IMPROVEMENTS IN GENERATING DYNAMIC ELECTRICITY
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Edward Dering, of Lockleys, near Welwyn, in
the County of Herts, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GENERATING
DYNAMIC ELECTRICITY."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Edward Dering
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th September
1881.
GEORGE EDWARD DERING, of Lockleys, near Welwyn, in the County of
Herts. "IMPROVEMENTS IN GENERATING DYNAMIC ELECTRICITY."
"
The construction and principles of the gas battery invented by Sir William
Grove about the year 1841, and the various experiments connected therewith
carried out by its discoverer and described by him in the "Philosophical Magazine'
and the "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society" are too well known to
need particular reference. Little appears to have been done in and little or
nothing published upon the subject from that period until the reading of an
interesting paper by Dr. C. W. Siemens at the meeting of the British Association
held at York in the present month of September 1881, detailing some persevering
if not exhaustive attempts made by the author in the year 1852 to improve and
increase the power of the gas battery, but which were not attended with sufficient
success to encourage any further efforts during the long interval from that time to
the present. Dr. Siemens's remarks to the British Association pointed, in fact,
rather to the possible future prospect in his opinion of gas batteries being used as
"accumulators" of electricity derived from dynamo-electric machines than to any
likelihood of them being rendered available as primary generators, and the operation
of the instrument still remains a mere scientific fact without any practical or useful
application.
"
The development of the electrical current in a gas battery "depends, as is well
understood, upon the combined active relation of five essential elementary parts,
namely, two different gases answering to the "positive." and "negative" metals in

page_text: an ordinary galvanic couple, two conductors in contact with the two gases
respectively, and a conducting liquid in contact at the same time with the two
gases and with both conductors. The present improvements relate to all of these
different parts, with the exception of the liquid conductor, for which I prefer to
employ the acidulated water which has hitherto been used, although substitutes
may be adopted for it. These improvements in the several parts of the battery
need not however necessarily (and obviously cannot in all cases) be used in
combination with each other, but one or more of them may be adopted in
combination with what is old and forms no part of my Invention.
"
Firstly, with regard to the gases. As the main object in view is the generation
of electricity cheaply, and to be enabled to avoid the serious loss, amounting to
80 or 90 per cent. of the energy.resident in the fuel consumed inseparable from the
use of magneto-electric or dynamo-electric machines when worked by steam or gas
engines for producing light and motive power, electro-plating, and other purposes
(whilst dispensing at the same time with the constant presence of an engineer
which moving machinery entails), I propose instead of the oxygen gas which has
been used as the "negative" element of gas batteries hitherto to employ generally
atmospheric air, by the use of which I find that powerful effects may be obtained.
I am aware that Sir William Grove performed an experiment upon a diminutive
scale with atmospheric air, and I do not therefore consider that there is any
novelty in its use, except when employed in batteries having for their "positive'
element other inexpensive gases which I adopt for the purpose, and the use of
which as a direct source of dynamic electricity, constituting, in fact, the "fuel" of
the battery, is as. I believe entirely new, namely (a), gases produced by the
-destructive distillation of hydro-carbonaceous materials. From common carburetted
hydrogen or coal-gas I have got very powerful results; (b), what are known as
"generator gases" and commonly used in regenerative and other gas furnaces, the
manufacture of the same in gas-producers of various kinds being well understood
and constantly practiced; and (c), the admixture of hydrogen and carbonic oxide
produced by passing steam into contact with incandescent coal, coke, or other
carbonaceous matter, this being what I greatly prefer to employ. Although, for
economy's sake, it is preferable to use common atmospheric air as the opposite
eleinent in these gas batteries, atmospheric air having an additional admixture of
oxygen, or even (if not too expensive) oxygen gas alone may be employed. I also
propose-to-use carbonic oxide gas from other sources than when it forms one of the
constituents of generator-gas as the opposite-element to atmospheric_air, or
atmospheric air having an artificial admixture of oxygen gas. Hydrogen gas
simply may be used as the "positive" element, and I propose to prepare it at a
cheap rate by passing steam into contact with highly heat scrap-iron, as is well
understood.
•
Besides the improvements as to the nature of the gases used an important part
of the Invention also consists in the mode of their application, the object being to
convert the gas battery from a mere laboratory experiment to a practical apparatus
capable of continuous use and efficiency, and maintaining for a lengthened period
a normal and uniform condition of working, by dispensing with the troublesome
manipulation, labour, and expense of repeated re-charging with the gases. For the
accomplishment of this object I employ conducting pipes or tubing to convey the
gases to the battery from the holders or reservoirs where they are stored, or it may
be directly from the retorts or furnaces or other apparatus where they are produced,
or from the purifiers used, branch tubes being preferably employed leading into
each separate cell or chamber of the battery, having with advantage a regulating
tap, which may be adjusted once for all to each, besides the stop-valve upon the
main pipe, and a "governor" being when necessary introduced upon the main pipe
to preserve the pressure uniform.. The gases need not necessarily be kept turned
on continuously during the working of the battery, but may be allowed to flow at
suitable intervals, and automatic arrangements may advantageously be employed
for letting them on in proportionate quantity to the requirements: When gases

page_text: other than pure hydrogen and oxygen are employed, exit orifices, furnished preferably
with regulating taps, should be provided, so as to allow the vitiated gaseous results
of the working of the battery to escape, such outlet passages serving in effect the
purpose, as will be readily understood, of the chimney of a furnace. I propose in
some cases to work at considerably increased pressures, and thus greatly economize
the dimensions of and space occupied by the apparatus, as I find what, so far as
any record goes, does not appear to have before been discovered (nothing above the
ordinary pressure of the atmosphere having been tried) that the electro-motive
force of a gas battery increases in a high ratio with the pressure of the gases. The
gas may in all cases be supplied to the battery in a hot condition if found
advantageous.
