IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC POLARIZATION BATTERIES OR MAGAZINES OF ELECTRICITY, AND THE APPLICATION OF THE SAME AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH.
Year: 1881

page_text: "
LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN
GALVANIC POLARIZATION BATTERIES OR MAGAZINES OF ELECTRICITY, AND
THE APPLICATION OF THE SAME AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH.
A communication from abroad by Camille Faure, of Paris, in the Republic of
France
>>
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th January 1881.
JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC POLARIZATION BATTERIES OR
MAGAZINES OF ELECTRICITY, AND THE APPLICATION OF THE SAME AND IN
APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH." A communication from abroad by Camille
Faure, of Paris, in the Republic of France.
This Invention relates to what are known as galvanic polarization batteries,
which are incapable of themselves of producing electricity, but which, when
charged from any source of electricity (such, for example, as a battery or machine)
become magazines of electricity, and are then capable of furnishing electric power
in proportion to the electric energy which has been transmitted to them, and
which they have stored up. The Invention has reference to an economical and
expeditious preparation of the elements of these batteries by covering them by
mechanically coating, electro-plating, or chemical precipitation or deposit, with a
layer of spongy or porous lead of suitable thickness whereby it is rendered possible
to impart to such batteries a considerable power of absorbing and storing up
electricity, which may be subsequently employed as required; and the Invention
also has reference to novel processes and apparatus for enabling this important
practical result to be obtained.
By employing the same processes and means it is also possible to obtain twó
elements in pairs or couples composed of blades, or plates of lead, or other suitable

page_text: material, covered with pulverulent lead obtained by the improved processes forming
the subject of this Invention, and retained in position by various means, such, for
example, as the means hereinafter described.
Batteries may also be arranged with plates or elements having parallel surfaces
prepared according to this Invention, or by other suitable means, and so as to
constitute impermeable partitions forming cells between each two elements,
whether the latter are intended to be placed in a horizontal or vertical position.
The Invention also relates to various applications of the piles and batteries
constructed according to the said Invention, such as their employment as powerful
regulators and magazines of electricity, which is capable of being converted into
force at any point where the said piles or batteries may be situated, and whether
the latter are charged on the spot or at a distance.
The Invention further relates more especially to the novel application of the
system to vehicles of all descriptions propelled by electricity by the combination
upon such vehicle of an electro-dynamic machine with a polarization battery
constructed according to the said Invention, and capable of being charged at
convenient intervals by any suitable means.
In carrying out this Invention, leaden plates or blades are principally employed
as a support for the porous or spongy materials with which they are covered by
mechanical application, electro plating, or galvano plastic process, chemical precipi-
tation or deposit, or by simple adhesion.
In order to render these supporting plates capable of storing up a sufficient
quantity of electricity the plate, or pair of plates or elements are prepared by
covering them with a coating composed of inetallic salts intimately mixed with
inert substances, for example, by employing a coating of sulphate of lead mixed
with pulverized coke, which mixture may be moistened with a small quantity of
gelatine.
When two elements, prepared as herein before described with sulphate of lead and
arranged or coupled together in a similar manner to the elements of a galvanic
battery in a suitable liquid, such as sulphuric acid diluted with water, are placed in
electrical communication with a source of electricity of suitable power and
dimensions, it will be found that the sulphate of lead on one of the plates will be
reduced and form an adhesive but very porous layer or coating, which is precisely
the result which it is desired to obtain. When one of the plates or clements is
thus reduced the current is reversed in such a manner as to reduce the other
element, but by so doing the element which was reduced in the first instance
becomes re-oxidised, and it is known that lead oxidized under such conditions will
become peroxidised, consequently two elements will be obtained covered with lead
in a porous state, and the covering of one of the elements will be peroxidised, now
under these conditions this pair of elements constitutes a reservoir or magazine of
electricity, and is capable of acting as a galvanic battery.
The deposit of porous lead on the surface of the element may also be obtained
by depositing the lead by means of galvanism and in a pulverulent condition by
employing a powerful current of electricity.
The two primary elements may be of a metal other than lead, such as copper
for example, and may even consist of coke or carbon, and be surrounded with
oxides or other salts of lead more or less mixed with carbon or other inert substance.
