IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC BATTERIES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lionel Weber, of 104, Rue Royale, Place de
Congrès, in the City of Brussels, Belgium, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC BATTERIES."
Sealed the 23rd May 1873, and dated the 5th April 1873.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Lionel Weber at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 5th April 1873, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LIONEL
WEBER, of No. 104, Rue Royale, Place de Congrès, in the City of
Brussels, Belgium, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN GALVANIC BATTERIES," and have petitioned Her most Excellent Majesty
Queen Victoria to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn
Declaration that I am the first and true Inventor thereof.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Lionel Weber, do hereby declaro
the nature of the said Invention, to be as follows: :―
This Invention has for its object improvements in galvanic batteries.
According to my Invention carburet of iron is employed in the con-
struction of cells of galvanic batteries generally as an oxygenated
mineral substance capable of developing a strong galvanic current by its
electrolytic decomposition. The annexed Drawings represent a new and
improved galvanic cell and battery.
This improved generator of electricity is composed of a porous
diaphragm A, Figures 1 and 2 into which is placed a neutral conducting
blade or rod of lead or retort carbon B which is surrounded and filled
with carburet of iron C; this receptacle is sealed with wax or any other
appropriate substance D; the projecting blade B carries the screw
coupling E for the positive pole; this vase is placed in a glass or
porcelain jar F of particular shape, as represented, containing a saturated
solution of chloride of ammonium into which dips a cylindrical strip of
amalgamated zinc G, also furnished with a screw coupling H for the
negative nola

page_text: Analysis resolves the component parts of pure black plumbago to from
seventy to ninety-five per cent. of pure carbon, then silicium and
aluminium with seldom any trace of iron.
Carburet of iron for which the present claim is made is, in a pure
state, composed of carbon and iron, the latter combined in large pro-
portions in a very high state of oxidation due to the intense heat by
which the matter was formed. It is a mineral substance, found in
small hard lumps or grains of a white gray and brilliant appearance, of
scaly formation of thin opaque laminæ having the metallic lustre and
aspect of polished iron.
As to be distinguished from black plumbago it is sometimes styled in
trade Ceylon plumbago, because principally imported from that island.
This matter is possessed of good conducting powers of electricity; it
is in one of its constituent parts unalterable and is not attacked by acids;
it is composed of a reductive body in combination with a reducible
oxide; the advantages thus combined at once become apparent, as also
the substitution to a liquid of a solid oxygenated body capable of
dissolving by its electrolytical decomposition the oxides of iron resulting
from the decomposition of the water and the zinc by the hydrogen.
The theory of this galvanic element reposes on the following
enunciated laws. In the combination of oxygen with another body the
oxygen takes the positive electricity, and the zinc the negative electricity.
In the combination of an acid with a base or bodies acting as such the
first takes the positive electricity and the second the negative electricity.
When an acid acts chemically on a metal the acid is positively electrified
and the metal negatively. In decomposition the electrical effects are
inverse to the precedent. In double decompositions the equilibrium of
forces are not disturbed. It follows that if the neutral positive con-
ducting pole in this carburet of iron galvanic element be surrounded
with a body that is able to abandon its oxygen there will be a reaction
that will give rise to a current which will go in the same direction as the
current produced by the contact of the zinc with the acid, for as it is
the zinc decomposes the water, unites with the oxygen and the acid, and
is transformed into chloride, the hydrogen is transported on the carburet
of iron which it decomposes, and by it and the carbon the oxide is pre-
cipitated to reform water; this double reaction the effects of which are
added produces the powerful galvanic current in this galvanic cell. The

page_text: lasting qualities of this instrument, its economy together with the new
and general results obtained, will cause it to become of great public
utility and benefit.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, — 5
-
First. The exclusive use and application of carburet of iron of
whatsoever denomination, quality, and production for generating
electricity in galvanic cells and batteries generally.
Second. The employment of a jar of particular shape made of glass, of
porcelain, or any other appropriate substance as designed in the 1
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lionel Weber, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of April in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.