page_title: William Morrison (chemist)
section_title: Battery development
hierarchical_section_title: William Morrison (chemist) / Battery development
caption_attribution_description: English: Morrison Storage Battery (partial section drawing)
context_page_description: William Morrison was a Scottish chemist. His background in chemistry piqued his interest in improving storage batteries. He concentrated on how to produce the most available energy for a unit of weight for efficiency in the working of an individual battery cell. Eventually, he developed storage batteries far more powerful than what had then been available. To demonstrate his batteries, Morrison installed 24 of them on a common horse-drawn carriage and attached an electric motor to the rear axle to be powered by them. Through various innovations, he developed the controls for the power used and the vehicle's steering so that the driver had complete control. Morrison invented the first practical self-powered four-wheeled electric carriage in the United States. His electric vehicle was the first to be driven in Chicago and in his hometown of Des Moines, Iowa. This electric horseless buggy of the late 19th century helped pave the way for the hybrid electric automobile of the 21st century.
context_section_description: William Morrison's principle interest was the development of efficient storage batteries. He patented his innovations and became wealthy when he sold the rights to his battery invention to various battery companies and collected royalties. Morrison had over 88 patents related to batteries. He developed the electrically propelled horseless carriage, later known as the electric automobile, only to prove the importance and value of his batteries–not to invent a self-propelled electric vehicle. He wanted to show how powerful his batteries were and propelling a horseless carriage of 3,000 pounds demonstrated this. The American Battery Company bought several of Morrison's battery patent rights in 1891.  He received royalties for his batteries produced by the company and for copies of his electric car that were made. They moved their branch of the Morrison Electric Company that made the electric cars to Kansas City, Missouri in 1910 and for years made copies of the electric carriages there. 
  In 1890, Morrison devised a new type of storage battery with glass-wool insulation on the electrode plates. The Morrison Storage Battery allowed the normal internal operation of the battery to function correctly. It prevented the shedding of material from the positive plates that caused short-circuiting. The old-style batteries at that time had that problem which caused inefficiency. Morrison's batteries were much more efficient because his ideas reduced the weight of the battery and increased its power output.
  
  Morrison obtained a patent in 1891 for his invention of improved storage batteries that led to the first practical electric car in America. That increased battery efficiency made it possible for 24 of his batteries to produce enough power to run a horseless carriage with a group of people aboard the vehicle. Patent No. 464,676 says in part:
   Secondary Batteries. Wm Morrison of Des Moines is Assignor to the Hess Electric Company. Application filed Oct 27, 1890. An electrode for secondary batteries consisting of a stratum body portion of active material or material to become active a layer coating or covering of fibrous glass wool disposed of the face or side of the body portion of active material and confining non conducting plates.
  The Universal Electric Storage Battery Company of Chicago came into existence in 1905. It made the Morrison battery for industrial applications in lighting, electric cars, railroads and power plants. One use of these batteries was for a hybrid vehicle being manufactured by Chicago & Alton company. Another was as an ignition battery to start cars.
caption: Morrison Storage Battery interior
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