The deposit may also be of any thickness, the object in view being to deposit upon
the element or upon the two elements a thick layer of metal in a rough and
spongy condition, and capable of being oxidised to a considerable depth, so as to
obtain in the batteries by means of one or two operations of short duration the
same effect which has heretofore been obtained in batteries of this description, or
polarization batteries with lead plates constructed according to what is known as
Plant'es system in a very inefficient manner and by means of an operation requiring
several weeks to carry out.

page_text: I shall now proceed to describe by way of examples various arrangements which
may be employed in carrying out the said Invention.
According to one modification a pair of elements having flat and parallel surfaces
is employed, being composed of two thin plates of lead covered or coated with a
porous covering as hereinbefore described, and placed in a rectangular vessel
containing water acidulated with sulphuric acid.
According to another modification, a pair of circular elements is employed
consisting of an external cylindrical element of lead surrounding a central rod of
lead or carbon enclosed in a cylinder or vessel of porous material, the whole being
immersed in an acid liquid contained in a suitable external vessel.
The annular space between the porous cylinder and the central element is filled
in the first instance with sulphate of lead and coke intimately mixed, a certain
quantity of coke in a granular condition being also introduced into the mixture
with sawdust or other analogous substance in order to obtain a mass sufficiently
porous. The space between the porous vessel and the external circular element
may be completely filled up in the same manner, or the composition may be
supported against the internal surface of the element only by any suitable device,
such as a second porous cylinder or vessel arranged externally and concentric to
the first, and leaving a clear annular space for the liquid. These two quantities
of composition thus applied to their respective elements are then reduced and
oxidised as herein before described, or the pasty mass of which they are composed
may be previously prepared and introduced round the elements, as it will be readily
understeod that the paste may be prepared in large elements and subsequently
transferred to other pairs or couples.
According to a further modification, a battery having a number of pairs of plates
of lead connected together for currents of high tension is employed. These plates
are prepared as hereinbefore described on both sides, and are arranged parallel with
each other and secured in position at the proper distance apart by means of bands
or distance pieces of india rubber provided near the edges of the plates, and are
pressed together by means of external slabs supported by bars of wood connected
by bolts so as to form a compact and strong casing in which each of the spaces
between the lead plates forms a cell capable of retaining the acidulated water
without leakage. The spaces between the plates may if preferred be filled with
felt or other sufficiently porous substance capable of maintaining the plates at the
proper distance apart, and the edges of the lead plates should be carefully painted
with shellac or gum lac in order to prevent the current from passing along the
external surfaces.
All salts, such as salt of manganese and the like, capable of producing insoluble
peroxides, may be employed according to circumstances.
The Invention may be applied generally to any purpose for which a magazine of
electric power is required, and in particular to the propulsion of vehicles. When
applied to the purpose last mentioned the improved polarization battery is combined
with a vehicle provided with a dynamo-electric machine which receives a current
from the said battery and transmits the same to the wheels in the form of a power
or force.
Motion may be transmitted to the wheels of the vehicle either direct or
by means of belts and pulleys or other suitable means.
The levers and regulators for working the apparatus may be arranged in any
suitable manner, and consists of certain parts which serve to establish metallic
contact for the passage of the currents and for reversing the latter when required.
An important detail connected with this part of the apparatus consists in an
arrangement by means of which it is rendered possible to transmit to the machine
a current of varying intensity so as to regulate the speed by a direct reduction of
the power expended.
The conducting wire connected to one of the poles of the battery is permanently
attached to the machine, and the battery is divided into sections, each of which is
placed in communication with a regulator by means of independent wires. This

page_text: regulator is also suitably connected with the machine, and is provided with a key
or switch by means of which one or any desired number of sections of the battery
may be placed in communication with the machine by one movement of a lever.
The tension of the current employed to work the machine may thus be increased
or diminished at pleasure, and the speed is regulated according to circumstances
with this advantage, that in proportion as the speed is reduced the work done by.
the machine is increased relatively to the amount of electricity expended.
In certain cases, such for example as batteries for telegraphic purposes, a solution
.of an earth alkaline or other salt, the base of which is capable of forming an
insoluble salt with lead, or having a base the oxide of which is in itself not readily.
dissolved; may be employed in lieu of the acidulated water ordinarily employed in
such batteries.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th July 1881.
JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC POLARIZATION BATTERIES OR
MAGAZINES OF ELECTRICITY, AND THE APPLICATION OF THE SAME AND IN
APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH." A communication from abroad by Camille
Faure, of Paris, in the Republic of France.
