IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO 44 BE USED IN CONNECTION WITH ELECTRICAL ACCUMULATORS FOR REGULATING THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY THEREOF
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Adolph Alfred Capito, of Blackheath in the
County of Kent for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO
44
BE USED IN CONNECTION WITH ELECTRICAL ACCUMULATORS FOR REGULATING
THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY THEREOF
"
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Adolph Alfred
Capito at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st May 1883.
CHARLES ADOLPH ALFRED CAPITO, of Blackheath in the County of Kent
IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN CONNECTION WITH ELECTRICAL
ACCUMULATORS FOR REGULATING THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY THEREOF."
An Electrical Accumulator must be charged up to its capacity and when
discharged or partly discharged the quantity of energy taken out must be replaced
by charging the accumulator up to its capacity. This has hitherto been done by
calculation; for if the strength of the charging current and the time during which
it has been flowing be known the quantity of energy to be put into the accumulator
can be determined and it is thus possible with some trouble to keep the accumulator
charged to the normal capacity.
The object of my Invention is to do away with all calculations by providing an
instrument which will automatically cut off the supplying current when the
accumulator is charged and again automatically open the supply when the
accumulator is partly discharged.
According to my said Invention I provide a volta-meter of any construction for
instance a zinc volta meter consisting of two zinc plates in a saturated solution of
Sulphate of zinc-One of the said plates is capable of rising and falling in the
Volta meter-It is attached to a spring balance provided with two projections
respectively in electrical connection with two electro-magnets the said projections
being at the respective ends of a conducting strip over which the pointer of the
balance is capable of travelling from projection to projection. The said pointer of
..
77

page_text: the balance is electrically connected with the moveable zinc plate The negative
pole of the accumulators is electrically connected with the stationary zinc plate.
The wire going to the Generator and the wire coming from the lamps are
electrically connected with the moveable zinc plate. The wire coming from the
Generator and the wire going to the Lamps are electrically connected with the
positive pole of the accumulator Between the aforesaid two magnets is a switch
by which the Electrical connection with the generator. is made and broken
according to the position of a moveable part of the said switch relatively with a
fixed part thereof the said moveable part being attracted in one direction or the
other by one or the other of the before mentioned Electro magnets-Whilst the
Accumulator is being charged the fixed and moveable parts of the switch are in
such relative positions owing to the moveable part being attracted by one of the
magnets that contact is made by means of the fixed part of the switch with
contact pieces which complete the charging circuit. The current passing through
the volta meter the moveable zino plate will become heavier on account of the
zinc which is electrically deposited upon it and the pointer of the balance will
then move along the conducting strip away from the one projection towards the
other projection and when it arrives at that projection it will make contact with
it and a part of the charging current then passes through the other magnet which
then attracts the moving part of the switch and breaks the charging current for
the fixed part of the switch will now have come upon other contact pieces and left
the before mentioned contact pieces which complete the charging circuit. When
the accumulator is discharging the current will pass through the Volta meter and
will make the moveable zinc plate lighter whereby the pointer of the balance will
gradually move back and when it arrives again at the opposite projection a part of
the current will excite the first electro magnet which will again attract the
moveable part of the switch so that the charging circuit will again be made.
When the accumulator is being charged and discharged at the same time the
quantity of energy which they contain will either be increased or diminished
depending on which of the two currents is the stronger but the current which
passes through the accumulator will also pass through the volta meter which will
thus regulate the amount of energy of the said Accumulator
Air may be used in place of a metallic spring in the balance and the Volta
meter may be used to receive the whole current or it may be placed as a shunt
and receive only a part of the total current.
I may use any suitable construction of switch or voltameter or an electric meter
in place of a volta meter,

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Charles Adolph Alfred Capito in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th October 1883.
