Electrical Energy and to Apparatus therei
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Aug., 1887. .
Specification Accepted, 16th Sept., 1887.
Electrical Energy and to Apparatus therei
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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 :-
The principle of this improvement in the art of converting chemical energy into
electrical energy consists in producing an electrical current by chemically attacking
carbon without imparting heat to said carbon or to the cell from any extraneous
source. This principle is carried into practical effect in a galvanic cell in which there
is an electrolyte and two elements ono of which elements is of carbon. The carbon is
the attacked clement, and its consumption results in and bears a ratio to the production
of electrical energy in a circuit which includes the said elements and electrolyte.
In the term "carbon" as herein used is included, first, native free carbon in all its
forms in which it is a conductor of electricity; second, free carbon reduced from the
various carbonaceous (or carboniferous) compounds which may be decomposed to
afford free carbon; third, carbon compounds which are reducible to afford free
carbon.
It is to be understood, therefore, that the term "carbon," as herein used includes in
the broad and generic sense any form of carbon or carbon compound, as above indicated,
and that only such forms of carbon are excluded as may be non-conductive of electricity.
Carbonaceous bodies which, prior to their reduction as above, will not conduct
electricity are not however excluded, because the effect of the electrolyte employed
may be first to cause the reduction of the carbon compound.
The carbon being placed in a conducting medium is subjected to the action of a
substance containing oxygen in unstable combination. By "unstable combination" is
meant held by weak bonds of chemical affinity, for as carbon in ordinary temperatures

page_text: has an exceedingly weak chemical affinity for oxygen, it will only overcome the
existing affinities of the most unstable chemical compounds for the purpose of com-
bining with the oxygen which they contain. In said medium is also a conducting
body of a substance which will either not be attacked by said oxygen when liberated
or will be attacked thereby in a less degree than is the carbon. The two elements
aforesaid and the conducting medium being joined is circuit, an electrical current is
caused..
The substance containing oxygen in unstable combination may or may not enter
into the constitution of the electrolyte. That is, it may be formed directly in the
electrolyte, or it may be produced outside of the cell and introduced into the
conducting medium and into contact with the carbon.
The substance containing oxygen in unstable combination, which it is preferred to
employ is known as per-oxide of chlorine. Other oxides of chlorine may be employed,
but the best results have been obtained with that above mentioned. This substance
is chemically represented by the symbol C₁, O, and may be obtained by the reaction
of sulphuric acid and chlorate of potash. It is a gas gradually decomposable into its
elements by exposure to light and it is explosive at a temperature of about 140 degrees
Fahrenheit. It is a most powerful oxidizer.
In the accompanying drawings, Figs. 1 and 2 respectively represent in section, two
simple arrangements of galvanic cells embodying the present invention. A is a
containing vessel, preferably of glass, provided with a closely fitting cover B. In
cell A is placed a quantity of sulphuric acid. C is an element of carbon and D, an
element of platinum. E is a feeding tube passing down into the acid.
The cell as thus illustrated in Fig. 1, gives no current, or substantially none, owing
to the small difference of potential between the carbon and the platinum in the presence of
the acid. By means of the feeding tube E a small quantity of chlorate of potash may
be introduced into the acid. A well known reaction occurs, the crystals of chlorate of
potash becoming red and a reddish yellow hue pervading the acid. A current then
appears in a conductor joining the carbon and platinum elements.
In practice it is preferable to employ the form of apparatus illustrated in Fig. 2 in
which, F is a containing vessel of glass. G is a porous cup of earthenware, for
example, therein. H is an element preferably of sheet platinum. I is a conducting
body of carbon which is placed in the porous cup together with a quantity of carbon
in comminuted form. The carbon in said porous cup constitutes the positive element
(by which term is meant that one of two conducting bodies in a cell which is chemically
attacked in said cell in greater degree than the other body, and whereof the consump-
tion bears a relation to the electrical energy developed in the circuit) which is connected
in circuit externally in the usual way with the negative or platinum element. In the
outer vessel is placed sulphuric acid with which the carbon in the porous cup is also
moistened.
When chlorate of potash is added to the cell the reaction already noted occurs. The
acid in the outer vessel reddens and a current is set up in a conductor joining the
elements.
The presence of the porous cup is not in any wise essential to the operation of the
cell but it is preferably used because it retards the access of the peroxide of chlorine
to the carbon and so diminishes the rapidity of the attack upon said carbon. So also
the reduction of the carbon to comminuted form is advantageous in that it allows of
the ready permeation of the mass by the per-oxide.
It is important to note that no extraneous heat is applied to this cell nor to anything
therein contained.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
Foreign Correspondent I declare that what I claim is ;-
1. The improvement in the art of converting chemical energy into electrical energy,
which consists in chemically attacking carbon in a galvanic cell without the application
of heat.

page_text: 2. The improvement in the art of converting chemical energy into electrical energy,
which consists in subjecting carbon to the action of an unstable oxygen compound in
a galvanic cell without the application of heat.
3. A galvanic cell containing a positive element of carbon, and an electrolyte in
which by the exercise of the chemical affinity of its constituents, is formed a gas
containing oxygen in unstable combination and capable of reacting on said carbon
without the application of heat.
4. The improvement in the art of converting chemical energy into electrical energy,
which consist in oxidizing an element of carbon in a galvanic cell and thereby
producing an electric current in a circuit including the electrolyte and other element
of said cell by adding chlorate of potash to sulphuric acid in said cell, in which acid
said elements are immersed and thereby forming per-oxide of chlorine in the presence
of said carbon.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.