The Voltaic Pile was a great start, and was in a sense the first real battery. However, its user interface was a disaster, because it leaked electrolyte and was hardly what we would call portable. Interim counter measures included a variety of contraptions in glass jars, but they were far from ideal either. The Cruickshank Trough battery tackled these issues head on, and made good progress solving them.
Cruickshank Was a Man for the Moment
William Cruickshank was a Scottish military surgeon, and chemist who trained at Royal College of Surgeons, London. He put his active mind to good use when news of the Voltaic Pile arrived in Scotland in 1800. First, he made his own version. Then, he connected silver wires to the poles and immersed them in various liquids.
Cruickshank observed that deposits of pure lead, copper, and silver formed on one wire, after he experimented with solutions of lead acetate, copper sulfate, and silver nitrate electrolytes respectively. His electrolytic process for extracting pure metals from metallic solutions later became known as electrowinning. Industrial chemists still use the method to refine copper and other metals.
The Cruickshank Trough Was a Pile on Its Side
At approximately the same time Cruickshank invented the trough battery, almost as an aside. Perhaps he had grown tired of struggling with his messy, ungainly Voltaic Pile, leaking brine water electrolyte everywhere. If gravity is the problem, he may have reasoned, then let me harness it for good.
Cruickshank’s trough battery alternative was a long, slotted box, holding 50 copper- zinc metal pairs in place. Each of these cells contained a salt solution, or dilute sulfuric acid. There was no risk of spillage as long as the user exercised reasonable care. Proper batteries were on their way!
More Information
Beginning of the History of Lead-Acid Batteries
