Improvements in Electric Accumulators and in their Manufacture.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Aug., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 20th May, 1889-Accepted, 10th Aug., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by JEAN THEODORE VAN GESTEL, of New York, United
States of America.]
Improvements in Electric Accumulators and in their Manufacture.
I, WILLIAM LLOYD WISE of No. 46 Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in electric accumulators and in means for the
manufacture of their elements.
According to this invention there is deposited on each side of a plate of a metal of
small electrical resistance (such as copper) a layer or coating of fead or of an alloy
of lead.
This layer or coating must be perfectly adhesive and form as it were one piece with
the plate.
It is then provided with numerous longitudinal and parallol channels for the purpose
of receiving and retaining a lead salt or other re-agent.
The core or foundation plate is preferably perforated or is a sheet of metal provided
with a strengthening border.
It is provided with an ear or lug which serves as an anode and cathode, for
attaching it to the cross bars by means of which is effected the connection of the
plates of the complete battery.
Upon this plate which may be extremely thin, for instance one fifth of a millimetre,
I deposit in the first instance by means of any usual method, a layer or coating
of tin.
Above this I deposit on both sides a layer of lead or metallic lead alloy of (by
preference) about three millimetres thickness so as to cover the entire surface of the
plate.
I then compress (by preference by hydraulic pressure) the whole between steel dies
which are provided over their entire surface with shallow parallel grooves.
The depth of the said grooves is less than the total thickness of the copper and
layers of lead.
By this means the grooves will become filled with lead and will thus form ledges
shelves or fins designed to form channels for containing the active material.
The grooves are then filled with a paste of some suitable lead salt or with a material
that is active or becomes active under the action of an electric current.
The plate having been thus filled is then passed between two rollers which bend in
part the shelves or fins so as to form the parallel channels.
At the same time they compress the lead salt in these channels and remove the
excess material. A free space is left sufficient to allow of the action of the exciting
liquid.
The elements of the accumulator may also be formed each of a solid plate of lead
without core of copper or sheet metal.
Instead of constructing this plate by hydraulic pressure, it may be formed by
running or casting it in a die, or it may be produced by galvano-plastic methods.
Elements of electric accumulators according to this invention are manufactured very
economically, and possess the following advantages.
The central body has a very low electrical resistance, and is under the direct
influence of the electric current over its entire surface without risk of polarization by
a rapid discharge.
The active material being enclosed in the conducting metal of the elements, receives
and discharges a continuous and invariable current.
The dilatation and contraction of the active materials produced by the charging and

page_text: discharging of the batteries, independently of the central plate, act only upon the
exterior portion of the channels, and, thereby obviate bulging or warping which is the
greatest drawback of all existing batteries.
The formation of sulphates by the exposure of the lead to sulphuric solutions is
reduced to a minimum.
Furthermore as the result of the large surface of metallic lead exposed to the
liquid solution of the batteries, there are continually being formed a fresh lead salts
which render the batteries more active at their outer surfaces; and in the interior of
the channels there takes place a continual and intimate contact between the active
material applied artificially, and that naturally formed by the action of the electric
current (after the principle discovered by Gaston Planté).
Dated this 28th day of August 1888.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Electric Accumulators and in their Manufacture.
I, WILLIAM LLOYD WISE, of No. 46 Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, 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 improvements in electric accumulators and in the method
of their manufacture.
According to this invention there is deposited on each side of a plate of a metal of
small electrical resistance (such as copper), a layer or coating of lead or of an alloy
of lead.
This layer or coating must be perfectly adhesive and form as it were one piece with
the plate. It is then provided with numerous longitudinal and parallel channels for
the purpose of receiving and retaining a lead salt or other re-agent.
Referring to the accompanying sheet of drawings:
Fig. 1 is a front view of a plate of an electric accumulator according to this invention.
Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a plate covered with lead, shewing the channels which
contain the lead salt. In the lower part of this view the plate is shewn in its
original state, before the transformation of the ledges or shelves into channels.
Fig. 3 shews in section the dies which serve to compress the plate and form the
ledges or shelves.
