"Flat" batteries
Discussion
OK, no idea where to turn on this one, Google has let me down. I have a 1930's Phililte bycycle lamp which runs from a dynamo or an internal battery. The battery type is a "flat" battery (try Googling "flat battery"...) and it's NOT an Ever Ready 800 type, it's shorter and flatter but the terminals are a similar config.
Here's the lamp - original ad:
So - over to PH - what flat batteries, probably 3V or 6V, were available in the 1930s to at leat the 1950s which are smaller than an 800?
Help!
Here's the lamp - original ad:
So - over to PH - what flat batteries, probably 3V or 6V, were available in the 1930s to at leat the 1950s which are smaller than an 800?
Help!
|https://thumbsnap.com/rvGNtQTu[/url]
motco said:
It will almost certainly be the 'flat' 3 cell 4.5v torch battery shown above. These were very common indeed in the 50s and 60s and date back to the Edwardian period.
Used to be very common, thanks to Petzl Zoom head torches.try,
e13,
mn1203,
3lr12, 3lr6
There also used to be adapters to convert from the "flat" battery to 3x AAs, Petzl themselves did one.
mr_spock said:
I think the issue is the terminal config. It looks like there needs to be top and bottom or top and side. Will try for a pic of the innards. I don’t have a battery at all. The top terminal is offset. Maybe it’s the one you suggested but with the terminal bent to the side?
It was common practice in some applications to bend one tag over and down the side.Wasn't unknown for some applications to require one or both terminals to be bent over backwards. I can't help wondering about battery life connected to a dynamo though, as they're not rechargeable batteries!
By the Fifties I think the penny had dropped and the battery dispensed with. Vehicle and street lighting though still poor, hence the introduction of reflective plates, was much better than pre-war.
By the Fifties I think the penny had dropped and the battery dispensed with. Vehicle and street lighting though still poor, hence the introduction of reflective plates, was much better than pre-war.
I had a very similar dynamo set on my bike in the 50s - may have been branded 'Miller' - which had a battery standby.
I think there may be a terminal missing (or obscured?) in the picture. I can see one attached to the switch, there should be another just along from it. The battery is definitely the 4.5v flat type, and goes in with the terminals pointing to the left in your picture. The spring clamp and base hold it in place.
Don't be misled by the big terminals in the foreground - they're the connections for the bulb/reflector, the battery connectors are across to the left of the picture.
The battery is never in circuit with the dynamo, the switch on the top selects between battery power or dynamo power, never the two together.
All of this is to the best of my (fragile) memory... :/
I think there may be a terminal missing (or obscured?) in the picture. I can see one attached to the switch, there should be another just along from it. The battery is definitely the 4.5v flat type, and goes in with the terminals pointing to the left in your picture. The spring clamp and base hold it in place.
Don't be misled by the big terminals in the foreground - they're the connections for the bulb/reflector, the battery connectors are across to the left of the picture.
The battery is never in circuit with the dynamo, the switch on the top selects between battery power or dynamo power, never the two together.
All of this is to the best of my (fragile) memory... :/
mr_spock said:
OK, no idea where to turn on this one, Google has let me down. I have a 1930's Phililte bycycle lamp which runs from a dynamo or an internal battery. The battery type is a "flat" battery (try Googling "flat battery"...) and it's NOT an Ever Ready 800 type, it's shorter and flatter but the terminals are a similar config.
Here's the lamp - original ad:
So - over to PH - what flat batteries, probably 3V or 6V, were available in the 1930s to at leat the 1950s which are smaller than an 800?
Help!
Christ, I had one of those !Here's the lamp - original ad:
So - over to PH - what flat batteries, probably 3V or 6V, were available in the 1930s to at leat the 1950s which are smaller than an 800?
Help!
Tyre Smoke said:
Never mind the battery for a moment, 43/6d in the 1930s?? 
Two things, that's over £130.00 today and surely it would have been written £2/3/6?
It was probably still made in the UK instead of China. I remember having a Pifco one identical to that in the Seventies and I bet that didn't cost my parents £130. Two things, that's over £130.00 today and surely it would have been written £2/3/6?
john2443 said:
Tyre Smoke said:
surely it would have been written £2/3/6?
Not necessarily, I can remember things that were over a quid being written like that, I wonder if it was because it sounds cheaper in shillings than in pounds.littleredrooster said:
I had a very similar dynamo set on my bike in the 50s - may have been branded 'Miller' - which had a battery standby.
I think there may be a terminal missing (or obscured?) in the picture. I can see one attached to the switch, there should be another just along from it. The battery is definitely the 4.5v flat type, and goes in with the terminals pointing to the left in your picture. The spring clamp and base hold it in place.
Don't be misled by the big terminals in the foreground - they're the connections for the bulb/reflector, the battery connectors are across to the left of the picture.
The battery is never in circuit with the dynamo, the switch on the top selects between battery power or dynamo power, never the two together.
All of this is to the best of my (fragile) memory... :/
Sounds spot on! There is no second terminal and I can’t see there ever was. The bottom copper connector pushes against the back of the reflector and that’s the negative connection to the bulb holder thread. It’s also electrically connected to the battery holder so I’m assuming that I bend the terminal to the side to trap it in the holder?I think there may be a terminal missing (or obscured?) in the picture. I can see one attached to the switch, there should be another just along from it. The battery is definitely the 4.5v flat type, and goes in with the terminals pointing to the left in your picture. The spring clamp and base hold it in place.
Don't be misled by the big terminals in the foreground - they're the connections for the bulb/reflector, the battery connectors are across to the left of the picture.
The battery is never in circuit with the dynamo, the switch on the top selects between battery power or dynamo power, never the two together.
All of this is to the best of my (fragile) memory... :/
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