Fuel cell with screen electrodes

Claim 1

A FUEL CELL COMPRISING: A CHAMBER ADAPTED TO CONTAIN A CONFINED BODY OF AQUEOUS LIQUID ELECTROLYTE HAVING KNOWN SURFACE TENSION CHARACTERISTICS; INLET MEANS FOR INTRODUCING REACTANT MATERIALS INTO SAID CHAMBER; OUTLET MEANS AT THE TOP OF SAID CHAMBER, AND SEPARATED FROM SAID INLET MEANS BY SAID BODY OF ELECTROLYTE, FOR VENTING FROM SAID CHAMBER GASEOUS REACTION PRODUCTS RISING FROM SAID BODY OF ELECTROLYTE; AND SPACED ELECTRODES WITHIN SAID CHAMBER IN CONTINUOUS CONTACT WITH SAID ELECTROLYTE AND BEING ARRANGED TO CONTACT ALSO THE REACTANT MATERIALS FLOWING INTO SAID CHAMBER; SAID ELECTRODES COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF ELECTRO-CONDUCTIVE SCREENS FIXEDLY POSITIONED AND ELECTRO-CONDUCTIVELY CONNECTED IN CLOSE JUXTAPOSITION AS A COMPOSITE LAYERED ELECTRODE BODY ARRANGED TO PROVIDE A MULTIPLICITY OF UNINTERRUPTED TRANSVERSE PATHS THROUGH ALIGNED OPENINGS IN THE SUCCESSIVE SCREEN LAYERS, EACH OF SAID SCREENS BEING PROVIDED WITH UNIFORMLY DISTRIBUTED OPENINGS EXTENDING THERETHROUGH AND THE OPENINGS OF EACH SCREEN BEING OF PREDETERMINED, SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM SIZE AND LENGTH, THE PLURALITY OF ALIGNED OPENINGS WHICH DEFINE EACH OF SAID TRANSVERSE PATHS THROUGH THE LAYERED BODY HAVING THE CUMULATIVE EFFECT OF THROUGHPORES COEXTENSIVE WITH SAID PATHS, THE SIZE AND LENGTH OF WHICH THROUGH-PORES ARE DETERMINED, RESPECIVELY, BY THE SIZE OF THE SCREEN OPENINGS AND THE NUMBER OF SCREEN LAYERS EMPLOYED, SAID SIZE AND NUMBER BEING SELECTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PENETRATION CHARACTERISTICS OF THE REACTANTS AND THE LIQUID ELECTROLYTE, AS DETERMINED BY SAID SURFACE TENSION CHARACTERISTICS, SO AS TO MAINTAIN A STATIONARY LIQUID LAYER OF NOMINAL THICKNESS OVER THE ACTIVE SURFACE AREAS OF THE ELECTRODE, THEREBY MINIMIZING THE LENGTH OF THE DIFFUSION PATH FOR REACTANTS FLOWING INTO AND PRODUCTS FLOWING OUT OF THE ELECTRODE.