Trough battery

A trough battery

The trough battery was a variant of Alessandro Volta's Voltaic Pile and was invented by William Cruickshank circa 1800.

Disadvantage of the pile

Volta's battery consisted of brine-soaked pieces of cloth sandwiched between zinc and copper discs, piled in a stack. This resulted in electrolyte leakage as the weight of the discs squeezed the electrolyte out of the cloth.

Advantage of the trough

Joseph Priestley's trough battery (in front)

Cruickshank solved this problem by laying the battery on its side in a rectangular box. The inside of this box was lined with shellac for insulation, and pairs of welded-together zinc and copper plates were laid out in this box, evenly spaced. The spaces between the plates (the troughs) were filled with dilute sulfuric acid. So long as the box was not knocked about, there was no risk of electrolyte spillage.

Galvanic cells Types Voltaic pile Battery Flow battery Trough battery Concentration cell Fuel cell Primary cell (non-rechargable) Alkaline Aluminium–air Bunsen Chromic acid Clark Daniell Dry Edison-Lalande Grove Leclanché Lithium Mercury Nickel oxyhydroxide Silicon–air Silver oxide Weston Zamboni Zinc–air Zinc–carbon Secondary cell (rechargeable) Automotive Lead–acid gel / VRLA Lithium–air Lithium–ion Lithium polymer Lithium iron phosphate Lithium titanate Lithium–sulfur Dual carbon battery Molten salt Nanopore Nanowire Nickel–cadmium Nickel–hydrogen Nickel–iron Nickel–lithium Nickel–metal hydride Nickel–zinc Polysulfide bromide Potassium-ion Rechargeable alkaline Sodium-ion Sodium–sulfur Vanadium redox Zinc–bromine Zinc–cerium Cell parts Anode Binder Catalyst Cathode Electrode Electrolyte Half-cell Ions Salt bridge Semipermeable membrane