Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Aug., 1887
Complete Left, 18th June, 1888.
Complete Accepted, 20th July, 1888
I, HENRY MOWER, of 155 Warwick Street, Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex,
Saw Mill Proprietor and Contractor, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention
to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to provide secondary batteries or electrical accumu-.
lators with plates or elements which are more efficient or durable than such plates as
hitherto constructed.
According to my Invention I make the support or lead portion of the plate which
is to form the support for the active material in the form of a grid or openwork
support. It may be either made of drawn metal or of cast metal, for instance it may
be made of a strip or strips bent alternately in one and the other direction so as to
form parallel bars on either side of a suspending piece also made from the same strip
or strips. The bent over ends of the support thus formed are joined by a portion of
the same strip or by a separate piece. The same general figure may also be obtained
by casting. The spaces between the supporting strips formed as described are filled
in with the active material or material to be rendered active and this is by
preference mixed with hair feathers or other animal matter of like character to give it
coherence. One or more of the spaces between the strips, however, is not filled in
with the said material but is left open. The central space I prefer to be that or one:
of those so left open. These spaces allow of the plate as a whole contracting or
expanding more equally than with other plates and without the active material
becoming disintegrated and falling therefrom which has been a great objection in
plates as hitherto constructed. The strips may be of any suitable shape in cross-
section such as round square or with wings and the said strips may be straight or
they may be otherwise formed, for example as a helix or spiral after the manner of a
coiled spring. I make at the corners or at any suitable parts of the plates projections
or recesses to hold pieces of India-rubber, or India-rubber tubing or other insulating.
material to keep the plates in position and shape when in the cells.
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.,
Agents for the said Henry Mower..

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Secondary Batteries or Electrical Accumulators.
I HENRY MOWER of 155 Warwick Street Pimlico in the County of Middlesex Saw
Mill Proprietor and Contractor 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:--
The object of my Invention is to provide secondary batteries or electrical
accumulators with plates or elements which are more efficient or durable than such
plates as hitherto constructed.
According to my Invention I make the lead portion of the plate which is to form
the support for the active material in the form of a grid or open work support, of a
strip or strips of metal twisted into a helical form and arranged in parallel lines in a
frame as shewn in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawing or bent alternately in one
and the other direction as shewn in Figure 2 so as to form parallel coiled bars a a
between suspending pieces b b which may be also made from the same strip or strips.
The bent over ends a² of the support thus formed may be joined by a portion of the
same strip or strips or by a separate piece as at c c Figure 3. The spaces between
the supporting coiled strips formed as described are filled in with the active material,
or material to be rendered active, and this is by preference mixed with vegetable
fibres or with thin wood strips or veneer with hair feathers or other animal matter of
like character to give it coherence. When the plates are above 4" in width one or
more of the spaces between the strips is or are preferably, not filled in with the said
material but left open. The central space I prefer to be that or one of those so left
open as shewn at d in Figure 2, but I may leave more such spaces as at dd in Figure 3
which shews a series of parallel bars transversely of the plate instead of from top to
bottom as in Figure 2. Figure 4 shews three spaces d and here instead of lead strips
at the side I enclose the bars in a springy wood frame e e³ (treated with paraffin or
other suitable acid resisting material) which will yield to the expansion and contrac-
tion of the plate. The spaces d also allow of the plate as a whole contracting or
expanding more equally than with other plates and without the active material
becoming disintegrated and falling therefrom which has been a great objection in
plates as hitherto constructed. The strip forming the coiled bars may be square or of
other suitable shape in cross section and the said strip formed as a helix after the
manner of a coiled spring may be arranged in a suitable frame in straight lines as
shewn in Figure 1 or in any other desired direction. The convolutions of the coiled
bars allow of a yielding in the structure to the requisite extent upwards downwards
and sideways to obviate a great deal of the tendency to the fracture of the packing
of the plate.
I if desired make at the corners or at any suitable parts of the plates projections or
recesses to hold pieces of India rubber or India rubber tubing or other insulating
material to keep the plates in position when in the cells. The edges of the plates are
by the expansion of the active material caused to bulge outwards, and in order to

page_text: restore them to their normal position when the active material contracts I arrange
between the edges of the plates and the inner surfaces of the cell wooden springs as
shewn, for example at in Figure 1, which by pressing against the edges of the
plates cause them to follow up the active material as it contracts, thereby preventing
the disintegration of the said active material and restoring the plates to their normal
shape.
The said wooden springs are treated with paraffin or other suitable acid resisting
material.
Figure 5 illustrates a modification in which the frame e of lead or equivalent
metal is formed with a central spaced without active material-and on opposite sides
of this space the frame is provided with coils as hereinbefore described the space
between the coils being filled with active material.
When the plates are very wide the central portion of the coiled bars may be
supported by strips of wood having notches to engage the bars substantially as shewn
in Figure 6.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. In or for secondary batteries or electrical accumulators plates or elements con-
structed of a wrought or drawn strip twisted into helical form and arranged as shown
and described or in an equivalent manner, with or without a space or spaces between
the bars unfilled with active material, or materials to be rendered active substantially
as hereinbefore described.
2. The combination with the subject matter of the preceding claiming clause of
wooden springs substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore described.
3. In or for secondary batteries or electrical accumulators plates or elements con-
structed of wrought or drawn strips twisted into helical form and arranged in parallel
bars or otherwise with spaces between filled with active material, or material to be
rendered active, and surrounded by a frame of springy wood substantially as and
for the purpose hereinbefore described and illustrated.
4. In or for secondary batteries or electrical accumulators the several constructions
of plates or elements substantially as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
19th dess of Tune 1888