Secondly, with regard to the conductors. For that in contact with the
"negative" gas, instead of using as hitherto platinized platinum or platinized
gas-retort-carbon I find that great additional power is obtained (owing probably to
its porous and interstitial nature), as well as great economy being effected by the
use of ordinary coke, which it is not necessary to platinize, and when atmospheric
air is employed as the "negative" gas instead of any containing cell or chamber
being employed I find that it is only necessary for the upper portion of the lumps
of coke to be exposed freely to the atmosphere. Means must of course be adopted
to ensure good electrical contact, and this may be accomplished by jamming or
wedging the coke tightly between plates of gas-retort-carbon, with which a
conductor for conveying away the electricity is connected. The conductor in
contact with the "positive" gas, the same being also applicable if thought desirable
for the other, instead of platinized platinum or platinized gas-retort carbon, I effect
a great saving of expense by using the metals, lead or tin, or alloys of lead or tin
(to any of which other metals might perhaps with advantage be added), or sheet
metal, such as copper or iron, thoroughly coated with any of these; or according
to another plan I mould such conductor of suitable shape and proportions of
good-conducting carbonaceous matter after the manner that it is now commonly
practised to manufacture "carbons" for the arc electric light. The surface of all
these materials when used as the conductor in contact with the "positive" gas
should be platinized or treated by some equivalent process for increasing the energy
of action, but I do not find this so essential when they are used in contact with
the "negative" gas.
When sheet-metal of any sort is employed (whether platinized or equivalently
treated or not), for either the "positive" gas or "negative" gas conductor (or for
both), I find that very powerfully increased effects with great economy of material
are obtained to an extent making all the difference of the development of
electricity in sufficient abundance for any of the various purposes to which it is
being applied at the present day, as compared with the mere philosophical
experiment inapplicable for any practical purpose which the gas battery has
hitherto been, by coiling or re-duplicating such metallic conductors, instead of
employing them as hitherto in the form of narrow flat strips descending vertically
into the liquid. When employed flat little efficient extent of surface-contact at the
"water-line," where the electricity is developed, can be obtained, however large and
cumbersome the dimensions given to the apparatus, but by the device of bending
the conductor into an open coil, which may be circular (resembling in such case
the form of an ordinary watch or clock spring), or of oval or rectangular or
equivalent shape, having its several turns or re-duplications all in one plane, the
same when in use occupying a horizontal position, that is to say, the flat way of the
figure being in the plane of the surface of the conducting liquid, the end is attained
is attained of producing powerful effects from a battery of very small dimensions,
especially as the cells may be arranged upon a shallow series of trays, vertical
depth adding nothing to the development of electricity, which takes place solely
at about the surface line of the conducting liquid. In order to render it practicable
if desirable to employ an extended surface of sheet metal advantageously without
coiling or reduplication I propose to construct the gas-chambers, the same being

page_text: made preferably of porous material, of oval or flat form correspondingly with the
lateral superficial extension of surface of the conductor instead of employing tubes
of circular horizontal section as heretofore, thus enabling the "positive" gas and
"negative" gas conductors to be brought into near proximity instead of being
necessarily situated at a great distance apart when presenting any considerable
horizontal extension of surface.
$
"
Another method by which I obtain a large extent of active generating surface is
to employ for the "positive" gas or "negative" gas conductors, or either of them,
a dis-integrate mass of material, such as broken up gas-retort-carbon, or granulated
lead (which may be platinized or equivalently treated or not), jammed tightly
together so as to ensure good electrical contact, the whole being pervaded with the
conducting liquid, and to cause the gases to bubble or percolate upwards amongst
the interstices, the gas being delivered through pipes, and regulated preferably by
taps, as herein before described. Where this system is adopted for both the
'positive" gas and "negative" gas conductors, a porous or other pervious non-
conducting partition may with advantage be used for the purpose of keeping the
conducting material in position, and allowing close approximation whilst preventing
any contact between the masses constituting the two conductors. For obtaining a
like result of an extension of electric-developing surface, I also find the plan to
answer of causing the conducting liquid to trickle, which may be effected by
employing a reservoir at a higher elevation over the surface of the conductor, the
same being enclosed in an atmosphere of the gas. A further method is to make use
of the principle of capillary attraction, some suitable material (preferably a porous
and soft one) being introduced, so placed that it is in immediate contact at the
same time with both the conducting fluid of the battery and some considerable
area of the surface of the conductor exposed to the gas above the surface of the
liquid. And another mode which answers well is to force the gas by pressure into
a narrow confined space, admitting only an extremely thin stratum of it between
the conductor and some porous substance, the conducting liquid of the battery being
in contact externally with such porous covering, and of course permeating it.
