In the days before batteries, how did people power portable devices?
Answers
Batteries provided the main source of electricity before the development of electric generators and electrical grids around the end of the 19th century. Successive improvements in battery technology facilitated major electrical advances, from early scientific studies to the rise of telegraphs and telephones, eventually leading to portable computers, mobile phones, electric cars, and many other electrical devices.
Scientists and engineers developed several commercially important types of battery. "Wet cells" were open containers that held liquid electrolyte and metallic electrodes. When the electrodes were completely consumed, the wet cell was renewed by replacing the electrodes and electrolyte. Open containers are unsuitable for mobile or portable use. Wet cells were used commercially in the telegraph and telephone systems. Early electric cars used semi-sealed wet cells.
One important classification for batteries is by their life cycle. "Primary" batteries can produce current as soon as assembled, but once the active elements are consumed, they cannot be electrically recharged. The development of the lead-acid battery and subsequent "secondary" or "chargeable" types allowed energy to be restored to the cell, extending the life of permanently assembled cells. The introduction of nickel and lithium based batteries in the latter half of the 20th century made the development of innumerable portable electronic devices feasible, from powerful flashlights to mobile phones. Very large stationary batteries find some applications in grid energy storage, helping to stabilize electric power distribution networks.
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One of the most remarkable and novel discoveries in the last 400 years was electricity. We might ask, “Has electricity been around that long?” The answer is yes, and perhaps much longer. Its practical use has only been at our disposal since the mid to late 1800s, and in a limited way at first. Some of the earliest public works gaining attention were streets lights in Berlin in 1882, lighting up the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 with 250,000 light bulbs, and illuminating a bridge over the river Seine during the Paris 1900 World Fair.
The use of electricity may go back further. While constructing a railway in 1936 near Baghdad, workers uncovered what appeared to be a prehistoric battery, also known as the Parthian Battery. The object dates back to the Parthian empire and is believed to be 2,000 years old. The battery consisted of a clay jar that was filled with a vinegar solution into which an iron rod surrounded by a copper cylinder was inserted. This device produced 1.1 to 2.0 volts of electricity. illustrates the Parthian Battery.
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