Improvements in or relating to Accumulators or Secondary Batteries for use in Lighting Railway Carriages and other Conveyances by Electricity.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Sept., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 17th May, 1890-Accepted, 21st June, 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION,
Improvements in or relating to Accumulators or Secondary Batteries
for use in Lighting Railway Carriages and other Conveyances by
Electricity.
[A communication from abroad by LA SOCIÉTÉ ANONYME POUR LE TRAVAIL ELEC-
TRIQUE DES MÉTAUX, of 1, Boulevard St. Denis, Paris, France, Electrical Engineers.]
I, JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN of 55 and 56 Chancery Lane in the County of
Middlesex, Fellow of the Institute of Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
In the application of electric lighting by means of accumulators or secondary
batteries to various kinds of conveyances such as railway, tramway or common road
carriages and navigable vessels many difficulties are encountered due to the weight
of the apparatus, the necessity for stanchness, for resistance to shocks and tremulous
motion, and for easy bandling.
The apparatus which forms the subject of the present invention overcomes the
objections just referred to and enables electric lighting to be effected in a practical
and economical manner.
The apparatus consists essentially of :-
(1) A trough lined with a vessel of insulating material and hermetically closed.
(2) Accumulator plates having a special appendage either for individual grouping
of plate to plate of the same category or for the grouping of apparatus to apparatus.
The trough is formed of a wooden box having iron bars or braces to strengthen it
and handles for lifting or moving it.
Some of the bars or braces have threaded
rods extending beyond the top of the box with which rods lugs on the cover
engage; these rods and winged nuts fitted thereon serve to keep the cover in
place. Between the cover and the edge of the box a frame of supple caoutchouc is
interposed so as to form a tight joint. The box is lined with a vessel of insulating
material which exactly fits it. The bottom of the box has a rack also of insulating
material, the notches or divisions of which carry the plates, insulate them from each
other, and keep them apart The internal depth of the box is such that the plates,
after they are in place, are entirely enclosed and protected from accident. All the
outer parts of the box are coated with one or more layers of a varnish not acted on
by acids. In order to allow of the disengagement of the gases at the end of the
charge a hole is made in the cover.
The accumulator plates are each formed with a special appendage consisting of a
piece projecting from one corner and having a U-shaped notch to receive a
connecting bolt. This bolt is threaded and carries for each plate two nuts which
allow of establishing an intimate electric contact between the bolt and the plate at
the same time that they constitute a mechanical stay which renders the set of plates
of the same naine absolutely rigid. This mode of connection is important as it
prevents any displacement of the plates, and avoids even under the greatest shock all
fear of injury to the plates and short circuiting.
In order to prevent excessive shaking of the liquid which would put the bolts in
contact with the acidulated water there is inserted between the liquid and the bolts a
supple caoutchouc diaphragm having cuts or apertures for the appendages of the
plates, and folded at the edges so as to form a hermetic joint and thus prevent over-
flow of the liquid.
For mounting the plates they are first placed in the trough which is then filled
with acidulated water up to a suitable height; then the plates are covered with the
caoutchouc diaphragm, its edges being folded so as to make the joint, and finally the

page_text: connecting bolt is fitted on the appendages, its length being calculated so as to
maintain the caoutchouc membrane in place at the corners.
Even if the nuts of a bolt become accidentally loose the plate is still held by the
diaphragm and there is no fear of a short circuit.
Each bolt has at right angles to the plates a screw hook having three nuts and
washers; one serves as a bearing to the cover and the others for establishing the
connections from apparatus to apparatus. To allow of making these connections
without having to lift the cover the screw hooks pass through holes therein and the
grouping nuts are placed above these holes.
To connect one apparatus to another there are used brass plates or bars of
various sizes and forms, having a notch at each end, or supple ropes having a
fork at each end.
The disposition of the accumulators will vary according to the vehicle or
conveyance for which the accumulators are intended. In the case of a railway or
tramway vehicle the accumulators are placed in a double box, the first or outer box
forming a screen or protection and the second being mounted on rollers so that the
whole battery can be roadily withdrawn at once. When the box is withdrawn it is
received on rollers mounted on movable trestles placed so that the box rolls in a
horizontal plane.
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1
1000
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Accumulators or Secondary Batteries
for use in Lighting Railway Carriages and other Conveyances by
Electricity.
