In this
chemical action, caloric is occluded in the Pb and unlocked in the
PbO2, but a much greater amount of caloric is locked up than is
unlocked, although the amount of oxygen used in both cases is
precisely the same, which has been fully explained in the oxidation of
carbon.
Now after the battery has been thus charged and the wires disengaged,
the chemical action ceases for want of the reducing agent (_dynamic
caloric_), and the apparatus may be held at rest, or transported to
any distance required. When it is desired to utilize the force thus
stored, the poles are changed by grounding the positive wire, and
attaching the other to the conduit through which the electricity is to
flow. The chemical action is thus reversed, and the PbO2 is reduced to
Pb3O4, the oxygen thus set free attacks the Pb on the other plate,
oxidizing it to Pb3O4, thus unlocking all the caloric which was
occluded by the first action. In a battery of this kind weighing 75
pounds, we are informed by Sir William Thomson, that one million foot
pounds of force may be stored, and again set free for use.
Thus we find that the principle upon which the Faure battery is formed
is not new, and the prime factor producing the phenomena is the same
as has been shown to have caused all other phenomena referred to, and
indeed the principle is the same as now employed by the author in the
basic dephosphorizing process, i.
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