MENTS IN ELECTRICAL ACCUMULATORS OR SECONDARY BATTERIES
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Arthur French St. George at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd October 1882.
ARTHUR FRENCH ST. GEORGE, of Redhill, in the County of Surrey,
MENTS IN ELECTRICAL ACCUMULATORS OR SECONDARY BATTERIES
"
"IMPROVE
This invention relates to what are well known as accumulators or Electrical
batteries, into which a current of Electricity can be supplied from any suitable
Electrical generator, the Electricity so supplied being absorbed and collected in
such battery, and a corresponding or equivalent quantity of Electricity being
subsequently given out as when required.
My invention has for its objects novel methods of constructing and operating
such accumulators or secondary batteries, so that they are lighter, more compact,
and more easily transported-from place to place when desired, and are at the same
time more effective than such apparatus as heretofore ordinarily constructed
and used.
In order to put my invention in operation, I make use of a battery of which
each Element is composed of a carbon or metal rod or plate, suspended or adjusted
in a suitable cell or chamber of porous earthenware or material of the like kind,
preferably pulverized calcined flint made into a paste with water and baked or
dried at a moderate temperature after having been formed into a cell or chamber
of the desired shape. The bottom of the cell is closed, preferably with insulating
material such as sealing wax or other material of a similar kind.
I fill the cells made as described, of any suitable shape, preferably circular in
plan, with chromate of lead made into a paste with water and poured into them,
or other sufficiently oxidizable and deoxidizable salt of a metal, and the paste is
then allowed to dry. A hole or opening is then drilled or made in the dry mass,
into which the carbon or metal rod is inserted so as to be in good contact with the
chromate of lead.
If carbon is used its upper extremity is coated with copper or other metal, and
the upper end of the cell or tube round the carbon and above the bichromate of
lead is then closed with insulating material of a kind similar to that used at the
bottom.

page_text: A number of cells constructed in the method and of the materials described
are arranged in a trough of glass or other suitable material which is filled with
water acidulated for the purpose of improving its conducting power. The cells
are preferably arranged in two rows opposite to each other, and I prefer to arrange
transverse divisions, or partitions, of glass, ebonite, or other suitable insulating
material, which can be readily inserted in grooves, guides, or other devices,
between each pair of opposed cells in the two rows, or between each two, three, or
more such pairs.
In order to charge a secondary electrical battery constructed and arranged in
the novel method described, the transverse divisions or partitions being removed I
connect together the whole of the carbon or metal rods of one of the rows of cells
and I connect them with one pole of the galvanic battery or other electrical
generator which is used, and the whole of the carbon or metal rods in the other
row of cells are connected together and to the other pole of the battery or generator,
and the secondary battery becomes charged with electricity in considerable quantity
but of comparatively small intensity.
In order to obtain, when required, from a battery so charged a current of
electricity of great intensity, as for instance when it is to be used for the purpose
of producing incandescent electric light by means of conductors of high resistance
in the usual well-known way, I first insert the transverse divisions or partitions in
their places, so as to insulate from each other in the trough the several pairs or sets
of pairs of opposing cells, and I then connect the carbon or metal rod of the first
cell in one row with the carbon or metal of the second cell in the opposite row,
the carbon or metal of the second cell in the first row with that of the third cell
in the opposite row, and so on with the whole sets of cells, and I then connect the
carbon or metal rod of the first cell in the second row with one of the conductors
through which the current of electricity is to be passed, and the carbon or metal
rod of the last cell in the first row with the other such conductor, and in this way
I obtain a continuous current of great intensity through the conductors.
The alterations of the connections between the several carbon or metal rods are
effected when necessary by means of suitably arranged switches or handles of the
ordinary well-known kinds.
I prefer to cover the opposing edges of each pair of opposite cells with wax or
other insoluble insulating material, in order that the currents of electricity may
be compelled to take a course through the liquid from a larger surface of each
cell, a greater quantity of electricity being thus absorbed or given out in any
given time.
Apparatus constructed according to my invention is lighter and more easily and
quickly constructed and more durable than such apparatus as ordinarily heretofore
constructed and used, while by the method of altering the connection between the
several carbon or metal rods a current of high intensity and sufficient quantity is
obtained from cells comparatively few in number, light, and portable.