IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC BATTERIES
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Owen Charles Dalhousie Ross of 50 Trafalgar Road Old
Kent Road in the County of Surrey Civil Engineer for an Invention of
85
IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC BATTERIES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Owen Charles Dalhousie
Ross at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th September
1882.
OWEN CHARLES DALHOUSIE ROSS, of 50 Trafalgar road, Old Kent road, in the
County of Surrey, Civil Engineer, "IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC BATTERIES,"
The object of my said invention is to provide an improved Galvanic Battery
applicable to all purposes for which a powerful battery is required, such as electric
lighting, telegraphy, telephony, electro-plating, and for the transmission of force.
My improved battery possesses the following advantages, 1st That it is very
economical, as compared with other forms of battery which are competent to
produce a similar effect. 2ndly That it is remarkably free from polarisation.
3rdly That it occasions comparatively little smell.
The electrodes which 1 employ are carbon and zinc. Round the carbon plate or
rod I usually pack broken coke in order to increase the surface and I amalgamate
the zinc plates in the usual manner with mercury, or I sometimes treat them in a
novel way by electro-plating with nickel or some other metal which must have the
properties of being both a good conductor of electricity and electro positive to
carbon, by which means I partially protect the zinc from being dissolved.
My improved battery differs from other known batteries chiefly in respect of
the manner in which I charge the cells, and gives excellent and highly economical
results. According to my present invention I employ in the zinc cell water
acidulated with one per cent in volume of sulphuric acid or one and a half per

page_text: cent in volume of hydrochloric acid, and in the carbon cell a mixed liquid composed
as follows, viz :-
1 volume of hyponitric acid,
3 volumes of sulphuric acid or 4'/, volumes of hydrochloric acid, and
4 volumes of water
I do not however limit myself to these exact proportions, as the same may be
somewhat varied, but I have stated the proportions which I prefer to employ as
giving upon the whole the best results.
In my previous patent of A.D. 1881 N° 5445 I have described a zinc-carbon
battery in which the acids employed in the zinc cell are sulphuric or hydrochloric
acid, and in the carbon cell a mixture amongst others of nitrous (hyponitric) and
hydrochloric acids, but subsequent experiments have led me to the invention
herein before set forth.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Owen Charles Dalhousie Ross in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th March 1883.
OWEN CHARLES DALHOUSIE ROSS of 50 Trafalgar Road in the County of Surrey
Civil Engineer "IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC BATTERIES”
The object of my said invention is to provide an improved Galvanic Battery
applicable to all ordinary purposes for which an electric current is required.
The principal advantages are:
First. That it is very economical
Secondly. That it is free from the objectionable effects of polarisation and
Thirdly. That it is moderately powerful.
The electrodes which I employ are rods or plates of carbon and of amalgamated
zinc placed in cells and connected and arranged in the manner hereinafter mentioned
so as to form respectively large and suitable surfaces
When using carbon and zinc rods in circular and annular cells I connect and
arrange such rods in groups which are adapted to the form of the cell in which
they are placed.
In Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings which figure is a plan of a circular
cell the annular space is occupied by a group of rods a a forming the outer
electrode (commonly the zinc) and the inner electrode b, b, occupies the central
space.
Figure 2 is a vertical section of the same on the line x y of Fig: 1
When the cells are of square or rectangular form the rods which form the
electrodes are arranged and connected together as shewn in Figs: 3 and 4 which
are respectively plan and elevation of such an arrangement There may be one
row or several rows of such rods and I combine each group of rods by means of a
metal cap into one electrode in order to obtain a large surface and consequently
also an increased quantity of electric current. A convenient method of uniting
such a group is by placing the ends of the rods together in a suitable mould as
shewn in Figures 5 and 6 and running molten lead or other fusible metal to a depth
of about three quarters of an inch The rods are then inverted and the metallic
cap thus formed suitably groups them together.
When placed in the cells such zinc and carbon rods or groups of rods are
respectively further connected together by conducting straps or wires or otherwise
connected or again they may be moulded together in connected groups or pairs so
that one continuous metallic cap will cover both electrodes leaving sufficient space
between the two to allow of their being suspended in the battery one on each side
of the solid diaphragm or partition which separates the two cells as shewn in plan
in Fig 7 in which the line ab represents the separating diaphragm and the circles
c. c. c. the rods of carbon and zzz the rods of zinc-The diaphragm a, b, placed
midway (or thereabouts) between each pair is porous.
In order to increase the surface upon which the fluid acts a great variety of
forms are available such as are shewn in Figs 8 to 14 for example, which are drawn
to an enlarged scale.
In a modification of the form of battery I have found it advantageous to use
rectangular water tight boxes divided into several cells by means of diaphragms or
partitions alternately solid and porous, thus, when using plates I connect one carbon
and one zinc plate together in two different ways viz. (a) By placing the two
plates back to back and using this combined plate as a diaphragm or partition to
separate the two cells of the battery one from the other-These double plates I fix
into a rectangular box or vessel forming the battery at certain distances apart and

page_text: between each pair of double plates midway or thereabouts I fix a porous plate-
I thus obtain a double cell having on one side of the porous diaphragm a carbon
plate and on the other side thereof a zinc plate-I then fill the cell on that side of
the porous diaphragm which is nearest to the carbon with a mixed liquid composed
of three parts by weight of hydrochloric or sulphuric acid three parts of water and
one part of nitrous acid such proportions may however be slightly varied-I also fill
the other cell on the side of the porous diaphragm adjoining the zinc with water
slightly acidulated with from one to two per cent of sulphuric or hydrochloric acid-
No clamps terminals or connecting wires are required between the several cells of
the battery so formed.
(b) Instead of forming the diaphragm or partition itself of a battery of a double
plate of carbon and zinc I sometimes form the battery as a rectangular box or vessel
divided into cells by divisions formed by alternate porous and solid diaphragms or
plates, which plates may be made of glass or insulite or some other suitable non-
conducting substance I then suspend over or across the solid diaphragms pairs of
positive and negative electrodes composed of a series of rods of carbon and zinc or of
rods of the one and plates of the other electrodo and these are so arranged consecu-
tively that the carbon electrode shall always face the following zinc electrode and the
liquid electrolytes are then filled in on either side of the porous partition precisely
in the manner described under the heading a-By these means I also avoid the
necessity of using clamps terminals or connecting wires.
By the employment of nitrous acid mixed with sulphuric or hydrochloric acid
and water as herein before described, I claim to have discovered a new and valuable
combination of acids which has never been hitherto used and by means of which I
obtain a singularly useful battery, because it is free from polarisation and will
maintain a current of constant strength for many hours and is at the same time
remarkably economical.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I claim
1 The use and manufacture of galvanic batteries having combinations of rods of
carbon and rods of zinc so connected and arranged as to form respectively large and
suitable surfaces for electrodes substantially as hereinbefore described and shewn on
the drawings.
2 The use in galvanic batteries of the arrangement and combination of plates of
carbon and zinc forming solid diaphragms or partitions dividing one cell from
another and having a porous diaphragm between each pair so as to avoid the
necessity of connecting adjoining cells by means of clamps terminals or wires
substantially as herein before described.
3 The use in Galvanic batteries of the combination of a plate of carbon with
two or more zinc rods connected together by metallic caps and the combination of
a zinc plate or plates with two or more carbon rods for the purpose of forming
positive and negative electrodes substantially as hereinbefore described
4 The use in the zinc cell of carbon zinc galvanic Batteries of water acidulated
with only from one to two per cent of sulphuric or hydrochloric acid and in the
carbon cell of water combined with hydrochloric or sulphuric acid and nitrous
acid as herein before mentioned.
In witness whereof I the said Owen Charles Dalhousie Ross have hereunto
set my hand and seal this thirteenth day of March in the year of our Lord
one thousand eight hundred and eighty three.
O. C. D. ROSS (L.S.)