THE STORAGE BATTERY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 261, 25 March 1911, Page 9

THE STORAGE BATTERY.

EDISON'S LATEST. ; (Scientific American, Jan. 14, 1911). For over a decade, Thomas A. Edison has been working to produce a type of storage battery better than the old lead type. At last he has succeeded. His new cells are now in actual commercial use, In the following article the reader will find a description of the new battery, written after a painstaking study of its manufacture.

Old, indeed, is the idea of the commercial storage battery. Lead plates were immersed in an acid electrolyte, by Gaston Plante in 1801. Emile Faure brought out the pastcd-plate battery in 1879, and Charles F. Brush in 1881 introduced improvements which made the lead battery a factor in electric vehicle work, producing a cell which would give eight watts of electric power per pound of material. From these early beginnings, many inventors have sought to increase the electrical efficiency, and the durability or "life" of the cell, and reduce the cost of manufacture.

it was in the early eighties that the public began to think about "stored electricity" which could be brought by the can, as it were, like any other commodity. This dream has come true in the new Edison nickel-iron storage cell. Stored electricity finds its greatest usefulness in propelling cars and road vehicles, and it has been for this application, primarily, that the Edison storage battery has been developed. The need of the electric vehicle was recognised by Mr. Edison nine years ago. He saw thai there are two viewpoints: that of the electrical man with his instruments, his rules for efficient operation and reasonable life of the battery, his absolute knowledge that the same care should be given a vehicle battery that is given a valued horse or even a railroad locomotive; and that of the automobile driver, who simply wish<w *o go somewhere with his car, and who, when he arrives somewhere, wishes to go back. And in this long-promised battery the highly practical nature of Mr. Edison's work is once more exemplified in that he has held uncompromisingly to the automobilist's point of view. The fact to be faced, he realised, is that the electric vehicle user will work his car to the utmost, and will be limited only by repairs and break-downs. How well he has succeeded in aligning his battery to this ideal, the automobile driver will appreciate from the figures of actual performance that are now available. A recent average of 144.35 miles on a single charge was made in a family-type electric vehicle equipped with the rfew battery. This figure is the average of four trips, each with New York City (Manhattan) as the starting point. The longest of these trips, 172.1 miles, was to Babylon, Long Island, by way of Mineola and Plainvicw, returning by the southerly route through Massapequa and Freeport. The map distance by this route is 90.0 miles, and 81.2 miles additional was covered after the regular run, the average speed being 10.03 miles per hour. . The original Edison storage battery, known as the type E, was put out about seven years ago. The type E cell marked a definite step in invention, in that it proved the commercial success of a wholly new voltaic combination, a radical departure from the lead plates in acid electrolyte. Believing that the lead cell had too many inherent weaknesses to realise the full promise of "stored electricity" as a motive power for vehicles, Mr. Edison had set his stall to work on an entirely new line, and the outcome was a nickel-iron element immersed in an alkaline electrolyte, lighter and cleaner than the lead cell, with lower cost of operation and upkeep to offset its higher initial cost, and possessing hitherto unlieard-of properties of remaining undeteriorated either by overcharging or being left uncharged. These were the very qualities demanded by the automobile user. The cell developed certain weaknesses in service, which caused the inventor to withdraw it. from the market and resume experiments to improve the form of the voltaic combination, in order to obtain better electrical properties and a longer 'life. The new series of experiments lasted four years, and resulted in the present commercial. Edison cell, known as the type A. This cell is now being actively marketed for *lectric vehicle work in three sizes, the A 4, A-C, and A-8 cells, having respective- ! ly 4, 0 and 8 positive plates and 5, 7 and 0 negative plates, the two outside plates of the element being negatives. The normal discharge voltage is 1.2, and a battery is regarded as completely discharged when it shows an average of 1.0 volt per cell.