ELECTRICITY--MISCELLANEOUS.
STORAGE BATTERY--BATTERIES OF PLANTÉ, FAURE AND BRUSH--ELECTRIC
WELDING--DIRECT GENERATION OF ELECTRICITY BY COMBUSTION--ELECTRIC
BOATS--ELECTRO-PLATING--EDISON’S ELECTRIC PEN--ELECTRICITY IN
MEDICINE--ELECTRIC CAUTERY--ELECTRICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS--ELECTRIC
BLASTING.
A prominent factor in the electrical art is the _Storage Battery_,
Secondary Battery, or Accumulator, as it is variously called. A storage
battery acts upon the same general principle as the ordinary galvanic or
voltaic battery in giving forth electrical current as the correlated
equivalent of the chemical force, but differs from it in this respect,
that when the elements of a primary battery are used up, the battery is
exhausted beyond repair. With the storage battery, it may be regenerated
at will by simply subjecting it to an electric current from a dynamo.
The dynamo stores up in this battery its electric force by converting it
into chemical force, which is imprisoned in chemical compounds that are
formed while the power of the dynamo is being applied. These chemical
compounds are, however, in a condition of unstable chemical equilibrium,
which is undisturbed so long as the poles of the storage battery are not
connected, but when connected through a circuit, the instability of the
chemical compounds asserts itself, and in passing back to a condition of
normal equilibrium the disruption gives off the correlative equivalent
of electric current stored up in it by the dynamo.
Probably the earliest suggestion of a storage battery is by Ritter in
1812, in his “secondary pile.” This device consisted of alternate discs
of copper and moistened card, and was capable of receiving a charge from
a voltaic pile and of then producing the physical, chemical, and
physiological effects obtained from the ordinary pile. The first storage
battery of importance, however, was made by Gaston Planté in 1860, which
consisted of leaden plates immersed in a 10 per cent. solution of
sulphuric acid in water. In Fig. 64 is shown a modification of the
Planté type of storage battery, composed of a series of plates shown on
the left. Each of these plates is built up, as shown in detail in Fig.
65, of lead strips corrugated and arranged in layers alternately with
flat strips, within perforated leaden cases. The corrugation of the
leaden laminæ gives greater superficial area, and the alternation of
flat and corrugated strips keeps them properly spaced, so the sulphuric
acid solution may penetrate and act upon the same. Each plate section
has a rod to connect it with its proper terminal. When the charging
current is applied, the positive lead plate becomes covered with lead
peroxide (PbO₂) and finely divided metallic lead is deposited on the
negative plate. When the battery is being discharged the peroxide of
lead gives up one of its atoms of oxygen to the spongy metallic lead
deposited on the other plate, and both plates remain coated with lead
monoxide (PbO).
[Illustration: FIG. 64.--PLANTÉ STORAGE BATTERY.]
[Illustration: FIG. 65.--ENLARGED DETAIL OF PLANTÉ PLATE.]
The most important development of the storage battery was made by
Camille A. Faure, in 1880 (U. S. Pat. No. 252,002, Jan 3, 1882). In the
early part of 1881 there was sent from Paris to Glasgow a so-called “box
of electric energy” for inspection and test by Sir William Thomson, the
eminent electrician. It was one of the first storage batteries of M.
Faure. The illustration, Fig. 66, shows a battery of this type in which
the lead plates covered with red lead (Pb₃O₄) replace the plain lead
plates in the Planté cell. The action of the battery is that when a
current of electricity is passed into the same, the red lead on one
plate (the negative) is reduced to metallic lead, and that on the other
is oxidized to a state of peroxide (PbO₂). These actions are reversed
when the charged cell is discharging itself. The elements of this
battery consist of alternate layers of sheet lead, and a paste of red
oxide of lead. These are immersed in a 10 per cent. solution of
sulphuric acid in water. Many minor improvements have been made in the
storage battery, covered by 716 United States patents, most of which
relate to cellular construction for holding the mass of red lead in
place. The most notable are those of Brush, to whom many patents were
granted in 1882 and 1883.
[Illustration: FIG. 66.--STORAGE BATTERY--FAURE TYPE.]