This Invention relates to what are known as galvanic polarization batteries,
which are incapable of themselves of producing electricity, but which when charged
from any source of electricity (such for example as a battery or machine) become
magazines of electricity and are then capable of furnishing electric power in
proportion to the electric energy which has been transmitted to them and which
they have stored up. The Invention has reference to an economical and expeditious
preparation of the elements of these batteries by covering them by mechanically
coating, electro plating, or chemical precipitation or deposit, with a layer of spongy
or porous lead of suitable thickness, whereby it is rendered possible to impart to
such batteries a considerable power of absorbing and storing up electrical energy
which may be subsequently employed as required, and the Invention also has
reference to novel processes and apparatus for enabling this important practical
result to be obtained.
By employing the same processes and means it is also possible to obtain two
elements in pairs or couples, composed of plates of lead or other suitable material
covered with pulverulent lead obtained by the improved processes forming the
subject of this Invention, and retained in position by various means, such, for
example, as the means hereinafter described.
Batteries may also be arranged with plates or elements having parallel surfaces
prepared according to this Invention, or by any other suitable means and so as
to constitute impermeable partitions forming cells between each two elements
whether the latter are intended to be placed in a horizontal or vertical position.
The Invention also relates to various applications of the piles and batteries
constructed according to the said Invention, such as their employment as powerful
regulators and magazines of electricity or electrical energy which is capable of being
converted into force at any point or place where the said piles or batteries may be
situated and which may be near to or at any distance from the place where the
latter are charged.
The Invention further relates more especially to the novel application of the
system to vehicles of all descriptions propelled by electricity, as carriages on wheels,
or boats or barges, by the combination upon such vehicle, or on another vehicle
drawing it or pushing it, of an electro dynamic machine with a polarization battery
constructed according to the said Invention, and capable of being charged at
convenient intervals. by any suitable means.
In carrying out this Invention, leaden plates or blades are principally employed
as a support for the porous or spongy materials with which they are covered by
mechanical application, electro plating, or galvano plastic process, chemical
precipitation or deposit or by simple adhesion.
In order to render these supporting plates capable of storing up a sufficient
quantity of electricity, the plate or pair of plates or elements are prepared by
covering them with a coating composed of metallic salts or oxides, intimately mixed
with inert substances, for example, by employing a coating of sulphate of lead.
mixed with pulverized coke, which mixture may be moistened with a small quantity
of gelatine.

page_text: When two elements prepared as hereinbefore described with oxides or salts of
lead, and arranged or coupled together in a similar manner to the elements of a
galvanic battery in a suitable liquid such as sulphuric acid diluted with water, are
placed in electrical communication with a source of electricity of suitable power
and dimensions, it will be found that the oxide or salt of lead, sulphate of lead for
instance, on one of the plates will be reduced and form an adhesive but very porous
layer or coating which is precisely the result which it is desired to obtain. When
one of the plates or elements is thus reduced, the current is reversed in such a
manner as to reduce the other olement, but by so doing the clement which was
reduced in the first instance becomes reoxydised, and it is known that lead
oxydised under such conditions will become peroxidized, consequently two elements
will be obtained covered with lead in a porous state, and the covering of one of the
elements will be peroxidized. Now under these conditions this pair of elements
constitutes a reservoir or magazine of electro-chemical energy and is capable of
acting as a galvanic battery,
The deposit of porous lead on the surface of the element may also be obtained
by depositing the lead from a soluble salt of lead by means of galvanism and in a
pulverulent condition by employing a powerful current of electricity.
The two primary elements may be of a metal, other than lead, such as copper
for example, and may even consist of coke or carbon and be surrounded with oxides
or salts of lead more or less mixed with carbon or other inert substance. The
deposit may also be of any thickness, the object in view being to deposit upon the
element or upon the two elements a thick layer of metal in a rough and spongy
condition and capable of being oxidized to a considerable depth so as to obtain in
the batteries by means of one or two operations of short duration the same effect
which has heretofore been obtained in batteries of this description or polarization
batteries with lead plates constructed according to what is known as Planté's
system in a less efficient manner and by means of an operation requiring several
weeks to carry out.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall refer to
the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the same letters of reference
indicating corresponding parts in all the corresponding Figures.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents a vertical section of a battery
constructed according to this Invention, with flat plates as hereinafter described.
Figure 2 is a vertical section of a battery constructed with circular plates or
elements.
Figure 3 is a vertical section and Figure 3a is a side elevation of a battery
composed of flat plates forming cells.
Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating the application of the Invention to the
propulsion of vehicles, and Figure 5 is another diagram shewing an apparatus for
controlling the intensity of currents transmitted from the improved battery.
According to the arrangement illustrated in Figure 1, a pair of elements having
flat and parallel surfaces is employed, being composed of two thin lead plates A
and B covered or coated with a porous covering as hereinbefore described, and
placed in a rectangular vessel containing water acidulated with sulphuric acid.
In the arrangement illustrated in Figure 2, a pair of circular elements is
employed, consisting of an external cylindrical element A of lead covered or coated
internally with a porous covering as herein before described, and surrounding a
central rod B of lead or carbon enclosed in a cylinder or vessel C of porous
materials, the whole being immersed in an acidulated liquid contained in a suitable
external vessel D.
The annular space between the porous cylinder C and the central element is
filled in the first instance with sulphate of lead and coke intimately mixed, a
certain quantity of coke in a granular condition being also introduced into the
mixture with saw dust or other suitable analogous substance in order to obtain a
mass sufficiently porous. The space between the porous cylinder C and the

page_text: external circular element A may be filled up all round, or the composition may be
supported against the internal surface of the element A only by any suitable
device, such as a second porous cylinder or vessel arranged externally and
concentric to the first, and leaving a clear annular space for the liquid. These two
quantities of composition thus applied to their respective elements are then reduced
and oxidized as herein before described, or the pasty mass of which they are
composed may be previously prepared and introduced round the elements, as it will
be readily understood that the paste may be prepared in large elements, and
subsequently transferred to other pairs or couples.
According to another arrangement, shewn in Figures 3 and 3a, a battery having
a number of pairs of plates connected together for currents of high tension is
employed, provided with a number of plates a, a, a, a, of lead, which may each
present a surface of about one yard in area. These plates a are prepared as herein
before described on both sides, and are arranged parallel with each other, and
secured in position at the proper distance apart by means of strips or distance
pieces of india rubber provided near the edges of the plates, and are pressed
together by means of external slabs or plates H supported by bars D of wood,
connected by bolts so as to. form a compact and strong casing, in which each of the
spaces between the lead plates a forms a cell capable of retaining the acidulated
water without leakage. The spaces between the plates a mnay, if preferred, be
filled with felt, asbestos, or other sufficiently porous substance capable of main-
taining the plates at the proper distance apart, and preventing the liquid from
splashing in case of the battery being moved.
In applying the Invention to the propulsion of vehicles, as shewn in Figure 4, for
the case of a carriage on rails, the improved polarization battery is carried on a
vehicle V combined with a dynamo electric machine, which receives a current from
the said battery, and transmits the work done by it to the wheels, or the same
apparatus may be employed to turn the screw propeller or paddle of a boat or
barge, or a wheel carriage driven by the same apparatus on a canal or river bank
may be used for towage.
The details of the pile or battery having been herein before described, and those
of the dynamo electric or electro-dynamic machines being well known, as well as
their mode of action when employed as a motive power, it will be sufficient in
order to explain the diagram, Figure 4, to say that A and A' represent two of the
improved batteries, and B represents the electro dynamic machine actuating the
wheels C of the vehicle V, either directly or by means of belts and pulleys or
other suitable mes
1
The levers and regulators for working the apparatus may be arranged in any
suitable manner, and consist of certain parts which serve to establish metallic
contact for the passage of the currents and for reversing the latter when required.
An important detail connected with this part of the apparatus consists in an
arrangement by means of which it is rendered possible to transmit to the machine
a current of varying intensity, so as to regulate the speed by a direct reduction of
the power expended. This arrangement is illustrated in the diagram, Figure 5,
in which B represents the electro dynamic machine, and A the battery, which is
divided into a certain number of sections.
One conducting wire a connected to one of the poles of the battery passes
directly to the machine B to which it is permanently attached, and each succeeding
section of the battery A placed in communication with a regulating switch K
by mens of independent wires a¹, a², a³, a¹, and a³.
one
cati
Th, regulator is directly connected with the machine B by a single wire C,
and provided with a key or switch K turning on a centre l, by means of which.
any desired number of sections of the battery may be placed in communi-
with the machine by one movement of a lever, as shewn in the Drawing.
example, the arm L in the position shewn in the Drawing connects the
and the wire c, thereby bringing the first, second, third, and fourth sections
battery into communication with the machine B. In order to diminish the

page_text: intensity of the current transmitted to the machine, it is simply necessary to move
the arm L so as to connect, say, the wire a² with the wire c, whilst by moving the
key L in the opposite direction it is evident that the intensity will be increased, as
a larger number of sections will be thereby connected with the machine.