[A communication from abroad by LA SOCIÉTÉ ANONYME POUR LE TRAVAIL ELEC-
TRIQUE DES MÉTAUX, of 1, Boulevard St. Denis, Paris, France, Electrical Engineers.]
I, JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN of 55 and 56 Chancery Lane in the County of
Middlesex Fellow of the Institute of Patent Agents, 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 application of electric lighting by means of accumulators or secondary
batteries to various kinds of conveyances such as railway, tramway or common road
carriages and navigable vessels many difficulties are encountered due to the weight of
the apparatus and the necessity for stanchness, for resistance to shocks and tremulous
motion, and for easy handling.
The apparatus which forms the subject of the present invention overcomes the
objections just referred to and enables electric lighting to be effected in a practical
and economical manner.
The apparatus consists essentially of:
(1) A trough lined with a vessel of insulating material and hermetically closed.
(2) Accumulator plates having a special appendage either for individual grouping
of plate to plate of the same category or for the grouping of apparatus to apparatus.
The accompanying drawings will serve to illustrate the invention.
The trough a, Figures 1, 2 and 3 is formed of a wooden box having iron bars or
braces to strengthen it and handles g for lifting or moving it. Some of the bars
or braces (four in the drawings) have threaded rods extending beyond the top of
the box with which rods lugs on the cover engage; these rods and winged nuts
fitted thereon serve to keep the cover in place. Between the cover and the edge of
the box a frame of supple caoutchouc i (Figure 10) is interposed so as to form a
tight joint. The box a is lined with a vessel of insulating material b which exactly
fits it. The bottom of the box has a rack j also of insulating material the notches or
divisions of which carry the plates, insulate them from each other, and keep them

page_text: In
apart. The internal depth of the box is such that the plates after they are in place
are entirely enclosed and protected from accident. All the outer parts of the box
are coated with one or more layers of a varnish not acted on by acids.
order to allow of the disengagement of the gases at the end of the charge a hole k
is made in the cover.
The accumulator plates e (Figure 4) are each formed with a special appendage-d
consisting of a piece projecting from one corner and having a U-shaped notch to
receive a connecting bolt 1, Figure 5. This bolt is threaded and carries for each
plate two nuts which allow of establishing an intimate electric contact between the
bolt and the plate at the same time that they constitute a mechanical stay which
renders the set of plates of the same name absolutely rigid. This mode of connection
is important as it prevents any displacement of the plates and avoids even under the
greatest shock all fear of injury to the plates and short circuiting.
In order to prevent excessive shaking of the liquid which would put the bolts in
contact with the acidulated water there is inserted between the liquid and the bolts
a supple caoutchouc diaphragm m Figure 11 having cuts or apertures for the
appendages d of the plates and folded at the edges so as to form a hermetic joint
and thus prevent overflow of the liquid.
For mounting the plates they are first placed in the trough a which is then filled
with acidulated water up to a suitable height; then the plates are covered with the
caoutchouc diaphragm m, its edges being folded so as to make the joint and finally
the connecting bolt 7 is fitted on the appendages its length being calculated so as to
maintain the caoutchouc membrane in place at the corners.
Even if the nuts of a bolt become accidentally loose the plate is still held by the
diaphragm and there is no fear of a short circuit.
Each bolt has at right angles to the plates a screw hook n Figure 6 having three
nuts and washers; one nut serves as a bearing to the cover and the others for
establishing the connections from apparatus to apparatus. To allow of making these
connections without having to lift the cover the screw hooks pass through holes o, p
therein and the grouping nuts are placed above these holes.
To connect one apparatus to another there are used brass plates or bars q Figure 7
of various sizes and forms having a notch at each end, or supple ropes having a
fork at each end.
The disposition of the accumulators will vary according to the vehicle or convey-
ance for which the accumulators are intended. In the case of a railway or tramway
vehicle the accumulators are placed in a double box (see Figure 8) the first or outer
box s forming a screen or protection and the second being mounted on rollers so
When the box is
that the whole battery can be readily withdrawn at once.
withdrawn it is received on rollers t (Figure 9) mounted on movable trestles u placed
so that the box rolls in a horizontal plane.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion as communicated to me and in what manner the same is to be performed
I declare that what I claim is :-
The accumulators or secondary batteries or apparatus constructed substantially as
herein before described and represented in the accompanying drawings for use in
lighting railway carriages and other conveyances by electricity.
1000
J. C. MEWBURN.