IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC BATTERIES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Weare, of Plumstead, in the County
Kent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC BATTERIES."
Sealed the 9th July 1858, and dated the 29th January 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Weare at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
January 1858.
I, ROBERT WEARE, of Plumstead, in the County of Kent, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC BATTERIES,"
to be as follows:-
I take a number of thin veneers of wood and dry them thoroughly, and
coat them with a solution, of marine glue, or with a solution of caoutchouc
or other nonconducting varnish or cement. I cement together three of these
veneers, and I prefer to place the central one with its grain transverse to that
of the two outer ones. Additional veneers with the grain placed alternately
are cemented to the others when a greater thickness is required. I employ
these compound plates or boards to insulate the cells or plates of the batteries
from each other; I make a compound board in this manner with the two
outer veneers descending below the central veneer or veneers; I place a copper
plate on one side of this board, and a zinc plate on the other side, and I
connect them together by one or more rivets passing through the insulating
board, or in any other suitable manner. These plates are somewhat narrower,
and considerably shorter than the board. The zinc plate is enclosed in a
pocket of brown paper or similar porous, substance, which may also be filled
with loose sheets of brown paper, or straw paper, or other porous material.

page_text: I make another larger pocket of brown paper, or similar porous material of
the same size as the insulating board to which it may be cemented or attached
at the top. The lower part of this pocket is cemented or varnished so as to
form a water-tight bag, while the upper part is unvarnished and porous. A
small hole is made in this pocket at or near the level of the bottom of the
copper plate, so as to allow the excess of the solution to flow away into a
drawer or vessel placed beneath. The upper part of this pocket is fitted with
bibulous paper, or other porous or absorbent material, portions of which
descend into the lower part of the pocket, so as to raise the liquid by capillary
attraction, and keep the porous material always wet. The porous material is
enclosed in a sort of sheath, which conducts the solution into it when fresh
solution is added. The pockets are cemented at the edges inside and outside
alike. A number of these pairs of plates are placed together to form a
galvanic battery. They are suspended by an ear at each side resting on a
glass rod or other suitable support. The parts succeed each other in the
following order :-Insulating board, zinc, porous material in small pocket,
porous material in large pocket, copper insulating board, zinc, and so on.
A wire is connected to the terminal plate at each end to form the poles or
electrodes of the battery. The porous material in the pocket with the zinc. is
saturated with a strong solution of chloride of calcium, or other chloride or
exciting liquid, and the porous material in the large pocket is saturated with
a solution of chloride of copper or other solution of copper which fills the
lower water-tight part of the pocket. Various other solutions may, however,
be employed with this battery. When the battery is required to remain in
action for a long time, a vessel may be placed above it, from which a small
quantity of the solution of copper is allowed to drop into each of the larger
pockets. The liquid which escapes at the hole in the pocket drops into the
drawer, and may be returned from time to time to the upper vessel or reser-
voir. This liquid in running down the insulating board drops from the bottom
of the outer veneer on each side, and does not make a conducting connection
from one side of the insulating board to the other, and the intensity of the
electric current is thus preserved. The reservoir has a hole over each pocket,
which hole is plugged by a piece of cane adjusted so as to allow a sufficient
quantity of liquid to drop into each pocket. In some cases I make the lower
part of the pocket or porous cell of calico, impregnated or coated with
caoutchouc, varnish, or of other waterproof nonconducting flexible or elastic
material. Thus I make a cell or pocket of several thicknesses of brown
paper, cemented and stiffened at the edges, and cemented to a bag or lower
part of waterproof and flexible material. I place this cell in a frame of

page_text: wood coated with nonconducting varnish or cement, or of other suitable
material with a plate of copper placed on each side. A plate of zinc is
placed in the porous cell, and supported on the frame. A number of these
pairs are placed in a trough constructed in the following manner:-Three
slips of varnished or cemented wood are cemented on one of the aforesaid
insulating boards, and another board is cemented upon them. Three more
slips of wood are cemented on this board, and so on. These slips of wood
form the bottom and two sides of each cell of the trough, and the insulating
boards form the partitions. The whole is held together by long bolts and
nuts which are screwed up so as to press the parts close together. The com-
pound insulating boards project beyond the aforesaid slips, so as to insulate
each cell from the next. A hole is made near the top to allow the excess of
solution to overflow and fall into a drawer or receptacle. A reservoir of
solution may be placed above to keep up the supply, or the liquids may be
introduced and removed in any other convenient manner. When the plates
and porous cells are raised, or the liquid is removed from the trough, the
solution in the porous cells descends into the flexible bags, and leaves the zinc
plates. The battery can thus be kept out of action as long as required, and
immediately put into action again when required.
I have mentioned copper and zinc, as those metals are in general use for
galvanic batteries, but it is well known that other metals are capable of being
employed for the same purpose, and that carbon may be employed in lieu of
copper, and it will be obvious that such metals and carbon may be substituted
for the zinc and copper in the arrangements herein-before mentioned. By this
Invention I am enabled to obtain a constant current of electricity of great
intensity when required, and the batteries are compact and occupy but little
space.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Weare in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th
July 1858.
TO ALL TU WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
WEARE, of Plumstead, in the County of Kent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself. Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto

