Improvements in or relating to Storage Batteries.
Year: 1899

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Storage Batteries.
ROBERT WELFORD, Engineer, of Pallion, Sunderland, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The object of my improvements is to obtain large surface with lightness and to
effect this I arrange a framework or frames of suitable insulating materials so
that light or frail electrical elements can be kept in position with sufficient
freedom to expand or contract accordingly as the battery is charged or discharged.
Sometimes I use elastic rubber or the equivalent as part of the framework. The
electrical material can be thin round or other shaped lead arranged either straight,
coiled, folded, or in spirals; these being spaced or hung in, on, or by the frame-
work.
The arrangement can in all cases be what may be termed multipolar in contra-
distinction to plate or grid surfaces and one or more ends (or connections) of each
wire or element can be continued to or from the conductor. Each wire or
branch can be spaced positive and negative (near to each other) or each row of
wires or branches can be all positives or all negatives the surfaces however being
so subdivided renders the cell very efficient through te electrolyte.
It can be understood that pasted or compound materials can be added or used.
I prefer to produce the active material in place upon charging
DL: 01
B
1 1000
improvements in or relating to Storage Batteries.
I, ROBERT WELFORD, of Mansion House, Hylton, late of Pallion, Sunderland,
in the County of Durham, Mechanical 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: —
My invention relates to secondary batteries by means of which certain advan-
tages are obtained, notably light weight and large exposure of active surface.
My invention is applicable not only to batteries of what may be termed the
Planté type but also those of what may be termed the Faure type, that is to say
it is applicable to batteries in which the metallic lead is "formed" by the action
of the electric current as well as to those in which a lead paste is applied to the
conductor or conductors.
I shall first describe my invention as applied to a battery of the Faure type.
Price 77

page_text: In this case I employ conducting wire or wires coiled into a helix or folded or
bent and surrounded by paste in such manner that the said wires act as cores
to the said paste. In other words the said paste takes the form of rods. or prisms
or the like and surrounds the conductors in a manner resembling that in which
the tallow surrounds the wick of a candle. Thus if we imagine a number of
candles hanging from a horizontal rod we obtain a good conception of an elemen-
tary form of this invention, it being borne in mind that the tallow corresponds
with the paste and that the conductor coiled or folded corresponds with the wick.
For the purpose of spacing the said rods or prisms apart and keeping them in
operative position I usually employ a corrugated sheet of hard rubber or other
convenient insulating material but this plate may when desired be dispensed
with, particularly in the case of batteries employed for stationary purposes.
In order that my invention may be more readily understood I have appended
drawings hereto in which,
Figure I is a diagram illustrative of my invention.
Figure 1 is a vertical section on the line y-y of Figure I.
Figure II is a cross section showing one form of supporting plate.
Figure III is a cross section of a modified form.
Figure IV is a cross section of another modification.
Figure V is a plan of a conducting helix.
Figure VI is an elevation thereof.
Figure VII is an elevation of another form of conducting helix.
Figure VIII is an elevation of a form of helix intended to enclose another helix.
In these drawings similar numerals of reference indicate similar or equivalent
parts.
In the figures, 1 is the plate of insulating material corrugated as shown, that is
to say with curved grooves 2 as in Figure II, with angular grooves as in Figure III
and with square or rectangular grooves as in Figure IV. Within each of the
said grooves is a rod or prism 3 of oxide or paste, each rod or prism having a
central core 4 consisting of a lead wire.
A convenient way of constructing such a battery is as follows: -I take a length
or lengths of lead wire and coil the same tightly around a mandrel so as to get
a helix as shown in plan in Figure V and in elevation in Figure VI (in the latter
figure at the part 5). I then take the said helix of wire off the mandrel and
pull it out either slightly as shown at the part 6 of Figure VI, or extendedly as
shown at the part 7 of that figure. I now take this wire and leaving a sufficient
length extending beyond the top of the hard rubber plate I lay it loosely in one
of the grooves 2 as shown at 8, see Figure I. I then pass it round through the
notch 9 at the foot of the said groove and then up the adjacent groove on the
other surface of the plate as shown by the dotted lines 10, Figure I. The wires
now lie in the grooves as shown in the left hand part of the plate illustrated in
Figure I. I now take a quantity of prepared paste and spread it over the sur-
faces of the plate and work it well in behind and around the lead wires so as to
form rods or prisms of which the said wires shall act as cores. I now have a
number of cored rods or prisms fitting the grooves of the said plates. The free
ends of the wires may be led out from the top of the plate in any convenient
manner as for example by twisting them together as shown at 11 (see Figure I)
and passing them through the slotted hard rubber tube 12 which is fitted over
the top of the plate. It will now be seen that the rods or prisms are of more
or less semi-circular shape in cross section when I employ a plate of the form
shown in Figure II, of triangular cross section when I employ such a plate as is
shown in Figure III, and of square or rectangular cross section when I employ
such a plate as is shown in Figure IV.
In Figure VIII show a core which differs from that shown in Figures I, V
and VI, in that the lead wire instead of being coiled in a helix is bent upon
itself a number of times.
In a modified form of my invention I slot the plate 1 as shown to the right

