Mr. Esteve has recently devised a generator of electricity which he
claims to be energetic, constant, and always ready to operate. The
apparatus is designed for the production of light and for actuating
electric motors, large induction bobbins, etc.
We give a description of it herewith from data communicated by its
inventor.
The accompanying cut represents a battery of 6 elements, with a
reservoir, R, for the liquid, provided at its lower part with a cock
for allowing the liquid to enter the pile. The vessels of the
different elements are of rectangular form. At the upper part, and in
the wider surfaces of each, there are two tubes. The first tube of the
first vessel receives the extremity of a safety-tube, A, whose other
extremity enters the upper part of the reservoir, R. This tube is
designed for regulating the flow of the liquid into the pile. When the
cock, r, is too widely open, the liquid might have a tendency to
flow over the edges of the vessel; but this would close the orifice of
the tube, A, and, as the air would then no longer enter the reservoir,
R, the flow would be stopped automatically. The second tube of the
first vessel is connected with a lead tube, 1, one of the extremities
of which enters the second vessel. The other tubes are arranged in the
same way in the other vessels. The renewal of the liquids is effected
by displacement, in flowing upward from one element over into another;
and the liquids make their exit from the pile at D, after having
served six times. The electrodes of the two first elements are
represented as renewed in the cut, in order to show the arrangement of
the tubes.
[Illustration: ESTEVE'S AUTOMATIC PILE.]
_Dimensions._--The zinc, 2, has a superficies of 15×20 centimeters,
and is cut out of the ordinary commercial sheet metal. It may be
turned upside down when one end has become worn away, thus permitting
of its being entirely utilized. The negative electrode is formed of
four carbons, which have, each of them, a superficies of 8×21
centimeters. These four carbons are less fragile and are more easily
handled than two having the same surface. Their arrangement is shown
at the left of the figure. They are fixed to a strip of copper, a,
to which is soldered another strip, L, bent at right angles. There are
thus two pairs of carbon per element, and these are simply suspended
from a piece of wood, as shown in the figure. Upon this wooden holder
will be seen the two strips, LL, that are designed to be put in
contact with the zinc of the succeeding element by means of pinchers
that connect the electrodes with one another. This arrangement permits
the pile to be taken apart very quickly.
_Charging, Work, and Duration of the Pile._--The inventor has made a
large number of experiments with solutions of bichromate of potash of
various degrees of saturation, and has found the following to give the
best results:
Bichromate of potash. 1 kilogramme.
Sulphuric acid 2 liters.
Water 8 "
When a larger quantity of the salt is used, crystallization occurs in
the pile.
Constants and work Constants and work
of an element of a round Bunsen
having a zinc of element, 20×30 cm.
16×20 cm.
Volts. 1.9 1.8
Resistance. 0.05 0.24
Work disposable in the
external circuit. 1.839 k. 0.344 k.
The work disposable in the external circuit is deduced from the
formula: