US472261A

US472261A - Robert jacob gxlcher

Info

Publication number: US472261A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1892-04-05
Anticipated expiration: 1909-04-05

Description

(No Model.)

R. J. GULOHER.

.THBRMO-ELEGTRIG BATTERY.

No. 472,261. Patented Apr; 5, 1892'.-

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bw 0 5 1 F 2, +2, 171' I 1 UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT JACOB ei'rLoH'ER, OF BERLIN, GERMANY.

THERMO-ELECTRIC BATTERY SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Application filed June 18, 1891.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be itknown that I, ROBERT JACOB GUL HER, engineer, a subject of the King of Prussia and German Emperor, residing at Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia and German Empire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in 'lhermo- Electric Batteries; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and-use the same.

Thisinvention relates to thermo-electric batteries; and it consists in the novel construction and combination of the parts hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In carrying out this invention the elements which are subjected to a less degree of heat, and which consequently develop less electromotive force, are made of less resistance than the elements which are subjected to a greater degree of heat, and the difference in the resistances of the elements is made substantially proportional to the ditferences in their temperatures. This change in resistance may Kbe accomplished by making the elements of larger size to lessen their resistance, or by, changing the metal or alloy of which they are composed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a vertical section of a thermo-electric battery constructed according to the present invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of a single row of elements. Figs. 3 and 4 are detail plan views of modifications of two of the elements.

a a is the heating-chamber, around which are arranged-the wheel-shaped rows of elements 1) 1) 12 &c., which are placed one above the other. The points of connection 0 c of the separate elements themselves form the inner wall of the heating-chamber. The separate elements, as also the rows of elements, are insulated from each otherin a suitable manner by means of layers'e of material that is atthe same time a bad conductor of heat, such. as a mixture of fossil-meal and asbestus. The cooling of the soldered parts 01 d is efiected by copper bands f f, soldered thereto, which are connected by wires to hoops of insulat- Patent No. 472,261, dated April 5,1892.

Serial No. 396,782. (No model.)

ing material g g, such as ebonite,-paraifined wood, &c. The proportion between the internal resistance and the electro-motive force is rendered constant in each row ot' elements by making the'separate elements of equal size only so far as the temperature of the heatingchamber is about at the same height, such as from Z) to N. From the point where the temperature begins to decrease the sections of the elements are made to gradually increase, bein for this purpose increased in height, while the other dimensions remain the same, such as from b to b".

The heating-cha1nber a a is heated by means of a Bunsen burner lot hollow cylindrical form, which imparts to the chamber a constant high temperature over a tolerably-extended surface, such as from b to b". It will be readily understood that the thermoelectric pile could also be otherwise heated, such as by a petroleum-burner or by a coke-fi re. The

rows of elements rest in the present instance upon a suitable stand fined together with the burnert It upon a base-plate 0. On the rings 9 of thetop .row of elements is placed a conical hood it hot sheet-iron, with a central outlet, which can be connected in any convenient manner with a chimney in order to expose the cooling-bands f f to a strong current of air. The hood h h is provided with lugs, through which and through corresponding lugs on the bottom-stand pass screw-bolts for securing the parts firmly together.

Fig. 2 showsa sectional plan of a single row of elements. 0 c are the connecting-pieces or intermediate contacts to be heated, which are made of a good conductorof heat, such as copper. on one side thereof the positive electrodes p p of sheet-nickel are brazed, while the negative electrodes 1) b of an alloys'uch as antimony and zinc-are cast' into hollows of the said contacts. The separate elements, which are placed closely side by side at their connecting parts 0 c, are insulated from each other by thin strips of mica q q. The remain 5 ing free'space between the elements is filled with a bad conductor of heat e e, with which the elements are also covered at top and bottom. There are two copper cooling-bands ff connected to each element, whereby an effective cooling of the outer soldered points (I d is produced. 9 is the ring of vulcanite or other material, to which the outer ends of the cooltug-bands are attached.

The drawings show all the elements connected in series. They may, however, accordingto circumstances, be all or partly connected in parallel. The mode of connecting the elements in the one row, however, determincs the mode of connection of the other rows in the same pile. The rows themselves must always be connected in series. Several rows of elements could be combined together In groups of equal electro motive force, and these groups may then be connected in parallel.

Figs. 3 and 4 show two of the new elements with the extended intermediate contacts 0 o. b b are the negative electrodes of easily-fusible metal, which are cast around the dovetailed plugs c of the intermediate contacts. The positive electrodes consist, for example, of. strips of sheet-nickel p p, and they are connected with the ends of the intermediate contactseither by brazing them on, as at Fig. 3, or by castingthem on, as at Fig. 4. Only the ends 0 0, connected to the positive electrodes, are directly subjected to the temperature of the source of heat, While the ends 0', connected to the negative electrodes, only transmit such heat to the latter as is conducted from c to 0' through the intermediate contact. Fol-this purpose the elements may be, for example, arranged in the same manner as shown at Fig. 2, the entire free space both between the extended intermediate contacts and alsob'etween the electrodes being filled withan insulating bad conductor of heat. By suitably proportioning the extended'cintermediate contact a considerable difference of temperature may be maintained between the two points 0 and 0', so that if, for example, the positive electrode p has a temperature of, say, 500 centigrade and above the negative electrode at 0' only receives a heat'of, say, 300 centigrade, which temperature is below the melting-point of the alloy employed.

What l claim is 1. In a thermo-electric battery, the combination, with a source of heat, of elements having different internal resistances, said elements being arranged in agraduated series, the elements of less internal resistance being arranged at a distance from the source of heat so that the resistance of each element is substantially proportional to the temperature to which it is subjected, and all the said elements of different internal resistances being connected in series, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a thermoelectric battery, the combination, with a source of heat, of elements of different sizes, said elements being arranged in a graduated series, the larger elements, which have less internal resistance, being arranged at a distance from the said source of heat so that the resistance of each element is substantially proportional to the temperature to which it is subjected, and all the said elements of different sizes being connected in series, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a thermo-electric battery, the combination, with a central source of heat, of elements arranged in rows around the said source of heat, the said rows being arranged in a graduated series, the elements in the rows which are more remote from the sourceof heat beingof less internal resistance, substantially in proportion to the lower temperature to which they are subjected, and the said rows of elements having difierent resistances being connected in series, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. A thermoelectric element consisting of a negative electrode of fusible metal, a positive electrode of refractory inetal and an intermediate metallic contact-piece having its opposite ends secured to the said electrodes, said contact-piece being adapted to be heated only at that end of it to which the said positive electrode isconnected and proportioned so that a considerable difference in the temperature of its ends is constantly maintained, substantially and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT moon GULCHER.

\Vitnesses:

MARC M. ROTTEN, SIEGFRIED ITAMBURGER.