxide of manganese to the degree of oxidation possessed
thereby at first. For reconstituting or regenerating the elements of the main
battery I use preferably a thermo-electric battery, but I may use a magneto-electric
machine or any other source of electricity.
If the principal battery is arranged for "tension" currents the battery which
is to reconstitute its elements will be arranged in like manner, but I may use a
commutator by means of which the elements of the principal battery may be con-
nected for "quantity" during the time in which the regenerating battery acts;
this arrangement allows of a great number of elements being reconstituted by
means of a relatively feeble battery, as is practised in regard to the batteries termed
secondary-current-batteries. When the principal battery has attained its maximum
power it will only be requisite to turn the commutator to re-establish the original
order.
This method of regeneration or restoration of energy can be applied to batteries
whose positive plate is not surrounded by a depolarizing liquid, and whose
depolarization is spontaneous; for instance, platinated plates of carbon or analagous
plates. It may also serve to regenerate batteries, the depolarizing body whereof
is an oxidizing body, such as bichromate of potash, permanganate of potash,
perchloride of iron, bichloride of tin, and analogous materials.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th November 1881.
OF
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings, London. "AN IMPROVED METHOD
REGENERATING OR RESTORING THE ENERGY OF ELECTRIC BATTERIES."
communication from abroad by Louis Maiche, of Paris, France.
A
My Invention relates to an improved method of regenerating or restoring the
energy of electric batteries, whose elements are capable of being easily reconstituted
or re-composed by simply passing through the same an electric current in the
direction opposite to that of the first current, that is to say, the current generated
when the said batteries are in operation. The said Invention is especially applicable
to batteries in which natural or agglomerated peroxide of manganese is used with
or without a porous vessel immersed with the zinc in a solution of bydrochlorate
of ammonia or other exciting liquid; but it is obvious that the said Invention is
applicable to all batteries capable of being regenerated in the manner above
described.
I will now proceed to describe the manner in which I carry the said Invention
into practice, taking for instance a battery of, say, twenty elements consisting of
zinc-plates and plates of agglomerated peroxide of manganese. When this battery
is caused to operate the zinc is oxidized and dissolved in bydrochlorate of ainmonia,
and the peroxide of manganese is deoxidised or passes into a state of diminished
oxidation. After a few hours working the battery has lost a portion of its energy,
and to restore this lost energy I cause the current from another battery or from
any generator of electricity to pass through the battery to be regenerated in a
direction opposite to that of the current generated by the latter, this reversal of
the current having the effect of reducing the dissolved zinc to the metallic state,
and of re-oxidising the peroxide of manganese to the degree of oxidation which it
possessed at first. For re-constituting or recomposing the elements of the principal
or main battery, I use preferably a thermo-electric battery, but I may use a
magneto-electric machine or any other source of electricity.
If the principal or main battery is arranged for "tension," the battery which is
to reconstitute its elements will be arranged in like manner, but I may employ a
commutator by means of which the elements of the principal battery may be con-
nected for "quantity" during the time that the battery or regenerating source
acts; this arrangement permits a great number of elements to be reconstituted
from a relatively feeble source, as in the case of batteries termed secondary-current-
batteries. When the principal battery has attained its maximum power it will
only be requisite to turn the commutator to re-establish the original order.
It will be readily understood that this method of regeneration or restoration of
energy can be applied to batteries whose positive plate is not surrounded by a
depolarizing liquid, and whose depolarization is spontaneous; for instance, platinized
plates of carbon or of platinum or analogous material. It may also serve to
regenerate batteries whose depolarizing body is an oxidising body (such as
bichromate of potash or permanganate of potash), or perchloride of iron, bichloride
of tin, or analogous materials.
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 method of regenerating or restoring the energy of electric batteries of the
class or kind above specified, which method consists essentially in sending an

page_text: electric current derived from any source into a battery in the opposite direction to
that of the current generated thereby, so as to produce on the substances or bodies
that have been decomposed by the first current a contrary action which will
reconstitute or re-compose them, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty one
117 M PART LATT
WM PORT LAKE
(re)