The galvanic battery, the generator of that subtle fluid, which
performs so important a part in the operation of the Electro Magnetic
Telegraph, is as various in its form and arrangement, as the variety of
purposes to which it is applied. They all, however, involve the same
principle. It is not our design here to describe the various modes of
constructing it, but to confine our remarks more immediately to that
used for the Telegraph.
The effects produced by the galvanic fluid upon the metallic bodies,
iron and steel, exciting in them the power of attraction or magnetism,
its decomposing effects upon liquids, resolving them into their simple
elements, its effects upon the animal system, in producing a spasmodic
and sudden irritation, are generally well known. But of the character
of the fluid itself, its own essence or substance, we know nothing. In
some of its phenomena, it resembles the electricity of the heavens;
both find a conductor in the metals; both exhibit a spark, and both
are capable of producing shocks, or when applied, cause the animal
system to be sensible to them. Again, in other of its phenomena it
is totally unlike it. The galvanic fluid is essentially necessary in
producing the electro magnet; while the electricity of the heavens, or
as it is generally termed, _machine electricity_, has no such power for
practical purposes. The former is more dense, so to speak, and more
easily confined to its conductors, while the latter becomes dissipated
and lost in the atmosphere long before it has reached the opposite
extremity of a long conductor. The former is continuous in its supply;
while the latter is at irregular intervals. The former always needs
a continuous conductor; while the latter will pass from one metallic
conductor to another without that connection. The latter would not
subserve the purposes required in the working of the Electro Magnetic
Telegraph, and as it is neither essential nor antagonistical, its
presence upon the galvanic conductors or wires, at the same time those
wires are being used for telegraphic communication, does in no way
interrupt or confuse its operation; and its presence is only known from
the suddenness of its discharge at long intervals, accompanied by a
bright spark, with a loud crack, like that of a coachman’s whip.
The most simple mode of developing the galvanic fluid is in the
following manner: if a common glass tumbler is two-thirds filled
with dilute muriatic acid, and a piece of bright zinc, five inches
long and one inch wide, immersed in the liquid, at one of its ends,
slight action will be discovered upon it. If a slip of copper be then
taken, of the same dimensions, and one end immersed in the liquid, but
separated from that portion of the zinc immersed, and not permitted to
touch it; and the two projecting ends of the zinc and copper, above the
liquid be brought in contact, an active decomposition of the muriatic
acid will appear.
While the two outer ends are in contact, there is that current formed
in the metallic plates, which is termed galvanic. If the contact is
broken, the action ceases; if it is again renewed, the action is
recommenced. Another very simple experiment, and within the power of
every one to demonstrate for themselves, is that of applying a piece
of zinc to the underside of the tongue, and to the upperside, a silver
coin, and then by bringing their projecting ends in contact, a sensible
and curious effect is experienced upon the tongue. It is a feeble
galvanic shock, and is proof of the presence of that fluid termed
galvanic.
We will now proceed to describe the battery used for telegraphic
purposes; the same in principle, but in arrangement more complicated,
and far more powerful than those in common use. Two distinct acids
are employed; two metals and two vessels. Each part will be described
separately, and then the whole, as put together ready for use.
First. A glass tumbler of the ordinary size is used, or about three
inches high and two inches and three quarters in diameter.
Second. The zinc cylinder, made of the purest zinc, and cast in an iron
mould, represented by figure 1.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
It is three inches high, and two inches in diameter. The shell I
is three-eighths of an inch in thickness. D is an opening in the
cylinder, parallel with its axis, and is of no other use than to aid
in the operation of casting them, and facilitating the access of the
fluid to the interior. A A represents the body of the cylinder. B is
a projecting arm, first rising vertically from the shell, and then
projecting horizontally one and three quarters of an inch. To this arm,
at C, is soldered a platinum plate of the thickness of tin foil, and
hanging vertically from the arm B, as seen at O, and of the form shown
in the figure. This constitutes the zinc cylinder and platinum plate,
the two metals used in the battery.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
Third. The porous cup. To avoid an erroneous impression in the use of
the term porous, it will suffice to state, that it is a cup of the form
represented by figure 2, made of the same materials as stone-ware, and
baked without being _glazed_.[1] A represents the rim surrounding the
top. From the under side of the rim to the bottom, it is three inches
long, and one and one-quarter in diameter. The rim projects one-quarter
of an inch, and the shell of the cup is one-eighth of an inch
thick. These several parts are placed together thus. The porous cup,
fig. 2, is set in the hollow of the zinc cylinder, fig. 1, represented
by H, with the rim of the cup resting upon the top of the zinc at I.
The zinc cylinder is then placed in the glass tumbler. The whole is
represented in figure 3.
[1] These are made at the American Pottery, in Jersey City, opposite
New York.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.]
D represents the porous cup, F the zinc cylinder, G the glass tumbler,
A the projecting arm of the zinc, C the platinum plate, and B the
over-lapping of the platinum plate upon the zinc arm, where it is
soldered to it. It is now in a condition to receive the acids, which
are two: first, pure nitric acid, and second, sulphuric acid, diluted
in the proportion of one part of sulphuric acid to twelve of water.
First fill the porous cup with the nitric acid, to within one-quarter
of an inch of the top; then fill the glass with the diluted sulphuric
acid, till it reaches to a level with the nitric acid in the porous
cup. One glass of the battery is now ready for use, and as all the
other members of the battery are similarly constructed, (there being
many or few, as circumstances require,) and are to be prepared and
filled with their appropriate acids in the same manner, the above
description will suffice. There remains, however, some further
explanation in regard to the extremities of the series of glasses,
that is, the mode of connecting the zinc of the first glass with the
wire leading from it, and also the mode of connecting the platinum of
the last glass with the wire leading from that end of the series of
glasses. Figure 4 represents their arrangement.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.]
The glasses being all separately supplied with their acids, and
otherwise prepared, they are put together upon a table, A A, perfectly
dry, and made of hard wood. The first member of the series has soldered
to its zinc arm a strip of copper, C, which, extending downward, has
its end, previously brightened and amalgamated, immersed in a cup of
mercury at N. The cup being permanently secured to the table. Then the
second glass is taken, and the platinum, B, at the end of the zinc arm,
is gently let fall into the porous cup, so that it shall be in the
centre of the cup, and reaching down as far as its length, when the
glass rests upon the table. The third glass is then taken and placed
in the same manner, and so on to the last. The last glass has, in its
porous cup, the platinum plate, D, soldered to a strip of copper, E,
which is so constructed as to turn at the top, and admit of the easy
introduction of the platinum into the porous cup, while the other end
of the copper, previously prepared like the copper of the other end of
the battery, terminates in a cup of mercury, P. The cup being capable
of adjustment, so as to bring the platinum directly over the porous
cup; is, when adjusted, secured permanently to the table. The battery,
thus arranged, is ready to be applied.