Bunsen cell
Datecirca 1910
Inventory NumberDW0539
ClassificationBattery
Subject
Maker
American
?
Cultural Region
Dimensions22 x 15.8 cm (8 11/16 x 6 1/4 in.)
Material
DescriptionA Bunsen wet-type carbon-zinc battery. Cylindrical glass jar containing an iron ring of the jar's diameter that holds four long carbon strips along the outer edges of the cylinder. Along the central axis of the cylinder is a white cup of porous material that would have held a zinc rod.
Signedunsigned
FunctionThe inner cup would be filled with sulphuric acid which would be in contact with a zinc rod. The volume outside the cup would contain nitric or chromic acid. The reaction of the rods with their respective acids would be the source of a voltage in electrodes connected to them. Invented by Robert Bunsen.
ProvenanceDavid Wheatland acquired in Shirley, Massachusetts, 1970.
National Carbon Company Inc.
Date: circa 1924
Object number: 2007-1-0173
