IMPROVEMENTS IN SECONDARY VOLTAIC BATTERIES AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MATERIAL AND PLATES THEREFOR
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Watt of Liverpool in the County of Lancaster
for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN SECONDARY VOLTAIC BATTERIES AND
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MATERIAL AND PLATES THEREFOR
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Watt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th September 1882.
ALEXANDER WATT of Liverpool in the County of Lancaster
"
IMPROVEMENTS
IN SECONDARY VOLTAIC BATTERIES AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MATERIAL AND
PLATES THEREFOR"
My invention relates to the manufacture and arrangement of the material and
plates for secondary voltaic batteries so as to increase the storage capacity of such
batteries and to simplify their construction. For preparing the material and plates,
I subject a stream of molten lead to the action of a jet of steam or of air or other
gas which may be superheated, or of a jet of water, so as to disintegrate the lead
and carry it forward in the form of spray. I thus produce a kind of lead dust con-
sisting of rugged granules or fibres which can be collected in its pulverulent form
and compressed into porous plates. Or by placing a board or open framework or
a sheet of felt or other fabric in the line of the spray, the lead can be collected
thereon in the form of a porous sheet of any desired thickness which can be
detached from the board, or can be retained in union with its backing of open
framework or fabric so as to constitute a plate to be used in a secondary battery.
The plates thus produced or those formed by compression of the lead dust can be
strengthened by fusing their edges or "burning" or casting lead on their backs
or edges. Instead of using pure lead, an alloy of lead and zinc may be treated as
above described, and the plates can then be subjected to the action of an acid to
dissolve out the zine from the alloy leaving the lead in a more porous condition.
Or instead of using acid, a solution of a salt of lead may be employed, in which
case the zinc will be removed and replaced by lead in a spongy condition. The
plates prepared by any of the methods above described may be employed in any
known manner in secondary batteries, being arranged in cells of non-conducting
D

page_text: material containing dilute acid and kept from contact with each other by strips of
nonconducting material The lead dust or pulverulent debris produced in forming
the plates may be used instead of oxides or salts of lead for coating plates, or may
be mixed with oxides or salts of lead to reduce their resistance. In the Specifica-
tion to Letters Patent granted to me on the 1st October 1881 N° 4255 I described
several forms of secondary batteries. According to my present invention I employ
for the negative plates of such batteries one of the following forms:
1, A carbon plate surrounded with a mixture of granulated peroxide of
manganese and granulated carbon enclosed between perforated insulating plates.
In order to ensure a good conducting connection with the carbon, I form a groove
or trough in the upper-edge of the carbon plates, into which I introduce mercury
or a fluid amalgam, into which the conductor is introduced and is retained in
position by an insulating cover to the trough, which prevents the escape of the
mercury. The plates thus formed may be immersed in solutions of sulphuric,
phosphoric or boracic acids, or mixtures of these or of a salt of manganese, or of a
permanganate.
2, The negative plates may also be formed by a mixture of granulated oxide of
manganese and of granulated or fibrous lead, prepared as above described and
enclosed in a perforated insulating casing.
The positive plates for either of the above forms of negative plates may.consist
of the slabs prepared as first above described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alexander Watt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th March
1883.
ALEXANDER WATT of Liverpool in the County of Lancaster
"IMPROVEMENTS
IN SECONDARY VOLTAIC BATTERIES AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MATERIAL AND
PLATES THEREFOR
"
My invention relates to the manufacture and arrangement of the material and
plates for secondary voltaic batteries so as to increase the storage capacity of such
batteries and to simplify their construction. For preparing the material and
plates, I subject a stream of molten lead to the action of a jet of steam or of air or
other gas, which may be superheated, or of a jet of water so as to disintegrate
the lead and carry it forward in the form of spray. I thus produce a kind of lead
dust, consisting of rugged granules or fibres, which can be collected in its pulveru-
lent form; or by placing a board or open framework which may be of insulating
material or of lead, or a sheet of felt or other fabric, such as asbestos, cardboard or
paper, in the line of the spray, the lead can be collected thereon in the form of a
porous sheet of any desired thickness, which can be detached from the board, or
can be retained in union with its backing of open framework or fabric, so as to
constitute a plate to be used in a secondary battery. The plates thus produced
can be strengthened by fusing their edges or "burning" or casting lead on their
backs or edges, a strip of lead being left exposed to serve as a conductor.
Instead of using pure lead, an alloy of lead and zinc may be treated as above
described, the zinc being afterwards removed or replaced by spongy lead, by sub-
jecting the material to the action of an acid or of a salt of lead so as to leave the
plate in a more porous condition.
The plates prepared as above described may be employed in any known manner
to form a secondary battery; I prefer to use them simply as substitutes for the
plain sheets of lead used in the original battery of Planté.
"2
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings illustrates the method of preparing the
porous plates according to my invention. A pipe A is made with a joint so that
the jet of issuing fluid, which is preferably high pressure steam, can be directed in
various lines. A stream of molten lead poured from the ladle B is driven by the
steam jet against the board, framework or fabric C. Fig. 2 represents a plate cut
from the sheet of lead deposited by the action of the jet. A strip of sheet lead D
is " burned or cast on to its upper edge so as to form a connection for electrical
conduction. The plates prepared as above described are arranged parallel to one
another in an oblong vessel of stoneware or other suitable non-conducting material
as shewn in Fig. 3, being kept apart by strips of non-conducting material, such as
glass, stone-ware or slate. The alternate plates are connected together by metal.
The vessel is charged with dilute sulphuric acid or other suitable exciting liquid.
For a secondary battery, the negative plates may be formed by a mixture of
granulated peroxide of manganese with granulated or fibrous lead prepared as
above described, such as the lead dust scattered in forming the plates, or the
fragments of broken plates; this mixture being enclosed within a perforated
insulating casing. The positive plates may consist of the fibrous lead slabs.
Having thus described the nature of my invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed, I claim :—
First. Making porous plates for secondary voltaic batteries of the granulated,
fibrous or pulverulent lead produced by the dispersive action of a jet of fluid
on molten lead or allov. substantially as herein described

page_text: Second. The manufacture of porous plates for secondary voltaic batteries by
subjecting molten lead or alloy to the action of a fluid jet, causing the
dispersed metal to be deposited as a coherent sheet on a suitable backing,
substantially as herein described.
In Witness whereof I the said Alexander Watt have hereunto set my hand
and seal this thirteenth day of March in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty three.
ALEXANDER WATT
(L.S.)