The tension of the current employed to work the machine may thus be increased
or diminished at pleasure, and the speed of the machine admits of being regulated
according to circumstances with this advantage, that in proportion as the speed is
reduced the work done by the machine is increased relatively to the amount of
electrical energy expended.
In certain cases, such, for example, as batteries for telegraphic purposes, a solution
of an earthy alkaline or other salt, the base of which is capable of forming an
insoluble salt with the oxides of lead, or having a base the oxide of which is in
itself not readily dissolved, may be employed in lieu of the acidulated water
ordinarily employed in such batteries.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in
part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The improved secondary batteries enabling a large quantity of electro
chemical force or energy to be stored up in a small space and small weight,
substantially as hereinbefore described.
Second. The process of obtaining plates or supports capable of retaining and
preserving electro chemical force or energy by covering them with a layer of
porous or spongy metallic matter deposited to any desired thickness by galvanizing,
chemically precipitating, or mechanical adhesion, substantially as herein before
described.
Third. The employment of linings of india rubber, felt, and other suitable
materials for maintaining and holding up to or against the supporting plates the
coating or layer of metallic substance mixed or not with inert matter, substantially
as hereinbefore described.
Fourth. The combination with a wheeled carriage, or other vehicle, or boat, or
barge of an electro dynamic machine carried on the said carriage or vehicle, and a
secondary or polarization battery capable of being recharged at the end of a journey;
substantially as hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of July, One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
HENRY JOHNSON.
(LA.D.)

page_text: 1004,
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN HENRY
JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
send greeting:-
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Royal Letters
Patent, bearing date at Westminster the Eleventh day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and eighty one, Number 129, in the Forty fourth year of Her
reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her special license,
full power, sole privilege, and authority that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my
executors, administrators, or assigns, and every of them by myself and themselves,
or by my and their deputy or deputies, servants, or agents, or such others
as I, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times hereafter 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 of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC POLARIZATION
BATTERIES OR MAGAZINES OF ELECTRICITY, AND THE APPLICATION OF
THE SAME, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH." A communication
from abroad by Camille Faure, of Paris, in the Republic of France, for and during
the term of fourteen years thence next ensuing: And whereas in pursuance and
performance of a proviso in the said Letters Patent contained, I the said John.
Henry Johnson, did within six calendar months next after the date of the said
Letters Patent cause a Specification in writing under my hand and seal purporting
to particularly describe the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, to be duly filed in the Great Seal Patent Office: And
whereas I have ascertained that the title of the said Letters Patent and the claims
as made in the said Specification may be construed as being too wide and as com-
prising matters which extend beyond the Invention which can be properly
claimed under the grant of the said Letters Patent, and that various alterations
in the verbiage of the body of the said Specification as well as the insertion
therein of certain disclaiming words are desirable in order to render the
meaning of the description of the Invention perfectly clear and properly
define the Invention claimed, and that the title of the said Letters Patent also
requires to be amended so as to agree with the said Specification as so disclaimed
and altered. I am therefore desirous of striking out of the title of the said Letters
Patent the words and the application of the same and in apparatus connected
therewith," and of otherwise amending certain parts of the said Specification in the.
manner hereinafter set forth. .
NOW KNOW VE that T the said John Honry Johnson be and with the

page_text: "
title and
A
being a portion of the title, words
"
A
amend the said Specification in manner following, that is to say:-I strike
out the words "and the application of the same and in apparatus connected
therewith,' which occur on lines six and seven of page five of the Queen's
Printers' copy of the said Specification published at the Great Seal Patent
Office in One thousand eight hundred and eighty one; I also insert between
the words "reference" and "to," which occur on line fourteen of the said
page five, the word "
also ; I also strike out the words "employing the
same," which occur on line twenty two of the said page five, and substitute therefor
the word "these;" I also strike out the word "also," which occurs on the same
line; I also strike out the words "or by any other suitable means," which occur on
line twenty eight of the said page five; I also strike out the words "Invention
also relates to various applications of the," which occur on line thirty one of the
said page five; I also strike out the words "such as their employment," which
occur on line thirty two of the said page five and substitute therefor the words
may be employed;" I also strike out the whole of line thirty seven and the
word "system" at the commencement of line thirty eight on the said page five.