page_text: me, the said Robert Weare, Her special licence that I, the said Robert
Weare, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Robert Weare, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agrec 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 "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN GALVANIC BATTERIES;" upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Robert Weare, my exccutors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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.
NOW KNOW YE that I, the said Robert Weare, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
I take a number of thin veneers of wood and dry them thoroughly, and coat
them with a solution of marine glue or with a solution of caoutchouc, or other
nonconducting varnish or cement. I cement together three of these veneers,
and I prefer to place the central one with its grain transverse to that of the
two outer ones. Additional vencers with the grain placed alternately are
cemented to the others, when a greater thickness is required.
Figure 1, Sheet I., of the accompanying Drawings is an edge view of a board
formed of five thicknesses of vencer a, b, c, d, e, with the grain placed alter-
nately Figure 2 is a front view of the same, with portions of the veneers
broken away, to show the alternate position of the grain.
Marine glue
dissolved in or diluted with alcohol or methylated spirits is a good cement or
varnish for coating the veneers and cementing them together. I employ these
compound plates or boards to insulate, the cells or plates of the galvanic
batteries from each other. I make a compound board in this manner. with
the two outer veneers descending below the central veneer or veneers.
Figure 3 is a transverse vertical section, and Figure 4 is a front view,. of a
board thus formed of three veneers a, b, c. I place a copper plate C on one
side of this board, and a zinc plate Z on the other side, and I connect them
together by one or more rivets passing through the insulating board and
soldered to the plates, or in any other suitable manner. These plates are

page_text: somewhat narrower and considerably shorter than the board, as shewn in the
Drawing; f, f, are two hooks or ears of copper wire or other suitable material,
rivetted or attached to the board for suspending it, as herein-after described.
A, in Figure 5, is a flat rectangular pocket, made of brown paper, cemented
and varnished with the aforesaid solution of marine glue, except at the part g
at each side, which is to be placed opposite to the zinc or copper plate, as
herein-after described; Figure 6 is a plan of this pocket. The width of this
pocket is the same or a little more than that of the board a, b, c, and its length
is the same or a little more than that of the veneers a, c; B is a flap of brown
paper, forming part of or cemented to the pocket A, and which serves to form
a smaller pocket for containing the zinc. For thi spurpose all the flap except
the part his cemented, and it is laid upon the veneer a before the zinc plate
is rivetted on. The zinc plate is laid on this flap and rivetted through to the
copper; the ends of the rivets are soldered with soft solder and varnished.
The part h of the flap is folded up over the zinc, and the side pieces i, i, are
folded over it and cemented to it, thus forming a small pocket for the zinc, as
shewn in section in Figure 7. Some sheets of porous paper are placed inside
this pocket, the lower part of which is rendered water-tight by the cement.
The large pocket is now turned down, so as to lie against the small pocket, as
shewn in section in Figure 8, and in edge view in Figure 9.
Inside the pocket A are placed several sheets of porous paper or similar
absorbent material, some of which descend to the bottom of the pocket while
others only descend to the level of the bottom of the zinc and copper plates.
These sheets of paper are inclosed in a sheath of porous paper j, which is
stiffened at the edges with cement. This sheath projects a little above the
tops of the porous sheets and confines the liquid round them, as herein-
after described. The lower part of the pocket A being cemented all over
forms a water-tight bag for holding the exciting liquid. A small hole allows
the excess of liquid to overflow. The porous paper dips into the liquid in the
bag and absorbs it by capillary attraction, so that the upper part of the pocket
is always full of wet porous paper or material. A sheet of porous paper of
the same size as the copper plate, and which has been soaked in a weak
solution of chloride of calcium is placed in contact with the copper plate. All
the parts are soaked in a weak solution of chloride of calcium, so as to wet
the porous paper thoroughly. The parts combined, as in Figures 8 and 9,
contain the materials of one element of the battery. A number of these are
placed together in a box or frame, being supported by the ears f, f, which rest
on two glass rods, and the series is completed at one end by a plate of copper
and an insulating board, through which passes a wire attached to the copper