Fig. 4 shews a number of plates connected together by means of a cross bar.
Fig. 5 shows the cylinders or rollers which serve to bend the ledges or shelves and
to transform them into channels.
I begin by taking a plate of copper or other metal of low electrical resistance,
and having (preferably) the form of a perforated plate or of a sheet of metal provided
with a strengthening border. Such a core or foundation plate is shewn at A with
holes B B in it. It is provided with an ear or lug C which serves as an anode or
cathode for attaching it to the cross-bar D by means of which the connection of the
plates of the complete battery is effected.
Upon this plate which may be extremely thin (for instance one fifth of a millimetre)
I deposit, by any usual method, a layer or coating of tin. Above this 1 deposit on
both sides a layer of lead or lead alloy of (say) about three millimetres thickness, so
as to cover the entire surface of the plate.
I then place the whole between two steel dies E, F which are provided over their
entire surface with shallow parallel grooves. The depth of the said grooves is less than
the total thickness of the copper and layers of lead.
By this means with suitable pressure the grooves will become filled with lead and
will thus form ledges or shelves F, F, designed to form channels for containing the
active material. With this object, I subject the dies to hydraulic pressure which has
the effect of (1) filling all the grooves of the dies (2) uniting all the different materials
in one body.

page_text: The grooves between the ledges or shelves are then filled with a paste of some
suitable lead salt or with a material that is active or becomes active under the action
of an electric current.
The plate having been thus filled is then passed between two rollers G G which
bend in part the ledges or shelves so as to form tho parallel channels, (Fig. 5).
At the same time they compress the lead salt in these channels and remove the
excess material.
A free space is left sufficient to allow of the action of the exciting liquid.
Accumulator plates according to this invention may also be formed each of a solid
plate of lead without a coro or interior part of copper or other sheet metal.
Instead of forming this plate by hydraulic pressure, it may be formed by running or
casting it in a mould, or it may be produced by galvano-plastic methods. The various
methods herein before mentioned enable me to manufacture the elements of electric
accumulators very economically, and possessing the following advantages:-
The central body has a very low electrical resistance, and is under the direct
influence of the electric current over its entire surface without risk of polarization by
a rapid discharge.
The active material being enclosed in the conducting metal of the elements receives
and discharges a continuous and invariable current.
The dilatation and contraction of the active materials, produced by the charging
and discharging of the batteries, independently of the central plate, act only upon the
exterior portion of the channels, and thereby obviate bulging or warping which is
the greatest drawback of all existing batteries.
The active material of the elements is not liable to become detached.
The formation of sulphates by the exposure of the lead to sulphuric solutions is
reduced to a minimum.
Furthermore, owing to the large surface of metallic lead exposed to the liquid
solution of the batteries there are continually being formed afresh, lead salts which
render batteries more active at their outer surfaces; and in the interior of the channels
there is a continual and intimate contact between the active material applied artificially,
and that naturally formed by the action of the electric current (after the principal
discovered by Gaston Planté).
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not
claim the application of a layer of lead upon the copper plate, nor the causing of the
adhesion between the metals by powerful hydraulic pressure; but what I claim is ;—
1. An element of an electric accumulator as hereinbefore described and comprising
a plate of a metal of low electric resistance, covered or coated with a layer of lead or
alloy of load, this layer being provided with a number of channels upon one or upon
both sides of the plate, and these channels containing a suitable lead salt which
serves as the active material.
2. The hereinabove described modification of my improved element of an electric
accumulator according to which a core or internal body of metal other than lead or
lead alloy is dispensed with.
3. The hereinabove described method of manufacturing elements of electric
accumulators by forming a plate of copper or other metal of low electric resistance ;
applying upon this plate by hydraulic pressure or by casting, a layer of lead or alloy
of lead in such a manner as to form ledges or shelves; filling the spaces between
the said ledges or shelves with an active material (any suitable lead salt); and after
such filling, bending the edges of the ledges or shelves so as to enclose and
securely retain the said active material.
W. LLOYD WISE,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.