and substitute therefor the words "they may also be applied;" I also add after the
word "expended," which occurs on line nine of page eight of the said Specification,
the words "no claim is made to the arrangements hereinbefore described with
reference to Figures four and five apart from the use of the matters mentioned
in the first and second claims hereinafter made;" I also insert between the words
"that" and "what," which occur on line seventeen of the said page eight, the words
"I make no claim to polarization or secondary batteries generally or to any such
batteries other than those in which supporting plates coated or covered
with metallic matter are arranged together and by the passage of an electric
current through them rendered capable of retaining and preserving electric
energy, but;
I also insert between the words "batteries" and "enabling,"
which occur on line twenty of the said page, eight the words "constructed
substantially as herein before described for; I also strike out the word
substantially as hereinbefore described," which occurs on line twenty two of the
said page eight; I also strike out the words "Third. The employment of linings
of india rubber," which occur on line twenty eight of the said page eight, and
substitute therefor the words I employ;" I also strike out the word "and,"
which occurs on the same line, and substitute therefor the word "or;" I also
strike out the words " 'substantially as hereinbefore described," which occur on
lines thirty and thirty one of the said page eight, and substitute therefor the
words "but I make no separate claim to the use of such felt or other material;'
I also strike out the whole of lines thirty two to thirty five inclusive on the said
page eight. And in order that the effect of the Disclaimer and Memorandum of
Alteration as aforesaid may be clearly understood, I annex hereto a copy of the said
Specification, as it will appear when so altered and amended, the testing clause
being omitted.
66
"
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN HENRY
JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting:-
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters Patent
bearing date the Eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty one, in the forty fourth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Henry
Johnson her special license, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Henry Johnson,
my executors, administrators, or 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

page_text: Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC POLARIZATION BATTERIES
OR MAGAZINES OF ELECTRICITY," upon the condition (amongst others) that I the
said John Henry Johnson, 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 John Henry Johnson, 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, reference
being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and Figures marked
thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to what are known as galvanic polarization batteries
which are incapable of themselves of producing electricity, but which when charged
from any source of electricity (such, for example, as a battery or machine) become
magazines of electricity, and are then capable of furnishing electric power in
proportion to the electric energy which has been transmitted to them, and which
they have stored up. The Invention has reference also to an economical and
expeditious preparation of the elements of these batteries, by covering them by.
mechanically coating, electro plating, or chemical precipitation or deposit with a
layer of spongy or porous lead of suitable thickness, whereby it is rendered possible,
to impart to such batteries a considerable power of absorbing and storing up
electrical energy, which may be subsequently employed as required; and the
Invention also has reference to novel processes and apparatus for enabling this
important practical result to be obtained.
By these processes and means it is possible to obtain two elements in pairs or
couples composed of plates of lead or other suitable material, covered with
pulverulent lead obtained by the improved processes forming the subject of this
Invention, and retained in position by various means, such, for example, as the
means hereinafter described.
Batteries may also be arranged with plates or elements having parallel surfaces
prepared according to this Invention, and so as to constitute impermeable partitions
forming cells between each two elements, whether the latter are intended to be
placed in a horizontal or vertical position.
The piles and batteries constructed according to the said Invention may be
employed as powerful regulators and magazines of electricity or electrical energy,
which is capable of being converted into force at any point or place where the said
piles or batteries may be situated, and which may be near to or at any distance
from the place where the latter are charged.
They may also be applied to vehicles of all descriptions propelled by electricity,
as carriages on wheels, or boats, or barges, by the combination upon such vehicle,
or on another vehicle drawing it or pushing it, of an electro dynamic machine with
a polarization battery constructed according to the said Invention, and capable of
being charged at convenient intervals by any suitable means.
In carrying out this Invention leaden plates or blades are principally employed
as a support for the porous or spongy materials with which they are covered by.
mechanical application, electro plating, or galvano plastic process, chemical precipi-
tation or deposit, or by simple adhesion.
In order to render these supporting plates capable of storing up a sufficient
quantity of electricity, the plate or pair of plates or elements are prepared by
covering them with a coating composed of metallic salts or oxides intimately mixed
with inert substances; for example, by employing a coating of sulphate of lead
mixed with pulverized coke, which mixture may be moistened with a small.
quantity of gelatine.