In the course of my lengthened experiments upon the subject, I have made the
discovery that an enormous augmentation of the effect of a gas battery may be
obtained by bringing the conductors into contact with the gas and liquid
alternately, a very powerful development of electricity taking place, not only at
the water-line-in-accordance-with-all-that has hitherto been known of the
working of gas batteries, but commensurately with the total area of surface of the
conductor during a short period of time following the moment of its immersion in
the conducting liquid after having been exposed, for it may be only but a very
brief space of time to the gas, this being the case more especially in regard to the
"positive" gas. As a ready and simple means of obtaining practical results froin
this novel fact, I propose to construct the conductors in the form of flat circular
discs and rotate them, the upper part being surrounded by an atmosphere of the
gas, and the lower part immersed in the conducting liquid by a train of clock work
or otherwise (only a very trifling amount of actual power being requisite for the
purpose), upon a conducting but non-oxidizable axis, such axis passing through
stuffing-boxes in the sides of the gas chamber, and so enabling motion to be
imparted to it, and also spring-contact maintained, according to the well-understood
means ordinarily employed in electro-magnetic apparatus, and in magneto-electric
and dynamo-electric machines for conducting away the electricity. Various other
methods may obviously be adopted for turning the same principle of the vastly
enhanced effect obtained by alternating contact of the conductor with the liquid
and the gas to practical account.
The last part of the Invention consists in substituting the "negative" metal and
liquid of a Daniell's or other corresponding description of battery, in which dis-
engagement of the hydrogen gas is similarly avoided, absorption of the gas with
reduction and deposition of metal from a solution of its salt being caused to take
place instead for the "negative" gas and conductor of a gas battery, a poroug

page_text: division being employed between the liquid of the gas battery and the metallic
solution, by which arrangement I find that an energetic current is developed.
"
It will be readily understood by an electrician that some of the improved
arrangements of gas battery forming the subject of the foregoing description are
well-adapted to be employed, as what are termed "storers or "accumulators" of
clectricity obtained from other sources. But the chief purpose, as before stated,
is the generation of powerful currents of electricity, the currents so evolved being
applicable for the production of motive power, with a loss of only from 10 to 15
per cent. of the theoretical energy of the oxidizable gas consumed in the battery
from which they are derived, in place of the waste of 80 or 90 per cent. of such
energy, which it is mathematically demonstrable that there is no possibility of ever
preventing when motive power is derived from the consumption of combustibles
through the medium of the steam engine, or for electric lighting, electro-plating,
and other purposes, with a like saving of nearly the whole of the 8 or 9-10ths of the
energy contained in the fuel consumed, which is lost when the electric currents
employed for such purposes are generated by magneto-electric or dynamo-electric
machines driven by steam or gas power.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said George Edward Dering in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th March 1882.
GEORGE EDWARD DERING, of Lockleys, near Welwyn, in the County of
Herts. IMPROVEMENTS IN GENERATING DYNAMIC ELECTRICITY."
"
The construction and principles of the gas battery invented by Sir William
Grove about the year 1841, and the various experiments connected therewith
carried out by its discoverer and described by him in the "Philosophical Magazine "
and the "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society," are too well known to
need particular reference. Little appears to have been done in and little or
nothing published upon the subject from that period until the reading of an
interesting paper by Dr. C. W. Siemens at the meeting of the British Association
held at York in the month of September 1881, detailing some persevering if not
exhaustive attempts made by the author in the year 1852 to improve and increase
the power of the gas battery, but which were not attended with sufficient success
to encourage any further efforts during the long interval from that time to the
present. Dr. Siemens's remarks to the British Association pointed, in fact, rather
to the possible future prospect in his opinion of gas batteries being used as
"accumulators" of electricity derived from dynamo-electric machines than to any
likelihood of their being rendered available as primary generators; and the
operation of the instrument still remained a mere scientific fact, without any
practical or useful application.
"
"
"
The development of the electrical current in a "gas battery" depends, as is well
understood, upon the combined active relation of five essential elementary parts,
namely, two different gases answering to the "positive" and "negative" metals in
an ordinary galvanic couple, two conductors consisting of metal or carbon in
contact with the "positive" and "negative" gases respectively, and an electrolytic
conducting liquid in contact at the same time with both the "positive" and
negative gases and with the two metal or carbon conductors. The present
improvements relate to not only all of these elementary constituent parts, with the
exception of the liquid conductor (for which I prefer to employ the acidulated
water which has hitherto been used, although other conducting liquids may be
substituted for it), but comprise-also-important_modifications in the general
construction and mode of working of gas batteries. The various improvements
need not necessarily (and obviously cannot in all cases) be used in combination
with each other, but one or more of them may be adopted in combination with
what is old and forms no part of my Invention.
