This dry cell embodies the chemistry and technology of one of the most popular battery types to power portable appliances throughout the twentieth century and beyond. It is a primary battery, that is, it cannot be recharged, but the type has survived because it is reliable and cheap to manufacture.

As the first uses for the Columbia Ignitor were as ignition sources for car engines and as power sources for telephones, this battery relates strongly to these two technologies that transformed daily life. It was later used to power doorbells and radios, but its size made it inconvenient for portable devices; later versions of the same battery type were much smaller and so were suited to extend the range of applications.

The National Carbon Company later became part of the Eveready company, which eventually became Energizer. Its Columbia brand and eagle trademark have disappeared; they are reminders of a time in American history when pride in the nation's origins, as embodied in Columbia (a feminised version of Christopher Columbus) and the eagle (a symbol of freedom), was strongly expressed in poetry, prose and monuments as well as in brands.


Author: Debbie Rudder, Curator of Power Technologies, July 2008

Reference: American Chemical Society website.

In the 1860s Georges Leclanche invented a wet cell to store electricity; its anode was a zinc rod, its cathode consisted of a mixture of manganese dioxide and carbon in a porous pot, and it had a carbon rod to collect current; the pot sat in a glass jar surrounded by an ammonium chloride solution that could seep into the cathode to keep it wetted and thus conductive. In the 1880s, Carl Gassner used this concept to make the first commercially successful dry cell; he formed the zinc into a cylindrical casing and used an inert material to separate it from the cathode, to which he added a small amount of water to make it conductive and some zinc chloride to suppress corrosion of the anode.

The National Carbon Company began making dry cells similar to Gassner's in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1896.

The source of this object is unknown. It was registered as a Museum object in 1922.

Primary battery, sectioned dry cell, Columbia Ignitor, zinc/carbon/manganese oxide/asphalt/brass/cardboard, National Carbon Company, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, 1918-1922.

In this battery the cylindrical zinc inner casing is the anode. The cathode consists of a granular mixture of manganese oxide and carbon (plus water in an intact cell) separated from the anode by a cylinder of inert material. When the battery is in use, the central carbon rod collects charge from the surrounding cathode and conducts it to the brass terminal at the centre top of the battery. A second terminal sits on the top edge of the battery, attached to the zinc electrode.

The outer casing is cardboard, tinted orange on the outside, with the eagle trademark and text in cream. There is a layer of corrugated cardboard on top of the cathode,with a layer of light brown paste above it and two resinous layers on top, the first black and the top one brown; the resinous material is probably asphalt. The battery is nominally rated at 1.5 volts.

Made: National Carbon Company; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; 1918 - 1922

On the front: Drawing of an eagle / Trade Mark Reg. U.S. Pat. Off./ FOR/ GENERAL IGNITION/ Manufactured by/ NATIONAL CARBON CO INC/CLEVELAND, OHIO, U.S.A.

On the back: COLUMBIA IGNITOR/ DRY CELL/ FOR GENERAL IGNITION/ INSPECTED/ TESTED/ RELIABLE / This cell embodies the highest degree of efficiency and reliability known in dry cell service./ Its strong current and quick recuperation make it desirable, economical and a positive success in any form of general motor ignition./ Manufactured only by/ NATIONAL CARBON CO INC/ CLEVELAND, OHIO USA.

B519

1918 - 1922

160 mm

70 mm