chlorine, as
well as other chemical products, the operation of which we recently
inspected at Phoenix Wharf, Battersea, London. One of the special
features in connection with Mr. Greenwood's new departure is the novel
and ingenious method by which the electrolyzed products are separated,
and their recombination rendered impossible. This object is attained
by the use of a specially constructed diaphragm which is composed of a
series of V-shaped glass troughs, fitted in a frame within each other
with a small space between them, which is lightly packed with asbestos
fiber. Another important feature of the apparatus is a compound anode
which consists of carbon plates, with a metal core to increase the
conductivity. The anode is treated in a special manner so as to render
it non-porous and impervious to attack by the nascent chlorine evolved
on its surface. No anode appears ever to have been invented that is at
all suitable for working on a large scale, and the successful
introduction of this compound anode, therefore, constitutes a marked
advance in the apparatus used in electrolytic methods of production.

The apparatus by which the new process is being successfully
demonstrated on a working scale has been put up by the Caustic Soda
and Chlorine Syndicate, London, and has been in operation for several
months past. The installation consists of five large electrolytic
vessels, each of which is fitted up with five anodes and six cathodes
arranged alternately. The anodes and cathodes are separated by the
special diaphragms, and each vessel is thus divided into ten anode or
chlorine sections and ten cathode or caustic soda sections. The anodes
and cathodes in each vessel are connected up in parallel similar to an
ordinary storage battery, but the five electrolytic vessels are
connected up in series. The current is produced by an Elwell-Parker
dynamo, and the electromotive force required to overcome the
resistance of each vessel is about 4.4 volts, with a current density
of 10 amperes per square foot of electrode surface. The anode
sections, numbering fifty altogether, are connected by means of tubes,
the inlet being at the bottom and the outlet at the top of each
section. The whole of the cathode sections are connected in the same
manner. In commencing operations, the electrolytic vessels are charged
with a solution of common salt, through which a current of electricity
is then passed, thus decomposing or splitting up the salt