Improvements in or connected with Secondary Batteries.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Jan., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with Secondary Batteries.
I, FRANK KING of 4 Great Winchester Street in the City of London, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of my Invention to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object to diminish the weight and increase the
effective capacity of secondary batteries and also improve their capability of
receiving and yielding electrical energy at high rates.
According to my Invention I make the elements or plates for the said
batteries as follows:-
I make the supporting grid of a number of bars or rails arranged parallel or
approximately parallel to each other and connected at their ends by frames or
bars so as to resemble somewhat a gridiron. The said parallel or approximately
parallel bars or rails, are preferably made of star, cross or diamond form in
transverse section. On or around each of such parallel or approximately parallel
bars or rails I place the active material or material to be rendered active which
may be moulded or formed to a circular, rectangular or other form in cross
section. On or around each or all of the bars or rails so covered with active
material or material to be rendered active I place a porous or perforated envelope
cr porous and perforated envelopes one over the other in such a way as to prevent
detachment or exfoliation of the active material or material to be rendered active.
The said envelones or either of them may be made in the form of tubes when
applied to each covered bar or rail separately or the whole of the covered bars or
rails constituting the plate or any desired number of them may be enclosed in
one envelope or in envelopes of the character aforesaid formed by mouildng or
otherwise to a shape to fit over all the covered bars or rails to which the said
envelope or envelopes is, or are, to be applied.
improvements in Of Connect Wi
I, FRANK KING of 4 Great Winchester Street in the City of 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 has for its object to diminish the weight and increase the

page_text: effective capacity of secondary batteries, and also improve their capability of
receiving and yielding electrical, energy at high rates.
According to my invention I make the elements, or plates, for the said
batteries as follows:
I make the supporting grid of a number of bars, or rails, arranged parallel, or
approximately parallel, to each other, and connected at their ends by a frame, or
bars, so as to resemble somewhat a gridiron. The said parallel, or approximately
parallel, bars, or rails, are preferably made of star, cross, or diamond, form in
transverse section. On, or around, each of such bars, or rails, I place the active
material, or material to be rendered active, which may be moulded, or formed, to
a circular, rectangular, or other form, in transverse section. On, or
around, each, or all, of the bars, or rails, SO covered with active
material, or material to be rendered active, I place a porous, or perforated
envelope, or porous and perforated envelopes, one over the other in such a way as to
prevent detachment, or exfoliation, of the active material, or material to be
rendered active. The said envelope, or envelopes, or either of them, may be made
in the form of tubes when applied to each covered bar, or rail, separately, or the
whole of the covered bars, or rails, constituting the element, or plate, or any
desired number of them, may be enclosed in one envelope, or in envelopes of the
character aforesaid formed, by moulding, or otherwise, to a shape to fit over all
the covered bars, or rails, to which the said envelope, or envelopes, is, or are, to
be applied.
In order that my invention may be fully understood I will describe, with
reference to the accompanying drawings, elements, or plates, made in accordance
therewith.
Figure 1 is a side elevation and Figure 2 is a transverse horizontal section of
one form of plate, or element. Figure 3 is a transverse section of one of the
covered bars, or rails, and Figure 4 is a transverse horizontal section of a modified
form of the plate, or element.
A A are the covered bars, or rails, secured to the frame F. Each bar, or rail, B,
consists of lead, or lead alloy, of any convenient shape in cross section, such as the
star shape shewn. Around each such bar, or rail, B, is pasted the active material,
or material to be rendered active, as shewn at C.
The said material can be applied by laying a quantity in the form of a plastic,
or pasty, mass in one half of a mould, and then pressing the bars, or rails, B,
thereinto. Active material, or material to be rendered active, is then placed in
the other half of the mould, and the two halves of the mould are then placed
together so that the bars, or rails, B, are embedded in the pasty mass. The mould
and its contents are then quickly heated so as to dry the outer part, or skin, of
the paste, and then the mould can be removed, and the paste around the bars, or
rails, can be dried in the usual manner before being "formed." The bars, or
rails, may be thus covered with paste moulded around them singly, or in any
desired number. I have shewn the material O, as being surrounded by two
envelopes D, and E. The envelope D, may be made of asbestos, or other suitable
porous material, which will not be injured by the paste; and the envelope E,
may be made of perforated celluloid, vulcanite, or other non-conducting, and acid
resisting material which should be sufficiently stiff to keep the paste in position.
The said envelopes D, and E, may be secured in any convenient way, for example,
they may be wrapped around the covered bars, or rails, and their edges be secured
together by sewing, or cementing or they may be made as tubes, and he passed
over the covered bars, or rails. The bars, or rails, thus covered are then attached
to, or secured in, the frame F, so as to be in electric contact therewith. The
said frame is made of lead, or other suitable metal, or alloy; or it may be made
partly of such metal, or alloy, and partly of other material preferably lighter than
the metal, or alloy. The frame may extend all round the series of covered bars,
or rails, or it may be replaced by any suitable arrangement which will connect
and support such bars, or rails. The bars may be cast with the frame, or the

page_text: equivalent, and the paste and envelope, or envelopes, be applied to the bars, or
rails, thus formed with the frame, or its equivalent.
Instead of covering each of the bars, or rails, by an independent covering, the
active material, or material to be rendered active, and the envelope, or envelopes,
may be made to enclose all of the bars, or rails, as shewn in Figure 3, the envelope,
or envelopes, being formed as sheets on each side connected together by lacing
over the edges of the frame, or in any other convenient manner, such as by forming
the material as a receptacle to receive the whole plate, or element. Or two, or
more, of the bars, or rails, may be enclosed in one mass of active material, or
material to be rendered active, and then in an envelope, or envelopes, common to
both, or all, of the bars, or rails, thus covered.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1. The construction of elements, or plates, for secondary batteries substan-
tially as hereinbefore described.
2. In, or for, secondary batteries, elements, or plates, formed of a frame, or
its equivalent, provided with parallel, or approximately parallel, bars, or rails,
covered with active material, or material to be rendered active, and protected and
saprorted by porous and perforated envelopes; substantially as hereinbefore
described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings, or
according to the modification illustrated in Figure 4.
Dated this 6th day of October 1897
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.