History of the Battery

The modern day battery is based off of the work of Alessandro Volta who invented the voltaic pile in 1800, which he made based on work from Luigi Galvani. The voltaic pile was made from discs of zinc and copper which had pieces of cardboard soaked in brine put in between the metals. This was able to produce an electrical current that was steady and reliable. Daniel Cell invented a longer lasting battery in 1836 that was used to power things such as telephones and telegraphs. In 1859, the first rechargeable battery was made which is what modern day car batteries are based off of. 1866 brought in the first battery that was able to be transported. Before this, batteries were considered wet cell batteries because the materials were not sealed tight. The dry cell battery was able to completely seal the materials and made batteries more what they are like today. 1881 brought in the use of a negative and positive side to the batteries but 1901 brought around Thomas Edison who created a battery that is used today, a positive side made from nickelic oxide and a negative side made from iron. This was called an alkaline storage battery.