With regard to the nature of the gases, as the main object in view is the
generation of electricity cheaply, and to be enabled to avoid the serious loss,
amounting to 80 or 90 per cent., of the energy resident in the fuel consumed,
inseparable from the use of magneto-electric or dynamo-electric machines for
producing light and motive power, electro-depositing metals, and other purposes,
when worked by steam or gas engines (whilst dispensing at the same time with
the constant presence of an engineer which moving machinery necessarily entails),
I propose, instead of the oxygen gas which has been used as the "negative"
element of gas batteries hitherto, to employ generally atmospheric air, by the use
of which I find that powerful effects may be obtained. I am aware that
Sir William Grove performed an experiment upon a diminutive scale with
atmospheric air as the "negative" element of his gas battery, the object which he
had in view being to obtain certain delicate eudiometric results within the actual
tubes thus charged with atmospheric air, the battery being connected on "short
circuit," and I do not therefore consider that there would be any novelty in
charging the "negative" cell or chamber of a gas battery with atinospheric air
for any such purpose; my object however is wholly different, namely, the
development of powerful electrical currents to be applied to practical uses

page_text: externally to the battery producing them, and this I am enabled to accomplish
ät a commercially admissible rate of cost, which would have been impossible with
gas batteries as they have heretofore been worked; by the combined, use of the
corelative improvements of substituting atmospheric air (costing absolutely nothing)
for the oxygen gas previously used, and employing as the "positive" element of
the same battery certain descriptions of inexpensive oxidizable gases the use of
which as a direct source of dynamic electricity (by oxidation in the battery in place
of the indirect mode of being burned as fuel to produce motive power) is as I
believe entirely new, namely:-(a) gases produced by the destructive distillation
of hydro-carbonaceous materials, common carburetted hydrogen or coal-gas giving
very powerful results; (b) what are known as "generator gases" and commonly used
in regenerative and other gas furnaces, the manufacture of the same in gas-producers
of various kinds being well understood and constantly practised, and the analyses
of their composition well known; and (c) the admixture of hydrogen and carbonic
oxide gases produced by passing steam into contact with incandescent coke, coal,
or other carbonaceous or hydro-carbonaceous matter, various arrangements of
apparatus for which purpose are well known, or by burning carbonaceous matter
in an atmosphere of steain, means for accomplishing which are also well understood
and have formed the subject of recent Patents, this "water gas," as it is sometimes
termed, being what I greatly prefer to employ. The gases may be introduced into
the battery in a hot condition or otherwise. If desirable they may be purified by
any suitable means before use. Although, for economy's sake, it is preferable to
use simply common atmospheric air as the opposite ("negative") element of these
gas batteries, atmospheric air having an additional admixture of oxygen, or even
(if not too expensive) oxygen gas alone may be employed. I also propose to
use carbonic oxide gas derived from other sources than when it forms one of
the constituents of "generator gas" or "water gas" as the opposite (" positive")
element to atmospheric air, or to atmospheric air having an artificial admixture of
oxygen gas..
"
In addition to the improvements as to the nature of the gases used, an important
part of the Invention also consists in the mode of their application, the object in
view being to convert the gas battery from a mere laboratory experiment into a
practical apparatus, capable of continuous use and efficiency, and maintaining for a
lengthened period a normal and uniform condition of working, whilst at the same
time dispensing with the troublesome manipulation that is now necessary of
repeatedly re-charging the containing cells or chambers of such batteries with the
gases. For the accomplishment of this object I employ conducting pipes or tubing
to convey the gases to the battery from the holders or reservoirs where they are
stored, or it may be directly from the retorts or furnaces, or other appliances where
they are produced, or from the purifiers used, branch tubes being preferably
employed, leading into each separate cell or chamber of the battery, having with
advantage a regulating tap, which may be adjusted once for all to each, besides the
stop-valve upon the main pipe, and a governor or self-acting regulator of any
suitable construction being, when necessary, introduced upon the main pipe to
preserve the pressure uniform. The gases need not necessarily be kept constantly
turned on during the working of the battery, but may be allowed to flow at
suitable intervals; and automatic arrangements may be employed for letting them
on in proportionate quantity to the requirements. Whilst rendering the gas battery
continuous in its operation for as long as may be desired, and likewise doing away
with the great inconvenience of having to perform the troublesome and laborious
operation of charging in the ordinary way all the gas cells or chambers at frequent
intervals, the system of employing delivery pipes or tubing with taps by which
the supply may be regulated according to the consumption and requirements of the.
