MENTS IN PRODUCING AND APPLYING DYNAMIC ELECTRICITY.
Year: 1854

page_text: MENTS IN PRODUCING AND APPLYING DYNAMIC ELECTRICITY.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION. left.. by the said Cromwell Fleetwood
Varley at the Office of the Commissioners of .Patents,. with his Petition,
on the 5th December 1854.
I CROMWELL. FLEETWOOD VARLEY of No. 1' Charles Street Somers Town
St. Pancras Middlesex do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING AND APPLYING DYNAMIC ELECTRICITY" to be as
follows
My improvements consist in making batteries whose actions are similar to
that of the Daniel's battery but which prevent to a very great extent the
deposition of metallic copper (or other negative metals) on the positive metal
(usually zinc). Daniel's batteries after long use are liable to fail from the
zinc becoming coated with metallic copper & so opposing a copper, instead
of a zinc surface, to the copper thus neutralizing its action. They also fail
from metallic copper becoming deposited on the porous cells & in the pores
of the said cells, establishing. "local action" reducing the intensity & causing
great waste of metals & solutions. I get over these defects in the following
20205-3. G 145.
.

page_text: ways 1st by dispensing with the porous cells, the positive metals or elements
being placed above the negative the two solutions are kept separate by
difference of gravity and the latter operation is sometimes assisted by placing
above the negative metal & its solution or crystals, pieces of cloth, sand, clay
or any substance which has no chemical action on the solution but tends to
maintain them separate. The positive element is so placed as to clean itself
by the action of the battery.
2nd I effect a similar object by using more than one porous division and
placing between the negative & positive metals (or elements) & solutions
other metals or solutions or both which intercept by decomposition the passage
of one solution to the other.
3rd I sometimes use negative salts, of difficult solubility, with the negative
elements.
The last improvement consists in applying to the poles of the battery a
series of induction surfaces to store up the power and so make a small battery
answer the purposes of a larger one. Batteries with all the above improve-
ments are peculiarly adapted for telegraphs from their constancy and economy.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Cromwell Fleetwood Varley in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 4th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME I CROMWELL
FLEETWOOD VARLEY of No. 1 Charles Street Somers Town St. Pancras
Middlesex send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Fifth day of December in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me the
said Cromwell Fleetwood Varley Her special licence that I the said Cromwell
Fleetwood Varley my executors, administrators and assigns, or such others as
I the said Cromwell Fleetwood Varley 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 PRODUCING & APPLYING DYNAMIC ELECTRICITY " upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I the said Cromwell Fleetwood Varley shall by

page_text: an instrument in writing under my hand and seal 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 Cromwell Fleetwood Varley do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention and in what manner the same is
to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement;
•
My improvement consists in making batteries charged with two or more
neutral metallic salts the electrical power of which is generated in a manner
similar to that of the Daniel's battery, while the deposition of the metal from
the negative salt on the positive element of the Daniel's battery which reduces.
the intensity of the electrical currents generated, & which will often stop the
action almost entirely is by my arrangement prevented, Daniel's batteries
after long use fail from the zinc becoming coated with metallic copper also
from copper being deposited on & in the pores of the porous cells causing
local action & so reducing the intensity, & occasioning much wast of metal.
solutions, & porous cells. I avoid these defects first by placing the positive.
metal or. elements above the negatives as in Fig. 1 without porous cells &
using two solutions which keep separate by difference of gravity, & this. is
assisted in some cases by placing above the negative metal & its solution-
& crystals layers of cloth, sand, clay, or any substance that does not act
chemically on the solutions but tends to retain them separate.
The reason for making the zinc conical & placing it over the negative
element is that as often as the negative salt shall rise up to & deposit its.
metal on the zinc the deposited metal shall fall away, because the zinc is.
continually being dissolved whilst the battery is in action & the hold which
the deposited metal had to it is as constantly removed thus letting it fall
to the bottom where it does no harm.
Second I effect a similar object by using more than one porous division
as Fig: 2 & placing between the negative & positive elements & solutions;
other metals or solutions or both so as to intercept by decomposition the
passage of the one solution to the other, but I prefer the interposition of
metallic zinc in a solution of itself.
Third I fréquently use negative salts of difficult solubility, sulphates or
chlorides of lead. or mercury, such batteries being very constant, By using
salts of difficult solubility their tendency to rise & collect on the cone of zinc-
(Z) is very much reduced, The 'nearly insoluble salts of lead or mercury are

