Electrolytic Converting Tanks or Troughs.
Year: 1885

page_text: Electrolytic Converting Tanks or Troughs.
We WILLIAM HOWARD TASKER of 7 Gower Street, Bedford Square (Electrician)
and THOMAS JOHN JONES of 12 Princes Street Hanover Square (Electrician) both
in the County of Middlesex do hereby declare the nature of our said invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC BATTERIES AND IN THE ELECTRODES OF ELECTRO-
LYTIC CONVERTING TANKS OR TROUGHS" to be as follows:-
"
Our invention relates to the construction of elements for galvanic batteries,
particularly the negative elements of lead primary batteries, and it has for its
principal object to provide a support for the active material or depolarizing
agent" constructed of a substance which shall not be liable to become disintegrated
by the effect of electrolysis with means of making good conductive connection
between the active material and the terminal of the element. The Invention may
also be applied to the electrodes of electrolytic converting tanks or troughs.
The support is constructed of a foundation of gutta percha, india rubber,
celluloid, xylonite, or equivalent nonconducting and either inoxidizable or but
slightly oxidizable substance, to which strips or wires &c of conductive and
inoxidizable material (preferably gold or platinum foil) are applied in such manner
as to be retained securely in place and at same time make efficient contact with the
active material. It has before been proposed to employ the same materials for the
same purpose the foil being caused to adhere to the non-conducting substance by
means of a solvent heat and pressure, and the object of this invention is to accom-
plish the same end by the mere mechanical construction and arrangement of the
support and the foil.
According to our invention the support consists of an inoxidizable substance, of
any desired form, which is slitted for the passage of the strips of foil said strips
being laced or passed through the slits to and fro from side to side so as to afford
good contact with the active material on both sides of the support and practically
utilize the whole or the greater part of the external surface of the foil for this
purpose.
The following construction is given by way of illustration :-
We take a plate, sheet or strip of inoxidizable substance and mount the same in
a rabetted or grooved frame between which and the plate the lower ends of the

page_text: strips of foil are clamped. Above the top of the frame a metallic cross rod or wire
is supported in upward extensions of the frame and around the wire are lapped the
upper ends of the strips of foil. This wire is covered with tubular sheaths of
insulating material slipped on the wire in suitable lengths after the connection of
the platinum or gold strips has been made and the space between the wire and the
top of the frame is filled up with blocks or pieces of insulating material applied on
both sides of the strips of foil in such manner as to enclose the strips, and prevent
contact of the electrolyte therewith. The ends of the wire rest on the edge of the
battery tank or cell, one end of the wire being bent down so as to dip into mercury
contained in receptacles on the sides of the cells.
;

page_text: Electrolytic Converting Tanks or Troughs.
We WILLIAM HOWARD TASKER of 7 Gower Street Bedford Square (Electrician)
and THOMAS JOHN JONES of 12 Princes Street Hanover Square (Electrician) both
in the County of Middlesex 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 :-
Our Invention relates to elements for galvanic batteries, particularly the negative
elements of lead primary batteries, and it has for its object to construct a support.
for the active material which shall not be liable to become disintegrated by the
effect of electrolysis and which is provided with means of making good conductive
connection with the active material.
".
The invention may also be applied to the supports of the electrodes of tanks or
troughs used for the electrolytic conversion of lead and its compounds.
The support is constructed of gutta-percha, india-rubber, celluloid, xylonite,
or equivalent nonconducting and inoxidizable (or nearly inoxidizable) substance, to
which strips, or flattened wires, or ribbons, of conductive and inoxidizable material
(preferably gold or platinum foil or leaf) are applied in such manner as to bé
retained securely in place and at same time make efficient contact with the active
material. It has before been proposed to employ the same materials for the same
purpose, the foil being caused to adhere to the nonconducting substance by means
of a solvent, heat, and pressure, and the object of this invention is to accomplish
the same end by the mere mechanical construction and arrangement of the support
and the conductor.
The mode of securing the conductor to the support consists, essentially, in lacing
or passing the conductive strips, wires, or ribbons, either wholly or partially through
the support, so as to secure the strips &c to the support at intervals, the intervening
portions of the strips &c laying alternately upon the two faces, or wholly upon the
one face, of the support according as it is desired to make contact with the active
material or element on both sides, or on one side only, of the support.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this
Specification, wherein Figure 1 is a face view of an element, part of the active
material being broken away, and Figure 2 a vertical section of the same on
line 1-1 figure 1. Figure 2ª shows a detail.
In these figures the foil is laced through slits in the support to and fro from sidė
to side the active material making contact with the conductor at both sides of the
support.
Figure 3 is a face view of another element (the active material being partly
broken away) and Figure 4 is a cross section of the same on line 2-2 figure 3.
Figure 4 is a modification. Figure 5 is a face view of the centre portion of the
support showing the arrangement of the foil at the opposite side to that shown in
figure 3.
+
Figure 6 is a face view and Figure 7 a vertical section of another element (the
active material being partly broken away) the support being of slightly different

