Improvements relating to Electric Accumulators or Storage Batteries and to the Manufacture of Plates or Electrodes therefor.
Year: 1898

page_text: Complete Specification Left, 24th Mar., 1899-Accepted, 5th July, 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to Electric Accumulators or Storage Batteries
and to the Manufacture of Plates or Electrodes therefor.
We, WILLIAM HENRY SMITII, of Upton Villa, Penge, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, and WILLIAM WILLIS, of The Platinotype Engineering Company, 22,
Bloomsbury Street, in the County of London, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to electric accumulators or storage batteries, and to the
manufacture of plates or electrodes therefor.
Our said invention is chiefly designed to provide an accumulator plate or elec-
trode which, whilst possessing the important qualities of lightness in proportion
to capacity, freedom from buckling or distortion, strength, and capability of
withstanding rough usage without injury, can be manufactured easily and at a
low cost and with but little or no skilled labour.
One feature of our present invention is the manufacture of an accumulator
plate or electrode comprising two channelled or corrugated perforated retaining
sheets or plates placed face to face with a mass of active material between them,
and a series of rods or cores of conducting material, such, for instance, as lead,
EO arranged between the said sheets or plates that each rod extends along the
tubular space formed by two opposite channels or corrugations in the said per-
forated retaining sheets or plates and is surrounded by the active material.
said retaining sheets or plates are preferably made of non-conducting material,
such, for instance, as celluloid or cbonite.
The
In making an accumulator plate or electrode according to our said invention,
we find it advantageous to proceed as follows, viz. :-
We make two channelled or corrugated sheets of perforated celluloid or other
suitable material, with narrow grooves or channels on one side and with wider
grooves or channels on the other side thereof, and place each of the said plates
on a flat or plane surface provided with a series of projecting strips which enter
the narrow grooves in the under side of the sheet. We then fill each of the
celluloid or other corrugated sheets or moulds with the active material, such, for
example, as oxide of lead, until the same is level with the top of the wider
grooves or channels in the upper side of the said sheet. When the two corru-
gated sheets or moulds, each on its own support, have been filled, and while the
active material is still in a plastic condition, we place a series of rods or cores of
lead or other suitable conducting material on the active material contained in
one of the said sheets or moulds, so that they are parallel with and in the centre
or about the centre of the wide channels of the said sheet or mould; the other
corrugated sheet or mould is then placed on the top so that its active material
is in contact with the said rods or cores and so that its grooves or channels are
We then press
dircetly above and parallel to those of the lower sheet or mould.
together the two sheets or moulds until the active material in the same is in con-
tact, at the same time forcing the conducting rods or cores into close contact
with the active material.

page_text: The supports for the two corrugated sheets or moulds are preferably connected
by hinge-joints in such a manner that one can be folded over upon the other.
Or other suitable means are provided for facilitating the placing of one sheet or
mould in its correct position upon the other.
The accumulator-plates or electrodes are preferably used in such a position
that their grooves or corrugations extend vertically, the said conducting rods or
cores being formed on or attached to a conducting bar extending along the top
of the said plate or electrode, and a bottom plate or bar of ebonite, lead or other
suitable material being secured to the lower ends of the said rods or cores so as
to keep the active material from falling out from between the aforesaid corru-
gated sheets.
When a number of the electrodes are required to form a battery or accumu-
lator, they are placed at a suitable distance from each other and kept apart and
in position by strips of ebonite or other suitable non-conducting material fitting
into the narrow grooves of the corrugated sheet or mould on one side of the said
strips and into the corresponding narrow grooves of the adjacent sheet or mould
on the other side of the said strips, which grooves have been kept free from
active material by the projecting strips on the aforesaid supports. The said
separating strips are preferably perforated to facilitate the circulation of the
electrolyte.
When several electrodes are fitted together in this manner, they can be kept
in position by means of elastic bands, which will also serve to keep the active
material in close contact with the conducting rods or cores whilst permitting the
expansion or contraction of the active material without distortion of the clec-
trodes. We find it advantageous to provide at each end of a series of the said
electrodes, suitable retaining bars or plates, and to pass through these bars or
plates suitable rods, some of which extend beneath and others above the said
electrodes, and which serve to keep the latter in their proper relative position.
The electrodes and their retaining bars or plates are held together by elastic
bands as above mentioned, and expansion and contraction of the active material
are permitted by leaving the bars or plates at one end of the series free to slide
upon the said rods.
Dated the 5th der of Tul 1000
D. YOUNG & Co.,
11 and 12, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.
Improvements relating to Electric Accumulators or Storage Batteries
and to the Manufacture of Plates or Electrodes therefor.
We, WILLIAM HENRY SMITH, of Upton Villa, Penge, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, and WILLIAM WILLIS, of The Platinotype Engineering Company, 22,
Bloomsbury Street, in the County of London, 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:
Our invention relates to electric accumulators or storage batteries in which
the plates or electrodes are made with the active material enclosed in perforated
retaining envelopes; and to the manufacture of improved accumulator plates or
electrodes of that kind or class.
Our said invention is chiefly designed to provide an accumulator plate or elec-
trode which, whilst possessing the important qualities of lightness in proportion