When two elements prepared as hereinbefore described with oxides or salts of
lead, and arranged or coupled together in a similar manner to the elements of a
galvanic battery in a suitable liquid, such as sulphuric acid diluted with water, are.

page_text: placed in electrical communication with a source of electricity of suitable power
and dimensions, it will be found that the oxide or salt of lead, sulphate of lead, for
instance, on one of the plates will be reduced and form an adhesive but very
porous layer or coating, which is precisely the result which it is desired to obtain.
When one of the plates or elements is thus reduced, the current is reversed in such
a manner as to reduce the other element, but by so doing the element which was
reduced in the the first instance becomes re-oxydised, and it is known that lead
oxydised under such conditions will become peroxydised; consequently two elements
will be obtained covered with lead in a porous state, and the covering of one of
the elements will be peroxydised. Now under these conditions this pair of elements
constitutes a reservoir or magazine of electro chemical energy, and is capable of
acting as a galvanic battery.
The deposit of porous lead on the surface of the element may also be obtained
by depositing the lead from a soluble salt of lead by means of galvanism, and in a
pulverulent condition by employing a powerful current of electricity.
The two primary elements may be of a metal other than lead, such as copper, for
example, and may even consist of coke or carbon, and be surrounded with oxides
or salts of lead more or less mixed with carbon or other inert substance. The
deposit may also be of any thickness, the object in view being to deposit upon the
element or upon the two elements a thick layer of metal in a rough and spongy
condition, and capable of being oxydised to a considerable depth, so as to obtain in
the batteries, by means of one or two operations of short duration, the same effect
which has heretofore been obtained in batteries of this description or polarization
batteries with lead plates constructed according to what is known as Plante's system,
in a less efficient manner, and by means of an operation requiring several weeks to
carry out.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now proceed
more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall refer to the several
Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating
corresponding parts in all the corresponding Figures,
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents a vertical section of a
battery constructed according to this Invention with flat plates, as bereinafter
described.
Figure 2 is a vertical section of a battery constructed with circular plates or
elements.
Figure 3 is a vertical section, and Figure 3a is a side elevation of a battery
composed of flat plates forming cells. Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating the
application of the Invention to the propulsion of vehicles, and Figure 5 is another
diagram shewing an apparatus for controlling the intensity of currents transmitted
from the improved battery.
According to the arrangement illustrated in Figure 1, a pair of elements having
flat and parallel surfaces is employed, being composed of two thin lead plates A
and B, covered or coated with a porous covering, as herein before described, and
placed in a rectangular vessel containing water acidulated with sulphuric acid.
In the arrangement illustrated in Figure 2, a pair of circular elements is
employed, consisting of an external cylindrical element A. of lead, covered or coated
internally with a porous covering, as herein before described, and surrounding a
central rod B of lead or carbon enclosed in a cylinder or vessel C of porous
materials, the whole being immersed in an acidulated liquid contained in a suitable
external vessel D.
The annular space between the porous cylinder C and the central element is
filled in the first instance with sulphate of lead and coke intimately mixed, a
certain quantity of coke in a granular condition being also introduced into the
mixture with saw-dust or other suitable analogous substance in order to obtain a
mass sufficiently porous. The space between the porous cylinder C and the
external circular element A may be filled up all round, or the composition may be
supported against the internal surface of the element A only by any suitable.

page_text: device, such as a second porous cylinder or vessel arranged externally and concentric
to the first and leaving a clear annular space for the liquid. These two quantities
or composition thus applied to their respective elements are then reduced and
oxydised as herein before described, or the pasty mass of which they are composed
may be previously prepared and introduced round the elements, as it will be readily
understood that the paste may be prepared in large elements and subsequently
transferred to other pairs or couples.
According to another arrangement, shewn in Figures 3 and 3ª, a battery having
a number of pairs of plates connected together for currents of high tension is.
employed provided with a number of plates a, a, a, a, of lead, which may each
present a surface of about one yard in area. These plates a are prepared, as
herein before described, on both sides, and are arranged parallel with each other and
secured in position at the proper distance apart by means of strips or distance
pieces e of india rubber provided near the edges of the plates, and are pressed
together by means of external slabs or plates H supported by bars D of wood
connected by bolts, so as to form a compact and strong casing in which each of the
spaces between the lead plates a forms a cell capable of retaining the acidulated
water without leakage. The spaces between the plates a may, if preferred, be
filled with felt, asbestos, or other sufficiently porous substance capable of maintaining
the plates at the proper distance apart and preventing the liquid from splashing in
case of the battery being moved.
