Improvements in Electrolytes for Primary Batteries.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 20th July, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 20th Apr., 1894-Accepted, 14th July, 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Electrolytes for Primary Batteries.
I WILLIAM HEATON LONGSDORF of The Grosvenor Club, 135 New Bond
Street in the County of London, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows :—
The use of acids and acid fluids for charging primary batteries is, as is well
known open to serious objection, among other things the expense of transit and
storage, and the danger of damage by leakage are prominent features.
Now my invention provides materials in the form of crystaline powder, readily
soluable in water, and which when dissolved in water are applicable for charging
primary batteries employing carbon and zinc elements-and whether these are single
fluid batteries or batteries using porous cells.
The said compounds being dry are much more convenient for transit and storage,
and more economical in these respects than fluids, and possess other important
advantages.
According to my invention I make two compounds one for use in connection with
the carbon element in batteries with porous cells and for single fluid batteries
hereinafter referred to as No. 1 the other for use in connection with the zinc
element in porous cell batteries hereinafter referred to as No. 2.
In the following formulæ I have stated proportions which I have found may be
usefully employed, but these are to be taken as examples of the composition of a
useful compound and not as limiting my invention to the proportions and qualities
stated as these may be varied within wide limits without departing from my
invention.
For No. 1 I may take 8 fluid ounces of commercial nitric acid of 36% Baume and
add thereto three pints of commercial sulphuric acid of 66% Baume and heat the
mixture and add thereto and dissolve therein eight pounds of dry bicromate of soda
and allow it to cool, when it solidifies.
For No. 2 I take say fifteen ounces of powdered chloride of sodium and add thereto
one ounce of bisulphate of mercury and mix thoroughly.
By the use of the above a very high electromotive force is obtained. It does
not polarize. It is clean to use and does not liberate corrosive or objectionable fumes.
It can be packed in ordinary tin cans, thus doing away with the shipment, and
danger attending the handling, of special acid solution. It does not delequese on
exposure to the atmosphere, and the zinc element does not require to be removed
from time to time, and does not ever require re-amalgamating, as there is no dirt
deposited on this element they do not require cleansing or washing.
Dated the 20th day of July 1893.
W. H. LONGSDORF.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Electrolytes for Primary Batteries.
I, WILLIAM HEATON LONGSDORF, of The Grosvenor Club, 135, New Bond
Street, in the County of London, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention (a communication to me from Gardner Hewett, now deceased, but late of
Price 8d.1

page_text: 29, Broadway, in the City of New York, United States of America, Electrical
Engineer,) and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
It is well known that acids and acid fluids for charging primary batteries are
open to serious objection; the expense of transit and storage, and the danger of
damage by leakage, being prominent disadvantages. For these reasons, chemicals
in the form of powder readily soluble in water have been employed, but hitherto
none of the powders invented have proved satisfactory.
Now by my invention materials are combined in proper proportions to form
crystalline powders readily soluble in water and which when dissolved in water and
used for charging primary batteries give most excellent results.
The compounds produced being dry are well adapted for transit and storage and
are more economical in these respects than fluids, besides possessing other important
advantages.
According to my invention, I make two kinds of powder, one for use as a
depolarizer in the compartment containing the carbon element in batteries
comprising porous cells or for employment in single fluid batteries, and the other
for use as an excitant in the compartment containing the zinc element in porous
cell batteries.
In the following formulæ, I have given proportions which I have found may be
usefully employed, but they are to be taken as examples only, and I do not limit
myself to the precise proportions and quantities stated, these being capable of
variation within certain limits without departing from my invention.
For the first powder, I may take 8 fluid ounces of commercial nitric acid of
36 Baumé and add thereto 3 pints of commercial sulphuric acid of 66 Baumé.
This mixture having been heated to 136° Fahr., or thereabouts, 8 pounds of dry
bichromate of soda are dissolved therein. The compound on being allowed to cool
solidifies, and can then be ground to powder. The mass should be cooled rapidly
and under protection from the atmosphere, and subsequent exposure to the
atmosphere should, so far as possible, be avoided.
Compounded and prepared in this particular manner, an entirely new effect is
produced; the electrolyte maintaining its efficiency and sustaining the voltage much
longer than when the same ingredients are merely mixed in the ordinary manner
and in different proportions from those specified.
For the second powder, I take say 15 ounces of powdered chloride of sodium and
add thereto 1 ounce of bisulphate of mercury and mix thoroughly.
By the employment of the above powder or powders, a very high electromotive
force is obtained and there is no polarization. Either powder is clean to use, does
not liberate corrosive or objectionable fumes, and can be packed in ordinary tin
cans, thus doing away with the danger attending the handling of acid solution.
The second powder does away with the necessity for removing the zinc element
from time to time, that element never needing reamalgamation; and, as there is no
dirt deposited on said element, the latter does not require cleansing or washing.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I claim :-
1. As a new article of manufacture, a depolarizer in a dry and preferably powdered
state for use in primary batteries, the same consisting of nitric acid, sulphuric acid
and bichromate of soda in the proportions specified.
2. The improved method of manufacturing a depolarizer in a dry state for use in
primary batteries, substantially as herein described, the same consisting in adding
the proper proportion of sulphuric acid to the proper proportion of nitric acid,
heating the mixture to the temperature specified, dissolving in the heated mixture
the proper proportion of dry bichromate of soda, allowing the compound to cool,
and thereafter reducing the same to powder.
3. For use in primary batteries, an excitant in a dry and preferably powdered

page_text: state, the same consisting of chloride of sodium and bisulphate of mercury combined
in the proportions specified.
Dated the 18th day of April 1894.
state, the same consisting of chloride of sodium and bisulphate of mercury combined
in the proportions specified.
Dated the 18th day of April 1894.
For the Applicant,
G. G. M. HARDINGHAM,