The Scientists

BATTERIES

Introduction

The Science

Innovations

The Batteries

Movies

Project Info.

Reference

By: Asgeir Mogensen and Victor Bui

Innovations, History and the Scientists

Lew Urry

Lew Urry is the inventor of the small alkaline battery (Bellis M., 2007). According to Corrosions Doctors (n.d.), the first alkaline batteries were made in 1959 by the Eveready Battery division of Union Carbide. In 1955, Eveready moved Urry, a researcher at the time, from an office in Toronto to its Cleveland plant and told him to come up with a better battery than the ones currently being used (Corrosions Doctors, n.d.). Lew did not use the button-shape of the earlier alkaline batteries, going instead with a cylinder shape of commercial batteries already on the market at the time. However he did manage to create a working battery, and after completing it Lew decided to test it out on a couple of toy cars, as Corrosions Doctors (n.d.) says.

He took two cars, and placed his alkaline battery in one and a normal one in the other. After testing them, the car containing the alkaline battery went several lengths of the long cafeteria they tested in, while the other one barely moved at all, which proved its efficiency (Corrosions Doctors, n.d.). Every day, the small alkaline battery created by Lew continues to improve, and Energizer officials confirm that today’s batteries last 40 times longer than its prototype in 1959 (Corrosions Doctors, n.d.). What Lew Urry did to innovate the alkaline battery was that he used the version that Thomas Edison had invented in 1901 and made it more practical. Using powdered zinc as the electrolyte, Lew was soon finished with his new creation (Corrosions Doctors, n.d.).

Geoffrey Ballard

Geoffrey Ballard is acknowledged worldwide as the father of the fuel-cell industry, according to the Government of British Colombia (2003). He is also one of the founders of Ballard Power Systems, a Canadian company. Ballard’s vision was to create an alternative source or energy that would be non-polluting, which is why he co-founded the company (Government of British Colombia, 2003). Later on, Ballard’s dedication paid off. In 1993, the world's first hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered, zero-emission transit bus was introduced at Science World in Vancouver (Government of British Colombia, 2003). According to the Government of British Colombia (2003), he retired as chair of the company in 1997 and, two years later, formed a company called General Hydrogen Corporation to provide energy-delivery technologies, systems and infrastructures for fuel-cell vehicles and devices.

Born in Como and educated in the public schools there (The Great Idea Finder, 2005). In 1777 he studied the chemistry of gases and discovered methane. By 1800 he had developed the so-called voltaic pile, a forerunner of the electric battery, which produced a steady stream of electricity, according to The Great Idea Finder (2005). The "volt" was named in honor of his contributions in 1881. The voltaic pile was a big contribution to the development of the battery. Alessandro showed that when metals and chemicals come into contact with each other they produced an electrical current (The Great Idea Finder, 2005). Volta placed together several pairs of alternating copper (or silver) and zinc discs separated by cloth and soaked the cloth in salt water. The Great Idea Finder (2005) claims this increases conductivity and an electrical current is produced.

Alessandro Volta

History of the Battery

The word battery was first used in 1748 by Benjamin Franklin (Bellis, M., 2007). In 1800, Bellis M. (2007) claims that Alessandro Volta invented the voltaic pile, and discovered the first practical method of generating electricity. Later on, William Robert Grove developed the first fuel cell, which is used to produce electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen. From 1839 to 1842, inventors from across the world created improvements to batteries that used liquid electrodes to produce electricity, as Bellis M. (2007) claims. Afterwards, Gaston Plante produced the first storage lead-acid cell battery, which could be recharged. According to Bellis M. (2007), they were also called secondary batteries. Proceeding Gaston, Georges Leclanche patented the carbon-zinc wet cell battery, now called the Leclanche cell (Bellis, M., 2007). Following Leclanche, Carl Gassner invented the first commercially successful dry cell battery, and Waldmar Junger invented the first nickel-cadmium rechargeable battery (Bellis, M., 2007). After these achievements, new innovations of the battery surfaced. First, Thomas Edison invented the alkaline storage battery. Then, Canadian Lew Urry invented the small alkaline battery. Finally, Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin invented the first solar battery (Bellis M., 2007).