The storage battery finds many important applications. For furnishing
current for the propulsion of electric street cars it has proved a
disappointment, on account of the vibrations to which it is subjected,
and the great weight of the lead, which in batteries of suitable
capacity runs up into many thousands of pounds. The storage battery
finds a useful place, however, for equalizing the load in lighting and
power stations, and is there brought into action to supplement the
engine and dynamo during those hours of the day when the tax or load is
greatest. It is also used to keep up electrical pressure at the ends of
long transmission lines; for telegraphing purposes; for isolated
electric lighting; for boat propulsion; the propulsion of automobile
carriages; and in all cases where a portable source of electric current
would find application. The great growth of automobile carriages in the
past year has greatly stimulated the output of storage batteries. One
large company (The Electric Storage Battery Company), manufactured and
sold storage batteries for the year ending June 1, 1899, to the amount
of $2,387,049.91, and there are many other manufacturers.
[Illustration: FIG. 67.--ELECTRIC WELDING.]
_Electric Welding_ was invented by Prof. Elihu Thomson, of Lynn, Mass.,
and patented by him August 10, 1886, No. 347,140-42, and July 18, 1893,
No. 501,546. It is useful for the making of chains, tools, carriage
axles, joining shafting, wires, and pipes, mending bands, tires, hoops,
and lengthening and shortening bolts, bars, etc. For electric welding a
current of great volume or quantity, and very low electro-motive force,
is required. Thus a current of from one to two volts, and one to several
thousand amperes, is best suited. Referring to Fig. 67, the current from
the dynamo is conducted to one binding post of the commutator 3, which
is arranged to send the current through one-sixth, one-third or one-half
of the primary wire P of a transformer or induction coil. The other
binding post of the commutator 3 extends to one terminal of an isolated
primary coil 4, and the other terminal of this coil connects with the
dynamo. The coil 4 is provided with a switch to regulate the amount of
current. The rods to be welded are placed in clamps C C′, C being
connected with one terminal of the secondary conductor S, and the
movable clamp C′ with the other. When the current is turned on C′ is
moved so as to project one of the surfaces to be welded against the
other, and as they come in contact they heat and fuse together, as shown
at W. Larger apparatus has been devised to weld railroad joints on the
roadbed, and for other applications.
[Illustration: FIG. 68.--GENERATION OF ELECTRICITY BY COMBUSTION.]
_The generation of electricity_ for commercial purposes is almost
entirely dependent upon the dynamo, as this is cheaper than the voltaic
battery. The dynamo, however, must be energized by a steam engine. The
direct production of electric energy by the combustion of coal would be
the ideal method. A process invented by Edison (Pat. No. 490,953, Jan.
31, 1893), is interesting as an effort in this direction, and is
presented in Fig. 68. A carbon cylinder D is suspended in an air-tight
vessel B, and is surrounded by oxide of iron F, the whole being placed
above a furnace. The temperature being raised to a point where the
carbon will be attacked by the oxygen, carbonic oxide and carbonic acid
will be formed, which are exhausted by the suction fan E. A constant
current of electricity is given off from the two electrodes through the
wires, the metallic oxide being reduced and the carbon consumed.
[Illustration: FIG. 69.--RUDDER AND MOTOR OF TROUVÉ’S ELECTRIC BOAT,
1881.]
_Electrical Navigation_ began with Jacobi, who made the first attempt on
the Neva in 1839. He used voltaic apparatus consisting of two Grove
batteries, each containing sixty-four pairs of cells, but little
progress was made in this field until the secondary battery was
perfected. In 1881 Mr. G. Trouvé made an application of the storage
battery and electric motor to a small boat on the Seine. The electric
motor, which was located on top of the rudder, as seen in Fig. 69, was
furnished with a Siemens armature connected by an endless belt with a
screw propeller having three paddles arranged in the middle of an iron
rudder. In the middle of the boat were two storage batteries connected
with the motor by two cords that both served to cover the conducting
wires and work the rudder. Electric launches have in later years rapidly
gained in popularity. Visitors to the Chicago fair will remember the
fleet of electric launches, which afforded both pleasure and
transportation on the water, at that great exposition, and to-day every
safe harbor has its quota of these silently gliding and fascinating
pleasure crafts. Fig. 70 is a longitudinal section and a general view of
one of these launches.
