Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!batcomputer!garnett
From: garnett@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Roger Garnett)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Battery Sizes
Keywords: Battery, A cell, history
Message-ID: <7342@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Date: 7 Feb 89 13:45:52 GMT
References: <7288@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> <6867@fluke.COM>
Reply-To: garnett@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Roger Garnett)
Distribution: na
Organization: Cornell Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY
Lines: 36

In article <6867@fluke.COM> strong@tc.fluke.COM (Norm Strong) writes:
>In article <7288@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> garnett@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Roger Garnett) writes:
>}
>}		Electronics Trivia Question of the Day:
>}	
>}	"What ever happened to the original "A" size battery?
>}
>}	Battery sizes are specified by ansi standards, we are all familar with
>}AA, AAA, C, D, and N sizes... But what was the A size? And, were there ever
>}standard 1.5 V B size? (You can get B size in 4.5 and other voltages today.)
>}Does anyone know who developed the sizes? (Union Carbide?)
>
>Is this a quiz, or a question?  Assuming the latter, here is the answer:
>
>The letters A and B were originally used to refer to the filament and plate
>supply batteries of a radio.  In order to avoid confusion with these letters
>that referred to use rather than size, the letters A & B were omitted.
>
Well, so far, everybody has failed the quiz. :-)  Many of us are aware of
the old A, B, & C *FUNCTION* batteries from DC operated tube radio sets.
But that terminology has no relationship with A, AA, B, C, D, ... *SIZE*
specs, as defined by ANSI standards. I have found a recent copy of the 
ANSI specs, (in a UNION CARBIDE spec book) which lists the dimensions.
(Proof of difference- tube radio C batteries were much larger than current
"C" cells)   An ANSI "A" size, by extrapolation, should be a little
longer, and mayby a little fatter than an "AA" cell, The AA, (and AAA)
being the "patch" to the naming system when someone discovered that they
could actually make a _useful_ cell *smaller* than what they started out 
with. I imagine it was hard to concieve of tiny cells which could actually
hold a charge and run something, back in the early days of battery technology
(100+ years ago). Keep diging, folks! 
___________________________________________________________
Roger Garnett           (garnett@tcgould.TN.CORNELL.EDU)
Cornell Phonetics Lab   (plab!roger@cornell.uucp)
Ithaca  N.Y.            (bitnet: sggy@cornellC or garnett@crnlthry.bitnet)
(607) 255-0704		(sggy@vax5.ccs.cornell.edu)