US445687A - Asymmetrical electrical resistance - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

T. D. BOTTOME. ASYMMETRICAL ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE. No. 445,687.

Patented Feb. 3,1891.

UNITED STATES;

PATENT OFFICE.

TURNER-D. BoTToME, or HOOSICK, NEW YORK.

ASYMMETRICAL ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE.

srscrrrcarron forming m of Letters Patent No. 445,687, and February 3, 1891.

- Application filed January 28, 1890. Serial No. 338,433. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, TURNER D. BOTTOME, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of lloosick, in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Asymmetrical Electrical Resistances, of which the following'is a specification.

'lhisinvention relates to electrical cond uctors; but it differs from the ordinary conducting substances, eiements, or devices in that a direct continuous electric current may be passed through the ordinary conductors in either direction with equal facility and re sults; but when passed through the device known as an asymmetrical conductor the current will flow freely when passed through it in one direction, but will be resisted or nearly stopped when attempting to pass the same current in a reverse direction.

. The object of this inventionis to produce an asymmetrical conductor that can be used for practical purposes, especiallysuch as directing alternating currents into currents of .a continuous nature of but one direction and suitable for energizing the field-magnets of alternating-current dynamos, electrolytic 0perat-ions, &c. v

The invention consists, essentially, in an electrochemical device having conductingplates of chemically inoxidizable element-s or metals immersed in a fluid conducting medium consisting largely or entirely of sulphuric acid or a solution of a sulphate. One of the conducting plates or electrodes is composed particularly of metallic aluminum, while the other plate may be composed of almost any inoxidizable electric conducting metal or element, such as platinum, gold, or carbon.

In more fully describing my invention in its practical form reference may be had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, wherein- Figure 1 represents the device contained in an insulating-vessel. Fig. 2 shows the device self-contained. Fig. 3 illustrates a modification of the foregoing, the diflierence being that in this case a porous partition is used to separate the two conducting elements.

In Fig. 1, G represents a glass jar or other insulatingvcssel. A represents a conduct ing-plate composed of metallic aluminum.

P is a conductingelectrode composed of platinum, carbon, or other inoxidizable element, while E shows the fluid conducting medi'um.

Fig. 2 shows the device without an insulating-vessel. In lieu: thereof A represents a containing-vessel composed of metallic aluminum, in which is placed the fluid conductor E and the conducting-electrode P.

It is obvious that the containing-vessel may be constructed of the inoxidizable element 1 and contain a fluid conducting medium E, with a plate of aluminumAsuspended therein.

In Fig. 3, C shows a porous partition or ves" sel, in which either the aluminum conducting-plate A or the other ccnductingplate P may he placed, while one or the other of the plates is placed outside of the vessel 0.

The fluid conducting medium E may vary considerably in its composition and yet serve the purpose. It is not intended to perform the oiiice of a depolarizer or excitant, as is the case with fluid conducting mediums in primary batteries. It is simply construed to be a compound conducting device composed of two conductors separated by a fluid medium. The said medium may be either a liquid, jelly, or semi-solid mass and serve the purpose.

When the electrode A is electrically connected to the positive pole of an electric generator supplying a continuous electric current and the electrode P attached to the negative pole, upon passing a current for a very short period of time no unusual resistance wiil be offered by the device to the passage or" the current; but upon reversing the direction of the current and passing it as before for a very short period of time it is found that only a small portion of the original current passes, owing to the high resistance the device offers to the current in that direction.

The exact reactions taking place during the operations of the device are not perfectly understood; but it is supposed that the main action is due largely to the peculiar nature of metallic aluminum under electrolytic action and to the possible formation of a basic alu minum oxide of insulating properties upon the aluminum plates when the current passes in one direction and the decomposition of the said oxide into a soluble sulphate when the current is passed in the other direction.

I do not limit myself to any special shape or size of the conducting elements used norto the form, as they may be in the form of grids, plates, wires, &c., without departing from the invention.

I do not limit myself to the strength or par-. ticular kind 0fthe chemical condueting medium used, as there are several mixtures that may be successfully used.

What It claim as myinventionis as follows:

1. An asymmetrical conductor consisting of a fluid medium composed of chemical substances, through which an alternating electric current is passed by means of two elec-. trical conducting-electrodes, both beingim mersed therein, one electrode consisting ofi an inoxidizablemetal or element, the other of a metal that becomes superficially oxidized and deoxidized alternately, substantially as and for the purpose shown and described.

2. An asymmetrical electrical conductor consisting of two dissi milar electrical conduct, ing metals, both inoxidizable while immersed in a chemical conducting medium, one of the metals being subject to changes'in its electrical conductance under the influence of electrochemical action, the other metal be- .ing inert, substantially as herein described. 30

Anasymmetrical conductor consisting of 'a chemical conducting medium placed between inoxidizable conducting elements, one of the said elements being inert, the other having the property of having its electrical "35 conductance changed from a' low toa high resistance alternately while subjected to the action of an alternating electric current, substantially as described. l

4. An asymmetrical eondu'ctorcousisting of a device for directing alternating electric currents, composed of a'fiuid chemical conducting medium interposed between a plate of some inert conducting metal or element and. a plate'of aluminum, as described.

Signed at lloosick, in the county of Reusselaer and State of New York, this 25th day of January, A. D. 1890.

TURNER D. BOTTOME.

Witnesses:

D. V. J ONES, GEO. H. MYERS;

Images