Camille Alphonse Faure

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Camille Alphonse Faure (1840 - 1898) was a French chemical engineer who in 1881 significantly improved the design of the lead battery, which had been invented by Gaston Planté in 1865. Faure's improvements greatly increased the capacity of such batteries and led directly to their manufacture on an industrial scale. [cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Battery History | work = | publisher = Europulse.com | date = | url = http://www.europulse.com/battery_history/battery_history.htm | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-02-22]

He was born at Vizille on 21 May 1840 and trained at the Ecole des Arts et Métiers at Aix [ "Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology" / ed. by Lance Day and Ian McNeil. London; New York: Routledge, 1996 ] . From 1874 till about 1880 he worked as a chemist at the new factory of the Cotton Powder Company at Uplees, Faversham, Kent, England [ Breeze, John (2008), Faversham Explosives Personnel Register 1841-1934, Part 1, Faversham Society, ISBN 9 200214 55 5] . While there, he and the factory manager, George Trench, took out patents for Tonite (a new high explosive) (1874) and an improved dynamite detonator (1878) [Patent Nos 106148 and 125752: copies in Bibliotheque Nationale de France ] .

In 1880 Faure patented a method of coating lead plates with a paste of lead oxides, sulphuric acid and water, which was then cured by being gently warmed in a humid atmosphere. The curing process caused the paste to change to a mixture of lead sulphates which adhered to the lead plate. During charging the cured paste was converted into electrochemically active material (the "active mass") and gave a substantial increase in capacity compared with Planté's battery. [cite book | last = Dell | first = Ronald | authorlink = | coauthors = David Anthony, James Rand | title = Understanding Batteries | publisher = Royal Society of Chemistry | date = 2001 | location = | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0854046054] . This was a significant breakthrough that led to the industrial manufacture of lead-acid batteries, as now used for starting motor cars.

Towards the end of his life Faure was granted further patents [Swiss Patent Nos 3698 (1891) and 3855 (1891) and UK Patent Nos 15152 (1894), 11341 (1896), 11342 (1896), and 21587 (1896)] , among them ones for the manufacture of aluminium alloys and improvements to hot air engines and motor vehicle steering mechanisms.

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