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LIGHT FROM A
“FRANKENSTEIN” BATTERY

Although his greatest achievements marked him as an inventor of electrical and mechanical things, Thomas Edison always thought of himself as a chemist. “Grand science, chemistry,” he said. “I like it best of all the sciences.”

Without question, Edison’s most outstanding invention in the field of chemistry was the nickel-iron-alkaline battery. He perfected this revolutionary battery in 1908, after 10 years of research, 50,000 experiments, and a million dollars of his own money. His relentless hunt for a good storage battery has become a famous chapter in the history of applied science.

Equally remarkable, his nickel-iron-alkaline battery, although created half a century ago, is still being made and used today — this era of space probes, lasers, and nuclear power plants.

We couldn’t hope to build even a crude version of Edison’s battery. For one thing it requires special materials. But we can make a much simpler type of battery. By so doing, we will get a clearer picture of what a battery is and why it delivers current.. Actually we’re going to make a battery out of the same basic materials used in most flashlight batteries. In fact, we’re going to start with the insides of a dead battery and sort of bring it back to life. This “Frankenstein” battery will even be able to do some work for us.