418 Novel Mode of Discharging a Ley den Battery. 



Art. XXXIX. — Notice of a Novel Mode of Dischar, 



of the Patent Office, Washington. 



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In the London Mechanic's Magazine, vol. xlix, page 84, we no- 



tice a mode of discharging a Leyden battery, which is very beau- 

 tiful in theory, and if not entirely new, is at least generally un- 

 known, and some notice of it is therefore deemed proper in this 

 Journal. 



It has been publicly exhibited on a large scale, in a course of 

 lectures delivered by Mr. Baggs, in the Polytechnic Institution, 

 and an epitome of which was communicated to the Mechanic's 

 Magazine, by John Mac Gregor, Esq. 



The arrangement of the jars in the new mode of discharging 

 them, is precisely that which has often been employed in charg- 

 ing them, that is, in a series with the knob of each in connection 

 with the outer coating of the next in the series. In the present 



case however, it is only in discharging that they are thus arrang- 



ed. They are charged separately, or are first connected together 

 in a battery in the ordinary way, with all the outer coatings con- 

 nected together and with the earth and all the inner coatings con- 

 nected and thus charged. Then when ready to discharge, they 

 are by a simple movement all insulated and arranged in a series 

 as above described, which series may be made to take a semicir- 

 cular or U form, in order to bring the knob of the last jar in the 

 series, into convenient proximity to the outer coating of the first 

 jar. The effect of this arrangement of the charged jars is to 

 multiply the intensity in a manner precisely analogous to that of 

 the galvanic battery, so that if the outer coating of the first jar 

 be supposed to be connected with the earth, and the number of jars 

 twelve, the knob of the last jar of the series will be twelve times 

 more highly electrified than the knob of either jar was before being 

 thrown into series. Consequently, the disruptive force or space- 

 penetrating power of the spark, will be correspondingly multi- 

 plied, and Mr. Baggs is said to have discharged his battery of 

 twelve large jars through a space of about three feet. It is hard- 

 ly necessary to remark, that in this way of discharging the bat- 

 tery, the quantity of the spark is only that of a single jar. Hence 

 to pursue experiments on this plan with any satisfaction, large 

 jars must be used, with an abundant source of electricity from a 

 powerful machine. Mr. Baggs employed a steam electric ma- 

 chine. 



The method employed by him, of making the necessary 

 changes of arrangement in the jars, is quite simple. Each jar is 

 supported in a horizontal position on a vertical spindle, and the 