[Illustration: FIG. 70.--MODERN ELECTRIC LAUNCH.]
_Electro-plating_ is one of the great industrial applications of
electricity which had its origin in, and has grown into extensive use
in, the Nineteenth Century. It originated with Volta, Cruikshank, and
Wollaston in the very first year of the century. In 1805 Brugnatelli, a
pupil of Volta, gilded two large silver medals by bringing them into
communication by means of a steel wire with the negative pole of a
voltaic pile and keeping them one after the other immersed in a solution
of gold. In 1834 Henry Bessemer electro-plated lead castings with copper
in the production of antique relief heads. In 1838 Prof. Jacobi
announced his galvano-plastic process for the production of electrotype
plates for printing. In the same year he superintended the gilding, by
electro-plate, of the iron dome of the Cathedral of St. Isaac at St.
Petersburgh, using 274 pounds of ducat gold. In 1839 Spencer described
an electrotype process and carried the date of his operations back to
September, 1837. In 1839 Jordan also describes an electro-plating
process. In 1840 Murray used plumbago to make non-conducting surfaces
conductive for electro-plating. In 1840 De Le Rive made known his
process of electro-gilding, employed by him in 1828, and in the same
year (1840) De Ruolz took out a French patent for electro-gilding, and
in the following year formed electro deposits of brass from cyanides of
zinc and copper. In 1841 Smee employed his battery for electro-plating
with various metals. In 1844 there were published the electro-plating
experiments of Dancer, made in 1838. In 1847 Prof. Silliman imitated
mother-of-pearl by electro-plating process.
[Illustration: FIG. 71.--ELECTRO-PLATING ESTABLISHMENT.]
In the last half of the century the production of electrotype plates for
printing in books, and for the production of rollers for printing
fabrics, and the extensive art of electro-plating with gold, silver,
nickel and copper, has grown to enormous proportions, but the
fundamental principles have not materially changed. The dynamo, however,
has generally supplanted the voltaic battery in this art. The deposition
of silver and gold on baser metals not only increases the ornamental
effect, but prevents oxidation. Silver plated goods for the table and
articles of vertu are to be found everywhere. Nickel is employed for
cheaper ornamental effect, and copper finds a large application for
electrotypes for printing and for coating iron castings as a protection
against rust. In Fig. 71, which shows the interior of an electro-plating
establishment, the dynamo is shown on the right connected by wires with
two horizontal rods running along the wall and across the various tanks
containing the plating solution. On the tanks are rods supporting the
articles to be plated, which are suspended in the solution. Similar rods
support the opposite electrodes of the tank. Wires connect these rods to
the rods on the side of the wall, and to the opposite poles of the
dynamo.
[Illustration: FIG. 72.--EDISON’S ELECTRIC PEN.]
_The electric pen of Edison_, brought out in 1876 (U. S. Pat. No.
196,747, Nov. 6, 1877), is one of the simple applications of
electricity, which for a number of years was in quite general use for
making manifold copies of manuscript. In the illustration, Fig. 72, this
is shown. It comprises a stylus _b_ reciprocated in a tube _a_ by the
vibratory action of an armature _k_ over the poles of an electro-magnet,
supplied with a suitable current and vibrating contacts _l h_. The
stylus was rapidly reciprocated, and as the operator traced the letters
on the paper, the stylus produced a continuous trail of punctures which
permitted the paper to be used as a stencil to make any number of
copies. It has, however, been rotated out of existence by manifolding
carbon paper, and the almost universal use of the typewriter.
[Illustration: FIG. 73.--ELECTRIC CAUTERY.]
_Electricity in Medicine._--The superstitious mind is prone to resort to
mysterious agencies for the cure of diseases, and for many years men of
no scientific knowledge whatever have been employing this seductive
instrumentality for all the ills that flesh is heir to. That it has
valuable therapeutic qualities when rightly applied no intelligent
person will doubt, and it is unfortunate that for the most part it has
been in the hands of charlatans who sell their wares, and rely upon a
faith-cure principle for the result. Still there have been intelligent
experimenters in this field, and it is one of much promise for further
research.
