Scientific American Supplement, No. 385, May 19, 1883 — John Shaqi
Scientific American Supplement, No. 385, May 19, 1883Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 385, May 19, 1883
Various
Science -- Periodicals
Considerable attention has been attracted lately at Paris among those
who are interested in electrical novelties to a chloride of silver
pile invented by Mr. Scrivanow. The experiments to which it has been
submitted are, in some respects, sufficiently extraordinary to cause us
to make them known to our readers, along with the inventor's description
of the apparatus.
Mr. Scrivanow's intention appears to be to apply this pile to the
lighting of apartments, and even to the running of small motors, and,
for the purpose of actuating sewing machines, he has already constructed
a small model whose external dimensions are 160 x 100 x 90 millimeters.
"My invention," says the inventor, "is intended as an electric pile
capable of regeneration. The annexed Fig. 1 shows a vertical arrangement
of the apparatus, and Fig. 2 a horizontal one. In the latter, two
elements are represented superposed.
"My pile consists of a prism of retort carbon (a) covered on every side
with pure chloride of silver (b). The carbon thus prepared is immersed
in a solution of hydrate of potassium (KHO) or of hydrate of sodium
(NaHO), marking 1.30 to 1.45 by the Baumé areometer, the solvent being
water.
"In the vicinity of the carbon is arranged the plate to be attacked--a
plate of zinc (c) of good quality. The surface of the electrodes, and
their distance apart, depends upon the effects that it is desired to
obtain, and is determined in accordance with the well known principles
of electro-kinetics.
"The chemical reactions that take place in this couple are multiple.
In contact with a sufficiently concentrated solution of hydrate of
potassium or sodium, the chloride of silver, especially if it has been
recently prepared, passes partially into the state of brown or black
oxide, so that the carbon becomes covered, after remaining sufficiently
long in the exciting liquid, with a mixture of chloride and oxide of
silver. When the circuit is closed, the chloride becomes reduced to a
spongy metallic state and adheres to the surface of the carbon. At the
same time the zinc passes, in the alkaline solution, into a state of
chloride and of soluble combination of zinc oxide and of alkali.
"To avoid all loss of silver I cover the carbon with asbestos paper, or
with cloth of the same material, d. My piles are arranged in ebonite
vessels, A, which are flat, as in Fig. 1, or round, as in Fig. 2.
"In Fig 1 there is seen, at e, gutta-percha separating the zinc from the
carbon at the base.
"Under such conditions, we obtain a powerful couple that possesses an
electro-motive power of 1.5 to 1.8 volts, according to the concentration
of the exciting liquid. The internal resistance is extremely feeble. I
have obtained with piles arranged like those shown in the figures nearly
0.06 ohm, the measurements having been taken from a newly charged pile.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account