page_text: and forming one electrode of the battery, while the other end terminates in an
element similar to that shewn in Figures 8 and 9; but in lieu of the copper
plate C a wire is connected to the zinc, and forms the other electrode of the
battery.
The battery being put together is charged by filling the small pockets with
a strong solution of chloride of calcium or chloride of zinc, which may be con-
veniently introduced by a syringe at one of the upper corners of the pocket:
The large pockets are filled with a solution of chloride of copper, in sufficient
quantity to saturate the porous paper and to fill the lower water-tight part of
the pocket up to the overflow hole k. The battery will now be found to be in
action, and may be kept in action or ready for action for a great length of time.
It will be seen that the series consists of copper, porous material, or paper
containing chloride of copper, paper containing chloride of calcium, or chloride
of zinc, zinc, insulating board, copper, paper containing chloride of copper,
and so on.
This arrangement of battery possesses several advantages. The insulation
is very perfect, because the liquids which drain or run down the insulating
board fall from the lower edges of the veneers a, c, or from the bottom edge of
the pocket A, and do not come in contact with the liquids of the adjoining
cells. The intensity of the electricity produced is thus preserved. The air has
also access to the solutions and to the plates. When the battery is to be kept
in action for a long period, I cause the solution of chloride of copper to drop
continually into the sheath in each large pocket A.. For this purpose a
reservoir of the solution is placed over the battery with a small hole over each
of the large pockets, which hole is plugged with a piece of cane or other porous
substance, so adjusted as to allow a sufficient quantity of liquid to drop into
each pocket. The two glass rods which support the elements are supported
on the upper edges of a box which contains the battery. A drawer or tray
slides under the battery to receive the liquid which overflows or drips from it,
and which may be returned into the reservoir from time to time. When
chloride of calcium or chloride of zinc is employed in contact with the zinc,
the zinc does not require to be amalgamated.
In some cases I make the lower part of the pocket or porous cell of calico
impregnated or coated with caoutchouc, varnish, or of other waterproof non-
conducting flexible or elastic material. Figure 10 is a front view of a cell so
constructed; Figure 11 is a vertical section; and Figure 12 is a plan of the
same. This cell is formed of several thicknesses of brown paper D cemented
at the ends and edges, and cemented to the flexible bag E formed of calico
rendered waterproof by varnish. The two sides of the paper cell at h are not

page_text: coated with cément. I employ these compound cells in the battery. herein-
before described, and also for other forms of batteries; thus, à compound cell
constructed in this manner is placed in a wooden frame coated with cement,
and shewn in front view in Figures 13 and 14, Sheet II., and in plan in
Figure 15, and in vertical section in Figure 16. This frame consists of
a horizontal bar F and two uprights G, G, which are all grooved to receive the
compound cell D, E. The lower bar F has a few holes in it. C, C, are two
copper plates attached by copper nails or otherwise to the uprights G, G, and'
connected together by copper strips 1, 1. In Figure 14 the copper plate is
removed to show the porous cell D, E. A zinc plate Z is suspended in the
compound cell D, E, and reaches to the bottom of the porous paper. surface h,
but does not descend into the flexible bag E. Binding screws m, n, are con-
nected to the copper plates and to the zinc plate to serve as electrodes. The
flexible bag E is filled with one of the exciting liquids, as; for example,
dilute acid or a solution of chloride of calcium, and the whole arrangement is
plunged into a cell or vessel containing another exciting liquid, as, for example,
a solution of chloride or sulphate of copper. The hydrostatic pressure of the
last solution forces the liquid in the flexible bag to rise in the porous paper cell
until the two solutions are at the same level or nearly so. The battery is thus'
brought into action. It can be immediately put out of action by raising it out
of the outer cell or vessel. The liquid in the paper cell D then descends into
the flexible bag E, and remains there until the battery is again to be put in
action. The solutions do not require to be emptied out, but remain in the
flexible bag and in the outer cell, and are always ready for action.
"
Figure 19, Sheet III., is an elevation of one of these batteries, showing
a convenient mode of supporting it when out of action. H, H, are two pieces
of wood, which are attached to the upper part of the frame G, G, of the
battery, and are made to spring towards each other. Each of these pieces H
has a shoulder which rests on the top of the outer cell I when the frame.
is raised. By springing the pieces H, H, outwards the frame G, G, can be
lowered and the battery put in action. A number of these arrangements or
elements are placed in a trough divided into cells, and constructed in the
following manner: A number of insulating boards are made by cementing
together three or more veneers, as herein-before described. Each of these
boards has four holes for the reception of four long bolts of iron or copper or
other suitable material.
. Figure 17, Sheet II., is a front view, and Figure 18 is a side view, showing
the mode of constructing the trough. One of the insulating boards K is laid
on a table, having the four bolts L passed through it with their heads or nuts

