IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC BAT- TERIES, AND IN THE MEANS FOR EXCITING THE SAME
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC BAT-
TERIES, AND IN THE MEANS FOR EXCITING THE SAME.”—A communication
from abroad by Louis Bastet and Henry Seligman, both of Tarry.
town, in the State of New York, United States of America.
Sealed the 12th March 1872, and dated the 17th October 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th October 1871.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
3 Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC
BATTERIES, AND IN THE MEANS FOR EXCITING THE SAME," to be as follows:-
-
The object of this Invention is to increase the intensity and quantity
of clectricity generated in electric batteries. To this end the surface

page_text: of carbon exposed to the action of the exciting fluid is enlarged in the
manner to be presently explained and certain chemical substances are
submitted to the action of the exciting liquor. The zinc plato is im-
mersed as usual in the liquor contained in the outer vessel, and in the
porous cell containing the carbon a chamber is formed by means of a
perforated partition to receive two salts either in a solid or liquid stato,
namely, bichromate of potash and nitrate of potash or nitrate of soda.
The carbon suspended in the porous cell is divided longitudinally in a
vortical plane into two parts, and the pieces are kept asunder by a filling
block which is inserted between them at their upper ends, where they
are held fast by a metal clamp that carries a binding screw for con-
necting a battery wire therewith. By this divison of the carbon an inner
as well as an outer surface is presented to the exciting fluid. By in.
serting the salts in the porous cell the intensity of the electric currents
produced is both increased and prolonged, and by placing them within
a compartment of this cell, although the acid is free to flow thereto,
the salts will not be liable to adhere to or in any manner interfere with
the carbon in the porous cell. The other wire of the battery is con-
ncoted as usual with the zinc plate,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special 3
licence that I, tho said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
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, a

page_text: and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ELECTRIC BATTERIES, AND IN THE MEANS FOR EXCITING THE SAME,” being a
communication to me from abroad by Louis Bastet and Henry Seligman,
both of Tarrytown, in the State of New York, United States of America,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say)
This Invention relates to new and useful improvements in electric
batteries for generating electric or electro-magnetic power for propelling
electric or electro-magnetic engines or for other purposes, and in the
use of certain salts within an interior compartment of the inner cell of
the battery, by means of which the intensity and quantity of electricity
generated is greatly increased, and the strength of the battery prolonged.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the im-
proved battery taken on the line x, a, of Fig. 2; Fig. 2 is a vertical
section on the lines y, y, y, y, of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a plan or top
view of the battery. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding
parts.
A is the exterior cell of glass or other suitable material. B is a cell of
porous or other suitable material placed within the cell A, which latter
is intended to contain water acidulated with sulphuric acid; O is the
zinc plate which is placed in the acidulated water between the inner cell
and the case; D is the carbon piece within the inner cell. The carbon
is composed of two or more rectangular sided parts a, a, slightly sepa-
rated by a filling block 6 at the top, where they are firmly bound together
by an arch-shaped clamp G, the screws of which c, c, pass through the
sides of the clamp and the carbon pieces a, a. The clamp is surmounted :

page_text: by a coupling screw d. A carbon battery thus composed presents an
unusually large surface to the action of the fluids, is easily made, and
conveniently repaired. Within the inner cell B is placed a transverse
partition E, perforated or otherwise made so that the liquid in the inner
cell will enter the compartment F thus partitioned off. This compartment
may be situated in any portion of the inner cell or connected with it in
any other manner so that the dividing partition or wall is so perforated
that the liquid contained within the inner cell may freely enter the com-
partment thus partitioned off. Into this compartment two salts are
introduced in a dry state, namely, bichromate of potash and nitrate of 1
potash or nitrate of soda. The porous cell is provided with a sufficient
quantity of sulphuric acid. The salts instead of being placed in a
separate compartment of the cell as described, may be used in any of the
ordinary battery cells either with or without a distinct compartment,
but experience has shown that the salts work more perfectly with the 1
sulphuric acid when the two are separated by a perforated partition that
will allow of the acid flowing freely to the salts but so that the undissolved
salts shall not adhere to or in any manner interfere with the carbon in
the porous cell when the carbon is raised or lowered.
A course of experiments with clectric batteries has shown that these
salts used in the manner described greatly increase and prolong the
intensity of the electric currents produced.
An advantage arising from the use of the salts as above described in
the porous cell is the formation of another chemical compound in the
exterior cell A which provides the means of using the liquid therein
contained for an unlimited period without replenishing, it being simply
necessary to add thereto a little pure water every time the porous cell
is re-charged.
It will be readily understood that the salts herein named may be
dissolved in sulphuric acid and the solution then placed within the
porous cell, and that the use of such solution forms a part of the im-
provement; but the use of the dry salts in the manner described is
preferred because the intensity of the battery is longer maintained by
the use of the salts in the dry form as set forth than by the solution.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements:
in Electric Batterics and in the Means for Exciting the same," as com-
municated to me by my foreign correspondents, and explained the

page_text: manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that
under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim,—
First. The use of bichromate of potash and nitrate of potash or nitrate
of soda in combination with sulphuric acid in a carbon battery or any
other form of battery substantially in the manner and for the purpose
described.
Second. The partition E in the inner cell of an electric battery
substantially as and for the purposes described.
Third. One or more compartments substantially as seen at F in com-
bination with the inner cell of an electric battery for the purposes
described.
Fourth. The making of the carbon in two or more rectangular parts
slightly separated substantially as described.
Fifth. The clamp G for uniting and holding the carbon parts made
and operating substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of April,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.