page_text: construction to the preceding one. Figure 8 is a section on line 3-3 figure 9
which is a section on line 4-4 figure 8 (the active material being omitted) of a
spring conducting and supporting clip for a cylindrical mass of active material.
In figures 3 to 9 the active material is in contact with the conductive strips &c
at one side only of the support, and the said strips need not therefore pass entirely
through the insulating support.
Figure 10 is a vertical longitudinal section (on line 5-5 figure 12) of a battery
in which plates of active material are wedged in contact with conductors con-
structed in the manner shown in figures 3 to 9. Figure 11 is a cross section (on
line 6-6 figure 12) and Figure 12 is a plan (partly in section on line 7-7
figure 10) of the same battery.
In figures 1 and 2, a is a T shaped support of insulating material the central
bar of which is clamped (by means of screw bolts made of inoxidizable material)
between two slabs or plates of active material b (or embedded in a plate or mass of
active material) making contact on both sides with strips &c c of platinum or gold
foil threaded or laced through slits made through the support a from face to face,
the strips taking a zigzag direction as shown in figure 2. There are preferably two
such strips c arranged side by side and alternating with one another, as shown in
figure 1, so that the portions of the one strip which extend along the one face of
the central support are opposite the spaces on the same side left uncovered by the
other strip and vice versa. The insulating support is made as thin as is consistent
with strength so as to cover or embed as little of the conducting foil as possible.
Both strips of foil are in electrical connection with a conductor d, of copper or
other wire, embedded in the head of the T support and having a downwardly
turned end for immersion in a mercury trough alongside the cell on the sides of
which the ends of the T head rest to support the element in position in the cell. In
order to ensure that the foil shall make good contact with the active material, the
support is preferably in all cases made of such section (as shown in cross section in
figure 2) that the active material will press mainly against the strip and not
against the support.
In figures 3 to 5 the support is in the form of a rebated rectangular frame a and
the plate b of active material is held between the rebate a¹ of the frame and
a central cross bar pressing against the opposite face of the plate b. This central
bar (which is in one piece with the top bar of the frame) is in contact with
one side only of the active material, and the strips c of gold or platinum foil
consequently lie principally on that side on which contact is made.
As shown in figure 5 the strips o may either be threaded as described with
reference to figures 1 and 2 through slits in the insulating material as shown in
figure 4, or they may only be carried partially through the insulating material as
shown in figure 4. In the latter case the insulating support is moulded, or
otherwise formed, with the cavities in which the strips are imprisoned by bridge
pieces a³ of insulating material united to the main body of the support. The
strips c are connected to a conductor & embedded in the top bar of the supporting
frame like that before described.
In figures 6 and 7 the plate of active material 6 is held in slots in the end bars
of the supporting frame a the contact strips of gold or platinum being supported
and applied in either of the ways last described.
Figures 8 and 9 represent a spring conducting and supporting clip, of which
there may be any number in connection with the same main stem. It consists of
a steel spring e embedded in insulating material a and branching from a stem ƒ of
insulating material in which is embedded a main conductor d. c is a strip of gold
or platinum foil with which the inner surface of the spring arms of the clip are
faced, the foil being in electrical contact with the conductor d and being held in
position against the insulating material by passing partially through it at intervals
in the manner above described.
In figures 10, 11, 12, the supports a for the plates 6 of active material are ribs
attached by a solvent, heat and pressure to the sides of the cell which is also made

page_text: of insulating material. The ribs at one side of the cell have strips c of gold or
platinum foil applied down one side face in the manner above described. Against
these ribs, plates of active material are pressed by wedges g of insulating material
driven in between the opposite face of the plates b and the other face of the
adjacent rib a, the meeting faces of the wedges and ribs being inclined to corre-
spond to each other as shown. Each plate thus makes good contact along one
of its vertical sides with a conducting strip of foil, and each of these strips is
connected at the upper end to a tang h of copper wire which is bent over the edge
of the cell and dips in a trough of mercury alongside the cell.
In the battery represented in figures 10, 11 and 12 all the plates shown are
negative elements and it is intended that the positive plates should be merely
suspended between the negative plates and be placed in connection by any
suitable means with a mercury trough at the opposite side of the cell.
The various forms of elements and their supports represented in the drawings
are given merely by way of example and our invention applies to all forms of
supports or contacts wherein platinum or gold foil or leaf, wire, or ribbon, is to be
applied to an inoxidizable material.
These supports must not be used in a battery or converting tank in which
a chlorine compound is present either in the active material or the electrolyte.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is
In a support for the active material of a galvanic element, the herein described
mode of attaching conductive strips (or equivalent forms) of platinum or gold foil
or leaf, wire, or ribbon, to inoxidizable (or nearly inoxidizable) material, which
consists in passing the strips to and fro wholly or partially through the insulating
material substantially as herein specified and represented in the drawings.
Dated this 14th day of October 1885.
W. H. TASKER.
T. J. JONES.
By A. M. & W Clark, Patent Agents,
53, Chancery Lane, London.