In applying the Invention to the propulsion of vehicles, as shewn in Figure 4,
for the case of a carriage on rails, the improved polarization battery is carried on a
vehicle V combined with a dynamo electric machine, which receives a current from
the said battery and transmits the work done by it to the wheels, or the same
apparatus may be employed to turn the screw propeller or paddle of a boat or
barge, or a wheel carriage driven by the same apparatus on a canal or river bank
may be used for towage.
The details of the pile or battery having been hereinbefore described, and those
of the dynamo electric or electro dynamic machines being well known, as well as
their mode of action when employed as a motive power, it will be sufficient in
order to explain the diagram, Figure 4, to say that A and A¹ represent two of the
improved batteries, and B represents the electro dynamic machine actuating the
wheels C of the vehicle V either directly, or by means of bells and pulleys, or other
suitable means.
The levers and regulators for working the apparatus may be arranged in any
suitable manner, and consists of certain parts which serve to establish metallic
contact for the passage of the currents, and for reversing the latter when required.
An important detail connected with this part of the apparatus consists in an
arrangement by means of which it is rendered possible to transmit to the machine
a current of varying intensity, so as to regulate the speed by a direct reduction of
the power expended. This arrangement is illustrated in the diagram, Figure 5, in
which B represents the electro dynamic machine, and A the battery, which is
divided into a certain number of sections.
One conducting wire a connected to one of the poles of the battery passes
directly to the machine B, to which it is permanently attached, and each succeeding
section of the battery A is placed in communication with a regulating switch K,
by means of independent wires a¹, a², a³, a', and a³.
This regulator is directly connected with the machine B by a single wire C, and
is provided with a key or switch K turning on a centre l, by means of which one
or any desired number of sections of the battery may be placed in communication
with the machine by one movement of a lever, as shewn in the Drawing.
For example, the arm L in the position shewn in the Drawing connects the
wire a and the wire c, thereby bringing the first, second, third, and fourth sections
of the battery into communication with the machine B. In order to diminish the
intensity of the current transmitted to the machine it is simply necessary to move
the arm L, so as to connect, say, the wire a³ with the wire c, whilst by moving the

page_text: key L in the opposite direction it is evident that the intensity will be increased as
a larger number of sections will be therefore connected with the machine.
The tension of the current employed to work the machine may thus be increased
or diminished at pleasure, and the speed of the machine admits of being regulated
according to circumstances, with this advantage, that in proportion as the speed is
reduced the work done by the machine is increased relatively to the amount of
electrical energy expended.
No claim is made to the arrangements hereinbefore described with reference to
Figures 4 and 5 apart from the use of the matters mentioned in the first and
second claims hereinafter made.
In certain cases, such, for example, as batteries for telegraphic purposes, a solution
of an earthly alkaline or other salt, the base of which is capable of forming an
insoluble salt with the oxides of lead, or having a base the oxide of which is in
itself not readily dissolved, may be employed in lieu of the acidulated water
ordinarily employed in such batteries.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that I make no claim to polarization or
secondary batteries generally or to any such batteries other than those in which
supporting plates coated or covered with metallic matter are arranged together,
and by the passage of an electric current through them rendered capable of retaining
and preserving electric energy, but what I consider to be novel and original, and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in part recited
Letters Patent is,―
First. The improved secondary batteries constructed substantially as hereinbefore
described for enabling a large quantity of electro chemical force or energy to be
stored up in a small space and small weight.
Second. The process of obtaining plates or supports capable of retaining and
preserving electro chemical force or energy by covering them with a layer of
porous or spongy metallic matter deposited to any desired thickness by galvanizing,
chemically precipitating, or mechanical adhesion, substantially as herein before
described.
I employ felt or other suitable materials for maintaining and holding up to or
against the supporting plates the coating or layer of metallic substance mixed or
not with inert matter, but I make no separate claim to the use of such felt or
other material.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this my
Disclaimer set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of December, One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
I hereby grant my fiat, giving leave to the above named John Henry
Johnson, to file in the Office of the Commissioners of Patents for Invention, with
the Specification to which the same relates, the above written Disclaimer and
Memorandum of Alteration.
Dated this 9th day of December 188+ January 1882.