Improvements in Storage Batteries.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Dec., 1892-Accented, 4th Feb., 1893
Improvements in Storage Batteries.
I, GEORGE ARTHUR WASHBURN, of No. 123 Liberty Street, City of Cleveland,
State of Ohio, U S.A., Electrician, 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 relates to improvements in storage batteries, and the invention
consists in a battery in which is employed a porous cup and one or more electrodes
on the inside of the cup, and one or more electrodes on the outside of the cup, all
substantially as shown and described and particularly pointed out in the claims.
In the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one form of the battery constructed according to
my invention.
Fig. 2 is a view of one form of electrode adapted to be used in this battery, and
Fig. 3 shows a modified form of electrode or electrodes adapted to be used in
the cup.
Fig. 4 is a transverse section through one of the cells of the battery.
In a battery constructed on the principle of my invention the active material is
sustained between the electrode and the porous partition, and said material is simply
poured or filled into the space between the porous cup and the conductor in any
convenient way.
In Fig. 1 I show a form of invention having an outside case or shell A, in which
are a series of separate cells which stand in the same solution. Each cell is
composed of an outside electrode B, a porous vessel or pot C, and an inside perforated
conductor or electrode D. These elements, in this instance, are rectangular in cross
section but may have any other suitable form, and the respective elements B and D
are separated by the porous pot C. The active material E for both electrodes is
placed between the electrode and the pot, and of course the space between for the
active material is quite slight so that the material will not be deep through and
easily penetrated by the liquid F. Both of the electrodes shown in the form of
cell, Fig. 1, are liberally perforated to make the circulation of the liquid free and
the exposure of the active material as open as is consistent with its confinement and
proper support. If the form of electrode or conductor shown in Fig. 3 be used, the
same general principle of construction and arrangement will obtain, and the tubular
electrodes d there shown are likewise perforated, and the liquid is contained in these
tubes. In the form shown in Fig. 1, the liquid is within the inner electrode and in
the vessel about the outside electrode, so that both the inside and outside of the
vessel is filled with the liquid, and the liquid pervades the entire cell.
It will be noticed that with this construction of cell it is impossible for the active
material to escape from its holdings, and there is no danger of a short circuit from
one electrode to the other, because the porous diaphragm separates them.
In fact,
nothing short of the physical destruction of the cell can bring the active material of
one electrode into touch with the other.
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:
In a secondary battery, the combination, substantially as set forth, of perforated

page_text: metallic electrodes separated by an interposed porous diaphragm, and insoluble
active material permeated by an electrolytic solution placed between and held in
position by said diaphragm and electrodes.
Dated this 25th day of November; A.D. 1892!
GEORGE ARTHUR WASHBURN.