The emerging world of science did not have google in the late 19th century. The only practical ways to communicate over long distances were telegraph, and postal services. And as a result scientists often lived in silos, only meeting occasionally at seminars and expositions. Today we discuss Sakizō Yai, who along with Gassner and Hellesen may have been the first with a dry cell battery.
The Race to Be First With a Dry Cell Battery
Sakizō Yai was born into a samurai family. This made him part of the hereditary military nobility, and medieval officer caste. However, his life journey would not be easy because his upper-class father died when he was six, leaving a bankrupt estate.
But fortune had more in store for him yet. Sakizō Yai invented a continuous electric clock that ran on wet cell batteries when he was 21. This was a great improvement, because previously the user had to wind the clock up with a spring.
By now it is common knowledge that the young samurai was not easy to satisfy. Clearly, the self-made wet cell battery in his electric clock was not up to scratch. Because two years later in 1887 he successfully invented a dry cell electric battery.
Was Sakizō Yai Unfairly Overlooked by Fortune?
However something, perhaps money caused Sakizō Yai to delay patenting his invention. And so it came to pass that Japanese electrician Ichisaburo Takahashi claimed the patent rights.
However six years later Sakizō Yai’s dry batteries made a surprise appearance at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition. Their previously stored energy powered Tokyo Imperial University’s seismograph on display, to the amazement of the spectators.
More Information
Frederik Hellesen’s First Dry Cell Battery
Gassner’s Battery Fit for a Door Bell
