IMPROVEMENTS IN EXCITING AGENTS USED IN GALVANIC BATTERIES, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GALVANIC BATTERIES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nicholas Callan, of Maynooth College, in the County
of Kildare, Ireland, Professor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
EXCITING AGENTS USED IN GALVANIC BATTERIES, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
GALVANIC BATTERIES."
Sealed the 4th May 1855, and dated the 21st November 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nicholas Callan at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st November 1854.
I, NICHOLAS CALLAN, of Maynooth College, in the County of Kildare,
Ireland, Professor, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN EXCITING AGENTS USED IN GALVANIC BATTERIES, AND IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF GALVANIC BATTERIES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, in the first place, in the use of new exciting agents
for the positive and negative elements, or for the negative element only, of
nearly all galvanic batteries in which zinc is the positive, and another metal or
carbon the negative, element. These new exciting agents are the following:-
First, undiluted muriatic acid alone, or muriatic mixed with sulphuric or
certain other acids; secondly, muriatic or sulphuric acid, or both together,
mixed with any quantity of water of any kind, provided that quantity be
less than five or six times the quantity of the acid or acids. If ten parts
of sulphuric and fourteen of muriatic acid be mixed with twenty parts of water,

page_text: I do not use this mixture, for exciting the zinc or positive element of the
battery.
If the negative element be excited by any of the above-mentioned fluids,
and the positive one by a different fluid, the elements must be separated by a
porous diaphragm.
My Invention consists, secondly, in using cast-iron cells made in such a way
that both sides of the zinc plates within them will act, and that the distance
between the zinc and iron will not exceed a quarter or five-sixteenths of an
inch; also in. covering the part of the iron or zinc which has little or no effect
in producing the galvanic current with a substance on which the exciting
fluids will not act, and thus preventing or diminishing the action of the fluid on
that part of the iron or zinc.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Nicholas, Callan in the Great. Seal Patent Office on the
... 18th May 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NICHOLAS
CALLAN, of Maynooth College, in the County of Kildare, Ireland, Professor,
send greeting.
•
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand. eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Nicholas Callan, Her special licence that I, the said Nicholas
Callan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Nicholas Callan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN EXCITING AGENTS USED IN GALVANIC BATTERIES, AND IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF GALVANIC BATTERIES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Nicholas Callan, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months. next and immediately after the date of the said Letters. Patent.
- L
I

page_text: NOW KNOW. YE, that 1, the said Nicholas Callan, do hereby. declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
My Invention of. "Improvements in Exciting Agents used. in Galvanic
Batteries, and in the Construction of Galvanic Batteries," consist, in the first
place, in the use of new exciting agents for the positive and negative elements,
or for; the negative element only, of nearly all galvanic batteries in which
zinc is the positive, and another metal or carbon is the negative, element.
These new exciting agents are the following:-First; undiluted muriatic acid,
whether used alone or with sulphuric or certain other acids, such as pyro-
ligneous manganic acid, &c:; secondly, muriatic or sulphuric acid, or both
together, mixed with any quantity of water of any kind, provided that quantity
be, less than, five or six times the quantity of the acid or acids, that is to say,
less than five times for some batteries and less than six times for others.
The batteries in which the quantity of water should be less than five times
that of the acid or acids are those in which platina,,copper, silver, carbon, or a
platinized metal is the negative element, and the batteries in which the
quantity of water should be less than six times that of the acid or acids are
those in which iron or cast iron is the negative element.
#14
I would here remark that for exciting the zinc or positive element. I do not
use the mixture composed of ten parts of sulphuric acid and fourteen parts
muriatic acid diluted with twenty parts of water. I would also remark that
if the negative element be excited by any of the above-mentioned fluids, and
the positive element by a different fluid, the elements must be separated
by a porous diaphragm.
My Invention consists, secondly, in using cast-iron cells, (that is, cast-iron
vessels which will hold the exciting fluid,) made in such a way that both sides
of the zinc plates within them will act, and that the distance between the zinc
and iron, or between the greater part of their respective surfaces, will not
exceed a quarter or five-sixteenths of an inch, unless the surface of the zinc
plates exceed thirty-six square inches; also in covering the part of the iron or
zinc which has little or no effect in producing the galvanic current with a
substance on which the exciting fluid will not act, or will act but slightly, and
thus preventing or diminishing the action of the fluid on that part of the iron
or zinc. The cast-iron cells or vessels which hold the exciting fluid should be
so narrow,-except at the upper part, that when the zinc plates are placed in
the middle of them, the distance between either side of the zine plate-and-the
side of the cast-iron cell nearest to it may not exceed a quarter of an inch.

page_text: By this arrangement each side of the zinc plates will be opposite and con-
tiguous to an equal or not very unequal surface of cast iron.
The upper part of the cells should be wider than the lower part, in order
that they may contain a sufficient quantity of the exciting fluid. In order to
give an idea of the proportion of the width of the upper and lower part of
the cell, I would remark that, for about the length of an inch from the top, the
width of the cell may be about an inch greater than at the lower part, assuming
the cells to be about four or five inches high; but if the cells be more than six
inches high, the widened part may extend farther from the top of the same.
I do not, however, confine myself to, these exact proportions. In order to
prevent or diminish the action of the fluid on that part of the iron or zinc
which has little or no effect in producing the galvanic current, I cover it with
a substance on which the exciting fluid will not act, or will act but little, such
as wood, vulcanized india-rubber, or other substance calculated to produce a
similar effect. .
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I would have it understood that what I claim as of
my Invention-is,—
First, the use of the exciting agents described under the first head of my
Invention.
Secondly, the use of the cast-iron cells of the form described, so as to combine
the means of holding a sufficient quantity of the exciting fluid with the action
of both sides of the zinc, and with contiguity of the surfaces of the sides of the
cells to the surfaces of the zinc plates.
And, lastly, the protection of that part of the cast iron which has little or no
effect in producing the galvanic current, by covering it with a substance on
which the exciting fluid will not act at all, or will act but little.
In-witness-whereof, I, the-said-Nicholas Callan, have hereunto subscribed
my name, and affixed my-seal, the Sixteenth day of May, in the-year-
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of
MILESIUS GAFFNEY,
Maynooth College.
NICHS CALLAN. (L.S.)