I was surprised to see mention of the famous 'drypile' battery. If you d=
o a
search on Keelynet for drypile you may find the earliest known, "Duluc"
drypile which used silver discs and copper (if I remember right). I was
intrigued by the battery several years ago and tried it using silver and
copper coins, which to my surprise put out a basic 1/2 volt per pair of c=
oins.
Higher voltages were possible by stacking more coins, and the output at =
30
milliamperes. During testing I used it to power a simple LED light for m=
any
hours without any measurable decline of power output. For electrolyte I =
used
common copy paper dampened with salt water (non iodized salt.) =
The conclusion I arrived at was that this type of battery could and shoul=
d be
made available to the public. A variation is now used in electronic watc=
hes
and small clocks and calculators, with a thin silver foil. A thicker foi=
l
increases the amperage output. Why are these type of batteries not being=
sold
is easy to answer - why are we still happily (?) using automobiles that w=
aste
fuel, or remain on the electric grid paying exorbitant prices for power? =
It
is not in the best interest of big multinational (read anti-national)
corporations. I suspect that if some enterprising individual started
producing lifetime batteries or 200mpg carburetors, they would soon drop =
from
sight - voluntarily or not. However, we can build and use these devices
ourselves and hopefully the idea will spread.
oroblanco
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