Improvements in or relating to Electrical Primary Batteries.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Aug., 1896-Accepted, 17th Oct., 1886
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Electrical Primary Batteries.
I, JOSEPH BRUCE WHITTEMORE, of 7 Cavendish Road, Finsbury Park, in
the County of Middlesex, no occupation, 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 refers to improvements in or relating to electrical primary
batteries by means of which improvements electrical energy can be produced at a
low cost as compared with the cost of production by the primary batteries as
heretofore used.
In the course of my experiments with various substances for use in electrical
primary batteries I have discovered that ordinary coal, when treated in a special
mauner, is adapted for use with water as the liquid to make a cell from which an
electric current of appreciable quantity and strength can be produced. I have
also discovered that the specially treated coal has another remarkable property,
and that is, that when added in a small quantity to the acid solution of an ordinary
battery cell it increases the quantity and strength of the curront therefrom in such
a manner and to such an extent that iron may be used in place of zinc as the
positive element in the cell. The cost of treating the coal is insignificant, and as
the coal is itself inexpensive it will be apparent that considerable economy will
be effected in an ordinary battery by using ordinary water as the liquid of the coll
in place of an acid solution and by adding thereto coal which has been treated in
the manner to be hereinafter described. Economy will also be effected by adding
small quantities as requirod of the specially treated coal to the acid solution
where such is used in the cell and substituting iron for the zinc or other element
which is used up in the cell.
The coal is treated in the following manner;-I take a block of convenient
shape and size, and, say of about 4 or 5 lbs. weight, and on the top of this I place
a small piece, say of about 10 grains weight, of sulphur, camphor, pitch, or of any
other inflammable substance which, when burnt in the open, will produce
equivalent chemical or physical results, and ignite it and allow it to burn itself out
on the top surface of the coal. When the inflammable anbstance has burnt away,
or practically all burnt away, the block of coal is at once adaptable for use in a
water-liquid cell, or as a means for augmenting the electrical properties of an acid-
solution cell.
I have made and tested three double fluid cells each having carbon and iron
elements, the liquids being water drawn from the ordinary domestic service-pipes
to which has been added coal treated in the manner above described. For the
first of these cells the coal had been prepared by burning a small piece of sulphur
thercon; for the second, camphor had been used instead of sulphur; and for the
third, pitch had been used instead of sulphur or camphor. Each of theso cells
when kept at a temperature of about 60° Fahrenheit gave when tested a current
of one volt and 0-5 ampere. From these results it would seem that the burning
of a small quantity of an inflammable substance on coal, effects a change of some
kind in the molecular structure of the coal rendering it after such treatment
advantageous for use in an electrical battery. But whatever the theoretical effect
ou the coal may be, it is certain that an electrical current of appreciable quantity
and strength is produced by the use in a water-liquid cell, of the coal treated in
the manner before described, and that no such result is produced wheu ordinary
coal, not so trented, is added to the water-liquid cell.

page_text: I have also tried the effect of the addition of the specially treated coal to an
acid-solution cell. For this purpose I took an ordinary Bunsen cell of three-pint
capacity and to this I added about 6 ounces weight of the specially prepared
coal in small pieces to the nitric acid solution, and I substituted an iron element
for the zinc. When tested this cell gave substantially the same voltage and
ampere measurements as the original Bunsen cell from which it was made.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. For use in the liquid of electrical primary battery cells, coal, prepared by
burning thereon in the open a piece of sulphur, camphor, pitch, or analogous
inflammable substance substantially as described and for the purpose stated.
2. The process herein described for rendering coal adaptable for use in the
liquid of electrical primary battery cells consisting in burning thereon a relatively
small quantity of sulphur, camphor, pitch or analogous inflammable substance in
the open until such substance is practically all burnt away substantially as set
forth and for the purposes stated.
3. An electrical primary battery consisting of a positive element of irou, an acid
solution to which coal, prepared in the manner indicated in Claim 2 hereof, is
added in about the proportions stated, and a negative element of any suitable
kind, substantially as hereinbefore described and for the purpose stated.
4. An electrical primary battery consisting of elements of iron and of carbon,
immersed in water, to which coal prepared in the manner indicated in Clain 2
hereof, is added in about the proportions stated, substantially as hereinbefore
described and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 21st day of August 1896.
J. B. WHITTEMORE.
F. W. Golby,
36 Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Patent Agent for the Applicant.