Improvements in Electric Batteries.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Sept., 1893-Accepted, 4th Nov., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by AUGuste Chevallier, of 1, Rue Victor-Hugo,
Colombes, Seine, in the Republic of France, Electrical Engineer.]
Improvements in Electric Batteries.
I, HENRY HARINGTON LEIGH, Assoc. M. Inst. C.E., Fel. Ch. Inst. P.A.,
F.I. Inst., practising as Phillips & Leigh, at 22, Southampton Buildings
Chancery Lane, in the Administrative County of London, Engineer and Patent
Agent, 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 :-
The present invention relates to improvements in electric batteries of the class
known as oxide batteries. Batteries of this class known up to the present time, and
notably the Leclanché battery, do not act continuously. Consequently, they
cannot be used for supplying current for lighting purposes. The battery which is
hereinafter described and which is the outcome of long research and continued
experiments, supplies a really continuous current and one sufficiently powerful for
lighting purposes. This result is obtained by means of the improved construction
the details of which will be found illustrated in the accompanying figures. In
comparison with the batteries of the class mentioned, the improvements relate
specially to two portions, viz., the porous vase and the head of the carbon element.
For that reason, the construction of these two portions is carefully detailed in the
figures.
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the battery.
Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line x-x of Figure 1.
Figures 3 to 10 illustrate the details of the head of the carbon element.
The battery consists in the first place of an external wood or glass jar P in or
with the side of which there is incorporated a glass tube T closed as to its bottom
end. t, t are a series of holes in its inner side communicating with the jar P. In
this tube is placed the rod Z made of hard zinc. The exciting solution of
sal-ammoniac is introduced into the jar P by way of the tube. The zinc element Z
is held in position within the tube T by means of a combined ring and stopper s of
rubber.
In the jar P is placed the porous cell V. This, instead of being made of
earthenware as it has hitherto been customary to make it, is formed of a plate of wood
in which there are a series of saw cuts a from top to bottom, and deep enough to
leave only a thin portion a'. The wood plate is rolled up into the form of a
cylinder and held in that form round a wood bottom B by means of cloth rings f, f.
m is a shallow layer of binoxide of mercury, about 3 or 4 millimetres deep. In the
centre of the cell V is placed the carbon element D which carries a head of novel
construction. This latter constitutes the positive pole. The space which surrounds
the carbon D is divided into four compartments by means of four glass webs v¹, u³,
see Figure 2,- and is filled with the usual mixture of gas coke and binoxide
of manganese. The top of the cell V is closed by a strong cover of wax C, the
latter being continued down over the rings f, while the bottom of the cell is treated
in the same way. The object of this is to protect the combination and assure the
rigidity of the cell.
The upper end of the carbon D has a hole E made through it. This hole is
counter sunk at both ends for flat rings F to rest therein. Between these rings and
in the hole E there is held a glass tube G, the ends of which are provided with

page_text: rubber packings g and held up to the rings F so as to make tight joints therewith.
A small glass tube H communicates with the interior of the tube G and passes
upwards through the carbon D and above it where its end is closed by the lead
cap Q. The rings F are held to their seats and the packings g by means of
a screw I which is passed through the tube G as well as through the parts K, L, M.
These latter are screwed to the same pitch as the screw I. That portion of the
latter which is within the tube G is smooth and its diameter less-than that of the
bore of the tube. Both tubes G and H are filled with mercury. The parts F, I,
K, L and M are, preferably, of platinum. Between the nuts K and L, a wire Nis
fixed which is continued in the form of a spiral above the top of the carbon D.
Around the above described parts there is fitted a cast leaden cap Q, as in
the Leclanché and other well known batteries. A central and vertical hole is
made in the cap Q, of the same diameter as the spiral on the wire N, and a screw R,
turned down therein within the spiral, serves as the binding screw for the external
conductor.
The battery is covered by a layer of cement S, the introduction of the exciting
solution being effected, as already explained, through the tube T after the
stoppers and zinc rod Z have been taken out of it.
The improved battery has very great advantages over all similar batteries
hitherto known, and the previsions, based upon the particular construction of it,
have been fully justified in the course of crucial tests to which the invention has
been subjected. Thanks to the porous wood cell, polarisation of the zinc is
avoided; and whereas, in the batteries at present in use, the action of the material
of an earthenware cell upon the zinc, is so marked, that after a relatively short
space of time, the zinc and the cell in question adhere, the wood keeps quite clean
on its surface and the pores do not clog. The zinc may be renewed or changed at
any time, if such a step should become necessary, without interfering with the other
parts of the battery.
The cuts a in the cell side and the webs in its interior have the effect of
considerably increasing the active surface of the battery.
The above described arrangement of and about the top of the carbon element,
herein before referred to as its head, avoids all polarisation. This result is due to
the special disposition of the mercury contact. Whereas in the case of ordinary
batteries of the class in question, the effects of polarisation make themselves felt
immediately, my improved battery will supply a continuous and constant current
for many years, thereby qualifying itself perfectly as a source of energy for the
purpose of electric illumination.
The nut M placed outside the lead cap Q is only to allow of the connection of a
reserve conductor in the event of the wire N having become worn out. The lead
cap provides for the battery being easily kept perfectly clean.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A battery of the class known as oxide batteries, giving constant current and
having at its positive pole a head which prevents all polarisation, these results being
obtained by means of the combination of the following parts which characterise the
battery, viz., an outside wood jar P, a glass tube T having a series of holes t and
adapted to receive the zinc rod Z, a porous wood cell A having saw-cuts a, glass
webs fixed about the carbon D in the inside of the cell V, a hole E in the top of the
carbon D, contacts F having between them a glass tube G filled with mercury
and provided with packings g which prevent the mercury from escaping, the screw I
passing through the contacts F the tube G as well as through the nuts K, L and M,
the wire coil N and the binding screw R, and the protecting lead cap Q
2. A battery having a porous cell V made out of a slab of wood having saw
cuts a in one face of it leaving intact only a thin portion a¹.

page_text: 3. A battery having the top of the carbon D provided with the following
parts, viz. the ring contacts F, the glass tubes G and H full of mercury, the
screw I, the nuts K, L and M, the wire N and the binding screw R.
Dated this 29th day of September 1893.
HENRY H. LEIGH, C.P.A.