AN TWODOWED GALVANIC RATTERY
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Murdoch, of Staple Inn, in the
County of Middlesex, l'atent Agent, for the Invention of "AN
TWODOWED GALVANIC RATTERY" A communication
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Murdoch at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 4th December 1852.
I, JAMES MURDOCH, of Staple Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED GALVANIC BATTERY" to be as follows:
and
The object of the present Invention is to produce a light and easily
portable galvanic or volta-galvanic battery, simple in construction
use, and capable of great intensity within a small space. It is
constructed as follows:-Upon any suitable non-conducting and non-
absorbing surface, as gutta percha, caoutchouc, varnished wood,
horn, ivory, &c., are attached a series of "elements," that is of pairs
of plates of different metals, say zinc and copper, in metallic con-
tact at their contiguous edges or parts. Between the several pairs
or elements are inserted pieces of some absorbing fabric or sub-

page_text: stance, as linen, felt, sponge, &c., intended to take up the fluid of
the battery, and between each two pieces of absorbing material is
to be left a space (which may be filled up with some non-conduct-
ing substance) to prevent, as far as may be, the same body of
fluid from touching both the metals of one element. The elements,
it is scarcely necessary to observe, are ranged in the voltaic order,
and the same principle may of course be likewise adopted for the
construction of one single pair of plates.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said James Murdoch in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 4th June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JAMES MURDOCH, of Staple Inn, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said James Murdoch, Her
special licence that I, the said James Murdoch, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Mur-
doch, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "AN IMPROVED GALVANIC BATTERY," communicated to me
from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
James Murdoch, by 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

page_text: six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Murdoch, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:
The object of the Invention is to produce a light and easily
portable galvanic or volta-galvanic battery, simple in construction
and use, and capable of great intensity within a small compass.
ar
Figures 1, and 2, represent what I terin a "slab" battery;
Figure 1, being a plan, and Figure 2, an edge view of the battery;
is a plate or slab of gutta percha, having ribs b, b, cast upon it,
or otherwise attached to it. In the intermediate spaces c, c, arc
placed strips of flannel, or felt, or cotton web, or other absorbent
substance; d, d, are the galvanic elements, each composed of a plate
of zinc and a plate of copper turned down at one edge so as to form
a flange, and soldered together at the flanges. These pairs of plates
are united to the slab by heating them, and then forcing the flanges
into the ribs until the under surface of the plates are brought into
close contact with the ribs, and they are arranged in the voltaic
order so that the zinc of one pair stands opposite in the same com-
partment to the copper of the next, but without contact with the
same, and that both inetals are in contact with the fibrous substance
contained in the compartment, so that when the fibrous substance
is moistened with any suitable exciting fluid the battery is put
into action, the poles being at the two extremities of the series.
The power of this kind of battery may be doubled with very little
addition to its bulk by having the same arrangement on both sides
of the slab.
Figures 3, and 4, represent what I denominate a "ridge" battery;
Figure 3, being a plan, and Figure 4, an edge view of the same;
a, is a slab of gutta percha, having ribs b, b, cast upon it; d, d, are
rectangular hoops, each composed of a strip of copper and a strip
•

