Improvements in and connected with Primary Batteries.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Aug., 1895
'
Complete Specification Left, 18th Oct., 1895-Accepted, 23rd Nov., 1895
1
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Primary Batteries.
I
I, WALTER ROWBOTHAM, of 47 Vittoria Street, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Electrical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to
be as follows:-
.
This invention relates to improvements in and connected with primary batteries.
According to my invention the elements I employ consist of iron, lead, zinc or
other suitable metal and porous carbon or graphite, these clements being contained
in an outer case composed of any suitable material that will not be detrimentally
affected by the exciting fluids employed. The porous carbon or graphite elements
may be in the form of plates and so arranged that they divide the cell into an inner
and an outer compartment in an analogous manner to an ordinary porous vessel, or
ordinary porous partitions. In the inner space or compartment between the two
porous carbon or graphite plates I place the metallic element. The aforesaid
porous carbon or graphite plates thus serve as one of the elements and as a porous
vessel.
An essential feature of my invention consists in forming the porous. carbon or
graphite elements with passages or channels extending completely through them
from edge to edge. In this way I am able to obtain a circulation of air through
the carbon clements which greatly assist in neutralizing the depolarising effect of
the hydrogen that collects on the exterior of the carbon elements. Moreover the
said carbon plates are so arranged that the battery fluids will be prevented from
entering the passages or channels save through the pores of the carbon and, by
reason of the said passages or channels extending completely through the carbons,
any fluid so entering will not collect within the passages or channels but will escape
at their lower ends. For this purpose the lower edges of the carbons preferably
project through the hottom of the outer case, the upper edges remaining above the
level of the battery fluids.
.
For the purpose of mitigating local action I prefer to employ for the outer
compartment a solution comprising bichromate of soda, sulphuric acid, nitric acid
and water. Or in some cases the nitric acid may be omitted. For the inner
-compartment. I prefer to employ a solution comprising water, sulphuric acid and
nitric acid.
These solutions may be employed with batteries differing from the kind above
'set forth.

page_text: Improvements in and connected with Primary Batteries.
I, WALTER ROWBOTHAM, of 47 Vittoria Street, Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Electrical 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 :-
This invention relates more particularly to primary batteries of the kind referred
to in the prior applications for Patent filed on the 1st and 25th days of July 1895
and numbered respectively 13730 and 14158.
The elements preferably employ are of iron and porous carbon or graphite
and the essential feature of my present invention consists in forming the said
porous carbon or graphite elements with passages or channels extending through
them from edge to edge so that these carbon elements can be used in substitution
for the carbou tubes referred to in the aforesaid prior applications for Patent.
In order that my said invention may be clearly understood and readily carried
into effect I will proceed to describe the same more fully with reference to the
accompanying drawings in which
Figure 1 is a part plan of a primary battery and Figure 2 a longitudinal section
taken on the line 1. 1 of the preceding figure.
A is the outer vessel of the battery. B the iron elements. C the carbon elements.
DD non-porous partitions dividing the outer vessel into three main compartments,
each partition having therein circulation apertures d d.
The said carbon elements are made in the form of plates with channels or
passages a extending through them from top to bottom as seen at Figure 2.
The lower ends of these carbon plates are prolonged through the bottom of the
outer vessel so that any exciting fluid percolating the pores of the carbon and
entering the said channels or passages will be able to escape at the lower ends
thereof and drop into a suitable receptacle situated beneath the battery.
Instead of the before mentioned channels or passages c being vertical they may
be arranged at an inclination.
In this construction of battery I do not employ any porous partitions_between
the elements. The circulation apertures d d are arranged as best seen in Figure 1,
that is to say those in the partition D communicate with the spaces on each side of
the iron elements B and those in the partition D' communicate with the spaces on
the external sides of the carbon elements C.
The exciting fluids I prefer to employ consist of the following :-
―
For the compartments on the exterior of the carbon elements a solution consisting
of 1 part of bichromate of soda, 2 parts of sulphuric acid, 1 part of nitric acid, and
5 parts of water. Or 1 part of bichromate of soda; 2 parts of sulphuric acid and
5 parts of water.
..
For the compartments between the carbon elements a solution consisting of
25 parts of water, part of sulphuric acid and part of nitric acid. The
proportions of the sulphuric acid and nitric acid may be varied relatively to each
other, but I find it preferable that they should not together exceed one twentieth
part of the water. This solution considerably mitigates local action.
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 :-
1. A primary cell or battery in which the carbon elements consist of plates of
porous carbon or graphite having channels or passages extending through them
from edge to edge and open to the atmosphere at both ends substantially as described
and for the purpose specified.

page_text: 2. A primary battery in which the carbon elements are arranged substantially as
described with reference to the accompanying drawings and for the purpose
specified.
3. In a double fluid battery in which iron and carbon elements are employed,
the exciting fluids comprising the herein before mentioned ingredients mixed together
in about the proportions specified.
4. In a primary battery in which carbon and metal elements are employed an
exciting fluid for the metal elements consisting of sulphuric and nitric acids diluted
with water in about the proportions stated and for the purpose specified.
Dated this 23rd day of September 1895.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.