In the first century of the Christian Era (A. D. 50) Scribonius Largus
relates that Athero, a freedman of Tiberius, was cured of the gout by
the shocks of the torpedo or electric eel. In 1803 M. Carpue published
experiments on the therapeutic action of electricity. The discovery of
induction currents by Faraday in 1831 brought a new era in the medical
application of electricity, in the use of what is known as the Faradaic
current. The first apparatus for medical use, which operated on this
principle, was made by M. Pixii in France, and the first physician who
employed such currents was Dr. Neef, of Frankfort. The medical battery
is a well-known and useful adjunct to the physician’s outfit. Electric
baths are also common and effective modes of applying the electric
current. An early example of such a device is shown in the U. S. patent
to Young, No. 32,332, May 14, 1861. The electric cautery and probe are
also scientific and useful instruments. The cautery consists of a loop
of platinum wire carried by a suitable non-conducting handle, with means
for constricting the white hot loop of wire about the tumor or object to
be excised. It was invented in 1846 by Crusell, of St. Petersburgh. A
form of the electric cautery is shown in Fig. 73, in which _a_ is the
platinum wire loop whose branches slide through guide tubes, the ends
being attached to a sliding ring B. The current enters through the wire
at the binding posts at the end of non-conducting handle A, and heats
the platinum loop, _a_, red hot. The loop, _a_, being around the object
to be excised, is constricted by drawing down the handle ring B.
Of the various applications of electricity in body wear and appliances
there is scarcely any end. There are patents for belts without number,
for electric gloves, rings, bracelets, necklaces, trusses, corsets,
shoes, hats, combs, brushes, chairs, couches, and blankets. Patents have
also been granted for electric smelling bottles, an adhesive plaster,
for electric spectacles, scissors, a foot warmer, hair singer, syringes,
a drinking cup, a hair cutter, a torch, a catheter, a pessary, gas
lighters, exercising devices, a door mat, and even for an electric hair
pin and a pair of electric garters.
_Electrical Musical Instruments_ include pianos, banjos, and violins,
all of which are to be played automatically by the aid of electrical
appliances. In the illustration, Fig. 74, is shown a modern electrical
piano. A small electrical motor 1, run by a storage battery or electric
light wires, turns a belt 3, and rotates pulley 4 and a long horizontal
cylinder 5 running beneath the keyboard. Above this cylinder is the
mechanism that acts upon the keys. It consists of a series of brake
shoes which, when brought into frictional contact with the cylinder 5,
are made to act on small vertical rods which bring down the keys just as
the fingers do in playing. The selection of the proper keys is made by a
traveling strip of paper perforated with dots and dashes representing
the notes, which strip of paper passes between two metal contact faces,
which are terminals of an electric battery. When the contacts are
separated by the non-conducting paper the current does not flow, but
when the contacts come together through the perforations the current is
completed through an electro-magnet, and this is made to bring the
proper brake shoe into position to be lifted by the cylinder 5, which
rotates constantly.
[Illustration: FIG. 74.--ELECTRIC PIANO.]
_Electro-blasting._--In 1812 Schilling proposed to blow up mines by the
galvanic current. In 1839 Colonel Pasley blew up the wreck of the “Royal
George” by electro-blasting. On Jan. 26, 1843, Mr. Cubitt used
electro-blasting to destroy Round Down Cliff, and in our own time the
extensive excavations in deepening the channel and removing the rocks at
Hell Gate, from the mouth of New York harbor, was a notable operation in
electro-blasting, and doubtless owes its success largely to the electric
current employed.
Only the briefest mention can be made of the induction coil and the
electrical transformer, of electric bells and hotel annunciators, of
electric railway signalling, and electric brakes, of electric clocks and
instruments of precision, of heating by electricity, of electrical
horticulture, and of the beautiful electric fountains. These, however,
all belong to the Nineteenth Century, and include interesting
developments.
_Electro-chemistry_ and the _electrolytic refining of metals_ represent
also, in the applications of electricity, a large and important field,
more fully treated under the chapters devoted to chemistry and metal
working.