IMPROVEMENT IN GALVANIC BATTERIES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Edward Smith, of George Street, Not-
tingham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENT IN GALVANIC BATTERIES.”
Sealed the 19th March 1875, and dated the 21st September 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Edward Smith
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st September 1874.
I, GEORGE EDWARD SMITH, of George Street, Nottingham, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENT IN GALVANIC
BATTERIES," to be as follows:-
That by the use of certain chlorides and compounds of chlorides as
hydrochloride of ammonia, and by adding thereto certain alkalies as
soda, to be particularly described in my final Specification, and placing
this or these compounds in the cell or cells of galvanic batteries, I
render their working more constant and effective.
Also my Invention may be applied to the batteries with zinc and
carbon elements, and all other description of batteries in present use.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Latent,
filed by the said George Edward Smith in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
EDWARD SMITH, of George Street, Nottingham, Electrical Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said George Edward Smith, Her special license
that I, the said George Edward Smith, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Edward Smith, 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 "IMPROVEMENT
IN GALVANIC BATTERIES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said George Edward Smith, my executors or administrators, 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 six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Edward Smith, 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 (that is to say) :—
That whereas in the batteries in common use, injurious compounds of
zinc are thrown down or precipitated during the working of the battery,
and this sediment or insoluble compound greatly interferes with the
constant working of the battery; also attempts have been made to work
the battery with certain chlorides in the cell or cells, and which chlorides
take a small quantity of the injurious substance into solution.

page_text: Other batteries have been worked by certain hydrates, when the
injurious compounds of zinc in being formed renders the solution less
alkali, and is in consequence able to keep less of the compound in
solution, making the battery inconstant and weaker. My Invention
is therefore the mixture of chlorates and hydrates of sodium, potassium,
and ammonium, and I find by their mixture the afore-mentioned com-
pound of zinc is rendered soluble and the battery remains constant
to a far greater extent.
I find that a mixture of sodic chloride (common salt) and sodic
hydrate (caustic soda) are to be preferred because of their cheapness
and portable form, and the proportion which is most beneficial is two
parts of sodic chloride to one part of sodic hydrate, though this pro-
portion varies with the quality of salt and the work to be done by the
battery.
The battery I prefer to use is one having a carbon plate packed in a
porous cell with small pieces of carbon, and working with another plate
of zinc, called the zinc element, three parts of my mixture above
described being added to twenty parts of water, or if the mixture be in
solution, two parts of sodic chloride to one and a half parts of sodic
hydrate, and to which is added twenty parts of water. It should
however be distinctly understood that the battery will work well when
the mixture is not in the exact proportion stated.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be carried into effect or used, I will observe in
conclusion that I do not claim any of the parts separately, but the com-
bination or mixture before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Edward Smith, have to
this my Specification set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth
day of March, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.