US1091244A - Electrode for gas or vapor electric apparatus. - Google Patents

Description

APPLICATION FILED PEB.5, 1907.

Patented Mar. 24, 191i N VE N TOR WITNESSES UNITED STATES ZTENT OFFICE.

MAX VON RECKLINGHAUSEN, OF PARIS, FRANCE, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS,

TO COOPER HEWITT ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORA- TION OF NEW JERSEY.

ELECTRODE FOR GAS OR VAPOR ELECTRIC APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 24, 1914.

Original application filed February 14, 1903, Serial No. 143,317. Divided and this application filed February 5, 1907. Serial No. 355,845,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, MAX VON Rucunmo- HAUS'EN, a subject of the Emperor of Ger many, and resident 'of Paris, France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrodes for Gas or Vapor Electric Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention is applicable to the general class of gas or vapor electric apparatus invented by Peter Cooper Hewitt and described and shown in certain patents issued to him on the 17th day of- September, 1901. In apparatus of this class whether used for the purpose of giving light or for any other purpose, it has been customary, when found convenient, to use as the material for one or more of the electrodes a conducting fluid such as mercury. During the operation of the apparatus some of this mercury is vaporized and afterward cooled, usually in a special cooling chamber. Hitherto no special means have been devised for securing an accurate re-distribution of the mercury after the condensation due to cooling, although devices have been suggested for carrying some of the mercury which is carried away from the negative electrode back to the said electrode after condensation,

say, through a special tube provided for the purpose.

The present invention aims at providing a more accurately gaged redistribution of the mercury, as will fully appear hereinafter. For example, I may provide suitable pockets for containing the several electrodes of mer-, cury or other conducting fluid, such pockets being devised so as to contain the proper amount of fluid to serve as an electrode and to present within the chamber of the apparatus a suitable amount of surface for the purpose for which the apparatus is designed. I may then so dispose the cooling chamber in which the greater part of the condensation takes place with relation to the several pockets as to provide for a return of the mercury which may have been Withdrawn from the said pockets during the operation of the lamp, or by any means whatsoever to the said pockets in succession, so that any pocket which shall have received its proper amount of mercury, or other conducting fiuid will, on the entrance of any more fluid, of condensation overflow and transfer the overflow to the next pocket and soon until all the pockets in the series are suitably filled. I may accomplish this by g ving to the apparatus asuitable slope runnmg from the cooling or condensing chamber downward whereby the force of gravity will carry the condensed vapors from pocket to pocket as described. Should it be desired to utilize a non-fluid or solid substance as one of the electrodes, or a fluid of another character, or should it for any reason be undesirable to deliver the condensed "apor to one of the electrodes, the tube may be turned away from the general downward slope and may thus be removed from the path of flow. It is now known that apparatus of this class is often provided with a considerable number of electrodes. For example, a well-known form of apparatus contalns a single negative electrode and a plurallty of positive electrodes, while a supplemental electrode is often employed as one terminal of a direct current circuit adapted to maintain the passage of current of one direction through the apparatus.

I have illustrated my invention in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a section of a gas or vapor electric apparatus embodying my invention: Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are similar views of modifi cations.

Referring to the drawings, 1 is a container adapted to inclose a conducting gas or vapor and being provided with pockets 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, as shown. These pockets are adaptedfito contain a conducting fluid which in this instance is represented as mercury, and the pockets 2, 3 and 5, may be assumed to contain the mercury constituting positive electrodes, while the pocket 4, may contain the mercury constituting the negative electrode, and the pocket 6 may contain the mercury constituting the supplemental electrode. Suitable lead wires are connected through the walls of the pockets with the electrodes contained therein. It is unnecessary to give in detail the operation of an apparatus of this sort further than to say that such operation has for one of its effects the vaporization of a portion of the conducting fluid and the circulation of the vapor through the apparatus.

,obstructions As a feature of the apparatus, a cooling chamber, as 7, is generally provided, and in this instance I locate such chamber at the summit of the apparatus, and incline the tubular portion 1 with respect to the said cooling chamber so as to give to the mercury which is condensed therein a tendency to descend along the tube by the action of gravity. In its descent the condensed vapor will first enter the ocket 2, and in case that pocket has been depleted of a portion of its mercury, the descending mercury will now refill it, and when such refilling has taken place, the pocket will overflow and the mercury will pass into the next pocket in the series and so on. In this way the several pockets are maintained full, or nearly so, at all times, and the mercury which is withdrawn by the operation of the apparatus is re-distributed in such a Way as to restore normal conditions.

In Fig. 2 the same principle is illustrated, the pockets in this instance being two in number, one of them, as 8, containing the positive electrode, and the other, as 9, the negative electrode. In both instances, suitable lead-wires are connected through the walls of the pocket with the electrodes contained therein.

Fig. 3 illustrates a construction in which one of the electrodes, say the supplemental electrode, appearing at 10, is of some solid substance such as iron. The electrode 10 is arranged ina raised portion of the tube and is not subject to being fed by the downward flow of the conducting fluid, as is the case with the other electrodes.

Short circuits between the electrodes dur-. ing the transfer of fluid from one pocket to another may be prevented by introducing just in advance of each pocket, as illustrated at 11, 11. The fluid on striking these obstructions will be momentarily checked and on leaving them will be accelerated so that there is not likely to be a continuous stream of mercury between two successive pockets.

The means already described are merely illustrative of typical forms of devices whereby the present invention may be carried out. Many other embodiments of the invention might be made without substantial departure from the principle of this invention. One such example is illustrated in Fig. 4, wherein the negative electrode is represented as a puddle of mercury, 12, connected to a suitable lead-wire, and the positive electrode is shown as a column, 13, of mercury inclosed within an open-mouthed tubu-' lar extension, 14, of the container 1. The open end of the tube 14 terminates inside a vessel, 15, containing mercury, and the positive lead-wire is connected with this vessel or with the mercury therein in any suitable manner. The column of mercury 13 is maintained at its proper height by atmospheric pressure so as to present a suitable amount of electrode surface within the chamber of the container 1. Another tubular extension, 16, of the container 1 is adapted to receive the mercury which is condensed in the cooling end 7 of the container. Here ravity carries down the condensed vapor t roug the tube 16, the arrangement being such that the mercury near the top of the tube passes down in the form of drops until it meets the solid column of mercury which is maintained by atmospheric pressure at a certain height, inasmuch as the tube 16 dips into a vessel 17 containing mercury. I lead from the vessel 17 a pipe 18 connected with a suitable pump, 19, beyond which a pipe, 20, containing a stop cock, 21, terminates above the vessel 15. When the level of the mercury in the column 13 becomes too low, the ump 19 is put in operation, the stop-coo: 21 is opened, and the level is raised by adding to the height of the mercury in the vessel 15. Any excessive depletion of the mercury constituting the electrode 12 may be compensated for by carrying on the pumping process until some of the mercury from the top of the column 13 overflows in the direction of the electrode 12.

The circulation of the mercury and the consequent reconstruction of the electrodes in the apparatus illustrated in F ig. 4, is manifestly not dependent upon the condensation of mercury, as the pump 19 may be operated to cause a circulation of the mercury often enough to keep the electrodes in their normal condition quite independently of the condensation in the cooling chamber 7. Whatever excess of mercury may thus be introduced into the container will pass beyond the electrode 12, over into the top of the tube 16.

This application is a division of my application Serial Number 143,317, filed February 14, 1903.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a vapor electric device, the combination of a container, multiple positive electrodes of mercury, an intermediate mercury negative electrode, and means whereby fluid transferred from one to another of said electrodes passes in separate and disconnected portions.

2. In a vapor electric device, a container, a plurality of main positive electrodes located therein in a continuous series, and a negative electrode interposed between at least two of said positive electrodes.

3. In a vapor electric device, a container, a plurality of main positive electrodes therein and a negative electrode interposed between at least two of said positive electrodes.

4 A vapor rectifier comprising an exhausted container and a plurality of positive electrodes located in a continuous series,

and a negative electrode interposed between ous series at the bottom of the incline and at least two of said positive electrodes. a negative electrode interposed between at 5. A vapor rectifier comprising an exleast two of said positive electrodes. hausted container, a plurality of positive Signed at Paris, France, this 22d day of 5 electrodes and a main negative electrode in- January, A. D. 1907.

tiexrpzsiigtlhjgzvseen at least two of said posi- M AX VON REOKLINGHAUSEN- 6. A vapor rectifier comprising an in- Witnesses: clined exhausted container and a plurality JACK H. BAKER,

10 of positive electrodes located in a continu- H. O. Come.

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