Richardson's handbook of projection (1930)

1084 HANDBOOK OF PROJECTION FOR usually is accomplished by what is called a current rectifier, or a "rectifier.'' The action of a storage battery is simple and readily understood, once you understand the underlying principle, in which understanding it is very likely a brief history of the discovery of the principle involved will greatly help. An investigator named Plante, a Frenchman, by the way, discovered that if two sheets of pure lead be placed in a mixture of sulphuric acid and water of certain strength, and one of these plates be connected to the positive and the other to the negative poles of an electric generator, after the generator had been operated for a time, the lead plates could be disconnected from the generator and would themselves serve as a source of electric power. He found, also, that the power discharged by the plates after being disconnected gradually diminished and finally ceased entirely, but that if the plates be again connected to the generator, as before, and the generator be again operated for a time, there would, after disconnection, again be power available in the plates themselves. He, in fact, found that this operation could be repeated many times; in fact, almost indefinitely, provided certain precautions be taken in the speed of charging, keeping the sulphuric acid-water mixture high enough to completely cover the plates, etc. This was in fact the first crude storage battery using the principle now used in all storage batteries. Further investigation by Plante disclosed the following facts : He found that after the two lead plates immersed in the acid-water bath were connected to the