IMPROVEMENTS IN THE WORKING OF GALVANIC BATTERIES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE WORKING
OF GALVANIC BATTERIES."-A communication from abroad by Edwin
Dodd McCracken, Henry Jotham Newton, Henry Burnham Kirkland,
and Joseph Roderick Husson, all of the City and State of New York,
United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 5th October 1870.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
WORKING OF GALVANIC BATTERIES," to be as follows:-
. The object of this Invention is to obviate the difficulty and incon-
venience which result from the failure of continuity of action of galvanic

page_text: batteries and the consequent necessity for frequent renewals of the
chemicals used therein. The Invention is more especially advantageous
in its application to what is known as the "electropoion" or chromate
of potash battery, but may be applied in connection with batteries of
other kinds.
The Invention consists, firstly, in the combination of two or more
batteries and a switch which is so arranged relatively to them as to
allow either of the said batteries to be brought into the circuit of the
telegraph line or other apparatus worked by the battery, the other or
others being at the same time thrown out of the circuit with their poles
open. The switch being operated at regular or suitable intervals to
bring each battery in turn into operation and the other or others out of
operation each is in turn during the suspension of its operation allowed
to recover its strength and activity while the circuit remains always in
working order.
The Invention also consists in the combination with a telegraph line
or other electric circuit of two batteries, a switch or opening and closing
device for bringing each battery in turn into and out of the circuit, and
a clock movement, whereby the operation of said switch or opening and
closing device to bring one and the other battery into circuit is produced
automatically at regular intervals.
The Invention also consists in the combination with the two alternating
batteries, the switch or opening and closing device, and the clock move-
ment above mentioned, of a separate local battery and electro-magnet
the circuit of which is opened and closed by the action of the clock
movement, and the opening and closing of whose circuit is caused to
throw each of the first-mentioned batteries in turn into and out of
the circuit of the telegraph line or other apparatus operated by them.
The Invention further consists in the novel construction of the switch
whereby in throwing the two alternating batteries into and out of circuit
each is always thrown into circuit just before the other is thrown out,
and interruptions to the continuity of the circuit which would otherwise
take place are avoided.
In carrying this Invention into effect it is preferred to give the switch
an automatic action, and to this end the following arrangement is
adopted: Standing up from a base of wood are two pairs of standards
which are severally connected to a circuit battery or group of batteries
and carry at their extremities adjustable platinum points. Between

page_text: these two pairs of platinum points which are set in line with each other
vibrates a switch; this switch consists of two bars mounted on but
insulated from a horizontal rock shaft, and they are brought into metallic
connection with the line wire of the circuit by means of metallic pistons
which are held in contact with the bosses of the bars by means of coiled
springs. These switch bars carry an armature which is insulated there-
from, and which is set opposite the poles of an electro-magnet, the
attractive forces of which acting on the armature is intended to pull
over the switch and bring it into metallic contact with one of the pairs
of platinum points.. A movement in the opposite direction is given to
the switch (when the action of the electro-magnet ceases) by means of
a tension spring, and thus the switch is brought into contact with the
opposite pairs of platinum points. In order to sustain the connection
for a time between the switch and the fixed points which it is leaving
the switch is provided with springs which carry contact platinum points,
and by the elasticity of these springs the switch will be sustained in
contact with both pairs of fixed points, and thus a second battery will be
brought into circuit before the first is thrown out. The electro-magnet is
connected with a local battery, and it is thrown in and out of circuit by
means of a rotating circuit breaker which is driven by an ordinary clock
movement. The action of this circuit breaker is alternately to send
from the local battery a current into the coils of the electro-magnet and
to cut off the current therefrom, and thus to cause the oscillation of the
switch between the fixed platinum points, the result of which will be
to bring the circuit battery or groups of batteries alternately into circuit,
and thus to ensure the continuity of action desired..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 4th April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-

page_text: fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her
special licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my 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 THE WORKING OF GALVANIC BATTERIES,"
being a communication to me from abroad by Edwin Dodd McCracken,
Henry Jotham Newton, Henry Burnham Kirkland, and Joseph Roderick
Husson, all of the City and State of New York, United States of America,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 filed
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 I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
:-
The object of this Invention is to obviate the difficulty and incon-
venience which result from the failure of continuity of action of galvanic
batteries and the consequent necessity for frequent renewals of the
chemicals used therein. The Invention is more especially advantageous
in its application to what is known as the " electropoion or chromate
of potash battery, but may be applied in connection with batteries of other
kinds.
"
The Invention consists firstly in the combination of two or more
batteries and a switch which is so arranged relatively to them as to allow
either of the said batteries to be brought into the circuit of the telegraph
line or other apparatus worked by the battery, the other or others being
at the same time thrown out of the circuit with their poles open. The

