Michael,

I recently completed some excavations in Newark, New Jersey on a series of
stone and brick lined shaft features filled circa 1920.  Glass battery jars
were amongst the fill materials.  Two battery jars were French, embossed
"PILE LECLANCHE" "TELEPHONE BATTERY" "PAT MAY 23RD 1882" (it measured 6"
high by 4" by 4") and the others were unmarked.  The Sears 1897 catalog
(pages 470 and 471) show similar examples of open circuit batteries" listed
under Electrical Goods.  One uses the battery to power telegraph equipment
another states "for open circuit work such as bells telephone work etc.,
they will last from 12 to 18 months without renewal".  They were also used
for door bells and burglar alarm outfits.  Similar examples are shown in the
1892 Montgomery Ward & Co. Fall & Winter Catalogue & Buyers Guide No.56
(page 210).  On this page you will note some are square and some are
cylindrical.

If I remember correctly we found some good information on the web when did a
search on PILE LECLANCHE or just LECLANCHE.  I believe there was a good
image.  We also found some of the interior battery parts, zinc rods and
copper plates and wires.  the upper portion of one some of the batteries
from the shafts were ceramic.

Bill Liebeknecht
Principal Investigator
Hunter Research Inc.
Trenton, NJ
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael LaRonge" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, March 11, 2002 1:42 PM
Subject: battery jars


> Greetings All,
>
> I am currently looking at a group of artifacts from a ca. 1930's gas
> station that was closed down when the Badger Ammunition Plant was
> created here in Wisconsin.  I have pieces of a large rectangular
> battery jar, not the battery oil bottle, but the jar itself.  The base
> of the jar measures 16 x 14 cm., I have no idea how tall the jar was.
> I am wondering when they came into use and when the fell out of use
> (if ever).  Also any ideas on what they would have been using it for
> at a gas station would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks in Advance,
>
> Michael LaRonge
> Wisconsin Historical Society
> Museum Archaeology Program
> Coyier Lab
> 331 Coyier Lane
> Madison, WI 53713
> (608)271-9097