Storage Battery History Part Two

We began our voyage into storage battery history by introducing van Musschenbroek and von Kleist. Then we moved on from their leiden jars into the surreal world of electric fish and twitching frog legs. With that behind us, we peaked out with the voltaic cell, before taking a break to catch our breath. Now we continue on our journey, as the first galvanic cells able to store meaningful energy begin to appear.

Onward Into More Storage Battery History

Johann Wilhelm Ritter lived in Germany more than a carriage-drive away from Volta’s Italy. He builds his own version of a pile in 1802, except this time he uses copper disks separated by paper moistened in salt solution.
Ritter conducts a series of tests, by touching the electrodes separately to his hands, eyes, ears, nose and tongue. The physiological effects vary. Ritter was a brave man. He could have been foolhardy had the voltage been higher.
We come across Guiseppi Zamboni in 1812 next, as a war rages between Russia and France. He builds a dry version of Ritter’s and Volta’s piles, using magnesium and silver electrodes teamed with silver and salt-solution electrolyte.
After Zamboni combines many, perhaps even hundreds of his discs, he uses the energy to power a ‘perpetual clock’ in 1840. This continues working faithfully at England’s Oxford University to this very day.
Hans Christian Ørsted lived in Denmark. He discovers that electric current forms magnetic fields, creating the first, very important link between electricity and magnetism.
Ørsted uses this knowledge to deflect a compass needle. It will not be all that long before electric telegraph cables start spreading out across the globe.

Please Return for Our Next Battery History Post

That’s enough information for now, we believe. It’s better to drip feed it so it is easier to absorb. Thanks for visiting our pages. We hope you found them sufficiently interesting to return. Will we find you here when we publish the next installment? We hope so!