Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Oct., 1886.
Complete Left, 5th Aug., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 30th Aug., 1887.
I WILLIAM WORBY BEAUMONT of 229 Norwood Road Herne Hill London Engineer
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
Into moulds of suitable form & thickness for the required electrodes 1 place in
regular or irregular manner or order a quantity of pieces of active material so that the
mould is filled with them except for their interstitial spaces or the regular or irregular
spaces between the pieces. I then pour or force lead or a lead alloy into the mould so
as to fill the mould in all the spaces not filled by the pieces of active material. The
lead alloy may be of lead & antimony or of type metal. The pieces of active material
may be of a hard or coherent mixture made with oxides of lead such as red lead,
litharge peroxide or partly of sulphate or sulphides, & of water sulphuric acid steam
sulphate of ammonia or similar suitable materials that will make a firmly coherent
mixture when hardened. This material may be moulded into the form of lozenges
grains pilules or other regular or irregular forms, or cakes plates or bars of the
materials may be cut or broken up into the necessary fragmentary or regular forms.
Fragmentary or filiform or otherwise finely divided metallic lead may in some cases be
employed with the other materials. By these means I form electrodes, for secondary
batteries, in which the active materials are firmly cheaply and expeditiously cast into
or encastré with a holder which perfectly grasps every piece or almost every piece. In
some cases active or inert materials may be employed with the materials named when
it is necessary to allow for the contraction of the lead in cooling or prevent oxidation
of the lead.
A modification of the invention consists in inserting into the mould an open lead
wire or other filamentous mass mat or fabric or fabrics crumpled or corrugated and
coated with the materials named. The active material may be lithanode.
Dated this 7th day of October 1886.
W. WORBY BEAUMONT.

page_text: I, WILLIAM WORBY BEAUMONT of 229 Norwood Road, Herne Hill, London
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 :-
My invention of improvements in secondary batteries relates to the manufacture of
improved electrodes for such batteries of great efficiency and durability.
Into moulds of suitable form and thickness for the required electrodes I place in
regular manner or order a number of pieces of active material, so that the mould is
filled with them except for the regular spaces left between the pieces of active
material.
I may here state that I have not found small pieces of oxide or granules well suited
to the purpose. They are not electrically so efficient as large pieces, and this is
especially the case if the large pieces consist of Fitzgerald's "lithanode" hereinafter
referred to. 1 therefore employ large pieces of active material and of such forms as
will secure comparatively large contact surfaces and points.
Having first warmed the mould I then pour or force lead or lead alloy into the
mould so as to fill the mould in all the spaces not filled by the pieces of active material.
This operation must be performed under such a head or pressure as will be sufficient
to prevent blow-holes forming and to cause the lead or alloy to penetrate and
completely fill all interstices and indentations. I find a head of from about one to three
feet generally sufficient for the object in view, but it will depend to some extent
upon the size of the electrode and the nature of the interstices left between the pieces.
The lead alloy may be of lead and antimony or of type metal.
The pieces of active material may be of a hard or coherent mixture made with oxides
of lead such as red lead, litharge, peroxide, or partly of sulphates or sulphites and
water, sulphuric acid, steam, sulphate of ammonia, or similar suitable materials that
will make a firmly coherent mixture when hardened. I prefer, however, to use the
substance called "lithanode" described in the specification of Fitzgerald's Patent
No. 4671 of 1885.
The active material employed is moulded into regular forms, such as lozenges, cakes,
plates or bars. By these means I form electrodes for secondary batteries in which the
active material is firmly cheaply and expeditiously framed or encastré in a readily
conducting holder which grasps every piece. A modification of the invention consists
in inserting into the mould an open lead wire or other filamentous mass, mat or fabric,
or fabrics crumpled or corrugated and coated with the active material.
I do not restrict myself to any special form for the pieces of active material thus
used but there are certain forms which I have found to be specially suitable in practice
which I will now proceed to describe with the aid of the drawings hereto.