page_text: switch being operated at regular or suitable intervals to bring each
battery in turn into operation, and the other or others out of operation
each in its turn during the suspension of its operation allowed to recover
its strength and activity, while the circuit remains always in working
order.
The Invention also consists in the combination with a telegraph line
or other electric circuit of two batteries, a switch or opening and closing
device for bringing each battery in turn into and out of the circuit, and
a clock movement, whereby the operation of said switch or opening and
closing device to bring one and the other battery into circuit is produced
automatically at regular intervals.
The Invention also consists in the combination with the two alternating
batteries, the switch or opening and closing device, and the clock move-
ment above mentioned of a separate local battery and electro-magnet
the circuit of which is opened and closed by the action of the clock
movement, and the opening and closing of whose circuit is caused to
throw each of the first-mentioned batteries in turn into and out of the
circuit of the telegraph line or other apparatus operated by them.
The Invention further consists in the novel construction of the switch
whereby in throwing the two alternating batteries into and out of circuit
each is always thrown into circuit just before the other is thrown out, and
interruptions to the continuity of the circuit which would otherwise take
place are avoided.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a plan, and Fig. 2 a side view of
a very simple illustration of the leading feature of the Invention showing
the combination of two alternating batteries and a switch worked by
hand. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both
of these Figures.
A, A, A, and A', A', A', are two batteries arranged at any convenient
distance from each other and having their poles connected with separate
binding screws a, b, and a', 6', secured in a board B the poles of the
battery A, A, A, being connected with the screws a, b, and those of the
battery A¹, A', A', with the screws a¹, b'. The screws a, b, are connected
by wires c, d, with two metal buttons e, f, which project above the face
of the board B and the screws a', 6', are connected by wires c³, d', with
two similar buttons e¹, f¹, the said buttons being all insulated from each
other, and all so arranged in a row that the two e', f₁, alternate with the
two e, f. C, D, are two metal arms which are capable of swinging,

page_text: horizontally on two binding screws E, E, secured in the board B. With
these binding screws the ends g, h, of the main local or other wire
through which the batteries operate are connected. The arms C, D,
constitute the switch, and they are connected together by a bar F of
non-conducting material to which is attached a knob G which serves as
the handle of the switch. The arms C, D, of the switch and the
bottons e, f, and e¹, f¹, are respectively at such distances apart that the
said arms may bear one upon the button e and the other upon the
botton f, as shewn in bold outline in Fig. 1, or one upon the botton e¹
and the other upon the button f¹, as shewn in dotted outline in Fig. 1,
in the latter case connecting the battery A¹, A¹, A¹, with the wire g, h
and in the former case connecting the battery A, A, A, with the said
wire, either battery being out of connection with its poles open while the
other is connected. On opposite sides of the switch are two stops i, i, to
limit its movement to what is necessary to throw one or the other battery
into the circuit of the wire g, h.
Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the Drawing illustrate the throwing of one
or the other of two batteries alternately into and out of circuit auto-
matically by means of a switch worked by a separate local battery and
electro-magnet under the control of a clock movement.
Fig. 3 is a plan of the switch and its operating mechanism; Fig. 4
is a side elevation of the same, and of the two alternating batteries
and of the local battery employed to work the switch; Fig. 5 is a
transverse section taken in the plane indicated by the line x, x, in
Figures 3 and 4; Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the switch partly in section
Similar letters of reference
on a larger scale than Figures 3, 4, and 5.
indicate corresponding parts in these Figures.
B¹, B³, represent the two alternating batteries; A represents a base
of wood or other insulating material upon which the switch and its
operating mechanism are placed, arranged in any suitable position more
or less distant from the batteries B¹, B*; C is the local battery by means
of which the switch is worked arranged in any convenient location near
the batteries B, B¹, or the board A; D is the armature of the said
magnet carried by two brass levers F, F, which constitute the principal
parts of the switch. These levers are secured firmly to a horizontal
shaft a, which works between two centre screws b, b, the supports G, G,
of which are secured to the board A. These levers are insulated from
each other by bushes c (Fig. 6) interposed between them and the
'

page_text: shaft a.
The armature is also insulated from these levers; H is a
spiral spring connecting the armature with a tension adjuster & supported
in a post I secured in the board A, for the purpose of drawing back the
armature from the poles of the electro-magnet when the local circuit
is open. Under each of the two armature levers tliere is secured to
the board A one of two brass posts K, K, into each of which is fitted
a brass piston e shewn in Fig. 6, which is pressed upward by a spiral
spring within its respective post into contact with the bottom of its
respective armature lever. The two posts K, K, are insulated from
cach other by the board A. and connected by brass plates 9, 9, each with
one of the two terminal screws L, L, with which the ends of the line
wire p are connected. J¹, J¹, are a pair of crane shaped posts secured
to the board A. in front of the armature levers or switch F, F, and J, J²,
are a similar pair of posts secured to the said board in rear of the said
levers or switch, the said post being all insulated from each other by
the board. In the upper parts of the posts J¹, J¹, are two set screws
h', h', and in the upper parts of the posts J, J³, are two set screws h²,
1º.
The armature levers or switch play between the set screws h³, h³, and
h¹, h', as the local circuit is closed and opened, and the armature thereby
drawn toward the poles of the electro-magnet and drawn back by tho
spring H. The opposite poles of the battery B¹ are connected one with
each of the posts J', J', by wires 2, 7, which are held by two binding
screws M', M', secured to the feet of the said posts.
the battery B are in like manner connected one
posts J, J, by wires i², 22, held by binding screws M³, M². Either
battery is brought into the circuit of the line wire p according to whether
the switch F is in contact with the set screws h¹, h¹, or with those h³, h³,
the switch forming a necessary part of the circuit as will be herein-after
described. N (Fig. 4) is an ordinary clock movement arranged within a
box P on the board A, for the purpose of carrying and giving rotary
motion to the circuit breaker Q, which consists of a disc of brass having
pieces of ivory or other non-conducting material j, j, inserted into its
periphery at regular intervals; R is a brass spring secured to the inside
of the box P by a set screw k, and pressing on the periphery of the
circuit breaker Q. The set screw k is connected by a wire / with one
end of the coils of the electro-magnet E, the other end of the coils of
which is connected by a binding screw S on the board A. One pole
of the local battery is connected by a wire n* with the binding screw S*,
and the other by a wire n with a similar binding screw S arranged on
The opposite poles of
with each of the two

