Popular Science Monthly 



395 



The method of ventilating batteries 

 shown below was patented by the 

 builders of the Holland boats. An 

 alarm rings when a jar has been 

 broken. An insulated tank collects 

 the leakage 



Edison patented the method on the right 

 of coping with the hydrogen and oxygen 

 gases of his battery. These form an ex- 

 plosive mixture, which is ignited by a red- 

 hot wire. As Edison says "By my 

 process I cause the combination of the 

 oxygen and hydrogen to take place at 

 shorter intervals before the quantity of the 

 gases evolved have become sufficient to 

 render explosion dangerous" 



£L£CTfiOLYTIC 

 SOLUTIONt 



HOT PLATINUM hZ/ffE^ 

 TO IGNITE GASES 



To the left, Si- 

 mon Lake's way 

 of ventilating 

 storage batteries. 

 An air-duct ex- 

 tends through 

 the battery com- 

 partment. It is 

 connected with 

 a suction fan dis- 

 charging into a 

 pipe, leading 

 through the top 

 of the hull. A 

 non - return ex- 

 haust-valve pre- 

 vents water from 

 reaching the air- 

 duct and cells 