battery is attended with other highly important advantages. One of these
advantages is, that under such mode of working the surface level of the conducting
iquid is maintained continuously at about the same vertical height, instead of
gradually receding upwards within the gas tubes or chambers, the effect of which,

page_text: "
when it occurs, as is inevitably the case with gas batteries as they have hitherto
been constructed and worked, is necessarily to reduce in a rapid ratio the power
developed by the battery in consequence of the resistance occasioned not only by
the increasing actual distance from each other of the points at which the chemical
action takes place (namely, where the "positive," and "negative" gases respectively
come into contact both with the metal or carbon conductors and the conducting
liquid), but also by reason especially of the comparatively small sectional area of
the vertical columns of liquid contained within the gas tubes or chambers which
the current under such circumstances is compelled to traverse. The necessity which
exists under the ordinary mode of working gas batteries for the metal or carbon
conductors to be of considerable vertical length, on account of the constantly
changing surface-level of the liquid as the charge of gases is gradually "consumed
(i.e., chemically absorbed and liquified), is also avoided, and a large proportion of
the expense of construction thus saved, the perpendicular extent of metal or carbon
conductor required under the improved system of working being very small indeed,
Another objection
as the surface-height of the liquid does not sensibly vary.
removed by the use of a regulated supply of gas through pipes or tubing is that
the rise of the conducting liquid within the gas cells or chambers during the action
of gas batteries as heretofore worked is highly prejudicial to the power and economy
of the battery, by causing a gradually increasing superficial extent of the conductor
in contact with the "positive" gas to be brought into immediate contact with the
conducting liquid, and so neutralize by reason of the "negative" polar condition
that it then assumes much of the power of the battery which becomes wasted in
"local action" instead of being usefully developed. The most efficient manner of
using the regulating taps is, when first starting the battery, the circuit being com-
pleted, to turn them on rather fully at the commencement, so as to pass an excess
of gas beyond the amount required for the work that is being performed. Such
excess over and above what is absorbed and liquified will of course become at once
apparent by bubbling up from within the perpendicular edge of the gas cells or
chambers, thus charged to overflowing, through the conducting liquid and escaping;
and the supply is then to be gradually turned off, down to just the point at which
it is shewn by the amount of overflow having diminished to little or nothing, that
a proper balance is established between the supply and demand. Instead of being
kept constantly-turned-on-to-the-requisite_degree for meeting the demands of the
battery relatively to the work done, the taps or valves might, as before mentioned,
be used according to a different plan, by being opened from time to time sufficiently
to replenish rapidly the gas cells or chambers, an equivalent amount being let in
Such
each time to replace what has disappeared by absorption in the interval.
method of working is not however nearly so advantageous as that above described.
When gases other than pure hydrogen and oxygen are employed, supplied to the
battery through pipes or tubing, according to this part of the Invention, exit
orifices of much smaller capacity than the inlet passages, furnished preferably like
them with regulating taps, should be provided, so as to allow of the escape of the
vitiated or residual gaseous results of the working of the battery or such portion
of them as is not absorbed by the liquid from the gas chambers, these outlet
passages serving in effect the purpose, as will be readily understood, of the chimney
from a furnace. As I find, what so far as any record goes does not appear to have
before been discovered (nothing above the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere
having been tried), that the electro-motive force of a gas battery increases in a high
ratio with the degree of compression of the gases, I propose in some cases to work
at considerably increased pressures, and thus greatly economise the dimensions of
and space occupied by the apparatus. The readiest mode of working at increased
pressure is by simply adding to the vertical height of the conducting liquid of the
battery.
With regard to the material of the conductors in contact with the gases:-
For that in contact with the "negative" gas, instead of using as hitherto platinized
platinum or platinized gas-retort-carbon, I find that great additional power is

page_text: obtained (owing probably to its porous and cavernous nature and the occlusion of
oxygen in a condensed condition), as well as great economy effected by the use of
ordinary coke, which it is not necessary to platinize, although that may be done;
and when atmospheric air is employed as the "negative" gas, as I generally prefer
to do, instead of any containing cell or chamber being employed, I find that it is
only necessary either for the upper portion of the lumps of coke to be continuously
exposed freely to the atmosphere, or for the coke, after being submerged (and the
battery in use) for some time, to be again for a period brought into contact with
the atmosphere, whereby its powerful "negative" properties are effectually restored
for a considerable time to come, and which method of renovation may be repeated
indefinitely. Means must of course be adopted to ensure good electrical contact,
and this may be accomplished by jamming or wedging the coke tightly between
plates of gas-retort-carbon, with which a conductor for conveying away the elec-
tricity is connected. What I find however a more efficient and practical plan is to
unite the lumps of coke together by means of the "conducting cement," which
makers of electrical apparatus are accustomed to use, consisting of an admixture of
resinous material with powdered carbonaceous matter. For the conductor in
contact with the "positive" gas, the same being also applicable if thought desirable
for the other, instead of platinized platinum or platinized gas-retort-carbon, I am
enabled to effect a great saving of expense, according to one plan, by the use of
certain metals, namely, lead or tin (preferably the former), or alloys (equal parts of
each being a suitable proportion) of lead and tin, to any of which a small per-
centage of other metals might perhaps with advantage be added; or sheet metal,
such as copper or iron, thoroughly coated with any of these, an external coating (in
a dense, not pulverulent or "spongy" condition) of the metals, platinum, or gold, or
silver being applied to the same by means of the processes, which the professional
electro-metallurgist will need no special instructions for carrying out, of electro-
platinating, or electro-gilding, or electro-silvering; or, according to another plan,
by moulding such conductors, which it is an important advantage to be thus enabled
readily and cheaply to manufacture of any desirable special shape and proportions, of
good-conducting carbonaceous matter, after the processes now in common use for
manufacturing "carbons" for the arc electric light, or according to the well known
methods of manufacturing "carbon bricks" for certain metallurgic purposes, or in
other like ways. The surface of all these materials when used as the conductor in
contact with the "positive" gas should be platinized or treated by some equivalent
process of superficial deposition of a suitable non-oxidizable metal in a pulverulent
or "spongy "condition."