page_text: beneath. Three slips M, N, O, of varnished or cemented wood are cemented
on this board, the two side pieces M, O, being furnished with holes, which slip
over the bolts L, L. The bottom piece N is secured by dovetails to the side
pieces, or it may be still farther secured by one or more additional bolts
passing through it; another insulating board K¹ is then slipped over the bolts
and cemented to the three slips M, N, O; three more slips are then put on,
and another insulating board K over them, and so on, and nuts are then
screwed on to the ends of the bolts L, so as forcibly to press the whole
together. The nuts may be tightened a little at intervals as the cement dries.
Each of the slips O has a groove plâned in it, which forms a tube or channel
when the parts are cemented together, and serves to conduct down the
superfluous liquid in the trough, and prevents it from overflowing down the
outside of the 'battery. The insulating boards or partitions project beyond
the slips M, N, O, so as to render the insulation more complete. A drawer
or receptacle is placed below to receive any overflow. A reservoir of solution
may be placed above to keep up the supply, or the liquids may be introduced
and removed in any other convenient manner. When several of the elements
shewn in Figures 13, 14, 15, and 16 are employed, they may be connected
together by two horizontal slips or bars of varnished wood attached to the
frames at p, p.
Figure 20, Sheet III., is an elevation or front view of a battery so arranged;
Figure 21 is an end view of the same; Figure 22 is a longitudinal section;
and Figure 23 is a transverse section of the same. K, M, N, O, is the trough
constructed of insulated boards and slips of wood, cemented and bolted
together, as herein-before described; G, F, G, are the frames of the several
elements, which are attached to the bars or frame P. This frame P can be
raised and lowered by two cords or pieces of catgut Q wound on the bar
or spindle R, supported on uprights Y, Y. This spindle is turned by a milled
head or button S, and is secured by a ratchet T and click U; V is a cover for
preserving the battery from dust. A slit is made in each end of the cover to
allow it to pass over the spindle R. The battery stands on a box W, in which
is a drawer X, which receives any liquid which may overflow from the battery.
The front of this drawer comes in contact with the two end boards K of the
battery, but does not touch the intermediate partitions, so that if the front of
the drawer becomes wet it may not interfere with the insulation. The drawer
slides upon two glass rods q, q, so that it may move easily and may not be
impeded by the adhesion of the varnish, with which the woodwork is
varnished.
I have mentioned copper and zinc, as those metals are in general use for

page_text: galvanic batteries, but it is well known that other metals are capable of being
employed for the same purpose, and that carbon may be employed in lieu of
copper, and it will be obvious that other metals and carbon may be substituted
for the zinc and copper in the arrangements herein-before described; and
also that various other exciting solutions besides those herein-before mentioned
may be employed. The porous paper which is employed should not contain
clay, which is frequently introduced in cheap brown paper, as the clay would
be acted upon by the solutions, and the paper would become rotten or
weak.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I
claim is,
First, constructing galvanic batteries with compound insulating boards,
constructed as herein-before described.
Second, constructing the troughs of galvanic batteries in manner herein-
before described.
Third, constructing porous cells for galvanic batteries of porous paper,
cemented or attached to a flexible varnished or waterproof bag, as herein-
before described.
Fourth, constructing galvanic batteries as herein-before described in refer-
ence to Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
Fifth, constructing galvanic batteries with the compound porous paper cell,
with flexible bag supported in a frame to which are attached the plates of
copper or other suitable metal, as herein-before described, in reference to
Figures 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Weare, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Nineteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
CHARLES COWPER,
20, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane.
ROBT WEARE. (L.S.)