page_text: to capacity, freedom from buckling or distortion, strength, and capability of
withstanding rough usage without injury, can be manufactured easily and at a
low cost and with but little or no skilled labour.
One feature of our present invention is the manufacture of an accumulator
plate or electrode with a retaining envelope consisting of two channelled or
corrugated perforated sheets or plates, which are each made with wide grooves or
channels on their inner side and narrow grooves or channels on their outer side
and are placed face to face with active material between them in the said wide
channels, a series of rods or cores of conducting material, such, for instance, as
lead, being so arranged between the said sheets or plates that each rod extends
along the tubular space formed by two opposite wide grooves or channels in the
said perforated retaining sheets or plates and is surrounded by the active material
therein. The said retaining sheets or plates are preferably made of non-conduct-
ing material, such, for instance, as celluloid or ebonite.
In making an accumulator plate or electrode according to our said invention,
we find it advantageous to proceed as follows, viz.:-We first make two chan-
neled or corrugated sheets of perforated celluloid or other suitable material, with
narrow grooves or channels on one side and with wide grooves or channels on the
other side thereof, and we place each of these sheets with its wide grooves upper-
most on a flat or plane surface provided with a series of projecting strips which
enter the narrow grooves in the underside of the sheet. We then fill the wide
grooves of each of the celluloid or other corrugated sheets or moulds, with active
material, such, for example, as oxide of lead. We then, while the active
material is still in a plastic condition, place a series of rods or cores of lead or
other suitable conducting material on the active material contained in one of the
said corrugated sheets or moulds, and lay the other corrugated sheet or mould
on the top so that its active material is in contact with the said rods or cores and
so that its grooves or channels are directly above and parallel to those of the
lower sheet or mould. We then press together the two sheets or moulds until
the active material in the same is in contact, at the same time forcing the con-
ducting rods or cores into close contact with the active material.
To securely hold the two halves of the several retaining envelopes in the accu-
mulator in their proper relative position and thus obviate the liability to bulging
thereof and consequent release of the active material from the space between
them, and at the same time to compensate for expansion and contraction of the
active material, we provide perforated separating strips of insulating material,
which are fitted in the narrow external channels in the said envelopes, and we
pass electric bands around the series of electrodes, and around bars or plates
which are placed one at each end of the said series, and through which are
passed suitable supporting rods some extending beneath and others above the said
electrodes.
Our said invention, moreover, comprises other improvements hereinafter set
forth.
In the accompanying drawing we have shown how our said invention may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practice.
Figure 1 is an end elevation, and
Figure 2 a plan illustrating different steps or stages in the manufacture of
our improved plates or electrodes.
Figure 3 is a vertical transverse section of one of our improved plates or
electrodes.
Figure 4 is a horizontal section through the same.
Figure 5 is a side elevation of an electric accumulator made with our improved
plates or electrodes, the containing box or cell being shown in section,
and
Figure 6 is a plan, partly in horizontal section on the line x-x, Figure 5,
Figure 7 is a horizontal section illustrating a detail of construction.
Like letters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawing.

page_text: a,
b are the two channelled or corrugated sheets of perforated celluloid, ebonite
or other suitable material, which are made with narrow grooves or channels c
on the outer side and with wide grooves or channels & on the inner side thereof,..
and which form the two halves of a retaining envelope for enclosing the active
material.
..
e, e are the temporary supports for the two corrugated sheets or moulds a, b,
which supports are provided with a series of projecting strips f and are preferably
connected by hinge-joints as at e¹, Figures 1 and 2, so that one can be folded
over upon the other as indicated by the dotted lines in Figures 1. Or other
suitable means are provided for facilitating the placing of one sheet or mould
in its correct position upon the other.
One of the said sheets a, b is placed on the flat or plane surface of each of
the supports e so that the projecting strips f thereof enter the narrow grooves c
of the said sheet. These projecting strips serve to keep the grooves c free from
active material and at the same time prevent flattening out of the corrugated
sheet while being filled. The wide grooves or channels d of the sheets or
moulds a, b are then filled with oxide of lead or other suitable active material
until the same is level with the top of the said channels, as shown in Figure 1.
Then, while the active material is still in a plastic condition, the rods or cores g
of lead or other suitable conducting material are laid on the active material in
one half of the retaining envelope so that these rods are parallel with and in the
centre or about the centre of the wide channels d of the said sheet, as shown in
Figure 2; the other half of the retaining envelope is then placed on the top so
that its active material is in contact with the said rods or cores and so that
the grooves or channels are directly opposite each other, as shown by dotted lines
in Figure 1.
The two halves of the plate or electrode thus formed are then pressed together
until the active material therein is in contact, the conducting rods or cores being
at the same time forced into the active material so that they are embedded
therein as shown in Figures 3 and 4. The electrode is then removed from the
temporary supports e.
The two halves of each perforated retaining envelope are sometimes secured
together at their edges for example by folded pieces of celluloid, ebonite or the
like slid over the said edges, as indicated in Figure 7.
The electrodes are preferably so constructed that their grooves or corrugations
extend vertically as shown. The conducting rods or cores 9 are formed on or
attached to a conducting bar h extending along the top of the electrode; and a
bottom plate or bar j of ebonite, lead or other suitable material, is secured to
the lower ends of the said rods or cores g so as to prevent falling of the active
material from between the aforesaid corrugated sheets or moulds.
In the accumulator shown in Figures 5 and 6, the electrodes are kept in posi-
tion at a suitable distance apart by perforated strips of ebonite or other suitable
non-conducting material which fit into the narrow external grooves c of the
corrugated sheets a, b and serve as struts to effectually prevent bulging of the
retaining envelopes even when the latter are made of very thin and light per-
forated sheets of celluloid. The several electrodes are held together, with the
separating strips k between them, by means of elastic bands placed around the
series of electrodes. We find it advantageous to provide at each end of the
series of electrodes, retaining bars or plates m, and to pass through these bars
or plates suitable rods » some of which extend beneath and others above the
said electrodes; the said bars or plates in at one or both ends of the series are
left free to slide upon the said rods n so as to permit expansion and contraction
of the active material. The said separating strips, in conjunction with the said
elastic bands and the end plates m and rods n, serve to retain the two halves a,
of the several electrodes in their proper relative position, and also to keep the
active material in close contact with the conducting rods or cores whilst per-
b