page_text: preferable, the latter where a very constant current is required. I then use
a cylinder of pure zinc amalgamated, & nearly of the same diameter as the
parallel-sided glass vessel in which it is placed, as Fig. 3, enough mercury
to cover the bottom is put in, this being the negative element, on it is placed
a quantity of sulphate or other salt of mercury, but not enough to be in
contact with the zinc, then the vessel is fill'd with a solution of zinc in the
same acid as the mercurial salt, & over it is placed a film of oil to prevent
evaporation. This battery is very regular in its action 1st because so fast as
the distance wou'd be increased by the dissolution of the zinc, so fast will the
surface of the mercury rise by the decomposition of its salt, & so preserve
almost the same distance particularly if the surface of zinc is well propor-
tioned to the surface of mercury because equal surfaces being always pre-
sented the same distance between them is maintain'd. 2d mercury being a
liquid it does not like other metals grow into leaves amongst the insoluble
salt but always presents an equal surface, yet shou'd any mercurial salt
rise & touch the zinc it wou'd be decomposed & only amalgamate the zinc
a little more, which as is well known does not alter its electrical condition.
But.by using a nearly or quite insoluble salt this local decomposition is
almost if not entirely prevented. A single or. double porous cell, or stratum
of cloth sand or clay as described in Figs. 1 & 2 may be added to this if
desirable, shou'd the battery be subjected to motion or agitation. This battery
gives a constant & equal current, no matter how long so ever it has been in
action provided there remain any zinc & salt of mercury. By putting suffi-
cient zinc & salt of mercury at the outset the battery may be kept in action
for an almost indefinite period. Note the zinc shou'd be..supported by a
piece of iron or platina cast in it that the support: may: not be destroyed by
amalgamation & the iron or platina ..wire used to connect the mercury is
.coated with gutta percha all but the part inserted in the mercury..
Fourthly I apply to the poles of the battery a series of induction surfaces
as Fig. 4 to store up the power & so make a small battery answer the pur-
pose of a large one, & also to act as a measure when telegraphing .through
long submarine or subterranean lines:

page_text: Fig. 2a a a glass vessel c c copper or other negative lining, the glass
may be dispensed with by using a copper vessel, Z a mass or cylinder of zinc
in the central porous cell f, y the outer porous cell in which between the
two cells is placed a cylinder of perforated zinc, or pieces of zinc to decom-
pose any of the negative salt which otherwise might pass through from the
exterior to the interior, this may be effected also by an alkaline solution.
Fig. 3 aa the glass or other vessel, Z the cylindrical mass of pure zinc
amalgamated, M the mercury, ii salt. of mercury, jj solution of zinc,
the iron platina or other wire cover'd with .gutta percha except where it
enters the mercury // surface of oil.
Fig. 4 an end view of a series of induction plates which are to be laid
close to each other, but here they are separated to shew them, a pile of these
form a Leyden battery They may be put together in various ways.
Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, on a smaller scale shews the form of the layers for one
mode of construction, Figs. 5 & 6 are sheets of tin or other metallic foil
& Fig. 7 a sheet of oil'd silk, gutta percha or other non-conducting
substance, half of the sheets for one pole are like Fig. 5 having the left
corner cut away, the other sheets for the other pole are like Fig. 6 with the
right corners cut off, & the non-conducting sheets which are to go between
are larger than the others & like Fig. 7 have two corners cut away-A
box of suitable size for a pile like Fig. 4 has a sheet of foil 1 (like Fig. 5)
laid at bottom; on this is put a non-conducting sheet like Fig. 7, & on
that foil 2 (like Fig. 6) then a non-conductor (as Fig. 7) then foil 3 & a
non-conductor, then foil 4, & so on till a battery of sufficient capacity is made
up. By this means all the sheets like Fig. 5, as 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, Fig. 4, will
have a corner overhanging the gaps a of Fig. 7, & all the intermediate
sheets of foil as 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, like Fig. 6, will overhang the gaps 6, then all
the corners a will be pressed together to join those sheets for one pole, & the
corners 6 will be pressed together to form the other pole of the battery-And
these two poles are to be join'd to the galvanic battery poles.
Fig. S one sheet of tin foil on the gutta percha which being larger every
way prevents the opposite foils touching each other.
These induction plates serve to store up electricity when the battery is at
rest one series of plates being in contact with the positive pole & the other
intermediate series with the negative pole of the battery.
The chief use of this is to measure out as it were a given quantity of
electricity for underground lines, so that the wire shall not be more charged
by contact with the battery of long duration, than by a momentary contact,
this reservoir serving to charge the wire to the right degree at once, & in

page_text: conjunction with my apparatus previously patented enables me to work to very
great distances through submarine cables & subterranean wires. These con-
stant batteries & induction plates are very serviceable for electric illumination
where great constancy is required, By aid of the induction plates the carbon
is much more suddenly & vividly ignited The momentary discharge being very
intense, the light is consequently much more regular.
CROMWELL FLEETWOOD VARLEY.
(L.S.)