IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF SECONDARY OR STORAGE BATTERIES
Year: 1886

page_text: I, GEORGE EDENSOR DORMAN, of Brook House, Stafford, in the county of
Stafford, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVED
CONSTRUCTION OF SECONDARY OR STORAGE BATTERIES, to be as follows:-
My invention relates to the construction of secondary or storage batteries, and
consists in constructing the elements, of a number of lead strips, piled one strip.
above another, the strips being separated from one another by means of short
wooden or vulcanite strips or separators, and by pads or strips of a permeable and
elastic material, the lead strips being alternately positive and negative, all the
positive strips being united to a conductor cast on to their ends, the negative strips
being united to a corresponding conductor, one or more of these piles of strips
placed in a suitable fluid and vessel, forming one cell.
The lead strips should not be more, and may be preferably less than two inches
wide, and may be any convenient length.
The wooden or vulcanite strips or separators, should be placed across the lead
strips, about two inches apart, the pads or cushions of permeable material being
placed between them.
The permeable material may be a felt of horse hair, asbestos, silicate wool, or
shreds of vulcanised fibre or india rubber or a mixture of some of these materials.
There should be very slight pressure on the permeable material between the lead
strips, the wooden or vulcanite strips or separators bearing the weight of the lead
strips, so that the battery fluid may easily percolate through the permeable
material between the strips, both edges of the strips being freely bathed by the
battery fluid.
The lead strips may be of thin sheet lead, or each strip may be composed of a
number of narrow lead strips or laminae placed edgewise, and united together; or
plain strips may alternate with laminated strips.
.

page_text: Improved Construction of Secondary or Storage Batteries.
I, GEORGE EDENSOR DORMAN, of Brook House, Stafford, in the county of
Stafford, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVED
CONSTRUCTION OF SECONDARY OR STORAGE BATTERIES," 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 the construction of secondary or storage batteries, and
consists in constructing the elements of a number of lead strips piled one strip
above another, the strips being separated from one another, by means of wooden
or vulcanite strips, and by pads or cushions of a permeable material, preferably of
an elastic nature, the lead strips being alternately positive and negative, all the
positive strips being united to a conductor cast on to their ends, the negative strips
being united to a corresponding conductor, one or more of these piles of strips
placed in a suitable fluid and vessel forming one cell, each of the lead strips thus
corresponds to a plate or element of an ordinary Planté battery.
The lead strips which may be any convenient length, should preferably not be
more than two inches wide, and may be less, down to half an inch or less in width,
the only limit to the narrowness being convenience in manufacture and use, the lead
strips being preferably narrow so that the permeable material between them being
correspondingly of slight width it may be readily saturated, and allow of a per-
meation through its substance of the electrolyte or battery fluid.
The wooden or vulcanite strips should be placed across the lead strips about two
inches apart, but may be closer, the object of the strips being to efficiently support
the lead strips, in order to prevent any undue pressure on the permeable material.
The pads or cushions of permeable material being placed between the wooden or
vulcanite strips.
The pads of permeable material and wooden or vulcanite strips, should be as thin
as possible, so as to allow the lead strips to be only a slight distance apart, the
distance may be about one eighth of an inch or less. I prefer to use for the pads
or cushions of permeable material; pieces of felt of glass wool, cut to the required
shape, if glass wool felt may be obtained possessing sufficient cohesion. I prefer
glass wool as not being readily acted on by acids, or horse hair may be used, as
felt, or in the form of a cloth or woven fabric, when one or more thicknesses may
if necessary be used, or a fabric of pure sheeps wool may be used.
There should be very slight pressure on the permeable material, the wooden or
vulcanite strips bearing the weight of the lead strips, so that the electrolyte may
easily percolate right through the substance of the permeable material, the edges of
the lead strips being freely bathed by the battery fluid.
When the elements are manufactured or built up sufficient looseness should be
allowed in the pads or cushions of permeable material to allow for subsequent
expansion of the lead strips.
The pads of permeable material and the wooden or vulcanite strips, should be a
little wider than the lead strips, so as to slightly overlap, and protect the edges of
the strips from short circuiting, by disintegration, or sulphating, or by expansion
of the string

page_text: My design being to keep the lead strips but a slight distance apart from one
another, preventing short circuiting between, or falling away of material from, the
lead strips, by means of the permeable material, at the same time by using narrow
strips, the permeable material being correspondingly of slight width, a sufficient
circulation, notwithstanding the permeable material, is allowed between the lead
strips or elements, the advantages of circulation of the electrolyte between the
plates or elements of secondary batteries being well understood.
In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1. represents a front view of the elements of
a secondary battery, constructed according to this invention, F, F, being negative.
strips of lead, H, H, positive strips of lend, D, D, being pads or cushions of
permeable material, the strips and permeable material having been built up, the
conductors cast on, and having been bent over the piece of wood C, shewn at the
top of the elements and the terminal lugs which are marked positive and negative
having been cast on to the conductors, the whole may be inserted in a frame as
shewn, the top of the frame being removable, or the top may be fixed, in which
case, the terminal lugs may be cast on by means of a mould through slots in the
top of the frame, the frame may be made of wood, dovetailed, or may be of well
enamelled iron. Fig. 2. represents a sectional view of the elements, the section
being taken at A, in Fig. 1.
Fig. 3. represents an end view of the elements. The elements thus built up,
may if necessary lie in the cell horizontally, but I prefer for convenience in use
and manufacture to place them vertically.
A forced circulation of the battery fluid between the strips, might be caused, by
pumping the battery fluid into the cell on one side of the elements, and extracting
it from the other side, the frame being made to fit the cell watertight, so that the
fluid is caused to pass only through the permeable material between the strips.
It may be an advantage when no forced circulation is used, to channel the sides
of the wooden or vulcanite strips, which may also be made of porous earthenware,
a section of such strips being shewn in Fig. 4, the channels B, B, facilitating the
circulation of the electrolyte and the saturation of the permeable material.
The lead strips may be of sheet lead, about one thirty second of an inch thick or
thicker.
The strips should be perfectly clean before being formed, and may be formed
before being built up, or afterwards.
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,
1st. Secondary batteries in which the elements are built up of a number of lead
strips, piled one above another, the strips being alternately positive and negative,
the strips being separated from one another by permeable material, substantially as
herein described and shewn.