The salts for filling are 1/4 lb. zinc oxide, 1/4 lb. sal ammoniac, 3/4 lb. plaster of paris, 1/4 lb. chloride of zinc mixed into a paste by adding 1/2 pt. of water. Form a 1/2-in. layer of paste in the bottom of the cylinder and place the ends of the carbon rods on this with their plated ends up. Hold the rods in the center of the cylinder and put the paste in around the rods with a stick. Pack the paste in, closely filling the cylinder to within 3/4 in. of the top. This space at the top is filled with a mixture of 1/2 lb. of rosin and 2 oz. beeswax melted together. This wax seals the cell and prevents any evaporation. Connection is made to the zinc by soldering a wire to the outside of the cylinder.
How to Paraffin Wire
Home-Made Apparatus for Paraffining Wire
The following description of how to make an apparatus with which to paraffin wire as needed makes clear a method of construction that is simple and easy to put together in a short time. Secure a pan to be used for this purpose only; one that will hold about 1 qt. The details of the construction are given in the diagram, in which P is the pan; B is a base of 1 in. pine; S is the spool of wire supported near one end of the base by nailing on standards H and H; F is a spool, with narrow flanges, supported near the bottom of the pan by the standards T and T. These may be made of two short pieces of a roller fitted into the holes bored in the base; A is a block of 1-in. pine with a piece of leather tacked on one side. Four nails should be driven in the base just outside of the edge of the pan to keep it from sliding off the pan.
Bore a hole in the base between the two spools and pass the wire through this hole, under the spool in the paraffin, then through a small hole in the leather and a notch in the block A, and a notch between the base and the pan. Tie a string around the wire between the leather and the paraffin, making the knots so they will not pull through the hole in the leather. This makes the wire smooth, and by making the string tighter or looser you can regulate the thickness of the paraffin, says Electrician and Mechanic. Place the pan on the stove; when the paraffin is melted, pull out the wire as needed. To keep the pan from sliding place a flatiron or some other weight on it.