page_text: hand side of Figure I. When I do this it will be seen that the paste is worked
through from one side of the plate to the other so that a rivet effect is obtained
and the rods or prisms on one side are keyed so to speak and made integral with
the rods or prisms on the other side of the plate. This form of my invention is
particularly applicable to cases in which the batteries are exposed to shocks or
excessive jolting.
I have herein before described my invention as applied to batteries of the Faure
type but my invention is also applicable to batteries of the Planté type. In this
case, that is to say in batteries of the Planté type, instead of using paste I dispense
with rods or prisms of such material altogether and instead thereof I use an
increased quantity of lead wire coiled, wound or folded in a more compact form.
Thus instead of drawing out the wire after it has been wound on the mandrel
to an extended form such as is shown at part 7 of Figure VI, I keep it in its
closely wound form as shown at the part 5 and it is in this form that I lay it in
the grooves 2 of the plate 1. This wire thus wound and placed in position in
the grooves is then "formed" by the electric current after the well known Planté
manner. It will be understood that when the grooves of the plate are curved as
shown in Figure II I prefer to wind the helix of lead wire on a circular mandrel
and when the grooves are of other form I wind them on mandrels of a form to
correspond. Thus in the case of a plate such as is shown at Figure III I wind
the wire on a triangular mandrel and in the case of a plate such as is shown in
Figure IV, I wind it on a mandrel of square or rectangular cross section.
may
In some cases when making my battery upon the Planté type I find it con-
venient to place one helix or coil of lead wire within another. Thus I take
the coil shown in Figure VI and place it within the larger coil shown in
Figure VIII and I may multiply the number of coils one within another to any
desired extent; and the helices may be wound in the same or in different
directions.
I have hereinbefore spoken of the wire 8 extending down a groove on one
side of the insulating plate, through a notch 9 at the bottom of said plate and
up the adjacent groove on the other side of the plate, and in Figure I, I have
shown the upper ends of the wires as connected together as shown at 11. In this
case it will be seen that the rods or prisms on both sides of the plate constitute
together a single element or plate, positive or negative as the case may be. I
may however, in the case where the insulating plate is not perforated for the
purpose of keying the active material on the two sides together, make each rod
or prism a separate element. Or, I may make each pair of rods or prisms a
separate element in which case the connections at the top will be modified in
accordance and all as is well understood in the art. The notch 9 is not an
essential part of the invention and may be dispensed with when desired. The
elements, besides being connected up in any of the well known ways, may be
enclosed with their electrolyte in suitable containing cases or vessels after any
of the manners known in the art.
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
1. In a secondary battery an element composed of one or more pendant rods
or prisms of paste or active material, each rod or prism having a core of wire,
substantially as set forth.
2. In a secondary battery an element composed of one or more rods or prisms
of paste or active material, each rod or prism having a core of coiled or bent wire,
substantially as set forth.
'
3. In a secondary battery an element composed of one or more pendant rods
or prisms of paste or active material, each rod or prism having a core of coiled
or bent wire, substantially as set forth.

page_text: 4. In a secondary battery an element composed of one or more helices of lead
wire substantially as set forth.
5. In a secondary battery an element composed of one or more pendant helices
of lead wire substantially as set forth.
Dated this 24th day of Tanum 1000