"
CHARLES ADOLPH ALFRED CAPITO of Blackheath in the County of Kent
IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN CONNECTION WITH ELECTRICAL
ACCUMULATORS FOR REGULATING THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY THEREOF "
My Invention relates to apparatus to be used with Secondary batteries or other
accumulators for storing electric energy
It is well known that for keeping a proper quantity of water in a tank a float
is used which stops the supply when the water has reached the predetermined
highest level and which opens the supply when the water sinks below this level-
In using electrical accumulators a similar precaution has to be taken for they must
be charged up to their capacity and when discharged or partly discharged the
quantity of energy taken out must be replaced by again charging the accumulators
up to their capacity-This has hitherto been done by calculation for the strength
of the charging current and the time it has been flowing being known the quantity
put into the accumulators can be determined and it is thus possible with some
trouble to keep accumulators charged to their normal capacity
The object of my Invention is to do away with all calculations by providing an
instrument or appliance which performs the same office in regulating the charge of
electric accumulators as does the before named float in regulating the charge of a
tank of water the said instrument or appliance being arranged to automatically
cut off the supplying current when the accumulators are charged and again
automatically open the supply when the accumulators are partly discharged
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same and for that purpose shall refer to
the several figures on the annexed drawing the same letters of reference indicating
corresponding parts in all the figures
Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating a means by which my Invention may be
carried into effect A voltameter is provided which may be of any suitable,
construction; as shewn it consists of two zinc plates Z and Z immersed in a
saturated solution of Sulphate of Zinc contained in the vessel V the plate Z being
capable of moving up and down in suitable guides in the said vessel and being
attached to a spring balance B provided with two projections or contact pieces a
and a respectively in connection with two electro magnets 9 and g². The
pointer f of the balance B is electrically connected with the moveable zine plate Z³
by the connection b-The negative pole F of the accumulators A is electrically
connected with the stationary zinc plate Z-The wire x going to the generator X
and the wire ¹ coming from the lamps L are both electrically connected with the
moveable zinc plate Z and the wire y coming from the generator ✗ and the
wire y going to the lamps L are both electrically connected with the positive
pole E of the accumulators A Between the aforesaid two magnets g g³ is a
switch S by which the electrical connection with the generator X is made or
broken-A fixed part k of this switch is arranged so that when the moveable part
of the switch is attracted by the magnet g the fixed part k covers two pairs of
contact pieces c c and d d and when the said moveable part is attracted by the
magnet g the said fixed part makes contact between the contact pieces e and e
The portion of the moveable part of the switch shaded with diagonal lines is of
insulating material
The motion of the spring in the balance B is limited by the pointer coming

page_text: against one or other of the aforesaid projections a or a³ in connection with the
electro-magnets
When the fixed piece k of the switch is covering the two pairs of contact
pieces co³ d d as shewn in the diagram the circuit is completed so that the current
from the generator X will charge the accumulators but the current will also pass
through the voltameter whereby the moveable zinc plate Z will become heavier on
account of the zinc which is electrically deposited upon it and the pointer f of the
balance B will then move from the one projection a towards the other projection a
and when it arrives there it will make contact with the said projection a' and a
part of the charging current will then pass through the other electro magnet g³
which then attracts the moving part of the switch and thus breaks the charging
current the fixed piece k of the switch now making only contact between the
contact pieces e es of the switch-When the accumulators are discharging the
current will pass through the Voltameter and will make the moveable zinc plate Z³
lighter whereby the pointer f of the balance B will gradually move back and when
it arrives again at the opposite stop a part of the current will excite the electro
magnet g which will again attract the moving part of the switch so that connection
will again be made between the two pairs of contact. pieces c c d d' thus making
connection with the generator X. which will now charge the accumulators
When the accumulators are being charged and discharged at the same time the
quantity of energy which they contain will either be increased or diminished
depending on which of the two currents is the stronger, the charging or the dis-
charging current, but the same current which passes through the accumulators will
also pass through the voltameter which will thus be able to regulate the quantity
of energy in the accumulators
Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating a modification of the arrangement wherein
electric bells are used to give an alarm when the quantity of electricity stored in
an accumulator reaches either the maximum or minimum limit. X is the dynamo,
A the accumulators, L the lamp circuit V the voltameter, B¹ and B' are the bells
and S the bell switch-The voltameter is shunted with a thick wire 8 so that a
small portion only of the current passes through the voltameter thus avoiding all
unnecessary resistance in the circuit-The plate Z2 of the voltameter is hung from
one end of a counterweighted lever B and is free to move up and down in a
vertical direction as hereinbefore described contact in this case being made by a
-The plate Z is
wire e dipping into the mercury cup e' attached to the terminal a-
fixed and is connected to the terminal b-If now we suppose the dynamo
machine X to be charging the accumulators A, (the lamps L being cut out of the
circuit) a certain definite portion of the current will pass through the voltameter V
entering by the terminal a and passing out at b depositing zinc upon the fixed
plate Z and removing it from the plate Z which thus becomes lighter and rises-
The contact piece c³ is so placed that when sufficient current has been passed into
the accumulators A a projection & upon the suspending rod of the plate Z³ of the
voltameter V makes contact with the said contact piece o³ and allows the current
to pass to and ring the bell B¹. As soon as the attendant hears the bell ring he
will switch off the current from the bell by means of the switch S* and stop the
charging of the dynamo machine When once the bell begins to ring it will
When the accumulators
continue to do so until the man in charge attends to it
are being discharged through the lamps or otherwise the reverse action takes place
the switch S* being so constructed that the block must cover one of the contact
pieces so that when the current is switched off from the bell B¹ connection is made
in readiness to ring the other bell B' when the moving plate Z shall have acquired
⚫ sufficient weight to fall and make contact between the projection d and the lower
contact piece c³ When the bell B' rings it will be necessary to restart the
charging from the dynamo machine-The current which rings the bells is taken
from one accumulator only the conductor which goes to the switch being
connected to one pole the conductor to the voltameter being connected to the other
pole. Figure 2 shews the arrangement of the contacts drawn to a larger scale,

page_text: Figure 3 is a diagram representing the last described arrangement but with a
switch which automatically switches off the current when the accumulators are
fully charged and automatically switches it on again when they are partly
discharged after the manner described with regard to Figure 1. S³ is the switch
consisting of two electro magnets g and g* and an armature K which is hinged
between them and is furnished with a tongue piece 2 which serves to make and
break contact In charging the accumulators A the current passes through the
switch S³ entering by means of the contact piece h and passing along the tongue
piece to the pole a of the voltameter V. If now the inner plate of the
voltameter rises high enough to make contact between the contact pieces d and c¹
a portion of the current will pass round the electro magnet g³ entering by means
of the contact piece d' on the switch Ss and leaving by means of the said contact
pieces d and c the result being that the armature K is attracted to the pole of
the magnet g, contact at h being thereby broken and the charging current
switched off
When the accumulators are discharged sufficiently the piece d will make contact
with the piece and a portion of the current from the accumulators will pass
round the electro magnet g entering by means of c³ and leaving by means of the
contact piece e' on the switch S and the tongue piece the armature being
thus attracted to the pole of the magnet g and the charging current switched on
again.
Instead of using a spring balance as described with regard to Figure 1 I might
let the moveable zinc plate compress and expand air instead of compressing and
expanding a spring and as has been clearly shewn the Voltameter can either be
used to receive the whole current or it may be placed as a shunt and thus only
receive a part of the total current
I may use any suitable construction of switch or voltameter or an electric meter
in place of a Voltameter
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in part
recited Letters Patent is-
First The employment in the charging and discharging circuit of electrical
accumulators of a voltameter or electric meter or instrument or apparatus arranged
and operating to regulate the charging or amount of energy thereof substantially
as herein before described
Second-The employment in the charging and discharging circuit of electrical
accumulators of a switch S. S' or S³ a voltameter V (or its equivalent) and a spring
balance or counterweighted lever or its equivalent combined and operating
substantially as herein before described and illustrated in the several Figures of the
accompanying drawings.
In witness whereof I the said Charles Adolph Alfred Capito have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal this twenty fifth day of October One thousand
eight hundred and eighty three