Improvements in the Construction of Carbon Electrodes.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Feb., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 17th Nov., 1893-Accepted, 23rd Dec., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Construction of Carbon Electrodes.
I, EDWARD HENRY LIVEING, of 52 Queen Anne Street, Cavendish Square,
London, W., Electrical Engineer and Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
In the electrolysis of solutions of chloride of sodium or potassium, carbon anodes
have generally been found most suitable, but as these suffer disintegration and
destruction with use, the question of renewal at the smallest possible expense
becomes a very important one, when the operation is for commercial purposes.
With this object, I employ, as the anode (or positive electrode), broken pieces of
gas retort carbon, resting on a sieve, grid, or series of bars of slate, porcelain, glass,
or other non-conducting material, just as coal rests on the bars of a furnace. And
as the anode cell or chamber is necessarily closed at the top, where the chlorine
has to be collected, I make electrical communication with this heap of carbon by
means of carbon rods, such as are-light carbons, or of protected metallic conductors
passing through stuffing boxes in the cover or top of the anode cell, and pressed
down, and making contact with the heap of carbon on the grid, and as the carbon
rods will also waste at their ends, they are made to slide down through the stuffing
boxes by aid of a spring or weights. The number of rods required for a cell will
be determined by the amount of current required, so that the loss, by resistance, in
the rods and contacts, is not too great.
Dated this 20th day of February 1893.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Construction of Carbon Electrodes.
I EDWARD HENRY LIVEING of 52 Queen Anne Street, Cavendish Square,
London, W., Electrical Engineer and Chemist, 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 :-
In the electrolysis of solutions of chloride of sodium or potassium, carbon, and
particularly gas retort carbon, has been found, on the whole, the most suitable
material for the anodes or positive electrodes.
To make gas retort carbon available for use as an electrode, it has to be
manipulated in some way to bring it to a form suitable for occupying the position
of an anode in the positive cell of the decomposing tank.
This manipulation is a more or less expensive operation, owing to the hardness of
the carbon, and materially increases the working cost of electrical decomposition,
seeing that it is necessary to provide, from time to time, new anodes to replace
those destroyed by the action of the electrolysis.
The object of the present invention is to provide a cheap and easily renewable
anode, so as to reduce, as much as possible, the working expenses of continuous
electrical decomposition on a commercial scale.
According to the present invention I employ gas retort carbon merely broken
into small pieces and thrown in a heap upon a grid or other support of non-
conducting material placed in the anode chamber, thus obviating boring or cutting
of the carbon blocks or lumps, to provide for their attachment, to the terminals and
for their suspension in the tank.

page_text: In the accompanying drawing, I have illustrated part of an electrolytic tank in
longitudinal section, shewing how pieces of roughly broken retort carbon may be
employed as anodes.
A are the anode cells, and B the cathode cells, divided from each other by
partitions of any suitable non-conducting material reaching by preference not
quite to the bottom of the tank. bare cathodes suspended in the solution somewhat
above the level of the bottom of the partitions.
The anode cells A, which are closed at top by a lid of slate or other suitable
material, so as to retain the products of decomposition collected on the surface of
the solution, are closed at bottom by the bars of a grid a of non-conducting
material. Upon the latter is piled a heap of broken gas retort carbon, constituting
the anode. Electrical connection with this anode of broken carbon is made by
means of one or more carbon rods d, or other suitable conductors, sliding in a
stuffing box D in the lid of the cell A. d'is a weighted socket on the suminit of
the rod d, which serves to thrust down the latter upon the anode of broken carbon,
to maintain the electrical connection, and to make up for the disintegration and
destruction of the carbon as the electrolysis proceeds. The socket also con-
stitutes a terminal for attachment to the fixed electrical conductor E, by means of
the spiral wire e.
"
The stuffing box D, which is packed with asbestos or other suitable packing, is
by preference detachable from the lid of the cell A, so as to permit of access
thereto through the lid, to renew the anode from time to time with fresh broken
carbon. The size of the pieces of carbon is conveniently that of walnuts.
It will thus be seen that an anode of great surface is provided and maintained at
a cost little above the value of the retort carbon. The cost of breaking up the
carbon is not great, as it is an easy operation compared with the operation of
boring and cutting with expensive tools hitherto adopted.
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 :-
The positive electrode herein before described with reference to the drawing,
composed of fragments of retort carbon heaped on a grid or perforated plate of
non-conducting material in the anode cell, and electrically connected with the fixed
electrical conductor or main by means of a sliding rod or pencil of carbon, or its
equivalent, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 17th day of November 1893.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.