A NEW EERORICAL CONTACT FOR CLACKWARE AD ADDITONTON
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Lionel Leclanché, of Paris, in the
Empire of France, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "A NEW
EERORICAL CONTACT FOR CLACKWARE AD
ADDITONTON"
Sealed the 21st June 1872, and dated the 30th December 1871.

page_text: similar substance formed of two halves united by flanges or otherwise,
and separated by a partition of glass or other similar material, which
partition has a hole bored therethrough at a certain distance from its
centre. I close this barrel as hermetically as possible after having
introduced in each of its compartments, firstly, sufficient mercury to
about half fill the same; and, secondly, a small quantity of a gaseous
or a liquid reductor, such as hydrogen, alcohol, benzine, or other similar
products; or instead of such gaseous or liquid reductor I may make a
vacuum in the said compartments; I then put the mercury of each
compartment in communication with the poles of the cell. Under these
circumstances each time the barrel is rotated the two bodies of mercury
are united, which produces a perfect contact independent of the pressure
of the surfaces, whilst the metals being isolated from the atmospheric
air are not subject to oxidation.
Office on the 26th June 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
LIONEL LECLANCHÉ, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Lionel Leclanché, Her special
licence that I, the said George Lionel Leclanché, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Lionel
Leclanché, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention

page_text: for "A NEW ELECTRICAL CONTACT FOR CLOCKWORK OR OTHER APPLICATIONS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Lionel Leclanché,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
5 and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Lionel Leclanché, do hereby
O declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :—
The object of my Invention is to produce a metallic contact without
oxidation, and whose action will be independent of the pressure of the
surfaces. For this purpose I make use of a barrel of glass or other
similar substance formed of two halves united by flanges or otherwise,
and separated by a partition of glass or other similar material, which
partition has a hole bored therethrough at a certain distance from its
centre. I close this barrel as hermetically as possible after having
introduced in each of its compartments, firstly, sufficient mercury to
about half fill the same; and, secondly, a small quantity of a gaseous or
a liquid reductor, such as hydrogen, alcohol, benzine, or other similar
products; or instead of such gaseous or liquid reductor I may make a
vacuum in the said compartments. I then put the mercury of each
compartment in communication with the poles of the cell. Under these
circumstances each time the barrel is rotated the two bodies of mercury
are united, which produces a perfect contact independent of the pressure
of the surfaces, whilst the metals being isolated from the atmospheric
air are not subject to oxidation.
And in order that my new electrical contact may be clearly under-
stood, I will proceed to explain the same conjointly with the two Figures
of the accompanying Drawing, of which Figure 1 is a front elevation,
and Figure 2 a side elevation in section through A, A, Figure 1.
In these two Figures a, a, represent the two halves or cups of glass or

page_text: either by mechanical means such as bolts and nuts, or by appropriate
cements; c, the partition in glass or other non-conducting substance
inserted between the flanges b, b, and which serves to divide the space
formed by the two cups a, a, into two separate chambers; d is the
aperture pierced in this partition above the centre of the barrel; e and f, 5
the metallic journals on which this barrel rotates, and which serve also
to establish a communication with the poles of a battery; i, i, are
platinum wire rings attached to the said journals for the purpose of
maintaining a permanent contact between the said battery and the
charges of mercury g, h; g¹ and h¹ are the spaces existing above the 1
mercury, and which I charge with a gaseous or a liquid reductor, such
as hydrogen, alcohol, benzine, or other similar products, or from which
I exhaust the air; k is a small aperture reserved for this latter purpose,
which I close with any appropriate cement.
When a barrel thus constructed, charged, and connected, is caused to 1
rotate or to oscillate on its axis by clockwork or any other appropriate
motor, the descent of the aperture d at each revolution or oscillation in
the charges of mercury g, h, will cause these two previously isolated by
the partition c to unite, and thus form a perfect contact between the
poles of the battery, which contact is absolutely independent of the
pressure of the surfaces. On the aperture d rising from the mercury
this latter will again be divided into two isolated bodies and all contact
broken, and at the moment that the partition thus again separates the
mercury
in two distinct bodies a spark is produced, but as it takes place
in a space hermetically closed, and charged with a reductor, or in
vacuum, and consequently protected from the influence of the air,
the only result produced is the volatization of a small particle of
mercury, which re-condenses in its pure state and unites again with the
mass of mercury, which will therefore be preserved indefinitely in its
original pure state.
By using a lower level of mercury than that indicated in the Drawing
the partition may be pierced with two holes at equal distances from the
centre, and on the same diametrical line, and thus one contact can be
obtained at each half rotation of the barrel.
Having thus explained the nature of my new metallic contact, and
the best means that I am acquainted with for putting the same into

page_text: practice, I claim as my Invention not only the use of mercury in a
rotating or oscillating barrel, as described, but also the production of
an electrical metallic contact in a hermetically closed space charged with
a gaseous or a liquid reductor as above stated, or from which the air has
been withdrawn.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Lionel Leclanché, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two
0
Witness,
GEORGE LIONEL LECLANCHÉ.
D. H. BRANDON,
13, Rue Gaillon,
Paris.
(L.S.)