Early battery development was largely a European affair. This seems logical, because the established academic institutions and universities were there. However, many great thinkers settled in the new world as it opened up. It was inevitable local innovations like the Edison-Lalande cell would arrive, as the great electricity revolution rolled out.
Portable Electricity and the Edison-Lalande Cell
Thomas Edison grew up in the American Midwest, where he began working as a telegraph operator. However, as he matured his interests expanded into electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures.
We can readily imagine how the thought of storing electricity must have gripped Edison’s attention. He stumbled over an alkaline primary battery Felix Lalande and Georges Chaperon developed, and patented in 1883. Their invention comprised copper oxide and zinc plate electrodes, immersed in an electrolytic solution of potassium hydroxide.
The cell voltage was only 0.75 volts, although the low internal resistance allowed the Lalande-Chaperon battery to deliver large currents. It was also possible to replenish any or all of its critical components, opening the device for further development.
Edison modified the cell to produce the Edison-Lalande cell variant. This involved replacing the powdered copper oxide with copper oxide briquettes. Other great minds followed in his footsteps, as the alkaline primary cell left deeper footprints in battery history.
How This Early Alkaline Battery Worked
The zinc anode dissolved (oxidized) in the potassium hydroxide solution to form zincate anions according to Wikipedia, consuming hydroxide ions in the process. Half of these ions were replenished by the hydration and reduction of the copper oxide cathode to copper metal, by the electrons traveling through the external circuit.
More Information
Alfred Dun Cell for Street Lighting
Gaston Plante’s Remarkable Lead Battery
Preview Image: Diagram of Edison-Lalande Cell
