A Novel Apparatus, whereby a Battery of Great Internal Resistance is Rendered Capable of Generating an Induction Current in Coils of Low Internal Resistance.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Feb., 1895-Accepted, 20th Apr., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A Novel Apparatus, whereby a Battery of Great Internal Resistance
is Rendered Capable of Generating an Induction Current in Coils
of Low Internal Resistance.
I, GIAMBATTISTA LAURA, of 41 Via Cavour, Turin, in the Kingdom of
Italy, Doctor of Medicine, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement: -
It is well known that, by a battery of great internal resistance, it has been
impossible to animate a coil of low internal resistance.
The present invention has for its purpose to obviate this inconvenience, and has
consequently for its object an apparatus whose application renders the said batteries
capable of performing this function.
A striking example of this fact is afforded by an ordinary electric bell, which
cannot be made to act with a battery of three sulphate of copper cells having
about 20 ohms of internal resistance, and which, on the contrary, acts immediately
as soon as the apparatus forming the subject of the present invention has been
inserted in derivation in the circuit of the battery. The same fact is also repeated
in all cases and for all apparatuses wherein an induction current is used for very
various purposes; for example, for medical apparatuses of "faradisation," for
generators of ozone, for clocks and timepieces, small motors and electric
indicators, etc.
In the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 is a vertical axial section and Fig. 2 a
horizontal section representing an arrangement of the apparatus forming the
subject of the present invention. This drawing is only given as an example and
by way of demonstration; the said apparatus can be constructed of any size
according to its various applications.
V is a glass vessel of any suitable form, preferably cylindrical. P¹ P² are two
plates of thin sheet lead, each coiled separately upon itself so that its sides take
the form of straight cylindrical surfaces on spiral bases; at the upper edge of each
of them is soldered one of the two conductors d'; B is a layer of paraffine.
To fit up the apparatus it is only necessary to introduce into the vessel V the
two plates P P² previously furnished with their conductors and coiled in the
manner indicated, taking special care to keep them slightly spaced, as shown at
Fig. 2, to prevent any contact; melted paraffine is then poured into the vessel V
with a view to form, in solidifying at the foot of the plates, a base for these latter,
solid and capable of holding them in the desired position of insulation; finally the
vessel is nearly filled with concentrated sulphuric acid of commerce.
The working of the apparatus is very simple; it is only necessary to insert it
(by any of the ordinary means) in derivation, as above mentioned, in the circuit
which it is desired, so to speak, to strengthen, and from it is immediately obtained
the desired result indicated at the commencement of this description.
The plates are, in the example, drawn coiled spirally to secure large active
surfaces in a small space, but evidently they might be of any other form, even plane,
provided that they are always slightly spaced from each other.
I would have it understood that I do not limit myself to the precise arrangement
indicated of the apparatus generally and of its various parts in detail, nor to the
presence, in the construction of this apparatus, more particularly of the materials

page_text: named than of other equivalents arranged according to the same general principle
and suitable to produce the same result, nor, finally, to the application of this apparatus
only to the instances mentioned and not to other similar uses and to which it is
equally applicable.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is-
In the utilization of electric currents generated by sources of electricity of great
internal resistance, such as sulphate of copper and other batteries, a rheotone or
apparatus to strengthen the electric currents consisting substantially of two plates
of lead or other suitable material, duly insulated from each other, slightly spaced
with respect to each other, of any suitable form but preferably coiled in spirals,
and immersed in concentrated sulphuric acid of commerce or other equivalent
liquid contained in an insulating vessel of suitable form, and lastly each furnished
with one of the two ordinary conducting wires, by means of which the apparatus
is inserted, as usual, in derivation in the circuit of the above mentioned current to
be strengthened, substantially as herein set forth.
Dated this 27th day of February 1895.
HARRIS & MILLS,
23, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents.