IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRICAL BATTERIES.
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Denton Abel at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd April 1881. A communication
from abroad by Paul Jablochkoff, of the Société Generale d'Electricité
(procedés Jablochkoff), of Paris, France.
CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 28, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRICAL BATTERIES.' [A com-
munication from abroad by Paul Jablochkoff, of the Société Generale d'Electricité
(procedés Jablochkoff), of Paris, France.]
This Invention relates to an improved construction of electrical battery, which
has for its object to accumulate electricity and which operates according to the
principle of the secondary batteries, from which it is, however, essentially
distinguished by its special construction and mode of action. The Invention is
based on the observations made by my foreign correspondent on the phenomenon
of electrical polarisation, and on the transformation of electricity from the dynamic
to the static condition, and the converse.
In all secondary batteries proposed up to the present time, the polarisation is
due to the deposit on the plate electrodes of bubbles of gas resulting from the
decomposition of the liquids used. In order to increase the power of the battery,
Mr. Planté proposed to apply to the metal or other electrodes a layer of oxide
rendering the surface both rough and porous. The pores thus produced serve to
increase the surface, but do not alter the polarising capacity of the electrodes, as it
has been proved that smooth surfaces are polarised more strongly.
The present Invention consists in rendering the electrodes, whatever their nature
and form may be, more apt to become polarised by covering them with oil or other
fatty, oleaginous, or resinous bodies, in particular the hydrocarbons and mineral
oils, such as naphtha and its compounds. The function of these bodies is by reason
of their nature to retain the electric charges upon the electrodes, operating some-
what like the oily and resinous coatings that form the surfaces of the electrophores
and static condensers of electricity; thus, by the novel interposition of these
substances in secondary batteries, there is added to the chemical action of the
polarisation the effects of condensation of statical electricity. The double action
is proved by the fact, as will be seen by the arrangements to be presently

page_text: described, that each electrode can be removed separately, and made to act as a body
charged with statical electricity of the one or the other sign.
For practically carrying out the Invention the following arrangements may be
employed:-
According to one construction of battery the electrodes consist of polished metal
plates rolled up spirally into cylindrical form, and placed in a glass jar so as to be
slightly immersed with their lower ends in water while the upper part is immersed
in oil.
According to another arrangement the electrodes are formed of brush surfaces
composed of tufts or bundles of fine metal wire, also immersed in water and oil as
above described.
According to another arrangement the electrodes consist of baskets or receptacles
of wire gauze or perforated metal filled with coke.
According to another arrangement the battery consists of a vessel divided into
an upper and a lower compartment, which are filled with coke and separated by a
partition or diaphragm of wadding tissue, or by a layer of sand or other material,
which only serves to prevent direct contact between the two bodies of coke forming
the electrodes, which are immersed in a mixture of oil and water or in any other
suitable liquid, such as an ammoniacal solution.
In the two last described arrangements each electrode can be removed separately,
as above described, and by insulating them their charges of electricity of the
desired polarisation may be preserved. It results from the composition of the
above described batteries that they present a greater resistance than those of
known construction, and consequently have the advantage of effecting the discharge
more slowly. This resistance may be varied at will by changing the nature and
proportions of the liquids employed. If it be desired to accelerate the discharge,
this may be effected by adding to the liquids some salts that only have the effect of
reducing the internal resistance. Another advantage of these batteries is that they
can without alteration be charged with very powerful currents, requiring only a
short space of time to accumulate the same; while they preserve their faculty of
discharging very slowly.