Improvements in Primary Batteries.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Jan., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 16th Oct., 1891-Accepted, 21st Nov., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Primary Batteries.
I, SAMUEL WILLIAM MAQUAY of 1, Whittingstall Road, Fulham, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to
be as follows :-
My invention relates to primary batteries the improvements being directed
principally to means for readily removing the zinc plates from the liquid when
the battery is not in use, and also to the connections and holders for the zincs
and carbons. The means for removing the plates consist of sprocket wheels
affixed to a shaft capable of rotation carried by the casing of the battery said
sprocket wheels engaging with chains or the like attached to the zincs and carbons
or to a cover or plate carrying the same. The shaft is preferably operated from
the outside of the case and is provided with a spring which will serve to draw
a stud or studs upon the handle of the shaft into a socket or sockets so that
the plates may be held when out of the liquid or at the point in same which is
desired. Other holding devices may be employed however if desired. The zincs
are preferably so proportioned to the carbons that a short lift only is required
to remove them from the liquid. Flexible connections are provided with the
terminals on the casing. Where the battery has a series of cells with zincs and
carbons, I employ angle plates of metal secured to a top plate or cover to one
side of which a carbon in one cell is secured by a bolt and nut while the other side
is adapted to receive a spring ear or ears of the clip or holder of the zinc
plate in the next cell. This holder consists of a metal block having a stud on
one side of same adapted to engage with a hole in the zinc, a thumb screw
which is turned down onto the zinc to attach the clip to it and the spring ears
before referred to. In this way the zincs can be readily removed when worn
and replaced. I preferably coat the face of the zinc furthest from the carbon
with a protective varnish so that the face nearest the carbon is first attacked, the
other being acted on only as the varnish peels off or is eaten away.
Dated this 20th day of January 1891.
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
55 & 56, Chancery Lane, London, Applicant's Agent.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Primary Batteries.
I, SAMUEL WILLIAM MAQUAY of 1 Whittingstall Road, Fulham in the
County of Middlesex, 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 primary batteries the improvements being directed
principally to means for readily removing the zinc plates from the liquid when
the battery is not in use, and also to the connections and holders for the zincs
and carbons.
Te amulu azulain mu invention reference is made to the accompanying drawing

page_text: Fig. 3 is a sectional plan on the line У-у, Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is a view with one end of the casing removed, and
Figs. 5 and 6 show the zinc holding clips detached.
The means I employ for removing the plates consist of a shaft a dropped into
slots 66 of the battery casing and capable of rotation therein, said shaft carrying a
sprocket wheel c to which is attached one end of a chain d, the other end of the
latter being attached to a plate or cover e carrying the zincs and carbons. In place
of a single sprocket wheel two or more may be employed so as to obtain an
even lift.
The shaft a is provided with a handle placed outside of the casing and a
spring (Fig. 1) which is in a state of compression between the sprocket wheel
and a collar around the shaft and which abuts against one of the slots b.
The action of this spring tends to keep pins ii on the handle fin recesses in
a plate on the casing. Thus by pulling the handle slightly out so as to free the
pins it may be turned, and the shaft and sprocket wheel consequently rotated,
the chain & lifting the cover e as it engages with the teeth of the wheel. In Fig. 4
the cover e with the zinc and carbon plates j, k, is shown as partly lifted.
As soon as the handle is released the pins ii by the pressure of the spring g will
engage with the recesses in the plate when they are brought opposite to them and
the shaft will be held in the desired position. The zinc plates are preferably so
proportioned to the carbon that a short lift only is required to remove them from
the liquid in the cells. Flexible connections are provided with the terminals on
the casing. As shown these consist of a wire l which is soldered or secured to one
of the zinc connections, and a wire in which is similarly attached to one of the
carbon connections. The other ends of these wires terminate in slightly tapered
pins n which are placed in sockets in the bosses o, with which bosses the usual
terminal screws p p are in connection.
When the battery as shown is provided with a series of cells with zincs and
carbons I employ angle plates 9 of metal which are secured to the cover e, one
flange of each plate having a carbon plate of one cell secured to same by a bolt
while the other flange receives the spring ears s of a clip which serves to hold the
zinc plate of the cell next in order. Where the cells are in two rows as shown a
connecting strip 9' is employed between the last carbon of one row and the first
zinc of the next. The clip which is shown in Figs. 5 and 6 consists of a metal
block having a stud t on one side of same adapted to engage with a hole in the zinc,
a thumb screw u which is turned down on to the top of the zinc to prevent it from
leaving the stud t and the spring ears s before mentioned. In this way the zincs
can be readily removed from the battery when worn, and as quickly replaced by
new ones, and the carbons also can be readily replaced by loosening the nut of the
bolt and lifting them out of the slot in the flange of the plate g.
I preferably coat the face of the zinc farthest from the carbon in the same cell
with a protective varnish, say for instance ordinary sealing wax varnish to which is
added bees-wax in the proportion of about one ounce of the latter to a pint of the
varnish, so that the face nearest the carbon is first attacked, the other being acted
on only as the varnish peels off or is eaten away.
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 :-
1. In a primary battery means for lifting the plates comprising a chain and
sprocket wheel, a shaft for rotating the latter, and means for holding said shaft in
position, substantially as described.
2. In a primary battery the combination of a cover plate with angle plates
secured to same, the flanges of each carrying respectively the carbon of one cell
and the zine of the next substantially as described..

page_text: 3. In a primary battery a clip for holding the zinc plates consisting of a stud, a
holding screw, and spring ears substantially as described.
4. The improved primary battery substantially as described and illustrated.
Dated this 16th day of October 1891.
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
55 & 56, Chancery Lane, London, Applicant's Agent.