Improvements in and relating to Electric Accumulators.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Oct., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 21st June, 1892-Accepted, 23rd July, 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by LA SOCIÉTÉ DITE ELECTRICITEITS-
MAATSCHAPPIJ (Systeem de Khotinsky), of Gelnhausen, in the Empire
of Germany (President, Ludwig Wilhelm Schoffer).]
"
Improvements in and relating to Electric Accumulators.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine Lake & Co., Patent Agenta,
45, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows :—
This invention relates to electric accumulators.
It is well known that Planté obtained the first practical accumulators by a long
and costly process resulting in the production upon lead plates of layers either of
lead peroxide or of spongy lead.
-
The employment of lead peroxide upon one electrode in primary batteries, which "
was well known before Planté worked on the subject, led to the idea of using lead
oxide upon the two electrodes and of transforming this material into lead peroxide or
spongy lead by the action of the electric current.
But this process of employing oxides upon the two electrodes is expensive in
practice and occasions a considerable loss of time, for it necessitates the aid of the
electric current in order to transform these oxides into metallic lead upon the
negative electrode and into lead peroxide upon the positive electrode.
In fact the transformation of the filling material composed of lead oxides into..
metallic lead upon the negative electrode requires, as is well known, twice as much
work and time as the transformation of the filling material composed of red lead. -
into lead peroxide on the positive electrode.
The process forming the subject of the aforesaid invention is intended to obviate. ·
these well-known inconveniences. This process consists in filling up the spaces
between the ribs of the lead grid-used for the positive electrodes with a mixture of:
lead peroxide and red lead, and in the employment of finely pulverized metallic lead
as a filling material for the negative electrodes. The chief advantage of this
process, as compared with the process hitherto used of providing two electrodes with
lead oxides, is as follows:
The costly and comparatively long process of transforming the lead oxides into
lead peroxide upon the positive electrode, and into metallic lead upon the negative
electrode is cheapened and shortened to a considerable extent. It has been found
that the new filling material, by reason of its chemical composition, is transformed
into lead peroxide, or into spongy lead in one third of the time taken to transform.
the filling materials composed of lead oxides heretofore employed for the two.
electrodes.
For the negative electrode the work of transformation is almost nil, because the
filling material is composed of metallic lead in a finely divided state.
The filling material for the positive electrode is composed for the most part of
lead peroxide so that its complete transformation into lead peroxide requires.but
little time.
The pulverized metallic lead is a filling material which costs considerably less
than the filling material heretofore employed which consists of lead oxides.
The introduction of pulverized lead between the ribs of the lead grid is effected
by mechanical means in an easy, sure and rapid manner, whilst the introduction of
lead oxides requires careful, long and costly labour.
100r
"

page_text: positive electrodes, and of pulverized lead as filling material for negative electrodes.
substantially as above described and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 21st day of June 1892.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.