Chap. III.] SMEE'S BATTERY. 17 



thencefortli my endeavour to construct one that should requii-e little 

 or no labour in its employment, and this was followed by devising the 

 Chemico-mechanical battery. 



This battery, after I had minutely investigated every property which 

 belongs to the metals of which batteries are constructed, was made upon 

 noticing the property which rough surfaces possess of evolving the 

 hydrogen, and smooth surfaces of favouring its adhesion. 



The value of the battery process, Smee's battery (he writes in his 

 'History of Electro-Metallurgy ' *), over all others, is its applicability to all 

 cases ; moreover, when we use a single cell of the battery, the quantity of 

 zinc dissolved to do any amount of work is the same, or even less, than 

 attends the use of the other apparatus, because the local action in a battery 

 of this construction is less than in the single-cell apparatus, and lastly, the 

 quality of the precipitated metal can be regulated with the utmost nicety. 



The platinized silver battery is peculiarly suitable for the operator, 

 for when it is in action it communicates to him the degree of work 

 that it is doing; in fact, it completely talks to its possessor. If the 

 current is very feeble, a faint murmur is heard ; if a little stronger, the 

 battery whispers ; if a moderate current is passing, it hisses ; but if a 

 violent one, it roars. At this present moment I have nineteen batteries at 

 work in the same room where I am writing, and they are each telling me 

 the work they are performing. This very instant the fall of a heavy 

 ledger in a neighbouring office has jarred two wires into contact, and 

 the roar of that one battery has immediately informed me of the fact, 

 notwithstanding the action of the eighteen others ; I have separated the 

 wires, and the universal singing communicates to me that all are now 

 working satisfactorily. Any local action on zinc in the same manner is 

 immediately notified by its different and peculiar voice, and I have been 

 surprised how quickly the experimenter catches the characteristic pecu- 

 liarity of each noise, which is learnt more readily than the sound of different 

 bells in a strange house. 



As soon as this new battery was made known it created 

 a great sensation thronghont the country. The great manu- 

 facturers entertained so high an opinion of it, that before the 

 year had closed some thousands of them, or about £2000 worth, 

 were sold to the country. Thirty-six years have now passed since 

 its invention, and yet it is still in use. 



As with most, if not with all inventions, there are always to 

 be found a few persons to endeavour to cry down any important 

 novelty, so it may be supposed that " Smee's Battery " did not 

 escape the ire of the jealous few ; but in this case, as in all other 

 cases where merit exists, it only brought its worth more into 

 view, and thus it became the one employed by the great 

 manufacturers of this country. Soon its fame reached other 

 countries, where it was likewise employed. 



* P. 23. 



t This was written at the time when he lived at his father's house at the 

 Bank of England. 



C 



