What’s in a name? Nothing, until we associate it with something concrete. Before 1799, a “battery” was a row of guns in a defensive position intended to ‘batter’ an enemy into submission by firing salvos simultaneously. Then Alessandro Volta announced his technique for producing electricity with a pile of metal discs.
We have no record of Alessandro Volta giving his device a name. He probably had no idea he was revolutionizing technology, and fortuitously creating a business opportunity for many.
Over time, Volta’s ‘pile’ became the Voltaic Pile and the basis for all batteries to come, although they were prone to leaks.
At Last: A Battery That Did Not Leak
A year later, William Cruickshank improved the design by laying the discs horizontally in a trough to stop the leaks. Joseph Priestly built on the idea and produced the neat configuration in the picture. It is possible, just possible that the design reminded someone of a row of cannons, although we will leave that to your imagination.
The six tubes behind it are John Frederick Daniell’s 1836 idea of placing the elements of a battery one inside the other. This was probably the point at which battery design diverged. The sealed lead-acid batteries we make at UPS Battery Center, and the dry cell batteries we use in radios, torches and many other things.
When is a Battery a Battery?
This loops us back to the purpose of this post. We have a vague idea why we call our batteries ‘batteries’, although cellular batteries look more like trench mortars, don’t you think. With all the development going on around us, we think we will keep the definition broad. A battery is a container comprising one or more cells, in which chemical energy becomes the electricity we use to power our lives.
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He was not “Louis” Volta. His first name was Alessandro.