page_text: the board A. This binding screw S* is connected by a wire m with
the brass frame of the clock movement. Between this frame and the
brass disc of the circuit breaker Q a metallic connection is made by
the spindle of the latter. When the brass periphery of the circuit
breaker is in contact with the spring R, the circuit of the local battery
and electro-magnet is closed, and when one of the pieces of ivory j, j,
is presented in contact with the said spring the said circuit is open.
When the circuit of the local battery and magnet is open the armature:
D is drawn away from the magnet by the spring H, and the switch
F, F, is in contact with the set screws h¹, h¹, and the circuit is closed
through the battery B¹. The circuit through this battery may be traced
upon the Drawing. Commencing at the positive pole of the battery its
direction is through the connecting wire i¹, the binding screw M³, the
nearest post J, and its set screw ¹, thence through the contiguous lever
F of the switch, its piston e, support K, plate g, and binding screw L,
thence over the line to the other binding screw L, whence it passes
through the other plate g, support K, piston e, and lever F to the other
set screw / through its post J¹ and binding screw M, and thence
through the connecting wire to the negative pole of the battery.
When the circuit of the local battery and magnet is closed the
armature is attracted, and the switch is in contact with the set screws
,, and the circuit is closed through the battery B³, its direction
being from the battery through one wire &, binding screw M³, post J²,
and set screw ², and through one of the two switch levers F, its piston e,
support K, plate g, and binding screw L, and over the line, thence,
through the other binding screw L, plate g, support K, piston e, switch
lever F, set screw ³, post J2, binding screw M³, and wire to the
battery.
From the foregoing explanation it may be understood that either
battery B¹ or B2 is in the circuit of the line, according to whether the
circuit of the local battery is opened or closed, and it will be readily
understood that the action of the rotary circuit breaker ✪ which onens.

page_text: In order to prevent any intermission in the current over the line by
interruption of the circuit during the time of changing the position of
the switch the switch levers have each attached on each side a metal
spring, to which is attached opposite to its respective set screw h¹ or h²
a platinum point 8, the set screws being also platinum pointed. These
springs are so arranged that in the movement of the switch the platinum
points of those on one side of the levers will come in contact with their
respective set screws h¹³, h¹, or h², h², before the points of those springs
on the other side break contact with their respective set screws.
Although it may be preferable generally to use for the purpose of
throwing the two batteries into and out of the circuit a switch operated
by a local battery and electro-magnet, yet it may in some cases be
preferable for the sake of greater simplicity, or for other reasons, to
dispense with the local battery and magnet, and use only a circuit
breaker, the metallic portion of which forms a portion of both battery
circuits, and which is worked by a clock movement, such circuit breaker
working in contact with two springs like R, or its equivalent, which form
portions of the two battery circuits, and to each of which the metallic
and non-conducting portions of the circuit breaker are presented in turn.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements
in the Working of Galvanic Batteries," as communicated to me from
abroad, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim,―
First. The combination in the same electric circuit of two or more
batteries, and a switch arranged to bring each battery in turn into and
out of the circuit, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.
Second. The combination of two batteries, a circuit breaking and
closing device, and a clock movement with a telegraph line or other
electric circuit, whereby the two batteries are alternately and at regular
or definite intervals brought one into and the other out of the said
circuit, substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.
Third. The combination of two batteries, an electro-magnet worked
by a separate local battery, and a switch so worked by the armature of
such magnet, substantially as herein described between portions of the
two circuits of such batteries as to produce the closing of each of the two
circuits in turn, the one being opened while the other is closed.

page_text: Fourth. The springs r, r, in combination with the switch or armature
levers F, F, and the set screws h¹, h¹, h², h³, or other equivalent portions
of the two battery circuits, substantially as and for the purpose herein
described.
Fifth. The combination of the two batteries B¹, B³, the local battery C,.
electro-magnet E, armature D, levers F, F, supports G, G, posts J¹, J¹,
J³, J, rotary circuit breaker Q, spring R, and their several connections,
substantially as and for the purpose herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Fourth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.