Improvements in Double Fluid Galvanic Batteries.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Oct., 1895-Accepted, 7th Dec., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Double Fluid Galvanic Batteries.
I, EDWARD STANLEY BOYNTON, of No. 464, Lafayette Avenue, in the City
of Brooklyn, in the County of Kings and State of New York, one of the United
States of America, Electrical Engineer, 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:—
This invention relates to the class of double-fluid batteries, and the object is to
effect a convenience in the use of the battery by a certain construction of the cells
of the same in such a manner that the latter may be grouped in one outer vessel
or reservoir, containing the outer liquid electrolyte.
The accompanying drawing illustrates an embodiment of the invention in a
sulphate of copper battery, Figure 1 being a plan of a battery comprising four
cells, and Figure 2 a vertical section of the same in the plane indicated by line r³, .³,
in Figure 1.
Each cell of the battery comprises the following parts: First, there is an outer
cup, 1, which will be of some material which is impervious to the battery-fluids
and which will resist the chemical action in the cell, as hard rubber, glass, etc.
Inside of this cup 1, is set a porous cup, 2, of the kind commonly employed in this
class of cells. In the outer cup 1, is, in this instance, the copper electrode, 3,
provided with a suitable clamp, C, for the connecting wire, and inside the porous
cup 2, is the zinc electrode, 4; provided with a suitable clamp, Z, for the
connecting wire. In the outer cup 1, at one side only, are small apertures, 5,
placed at different levels. Part of the cell at the right in Figure 1 is broken
away down to one of said apertures in order to show the latter in full lines in
this view. The copper electrode 3 is in the form of a sheet, rolled into a tubular
form and arranged with the slit or opening between its edges situated opposite
to the row of holes or apertures 5 in the cup 1, as clearly shown in Figure 1.
What is described above constitutes a single voltaic cell, and in forming the
battery, a number of these cells are set in a receptacle or reservoir, 6, and this
reservoir is filled up to the proper level with an aqueous solution of sulphate
of copper, 7, (Figure 2) the porous cups 2 being, at starting, filled with an
aqueous solution of sulphate of zinc, and the cells connected in series by
conductors, 8.
To keep the battery replenished with the copper salt, a vessel or cup, 9, with
apertures in its sides, may be set in the reservoir 6, and filled with crystals of
sulphate of copper.
A battery constructed and arranged as above described will yield a voltage
corresponding to the number of cells, and an ampèrage corresponding to the size
of the cells, as in any Daniels battery having separate cells and separate copper
solutions, one for each cell. My battery has the advantage that all of the cells
are immersed in a copper solution common to all and they are all in one large
vessel or reservoir so as to be much more conveniently handled and much more
conveniently taken care of than where they are separate.
In placing the cells in the vessel 6, it is important to so set them that the rows
of apertures 5, in the several outer cups 1, shall not be near together in any two
cells; therefore I prefer to place the cells as seen in the drawings, with the side
of the cup where said apertures 5 are situated facing outward. A long and narrow
slit would serve to form the aperture in the cup 1 for the entry of the copper

page_text: solution, but a series of small holes is preferred as these do not weaken the wall
of the cup so much as a slit.
I have represented the cups 1 and 2 as circular in plan and the reservoir or
vessel 6 as square, but these forms are not at all material.
The primary filling of the porous cup 2 with a solution of sulphate of zinc is not
necessary except when it is desired to use the battery at once.
The function of the cup 1 is to cut off electrical communication between the
elements by interposing an insulator, and at the same time to admit the supply to
all of the elements of the copper solution in proper quantity.
I may say that while it is customary in a sulphate of copper battery to arrange
the two solutions as hereinabove described; that is, the copper solution and electrode
exterior to the zinc solution and electrode, this arrangement may, of course, be
reversed without departing from my invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I
claim is :-
nature of my said
declare that what I
1. A cell for a galvanic battery, comprising an outer cup 1, provided at one
side with a small aperture or apertures 5, for the admission of the battery-liquid,
an electrode 3, within said cup, a porous cup 2, within the cup 1, and an electrode 4
within said porous cup, substantially as set forth.
2. A galvanic battery comprising a vessel 6, to contain a liquid electrolyte, and
two or more voltaic cells in the said vessel, each of said cells comprising a cup 1,
of suitable impervious material, having in one of its sides a contracted aperture
for the electrolyte to pass through, a porous cup 2, in the cup 1, an electrode 3,
in the outer cup 1, and an electrode 4 in the porous cup, said celis being connected
electrically in series, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 25th day of October 1895.
STEPHEN WATKINS,
Agent for the Applicant.