Improvements in and connected with Zincs for Galvanic Batteries.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Aug., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 12th Feb., 1891-Accepted, 21st Mar., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Zincs for Galvanic Batteries.
I, JOSEPH MOSELEY, of the Chapelfield Works, Ardwick, Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to the zincs which are employed in galvanic batteries,
and it has for its object to secure greater durability and more uniform wear.
According to these improvements I construct each zine of a series of sheets or
layers of wrought or rolled sheet zinc, or of drawn zinc tubes. In the case of
flat and similar electrodes, I build them up from sheets of rolled zinc cut to the
desired form and pinned or similarly secured together by zinc pins or by other
suitable means.
When cylindrical zines are required, I build them up from tubes
of different diameters inserted one within the other, so that each electrode consists
of a series of concentric zinc tubes. A number of such tubular or cylindrical
zines may be arranged together so as to form a compound zinc electrode.
When it is desired that the zines should be amalgamated, it is preferred to
amalgamate each constituent tube sheet or layer of zinc separately before building
up the clements into an electrode.
Dated this 26th day of August A.D. 1890.
WILLIAM E. HEYS,
Agent for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Zincs for Galvanic Batteries.
I, JOSEPH MOSELEY, of the Chapelfield Works, Ardwick, Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, 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 :-
This invention relates to the zinc elements or electrodes which are employed in
galvanic batteries, and its object is to minimise local action and to secure greater
durability and more uniform wear.
According to these improvements, I construct the zines or elements in such a
manner that each of them consists of a series of layers or sheets of wrought or
rolled sheet zinc, each layer or sheet, when the zinc has to be amalgamated, being
separately amalgamated before being made up into the element.
In the case of flat and similar elements, the various sheets or layers are pinned
or secured together by zinc pins, studs, or similar fasteners, or (since if the zinc
employed for the pins or studs is of a different quality from the zinc of the sheets,
local action would be likely to occur in the elements so joined) by pins or studs
formed of ebonite, celluloid, celluvert, or other similar and suitable non-conducting
and insoluble material. In the case of cylindrical and tubular elements, no such
pins, studs, or other means for connection will be required, as the respective layers
will consist of concentric tubes fitted within each other.
I will more particularly describe my said invention with reference to the
accompanying drawings, in which―
Figure 1 represents a vertical and horizontal section respectively of a cylindrical
zinc;
Figure 2 shows similar sections of a zinc or element having a square cross
section;
Figure 3 is a transverse vertical section of the flat zinc represented in Figure 4 ;
[Price 8d.]

page_text: .
Figure 5 is a vertical section and a plan respectively of a zinc such as is some-
times used, for example, in a gravity battery; and
Figure 6 is a plan of a tubular zinc.
In each of the figures similar parts are indicated by similar letters of reference.
In the forms represented by Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5, that is to say when the
element is to consist of sheets, they are correspondingly perforated, and are
connected by means of fasteners passing through the perforations. The only metal
which is available for use in constructing the fasteners is zinc, but in order to avoid
the local action which might ensue from a difference in the quality of the zine of
the fasteners and of the plates respectively, I prefer in all cases to use fasteners
constructed of some material which will not be acted on by the electrolyte, and
which is a very bad conductor or an insulator. Among such materials are wood
saturated with paraffin, ebonite, celluloid, celluvert, and indiarubber; generally,
however, because of its more ready adaptability, I employ ebonite. As shown in
the figures, the ebonite is represented as being in the form of short tubes A
passed through the perforations, and having a greater length than the thickness of
the element. If a warmed conical tool is inserted in each end of the short ebonite
tubes, they will be splayed or opened outwards, as indicated in the drawings, and
thus firmly secure the plates together. In like manner, ebonite rivets E might be
employed, the rivet being headed on the element by means of a warmed cup tool
forced upon it, when the heat of the tool will soften the ebonite and mould it into
a head. Ebonite or other similar screws may be employed if the perforations are
previously tapped for their reception, or plugs of the same materials, but the short
tubes hereinbefore described will generally be found the best form of fastener to
use. I may alternatively fasten the plates together by means of clips or clamps on
and around the edges of the plates, but this method of fastening them together is
not satisfactory, as it permits them to bulge and to become otherwise deformed, and
by covering parts of the surfaces of the element, renders it less effective. When
other than ebonite fasteners are used, they may be employed in a similar manner,
as will be readily understood.
In the cylindrical and tubular forms, each of the concentric layers is formed
from a tube which is preferably drawn from a strip of sheet zinc, so that there is a
joint along its whole length where the two edges of the sheet meet or nearly
approach each other.
In placing the tubes one within the other, they are
preferably arranged so as to alternately break joint, as indicated at BB in
Figures and 6.
The zinc represented in Figure 1 is that commonly used in Leclanchè batteries.
In this form the conducting wire or lead C may be soldered to a plug which is
inserted or may be soldered in the central tube as shown; it is preferred to
run the solder over the whole of the tops of the tubes, and then to cover
them with pitch or insulating material. The bore of the inner tube may be
wholly, or at the bottom part only, filled with paraffin wax, or it may be left
void.
The zine represented in plan in Figure 6 is of the form which is used in some
two liquid batteries, or to surround a porous pot. In this form the conducting
wire may be soldered to the top edges of the tubes, after which the joint may be
covered with pitch or insulating compound. In like manner the wire for the zincs
used in Leclanchè cells, and constructed as shown in Figure 1, may have the wire
similarly soldered thereto and protected.
In the construction of the tubes for the cylindrical and tubular zincs, each tube
is advantageously drawn or produced to a slightly larger or smaller diameter than
it will possess in the element, and the edges are not quite closed up. By this
arrangement the tubes will be compressed within the outer tube, or be expanded
upon the inner tube, and will by this compression or expansion be firmly held
together without any necessity for fasteners or connecting devices.
In the form represented by Figure 5, the plates are stamped or cut from sheet
zinc, and the parts D are then turned upwards as shown. The plates may be

page_text: connected by an ebonite fastener as described with reference to Figures 2, 3, and 4,
or by the rivet E, the head of which is formed above the plates as hereinbefore
described.
If, as is generally the case, the zincs are to be amalgamated with mercury, each
individual tube, strip, plate, or zinc component is amalgamated before the element
is put together, so as to ensure a practically uniform amalgamation of the whole
substance of the element. For this reason also I prefer to employ comparatively
thin sheet zinc for their construction.
The sheets of zinc used in the construction of the elements may be plain or
corrugated. If corrugated, the corrugations in the plates constituting any single
element must fit into each other, and in the tubular form they must therefore be
parallel with the axis of the element.
The tubular zincs may be used in combination to form a compound plate element,.
by arranging the required number parallel with each other in a plane.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. Flat, rectangular, and similar battery zines, constructed from separate sheets
or layers of wrought or rolled sheet zinc, secured together by means of zinc or of
non-conducting fasteners, substantially as hereinbefore described, and as illustrated
by the accompanying drawings.
2. Tubular and cylindrical battery zincs, constructed from separate tubes of
rolled or wrought zinc, arranged concentrically with each other, substantially as.
hereinbefore described, and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
3. Flat, rectangular, and similar battery zincs, constructed from sheets or layers.
of wrought or rolled zinc, separately amalgamated, and secured together by means
of zinc or of non-conducting fasteners, substantially as hereinbefore described, and
as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
4. Tubular and cylindrical battery zincs, constructed from tubes of wrought
or rolled zinc, separately amalgamated, and arranged concentrically with each
other, substantially as herein before described, and as illustrated by the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this 10th day of February A.D. 1891
WILLIAM E. HEID,
Agent for the Applicant.