page_text: Figure 1 shews a plain bevel-edged lead oxide cake or lozenge. Figure 2 shews a
similarly shaped lozenge but with grooves made in either side and holes at the
intersection of the grooves; a section on A-B of Figure 2 being as shown at Figure 3.
Another form with projecting portions or points is shewn at Figure 4; an edge view
of Figure 4 being shewn at Figure 5, and a section on E-F of Figure 4 is shewn at
Figure 6. A modification of Figure 4 is shewn at Figure 7 in which the projections
are of a longer and less point-like form; an edge view of Figure 7 is shewn at
Figure 8, and a section on C-D at Figure 9. Any of these forms or a combination of
them may be employed. When these lozenges are placed in a mould such as is shewn
in section at Figure 10, the spaces left between them and where their projections do
not touch and the spaces left by the grooves and holes form cavities into which molten
lead is forced or poured under pressure as before stated. They are thus surrounded
by a metallic lead setting and only their flat faces are exposed. Thus at C, D, on the
left of line D D, Figure 10 the relative positions of the lozenges or cakes of Figure 4
form are seen with the setting of lead L in between them, and at A B on the right of
the line D D the lead is shewn as in the grooves and holes of the oxide cake or lozenge
of the Figure 2 form and at E F is seen the form shewn at Figure 4; the numbers 2,4
and 7 on Figure 10 indicating the forms of cakes shewn in perspective at Figures 2, 4
and 7. In Figure 10 M T is the mould top M B the mould bottom, P one of two or
more studs by which the proper relative positions of the two parts of the mould are
maintained. T is a git tube which has the height necessary to give the maximum head
or pressure to force the lead into all parts of the mould or may be in connection with
a lead forcing plunger. The lead L inside the tube T enters the would by a long
narrow feather edge runner as shewn at Figures 10 and 12 and when the upper
part M T is lifted after the lead in the mould has set the complete electrode would with
the mould made as shewn lift with it and would then be separated from the runner by
cutting through the thin part between S and Q Figures 10 and 12. At Figure 12,
which is a plan of the mould bottom, the several forms of lozenges or cakes shewn at
Figures 1, 2, 4 and 7 are shewn in the mould as they would be placed. At 1, 1, the
plain lozenges are shewn, a space between their adjacent edges being left for the lead
as well as round those edges which are next the borders of the mould and where the
outer and stronger part of the lead setting will be formed. At 2, 2, Figure 12 are
shewn the form of lozenges shewn at Figures 2 and 3, and these are similarly placed
with a space between them. At 4, 4, Figure 12, are lozenges of the form shewn at
Figures 4, 5 and 6 and at 7, 7 Figure 2 are lozenges as shewn at Figures 7, 8 and 9,
both these forms being laid in the mould with their projections touching. These
different forms are shewn on the one Figure 12 only, to avoid making several drawings
but it is not intended to place these different forms in one electrode.
example Figure 16 shews an electrode made with one lozenge of the form Figure 2.
Another mode of constructing a plate for instance of a form similar to Figure 16 is
illustrated by Figures 17 and 18. In this case I place a leaden crossbar frame a by
preference made of thin sheet lead in the bottom of a mould b; I then put in active
material to a suitable depth for the thickness of plate intended to be made and then
place another leaden grid frame a¹ thereon and compress the whole so as to form a
cake of active material which so far is enclosed by metallic lead framing. By means
of a suitable tool I then pierce the cake at intervals for instance at the places of junction
of the bars of the frame the holes passing right through the latter and through the
intervening active material. I now remove the electrode so far made from the mould b
and place it in a larger mould as shown at Figure 18, the dotted contour lines c c
indicating the space reserved all round, which space is filled in with molten lead under
pressure as described.
At Figure 11 is shown a mould similar to that of Figures 10
and 12, and in it is placed a series of lead wires which may be straight or bent
into UWS or spiral forms or woven into a fabric and which are coated with a firmly
adherent and hard coating of lead oxide or oxides, or of salts of lead, or hydrated
5 peroxide of lead, or "lithanode." In some cases the lead oxides or salts may be
mixed with the materials mentioned by Fitzgerald in his patent specification No. 4671
of 1885, but in a sufficiently thin slip to make the coating by successive dippings, the
As an.

page_text: treatment being otherwise as described by Fitzgerald. The lead wires or fabric so
prepared and with their ends projecting somewhat beyond the coating are placed in
the mould as shewn at Figure 11 in section and at 11 on part of the plan of the mould
Figure 12.
"
When the lozenges are placed in the mould, they should as to thickness, fit as nearly
as practically convenient, but generally it will be found best to make them slightly
less in thickness than the space between the top and bottom of the mould, and then
when the lozenges or cakes are laid in the bottom, to put a few grains, or a "pinch"
of oxide, in the powder form, on the top of each, if of Figures 1 and 2 form, or on the
outer rows only if of the other forms; this powder oxide will then be pressed down a
little by the mould top, and the cakes or lozenges will be kept in place whilst the lead is
run or forced in.
In place of the several cakes or lozenges forming one electrode, one larger cake of
the form shewn at Figures 2 and 3 may be used having a large number of grooves and
holes these grooves and holes being arranged in such proximity and in such manner as to
allow of a leaden network being run over it of the desired strength, and when a very
close covering over the electrodes is required, or one of greater strength, the grooves may
be of greater depth or greater width, as shown in Figures 13, 14 and 15, which are sections
of portions of electrodes so made, or instead of grooves on the faces of the lozenges or
cakes a few studs or projections may be made thereon so as to support them in in the
mould and the metallic lead will then nearly envelope the lozenges or cakes, and holes
may be made in the metallic lead or in the lozenges or cakes or in both afterwards as
desired.
Having now described my said invention and the manner in which it is to be
performed I would have it understood that I do not lay claim generally to the mode
of making electrodes by pouring molten lead round pieces of active material so as to
embrace and hold the same for I am aware that others have proposed modes of making
electrodes in which such a process is to be used but what I do claim is:-
First Constructing electrodes for secondary batteries by placing in position at
definite distances in a mould lozenges or cakes substantially of the forms shewn and
described and made from "lithanode" or oxide or oxides or hydrated peroxide or salts
of lead or like active material and then forcing or pouring molten lead into the mould
under pressure thus enclosing the active material in a metallic lead holder or setting
substantially as set forth.
"
Second-Constructing electrodes for secondary batteries by placing in position in
a mould lead wire or lead fabric coated with a firmly adherent coating of "lithanode
or of lead oxides or salts and then forcing or pouring molten lead into the mould
under pressure and thus enclosing the coated wire or fabric in a lead holder or setting
substantially as set forth.
:-
Third The improved electrodes for secondary batteries herein shewn and
described.