page_text: mitting and compensating for the expansion and contraction of the said active
material without distortion of the electrodes.
We prefer to make the electrode at either end of the series, of a single per-
forated sheet or mould a or b, filled with active material in which conducting
rods 9 are embedded, as shown in Figures 5 and 6, the outer surface of each
sheet being preferably covered by periorated plates of celluloid, ebonite or other
suitable material.
It is evident that the thickness of the plate or electrode bounded by the two
channelled or corrugated perforated sheets can be varied at will by increasing
or diminishing the depth of the channels or corrugations.
Moreover, instead of combining two separate corrugated sheets, we can, if
desired, take a single corrugated sheet and, after hiling the wider channels
thereof with the active material, place the conducting rods upon the active
material in one half of the said sheet, and then fold the said sheet upon itself
so that the wider grooves in one half thereof will be directly above and parallel
with those of the other half thereof.
We sometimes make an accumulator with plates or electrodes each consisting
of one channelled or corrugated perforated retaining sheet having its wider
grooves filled with active material, and of a flat perforated retaining sheet placed
against the said corrugated sheet, the conducting rods being embedded in the
active material in the said grooves.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:-
1. An accumulator plate or electrode wherein the active material, with con-
ducting rods embedded therein, is enclosed in wide internal channels in a cor-
rugated perforated retaining envelope which is also made with narrow external
channels to receive separating strips, substantially as, and for the purposes,
hereinbefore described.
2. An accumulator plate or electrode comprising a perforated retaining
envelope which consists of two corrugated perforated sheets of celluloid or other
suitable material, each having wide internal channels and narrow external
channels, placed face to face, with active material enclosed in the said wide
channels and conducting rods embedded in the said active material, substantially
as, and for the purposes, herein before described.
3. The manufacture of an accumulator plate or electrode by first making two
corrugated perforated sheets with narrow channels on one side and wide channels
on the other side thereof, placing the said sheets on temporary supports provided
with projecting strips so that the said strips enter their narrow channels, filling
the wide channels of the said sheets with active material, laying conducting
rods on the active material in one of the said corrugated sheets, placing the other
sheet on the top so that the channels thereof are directly above and parallel with
those of the lower sheet, and then pressing the two corrugated sheets together so
as to embed the said rods in the active material between them, substantially as
described.
4. The modification of our accumulator plate or electrode wherein the con
ducting rods are embedded in active material contained in the wide channels of
a single corrugated perforated retaining sheet and the active material is held
in place by a flat perforated sheet, substantially as described.
5. An electric accumulator or storage battery comprising plates or eleétřodés
consisting of corrugated perforated retaining envelopes having wide internal
channels filled with active material in which conducting rods are embedded and
narrow external channels in which are fitted insulating separating strips, sub-
stantially as hereinbefore described.
6. An electric accumulator wherein the plates or electrodes are made with per-
forated retaining envelopes having wide internal channels filled with active

page_text: material in which are embedded conducting rods, and narrow external channels,
and are held together, with separating strips between them in the said narrow
channels, by elastic bands passed around the series of electrodes and around end-
plates having guide-rods passing through them, substantially as, and for the
purposes, hereinbefore described.
7. The improved electric accumulator or storage battery constructed substan-
tially as described with reference to Figures and 6 of the accompanying
drawing.
Deted the 24th day of March 1800
D. YOUNG & Co.,
11 & 12, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.