When sheet-metal of any sort is employed (whether platinized or equivalently
treated or not) for either the "positive" gas or "negative" gas conductor (or for
both), I find that very powerfully increased effects, with at the same time great
economy of material, are obtained to an extent making all the difference of the
development of electricity in sufficient abundance for any of the various purposes
to which it is being applied at the present day, as compared with the mere philo-
sophical experiment inapplicable for any practical purpose, which the gas battery
has hitherto been, by coiling or re-duplicating such metallic conductors, instead of
employing them as hitherto in the form of narrow flat strips descending vertically
into the liquid. When employed flat, little efficient extent of surface-contact at the
"water-line," where the chemical reaction occurs by which the electricity is
developed, can be obtained, however large and cumbersome the dimensions given
to the apparatus; but by the device of bending the conductor into an open coil,
which may be circular (resembling, for example, the form of an ordinary watch or
clock inain-spring), or of oval, or rectangular, or other shape, having its several
turns or reduplications all in one plane, the same when in use occupying a hori-
zontal position, that is to say, the flat direction of the figure coinciding with the
surface of the conducting liquid, the end is attained of producing powerful effects
from a battery of very moderate dimensions, especially as the cells may be arranged
upon a shallow series of trays, vertical depth adding nothing to the development of

page_text: the electricity, which takes place solely at about the surface-line of the conducting
liquid. The distance of the several surfaces of metal from each other should exceed
that at which capillary attraction would tend to draw up the conducting liquid
into the space between them, which condition is I find practically fulfilled by
allowing an interval of not less than the one-sixth of an inch. A further increased
lateral extension of surface (and corresponding increase of power) within a limited
space may be obtained by corrugating the sheet-metal before it is coiled or redu-
plicated. Coiled or reduplicated sheet metal or multiple parallel plates have, as is
well known, long been used in different kinds of galvanic batteries (other than
gas batteries), and especially in secondary batteries, or what are now termed " accu-
mulators," for the purpose of obtaining in a compact form great extent of surface;
such methods of construction are however essentially different to the foregoing
proposition, inasmuch as the "positive" and "negative" plates of the battery have
in these cases been subjected to entirely the same conditions of fluid contact, and
have been situated face to face throughout the whole extent of active surface, the
two being either coiled up together (without actual contact) or sometimes sub-
divided and packed together in alternate order (without actual contact); whereas,
according to the present improvement in gas batteries, the one conductor is in
contact with one gas and the other in contact with the other gas, and each of the
two conductors is formed into a separate independent coil, or re-duplicate, or other
equivalent shape, as described, these coiled or other shapes being situated apart
from each other in the conducting liquid, and the strips or sheets of metal composing
the two respectively not being interfolded or interleaved.
In order to render it practicable to employ advantageously an extended surface
of sheet metal without coiling or reduplication, or a wide superficial area of carbon
for the conductors of gas batteries, I propose to construct the gas cells or chambers,
the same being preferably but not necessarily made of porous material, of oval
or oblong horizontal section correspondingly with the lateral extension of surface
of the conductor instead of employing tubes of circular form as heretofore, thus
enabling the "positive" gas and "negative" gas conductors, whether consisting of
sheet metal or carbon plates, to be brought into near parallel proximity instead of
being situated at a great distance apart from each other when of any considerable
horizontal width, as is necessarily the case when the containing tubes or cells or
chambers are circular. In place of using separate vessels a single vessel divided by a
vertical (preferably porous) partition may obviously serve to constitute the two oblong
containing cells or chambers for holding the respective gases and adjacent conductors.
