Photo of a miner digging and words above him read “Provide safe lighting and economical hauling for mining operations”. A young miner shows off his uniform and lighting headgear powered by an Edison battery. Battery powered electric locomotive pulling ore carts emerges from mine tunnel.
A Mack tanker truck driving on a suburban street. This truck is possibly electrified by Edison batteries. Car driving past a building. Pedestrians on the sidewalk of a street in a major USA city, possibly Detroit.. A ship sailing in ocean.
Railway car with lighting powered by Edison batteries (also known as nickel-iron battery or NiFe battery) in the United States. A man opens the compartment under a train that contains Edison batteries, also known as storage batteries. He pulls out one of the storage batteries inside the compartment. Lights inside the train car. Train signal moving. A switch tower in a train junction. Engineers operate control in tower to change switch direction. Railroad switch moving. Locomotive and train moving down track.
How Edison batteries function. The are also known as nickel-iron battery or NiFe batteries. An animated diagram shows how nickel iron alkaline storage batteries such as Edison batteries store and generate energy. The diagram shows the battery, generator, switch, motor, and a light bulb. An early nickel-iron Edison battery in wooden box. A later version of the nickel-iron battery invented by Thomas A. Edison in 1909. Pie chart showing the market share of Edison batteries over other portable batteries in 1926. Photograph of German-born American mathematician and electrical engineer Dr. Charles Proteus Steinmetz, "The Wizard of Schenectady". Slate bearing a commentary on from Dr. Steinmetz claiming "complete reversibility" of the Edison battery reaction. Diagram shows the reversible cycle of a portable battery. Animation in the diagram shows how energy is stored in the battery- the oxygen contained in the negative plate is forced to the positive plate by the charging current. The animation demonstrates the discharge of the battery. Plates from used Edison batteries show little decay after years of use.
Manufacturing Edison batteries (also known as nickel-iron battery or NiFe battery) in West Orange, New Jersey, United States. View of the Edison Storage Battery Company Building (177 Main Street, West Orange, New Jersey, USA), the manufacturing facility for Edison batteries. Smoke emanates from vats. Motorized ceiling rack carries cylinders receiving nickel flake via electro plating. Aerial view of battery tube steel manufacture. Factory workers working in assembly lines to assemble batteries. The workers pack batteries for shipment. The four main parts of an Edison battery- negative plates (steel), container (steel), electrolyte (alkaline), and positive plates (steel)- on display. The steel positive plate and perforated steel tube which hold Nickel Hydrate on display. A finger touches the carbon steel ribbon that runs through a perforating machine to create battery tubes. A pen points to the perforation of the carbon steel ribbon. Machines nickel plate steel ribbons. Man places reels of steel ribbons in a tub. Men pushes the tubs into an automatic machine. A machine winding steel ribbons into tubes. Closer view of the steel tube showing its spiral pattern. Hand holding a steel tube. The manufacturing of nickel flake by an electro plating process. Metal sheet cylinders lifted out from vats of nickel. The cylindrical rolls of metal sheet are lowered to alternating vats of copper and nickel. Man unfolds a nickel-copper sheet. A machine cuts the nickel-copper sheet into small pieces. The copper in the nickel-copper pieces is chemically dissolved in a electro plating vat. The positive tubes are loaded with alternate layers of nickel hydrate and nickel flake. Man fits the tubes into a metal mold. Nickel hydrate and nickel flakes are fed into a machine. The man takes off the metal mold, taking the tubes. Cross section of a steel tube. Steel rings on a machine. Man counts the 8 steel rings of the tube. A woman mounts the tubes and presses them into a permanent position in a nickel-plated steel grid. A finished positive plate. A man mounts positive plates on the pole piece. He screws them into place. View of the negative plate, showing its perforated steel pockets holding iron oxide. Machines fold the perforated steel ribbons into Negative Pockets. A worker inserts Negative Pockets into a metal mold. A machine fills the Negative Pockets with iron oxide. Worker mounts the Negative Pockets in a nickel-plated steel grid. A machine secures the Negative Plates by a pressure of 120 tons. The Negative Plates are equidistantly spaced on the negative pole piece. Worker assembles the positive and negative plate groups together. A woman inserts additional insulation between each plate. The container is made of a nickel-plated steel sheet folded and welded to form one piece. Workers carefully inspect and insulate the assembled elements before the elements are permanently sealed in the container. Workers wearing goggles fill the finished battery cells with alkaline solution. Man closes the Filler Cap of the battery cell. Two terminals are seen on top of battery cell. Quality control inspectors check the finished products. A Weston DC voltmeter. A man dips battery cells into an insulating preservative compound. He places the battery cells in trays. Another man connects the cells in trays.
A diagram compares the payload capacity between vehicles powered by lead battery versus Edison battery. A WW1 era United States battleship sailing in an ocean. Steel beams of a skyscraper under construction. Vibration testing of Edison battery to check durability under use. A man operating an electric motorized cart carrying packages crosses a train track and loses one of the packages. Animation demonstrates the benefits of the Edison Battery, noting that it can be overcharged, overcharged, and even reverse charged. Photo of Edison battery array in a control room. A ‘Mrs. Wagner’s Pies- The Wagner Pastry Co.’ Edison battery electric delivery van is started and drives in the midst of a blizzard, thus demonstrating battery resistance to freezing conditions. This is probably near Newark, New Jersey, headquarters for the company.
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