Old Batteries

You won't see that bunny hanging around here.

This is a typical "A" battery, which was used to heat the filaments. Most sets used "D" cells.

Also shown is an industrial 15 V battery, commonly used in ohmmeters.

These "B" batteries supplied the plate voltage.

Not commonly used, the "C" battery was used to bias the grid. These were eliminated by returning the B- to ground through a resistor. Since the B- lead was more negative than ground, it provided the bias to the output tube.

Here are two other popular "B" batteries.

These cells were made in 1946 and they still haven't leaked.

When we got our transistor radios, we went through 9V batteries very quickly. Dad got some rechagreable 9V batteries from Lafayette (remember them?). The batteries were tiny lead-acid cells, but they're long gone. These chargers are all that remains.

I imagine that the safety experts would have a field day with these chargers. One battery terminal connects to one of the AC prongs through a diode, and the other one through a resistor. Without a battery in place, someone could get a nasty shock off the terminals.

Not me, I knew enough not to try it.

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