Another method by which I obtain a large extent of active generating surface
is to employ for the "positive" gas and "negative" gas conductors, or either of
them, a dis-integrate mass of material, such as broken up gas-retort, carbon, or
granulated lead, jammed tightly together so as to ensure good electrical contact, or
a series of layers of perforated sheet-metal or of wire gauze (all which varieties
of conductor should be platinized or equivalently treated when employed in
relationship with a positive gas), the whole being pervaded throughout by the
conducting liquid, and to cause the gases to bubble or percolate upwards amongst
the interstices, the same being delivered through pipes and its supply preferably
regulated by taps, as hereinbefore described proportionately to the requirements of the
battery. Where this system is adopted for both the "positive" and gas "negative'
gas conductors, a porous or otherwise pervious non-conducting partition may with
advantage be used for the purpose of keeping the conducting material in position,
and allowing close approximation whilst preventing any contact between the
masses constituting the two conductors. For obtaining a like result of an
extensive area of electric-developing surface I also find the converse plan to the
last to answer of causing the conducting liquid to trickle, which may be effected
by the use of a containing reservoir with restricted outlet at a higher clevation
over the surface of the conductor, the same being exposed to an atmosphere of the
gas contained in a suitable gas-chamber, except when the open atmosphere serves
to furnish the "negative" (oxygen) gas as hereinbefore described. A further
"

page_text: "
method is to make use of the principle of capillary attraction, some suitable
separate and independent material (preferably a porous and soft non-conducting
one, such as felt) being introduced, so placed that it is in immediate contact at the
same time with both the conducting liquid of the battery and some considerable
area of the surface of the metal or carbon conductor exposed to the gas above the
surface of the liquid. And another mode which answers well is to force a stream
of the gas by pressure into a narrow confined space admitting only an extremely
thin film or stratum of it between the conductor and some porous preferably non-
conducting substance held in close contact with each other by suitable means, the
conducting liquid of the battery being in contact with or having access to such
porous material and permeating it.
In the course of my lengthened experiments upon the subject, I have made the
discovery that an enormous augmentation of the effect of a gas battery may be
obtained by bringing the metal or carbon conductors into contact with the gas
and liquid alternately, a very powerful development of electricity taking place,
not only at the "water-line" in accordance with all that has hitherto been known
of the working of "gas batteries, but commensurately with the total superficial area
of the conductor during a short period of time immediately following its immersion
in the conducting liquid after having been exposed, for it may be only but a very
brief space of time to the gas, such being the case more especially with the
positive" gas. As a ready and simple means of obtaining practical results from
this novel fact, I propose to construct the conductor in the form of a flat (circular)
disc, and rotate it, the upper part being surrounded by an atmosphere of the gas,
contained in a chamber within which the disc can freely revolve, and the lower
part immersed in the conducting liquid by a train of clockwork, or it may be
by electro-magnetic motive apparatus, actuated by a small fraction of the electricity
generated by the battery or otherwise (only a very trifling amount of actual
power being requisite for the purpose), upon a conducting (non-oxidizable) axis,
such axis passing through stuffing-boxes in the sides of the gas chamber, and so
enabling motion to be imparted to it, and also spring-contact maintained (according
to the well-understood means ordinarily employed in electro-magnetic apparatus,
and in magneto-electric, and dynamo-electric machines) for conducting away the
electricity. The same axis may if desirable be made to carry rotating discs,
serving as both the "positive" and "negative" gas conductors, the discs being of
course insulated from each other, and appropriate means employed for maintaining
separate electrical connection with them respectively. Various other methods,
including reciprocating as well as rotatory devices, may obviously be adopted for
turning the same principle of the vastly enhanced effect obtained by alternating
contact of the conductor with the gas and the liquid to practical account, one
available way being to employ suitable means of causing the liquid to rise and fall
alternately instead of the conductors. The degree of frequency with which the
successive alternations of contact should take place is a point upon which no
definite rule or directions can be laid down, depending as it does upon the extent
of active surface of the conductors and various other circumstances, and it will be
best determined by actual experiment in each case; but to give some general idea I
may mention that upon a small scale I have obtained powerful effects from
reversals at the rate of about 10 or 12 in a minute.
A further part of the Invention consists in substituting the "negative" metal
and associated liquid used in the description of battery invented by Professor
Daniell, or other corresponding kinds of battery, in which disengagement of the
hydrogen gas is similarly avoided, absorption of the gas with reduction and
deposition of metal from a solution of its salt being caused to take place instead,
for the "negative" gas and its conductor of a gas battery, a porous division or its
equivalent being employed between the liquid of the gas battery and the metallic
solution, by which arrangement I find that an energetic current is developed. The
deposition of metal thus effected may obviously be turned to useful account for
performing electro-plating and like operations.

page_text: "
"
"
As with other batteries, any number of separate units of any of the aferent
varieties of improved gas batteries forming the subject of the foregoing description
may of course be combined together in the usual manner, suitably for the production
of "quantity" or "tension" effects in such ratio as may be desired. It will also
be readily understood by electricians that some of these improved arrangements of gas
battery are well adapted to serve as what are termed "storers or accumulators
of electricity obtained from other sources, oxygen and hydrogen gases being
generated within them by decomposition of the (acidulated) water used as the
liquid conductor. But the chief purpose, as before stated, is the generation of
powerful currents of electricity, the currents so evolved being applicable for the
production of motive power with an actual loss of only from 10 to 15 per cent. of
the theoretical energy of the oxidizable gas consumed in the battery from which
they are derived, in place of the waste of 80 or 90 per cent. of such energy that
occurs when motive power is derived from the consumption of combustibles through
the medium of the steam engine (and the chief part of which loss it is mathe-
matically demonstrable that there is no possibility of preventing); or for electric
lighting, electro-deposition of metals and other purposes, including the charging of
any kinds of "secondary batteries" for the purpose of being used as "storers
"accumulators," with a like saving of nearly the whole of the 8 or 9-10th of the
energy contained in the fuel consumed, which is wasted when the electric currents
employed for such purposes are generated by magneto-electric or dynamo-electric
machines driven by steam or gas power.
