History of the Battery

10.2 Battery

• 250 BC: The oldest known electrical cells date from this time and were used by the Sumerians, in what is now Iraq, possibly to electroplate objects or for medicinal purposes. They were 1.1volt “jar” cells.

• Late 1790s: Alessandro Volta (Italian) built a battery of alternating zinc and copper (or silver?) disks arranged in a vertical pile.

• Between each pair of disks he placed a cardboard disk soaked in a salt solution. The invention was announced in 1800. Note: The word “volt” was named after him.

• 1802: Dr. William Cruickshank (British) designed the first battery that could be mass-produced. He used a wooden box that had grooves in it to hold the metal plates, filled it with an electrolyte solution and used cement to seal it.

• In 1859/60, Gaston Plante (French) invented the first battery that could be recharged. It was a lead acid “secondary” cell battery.

• Note: A primary cell is “non-rechargeable” and a secondary cell is “rechargeable”.
  
  
• Fur further historical and general information about batteries see Green Cars, Section 6 (The Battery).