IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC BATTERIES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Hubert Desvignes, of Lewisham, in the
County of Kent, and Francis Xavier Kukla, of the same Place,
DA
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Hubert
Desvignes and Francis Xavier Kukla at the Office of the Com-*
missioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 22nd January
1858.
We, PETER HUBERT DESVIGNES, of Lewisham, in the County of
Kent, and FRANCIS XAVIER KUKLA, of the same place, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC
BATTERIES" to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the use of metals in the construction
of galvanic batteries more highly electro-negative than gold or platina,
and consists of applying the metals tallurium, chromium, vanadium,
uranium, molybdenum, tungsten, wolfram, columbium, tantalum,
titanium, palladium, rhodium, iridium, osueium, and antimony in
constructing galvanic batteries. Lead, zinc, tin, or other metal electro-

page_text: positive in respect to such metals may be used with such electro-negative
metals. The form of battery may be varied, as heretofore, when other
metals have been used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Hubert Desvignes and Francis Xavier
Kukla in the Great Scal Patent Office on the 15th July 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
PETER HUBERT DESVIGNES, of Lewisham, in the County of Kent,
and FRANCIS XAVIER KUKLA, of the same place, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight lundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Peter Hubert Desvignes and Francis
Xavier Kukla, Her special licence that we, the said Peter Hubert
Desvignes and Francis Xavier Kukla, our exccutors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Peter Hubert Desvignes and
Francis Xavier Kukla, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC BATTERIES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Peter Hubert
Desvignes and Francis Xavier Kukla, or one of us, by an instrument
in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of
one of us, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be led in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Peter Hubert Desvignes and
Francis Xavier Kukla, do hereby declare the nature of the said

page_text: Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof (that is to say): .
This Invention has for its object the use of metals in the construction
of galvanic batteries more highly electro-negative than gold or platina,
and consists of applying the metals tellurium, chromium, vanadium,
uraniumi, molybdenum, tungsten, wolfram, columbium, tantalum, tita-
nium, palladium, rhodium, iridium, osmium, and antimony in con-
structing galvanic batteries.
Lead, zinc, tin, or other metals electro-positive in respect to such
metals may be used with such electro-negative metals. The form of
battery may be varied, as heretofore, when other metals have been
used.
And in order that our Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect we will proceed to describe the meaus
pursued by us.
Our Invention consists of employing the metals herein mentioned as
the electro-negative metal in constructing a galvanic battery; and we
will first take antimony, which is to be purified and cast into any con-
venient shape or form; it is then wrought to a smooth and fine surface.
Attached thereto are the necessary screw fastenings or connecting wire,
formed of lead, zinc, or any other metal. The antimony is then
immersed to nearly its entire depth into a porous cell of a suitable
form, containing concentrated or diluted acid, and surrounded by
another cell containing the electro-positive metals, as zinc or lead, with
the requisite connecting wire and screw-fastenings attached thereto, and
a solution of acid or common salt and water, according as zinc or lead
is used; for example, if we employ zinc we use a solution of water and
a quarter of its weight of common salt for the electro-positive side, and
concentrated nitric acid for the antimony or electro-negative side.
When we use lead we employ nitric acid, diluted with ten times its
weight of water for, that side, and concentrated nitric acid for the
antimony side. When we employ hydro-chloric or muriatic acid we
use it concentrated for the antimony side, and diluted for the zinc side.
In all these cases we eniply a porous cell. When we do not employ a
porous cell we take equal weight of concentrated sulphuric acid and

page_text: water and use zinc, as in ordinary batteries. In employing the porous
cell we use a bell-shaped cover of gutta percha or other suitable material
to enclose the upper part, so as to prevent the escape of nitrous acid
gas as much as possible by a slight immersion in the fluid of the outer
cell; and we occasionally employ the peroxide of manganese, of which
we put a small quantity in the said porous cell containing the electro-
negative metal; and in order to prevent the porous cell from becoming
displaced we surround the upper part of it with a perforated thin plate
of gutta percha or other suitable material, so as to cause it to keep in a
central position.
Alloys of antimony may also be used, such as boret, arseniet, and
phosphuret of antimony, tellurium, chromium, vanadium, molybdenum,
wolfram, tantatum, and titanium, using therewith lead, zinc, tin, or other
metal's electro-positive in respect to such metals. With respect to the
application of the above-named metals and their alloys, as the system
followed and used by us is the same as for antimony, we have deemed
it unnecessary to repeat it here. But we would observe, also, that until
they can be procured in the market at the same rate and with as little
trouble as antimony, for all practical purpose and utility we prefer to
use antimony, as above described.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, we would have it understood that we
do not confine ourselves to the details herein described. But what we
claim is, the employment of antimony and the other metals herein
mentioned as electro-positives of galvanic batteries, employing therewith
suitable electro-negative metals.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Xavier Kukla, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this First day of July, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
:
FRANCIS XAV. KUKLA. (L.S.)
.