Elliott Bros. set of 6 Daniel wet cell batteries
date: label: date made
content: 1836
name: label: maker
content: Elliott Brothers
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: A set of six Daniel wet cell batteries in a wooden tray. Marked: "M1E7 / GY16" (Columbia University property marking); the ivory nameplate reads: "Elliott Bros. / 449 Strand / London."
label: Description (Brief)
content: The battery consists of six copper cans made of 1/16" copper sheeting with the top edge rolled into a lip. Inside each can is a perforated copper retaining ring (.5" wide x .0625" thick) set on three copper tabs. Terminals with thumb screw tighteners are soldered onto each can. Inside each can is a earthenware pot (.125" thick). Two of the pots have wax coatings around the top edge covering the top 1".
label: Description (Brief)
content: Two electrodes are missing and the four that remain are eroded to some extent with only one mostly complete. Each electrode is suspended by means of a wooden pin that passes through the plate and rests on the top edge of the pot. Only one pin is intact. The box is made with .75" thick wood, the top panel being in three parallel sections; the one with the Elliot Bros label is 3" wide, the other two are 3.125" wide.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Curator W. James King wrote: "Polarization results from the formation of a gaseous or solid film at an electrode. This film may prevent chemical interaction between the electrode and the electrolyte and may cause a current in the direction opposite to the normal flow. One of the first practical answers to the problem of gaseous polarization was found by John Frederic Daniell (1790–1845), who in 1836 constructed a cell that used not one but two electrolytes. [Building on the work of Humphry Davy and Antoine Becquerel] Daniell set out to test Faraday's electrochemical theories, and devised his non-polarizable "Constant Battery" on the results. In Daniell's cell an amalgamated zinc electrode in a weak solution of sulfuric acid was separated by an ox gullet from a copper electrode in a copper sulfate solution. ... While the high internal resistance of the Daniell cell limited the current considerably and the potential was only 1.1 volts, this voltage was so reliable and unchanging that it was used as a standard up through the 1870s." William Grove’s cells (EM.279264, used in Samuel Morse’s Baltimore-Washington telegraph line) were a refined and improved version of Daniell’s cells.
label: Description (Brief)
content: References: J. Frederic Daniell, "On Voltaic Combinations," Philosophical Transactions 126, (1836): pages 107-124; "Additional Observations on Voltaic Combinations," Philosophical Transactions 126 (1836): pages 125-129; "Further Observations on Voltaic Combinations," Philosophical Transactions 127 (1837): pages 141-150.
label: Description (Brief)
content: W. James King, "The Development of Electrical Technology in the 19th Century: 1. The Electrochemical Cell and the Electromagnet," Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology, Smithsonian Institution (1963), pages 242-244.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: Exhibition
content: Lighting a Revolution
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Columbia University, Department of Physics, thru Alvin P. Tramm
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.322934
label: catalog number
content: 322934
label: accession number
content: 249200
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Battery
label: Other Terms
content: Battery; Electrochemical Devices
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 in x 14 1/4 in x 9 1/4 in; 20.32 cm x 36.195 cm x 23.495 cm
label: Measurements
content: copper cans (each): 6 1/2 in x 3 1/2 in; 16.51 cm x 8.89 cm
label: Measurements
content: earthenware pots (each): 6 1/8 in x 2 3/8 in; 15.5575 cm x 6.0325 cm
label: Measurements
content: complete electrode: 6 5/8 in x 1 3/4 in x 3/16 in; 16.8275 cm x 4.445 cm x .47625 cm
label: Measurements
content: wooden pins: 2 3/4 in x 1/4 in; 6.985 cm x .635 cm
label: Measurements
content: box only: 4 in x 14 3/8 in x 9 1/4 in; 10.16 cm x 36.5125 cm x 23.495 cm