page_text: of zinc, soldered together at their ends, and one of these rings is
forced in a heated state over cach ridge so as to surround the
ridges in close contact, the zinc of one ring standing opposite the
copper of the next. In the spaces c, c, between the hoops, arc
placed strips of any suitable absorbent material, those strips being
somewhat shorter than the hoops to prevent the fluid contained in
the absorbent material in one space communicating with that in
the next.
Batteries of this construction, like those previously described,
may have their power doubled with but a slight increase to their
bulk, by having the same arrangeinent on both sides, and, instead of
inserting porous material between the pairs or hoops, they may be
put so closely together without contact that the fluid can be
retained by capillary attraction between the pairs only.
Figures 5, 6, and 7, represent what I denominate a "frame" bat-
tery; Figure 5, being a plan, and Figure 6, a longitudinal section,
and Figure 7, a transverse section; a, is a frame (preferably) of
gutta percha, and b, and c, plates of copper and zinc respectively
connected together in pairs at one end by bent wires d, d, soldered
to thein. The free ends of the plates are fixed into one side of the
frame, parallel to each other, and the bent wires are embedded in
the other side of the frame, as shewn in the Drawing, the porous
substance e, to contain the fluid, being inserted between the zinc
of one pair and the copper of the next pair of plates.
Figures 8, and 9, represent what I denominate a "cylindrical"
battery, which is constructed with larger and fewer plates, where
quantity instead of intensity is required; Figure 8, is a longi-
tudinal elevation, and Figure 9, a longitudinal section; a, is a
cylinder (preferably) composed of gutta percha, having three spiral
ridges 61, 62, 63, formed upon it like the threads of a screw, and
making a number of turns round the cylinder, and one of them 6¹
is higher than the other two, and I term it the insulator. A strip
of felt or other suitable absorbent material is wound into each of
the spaces c, c, between the ridges, and a strip of copper and a strip
of zinc, soldered together at one of their edges, is rivetted or other-

page_text: wise secured to each of the ridges 62, 63, the line of solder coin-
ciding with the centre line of each ridge, and a strip of copper y
is attached to the cylinder on one side of the insulator, and a strip
of zinc z on the other side of the insulator, the insulator inter-
vening between these two strips of metal to prevent their contact
with each other. The metals are ranged alternately, copper zinc
copper zinc in the voltaic order as described above, and the breadth
of the strips of metal is such that there shall be a space between
the two metals which lie in the same space between any two
ridges, so that there shall be no contact between them, but both
touching the fibrous substance of their compartment; y and are
the poles.
Where moderate intensity or quantity is required, as for weak
therapeutical applications, a single one of these batteries may
suffice, and may be worn upon the body or carried in the pocket,
but for more powerful effects a number of these batteries united
by their opposite poles may be combined in various ways. Thus,
Figure 10, represents a combination of four ridge batteries (but
equally applicable with slab batteries), ranged in a square box 7,
and connected at their dissimilar poles by means of conducting
wires, x, x, so as to form one combined battery with the poles at
y and .
Figure 11, represents an arrangement for a portable slab battery
(but equally applicable for ridge batteries), consisting of three slab
batteries attached to a sheet of caoutchouc in such manner that
the caoutchouc may be rolled up so as to form a compact and casily
portable battery; h, is a flap of the caoutchouc to be folded between
the first and second battery to prevent contact; i, i, flexible wire
coils to unite the dissimilar poles of the separate batteries into one
battery with the poles at y and z; k, is a flap of the caoutchouc
left free to tie the whole together.
The cylindrical batteries may be conveniently combined by
making them tubular (instead of solid cylinders), and of different
diameters, so that they may be contained one within the other.

page_text: Instead of copper and zinc, other dissimilar and suitable metals
may be employed, and the pairs may be united by any suitable
means in lieu of soldering.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and various
modes in which it may be carried into effect, I would observe that
I do not limit myself to the arrangements described, as they may
be varied without departing from the principle of the Invention.
But I claim the formation of voltaic batteries by forming upon a
surface of a non-conducting and non-absorbent material, as gutta
percha, wood steeped in oil, horn, or other suitable material, ribs
or ridges or grooves, and attaching to or surrounding such ridges
with, or fixing into such grooves, plates, or hoops, or pairs (formed
of two dissimilar metals in métallic connection with each other), the
several hoops, or pairs, or plates not coming into contact with each
other, but being arranged in the voltaic order, and so that the
exciting fluid may be retained between the pairs either by capillary"
attraction between the pairs, or by inserting between the pairs, and
in contact therewith, pieces of an absorbent non-metallic material, as
hercin-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Murdoch, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Third day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
Witness,
E. C. COLE.
JAMES MURDOCH. (L.S.)