SCIENCE. 



SUPPLEMENT TO No. 89 y FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1884, 



THE DISCUSSION ON STORAGE-BATTERIES BEFORE THE ELECTRICAL 

 CONFERENCE IN PHILADELPHIA. 



The sudden outburst of interest in secondary 

 batteries at the time the Faure battery was first in- 

 troduced in England led to some unfortunate results 

 in the shape of bankrupt electric companies. The 

 first hope was that sufficient electricity to do most 

 of the household work, and give all needed light, 

 would be left at one's door each morning. The idea of 

 1 bottled electricity ' was a taking one with the public, 

 especially as it was introduced with the best of in- 

 dorsements ; but the secondary battery has not proved 

 to be such a boon as was expected. In view of this 

 great public interest, the discussion on the subject 

 by many of the leading electricians of England and 

 America at the electrical conference was of especial 

 importance. This discussion shows, as well as any 

 thing can, the present state of opinion among those 

 most capable of judging of the secondary battery. 

 The discussion was opened by Mr. W. H. Preece. 



Professor W. H. Preece, London, England. — I 

 have been called upon somewhat unexpectedly to 

 open a discussion on this question of storage-bat- 

 teries; and I regret very much that I have no notes 

 with me to refer to, and that I shall have to trust a 

 good deal to my memory. As I am not possessed 

 of a poor memory, I don't think I should develop 

 any serious error, although Mr. Edison himself has 

 declared that this question of storage-batteries has 

 developed the most remarkable power of man's latent 

 capacity for lying. [Laughter.] 



I very much agree with Mr. Edison's definition, 

 for I think there has been more lying and more 

 swindling and more rascality done over this ques- 

 tion of storage-batteries than over any other depart- 

 ment of electrical science. Now, storage-batteries 

 have been very improperly called storage-batteries, 

 and I very much prefer to call them secondary bat- 

 teries. It is quite true that this subject of storage- 

 batteries is one upon which there is a good deal of 

 misconception, which has arisen from the introduc- 

 tion of the word ' storage.' Now, these secondary 

 batteries have been before the world for over twenty 

 years; and all the physicists who go to Paris almost 

 invariably meet with Plante himself, the father of 

 this instrument. For the past twenty years, nearly, 

 it has been one of my great pleasures, when I visited 

 Paris, to pay a visit to Mr. Plante, who has shown 

 me, as he always shows everybody who sees him, 

 the progress that he has made. Mr. Camille 



Faure, conceived the notion of coating the plates of 

 lead with the oxide of lead. These secondary bat- 

 teries had not attracted much attention, although 

 Plaate's papers deserve the most careful considera- 

 tion from all electricians ; but Mr. Faure found that 

 by coating the positive plate of the secondary cell 

 with a layer of minium, — red oxide of lead, — he 

 considerably hastened the production of the plate. 

 Plante simply depended upon the electrolytic action 

 of the current in peroxidizing his plate. This is an 

 operation that sometimes involves months. Faure" s 

 battery fell into the hands of a man who put for- 

 ward one of the most diabolical schemes that Paris 

 has ever produced. A man by the name of Phillippart 

 placarded all Paris with the most outrageous notices 

 of what this great battery was going to do. Batteries 

 were to be distributed, like milk and ice, at our doors ; 

 so that motor power could be obtained and used in our 

 houses, and light could be obtained from them. The 

 result was, that a considerable sensation was created, 

 and an attempt was made to bring out an official swin- 

 dle ; but it did not succeed. Another gentleman was 

 associated with him by the name of Mari. They be- 

 came associated in London with a gentleman who 

 holds a very high position, and occupies in the finan- 

 cial world a very important place indeed, as the head 

 of the great firm of Mathie, Johnson, & Co., who are 

 large metallurgists. Mr. Sellon joined himself with 

 a Mr. Yolckmar. They brought out a compound 

 battery; and a company was formed in London to 

 develop this scheme, and a great deal of money was 

 collected, but all of it has been lost. Mr. Yolckmar 

 himself succeeded in playing his part of a plunderer 

 sufficiently to ride about London in a manner indicat- 

 ing a person of great wealth. The fate of this man 

 was sad indeed, for his body was found in the Seine 

 with a bullet through the forehead. Now, two or 

 three other men had been working at this idea, — Mr. 

 Tribe and Professor Bridgeton. They approached the 

 matter in a truly scientific spirit; and the result 

 has been, that Mr. Tribe has brought out a form of 

 secondary cell, although it is not yet in the market, 

 that is a great improvement upon any thing that 

 has ever been brought out before. But all these 

 persons have been working silently upon this subject, 

 and have gone back to Plante's original work, and 

 they have followed Plante's original methods. The 

 batteries that I am going to speak about are hollow, 



