Storing Up Electricity

In the foregoing chapters we have seen that, originally, electricity was confined in a bottle, called the Leyden jar, from which it was wholly discharged at a single impulse, as soon as it was connected up by external means. Later the primary battery and the dynamo were invented to generate a constant current, and after these came the second form of storing electricity, called the storage or secondary battery, and later still recognized as accumulators.

The Accumulator

The term accumulator is, strictly speaking, the more nearly correct, as electricity is, in reality, "stored" in an accumulator. But when an accumulator is charged by a current of electricity, a chemical change is gradually produced in the active element of which the accumulator is made. This change or decomposition continues so long as the charging current is on. When the accumulator is disconnected from the charging battery or dynamo, and its terminals are connected up with a lighting system, or with a motor, for instance, a reverse process is set up, or the particles re-form themselves into their original compositions, which causes a current to flow in a direction opposite to that of the charging current.

It is immaterial to the purposes of this chapter, as to the charging source, whether it be by batteries or dynamos; the same principles will apply in either case.

Accumulator Plates

The elements used for accumulator plates are red lead for the positive plates, and precipitated lead, or the well-known litharge, for the negative plates. Experience has shown that the best way to hold this material is by means of lead grids

Fig. 62 shows the typical form of one of these grids. It is made of lead, cast or molded in one piece, usually square, as at A, with a wing or projection (B), at one margin, extending upwardly and provided with a hole (C). The grid is about a quarter of an inch thick.

The Grid

The open space, called the grid, proper, comprises cross bars, integral with the plate, made in a variety of shapes. Fig. 62 shows three forms of constructing these bars or ribs, the object being to provide a form which will hold in the lead paste, which is pressed in so as to make a solid-looking plate when completed.

The Positive Plate

The positive plate is made in the following manner: Make a stiff paste of red lead and sulphuric acid; using a solution, say, of one part of acid to two parts of water. The grid is laid on a flat surface and the paste forced into the perforations with a stiff knife or spatula. Turn over the grid so as to get the paste in evenly on both sides.

The grid is then stood on its edge, from 18 to 20 hours, to dry, and afterwards immersed in a concentrated solution of chloride of lime, so as to convert it into lead peroxide. When the action is complete it is thoroughly rinsed in cold water, and is ready to use.