"
or
Having thus described the nature of the Invention and the best ways I have
arrived at of putting the same into practical operation, I wish it to be understood
that I do not confine myself to the exact particulars given, and also that where
ininute structural details of the apparatus inay not be specified the omissions are
only such as would be perfectly understood and supplied by any person acquainted
with the construction and use of batteries and other electrical apparatus.
What, I claim is,-
Firstly. The use as the "positive" element of any description of gas batteries,
of any of the same or like gases or mixtures or combinations of gases manufactured
as herein before set forth under the heads (a), (b), and (c), or by like processes of
manufacture, substantially as described.
Secondly. The use of carbonic oxide gas, by whatever means produced, as the
positive" element of any description of gas batteries having atmospheric air, or
atmospheric air with an artificial admixture of an additional proportion of oxygen
gas, as their "negative" element, substantially as described.
Thirdly. The construction of and use of any description of gas batteries in such
a manner that the conducting liquid may be maintained at a uniform level or approxi-
mately so in the gas cells or chambers, substantially as described.
"
Fourthly. The use of exit orifices, whether or not furnished with regulating taps,
for the escape of the vitiated or residual gaseous results of the working of the battery
from the "positive or "negative," or both the "positive" and "negative" gas
cells or chambers, or otherwise, of any description of gas batteries when other than
pure elementary gases are employed therein, substantially as described.
Fifthly. The use of the "positive" or "negative gases or both of them at an
excess of pressure in working any description of gas batteries, substantially as
described.
Sixthly. The use of coke or like porous conducting carbonaceous material,
whether platinized or equivalently treated or not, in contact with atmospheric
air, whether confined in a containing cell or chamber or not, or with atmospheric
air having an artificial admixture of an additional proportion of oxygen gas, as
the "negative" gas conductor of any description of gas batteries, substantially as
described.
Seventhly. The use for the conductor in contact with the " positive" gas,
or for the conductor in contact with the " "negative" gas or for both the
'positive" and "negative" gas conductors of any description of gas batteries
"

page_text: of lead or tin, or alloys of those metals, with or without a suitable propor-
tion of other metals, the same being externally coated over with platinum, or
gold, or silver by the processes of electro-platinating, or electro-gilding, or electro-
silvering, and finally platinized or equivalently treated by deposition of a suitable
metal in a pulverulent or " spongy "condition, substantially as described.
"
"3
Eighthly. The use for the conductor in contact with the "positive" gas or for
the conductor in contact with the "negative gas, or for both the "positive" and
negative" gas conductors, of any description of gas batteries, of moulded masses
of conducting carbonaceous material, manufactured after the processes by which
"carbons" are manufactured for the arc electric light, or after the methods of
manufacturing "carbon bricks" for metallurgic purposes, or by like ways of readily
forming them of special shape and proportions, whether the same be platinized or
equivalently treated or not, substantially as described.
Ninthly. The use, whether platinized or equivalently treated or not, for the
conductor in contact with the "positive" gas or for the conductor in contact with
the "negative" gas, or for both the "positive" and "negative" gas conductors of
any description of gas batteries, of coiled or reduplicated sheet-metal, whether the
same be platinized or equivalently treated or not, substantially as described.
Tenthly. The use of gas cells or chambers, whether separate or united, of oblong
horizontal section, so as to enable considerable lateral extension to be given to the
conductors in contact with the "positive" and "negative" gases respectively, or
either of such conductors in any description of gas batteries, whilst at the same
time allowing of the conductors being situated in near proximity to each other,
substantially as described.
Eleventhly. Obtaining an extensive area of the "positive" or the "negative," or
of both the "positive" and "negative" active generating surface in any description
of gas bateries, by causing the gas to percolate amongst a mass of conducting
material permeated by the conducting liquid; and the converse means of obtaining
the same end by causing the conducting liquid to trickle over an extended surface
of conducting material surrounded by an atmosphere of the gas, substantially as
described.
Twelfthly. Obtaining an extensive area of the "positive" or the "negative," or
of both the "positive" and "negative" active generating surface in any description
of gas batteries, by employing the principle of capillary attraction, substantially
as described.
"
"
Thirteenthly. Obtaining an extensive area of the "positive" or the " negative,"
or of both the " positive and "negative" active generating surface in any
description of gas batteries, by forcing the gas into a narrow confined space
between the conductor and a porous material permeated by the conducting liquid,
substantially as described.
Fourteenthly. Causing one or both of the conductors to be brought alternately
into contact with the gas or gases, and with the conducting liquid, so as to obtain
increased power from any description of gas batteries, substantially as described.
Fifteenthly. The use of the "negative" metal and associated liquid employed in
Professor Daniell's or other corresponding kinds of battery, in place of the
"negative" gas and its conductor, in any description of gas batteries, substantially
as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Edward Dering, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty two