Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/423

 Popular Science Monthly

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��The method of ventilating batteries shown below was patented by the builders of the Holland boats. An alarm rings when a jar has been broken. An insulated tank collects the leakage

���Edison patented the method on the right of coping with the hydrogen and oxygen gases of his battery. These form an ex- plosive mixture, which is ignited by a red- hot wire. As Edison says "By my process I cause the combination of the oxygen and hydrogen to take place at shorter intervals before the quantity of the gases evolved have become sufficient to render explosion dangerous"

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HOT PLATINUM hZ/ffE^ TO IGNITE GASES

���To the left, Si- mon Lake's way of ventilating storage batteries. An air-duct ex- tends through the battery com- partment. It is connected with a suction fan dis- charging into a pipe, leading through the top of the hull. A non - return ex- haust-valve pre- vents water from reaching the air- duct and cells

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