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Old 29th Apr 2021, 1:01 am   #21
broadgage
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

The very large cylindrical cell was probably the one commonly called a "flag cell" a popular replacement for wet Leclanche cells used for door bells, servants bell call systems and intruder alarms, a few valve radios used one for the heaters.
Sometimes used for minimal "convenience lighting" in premises lit primarily by gas or oil lamps. 4 such cells and a 5.5 volt 0.3 amp bulb was ample for safe movement in a large room and much more convenient than lighting a candle.
A bedside lamp powered thus was most useful if the main room lighting was gas. The same set of four cells could operate a lamp each side of a double bed, or a lamp beside each bed in a twin bedded room. The cells should last several years of intermittent use.
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Old 29th Apr 2021, 9:06 am   #22
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

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The very large cylindrical cell was probably the one commonly called a "flag cell"
"Flag" was Ever Ready's type number for it. I'm guessing because an early use was to operate electromechanical indicators to inform a servant or hotel staff member which room they were being summoned to.

It's a mark of Ever Ready's market dominance that we're even talking about the PP range - practically every manufacturer had its own prefix (DT for Exide, VT for Vidor etc.) but kept to the same numbers. Even Flying Bomb - I've a, probably rare and highly desirable , example of their PP7-alike, a KB7.

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Old 29th Apr 2021, 9:15 am   #23
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

Did the "Bell" battery have a number as well?
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Old 29th Apr 2021, 10:18 am   #24
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

The Flag cell was the usual large capacity type used for bells. Seems it eventually gained a more conventional number, R40:

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...7&d=1334951107

Interesting that the relatively modern plastic-cased version there was made in Denmark, not somewhere I've noticed before in connection with Ever Ready manufacture. I bought one or two Flags in the late '60s, and last saw new examples at my first workplace in the early '80s: I can't remember what we used them for there.

Last edited by Paul_RK; 29th Apr 2021 at 10:24 am.
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Old 29th Apr 2021, 10:24 am   #25
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

I was thinking of the large flattish rectangular battery - the one with two screw terminals on top. It seemed to be just known as a "Bell battery". Very common in the 1960s. I don't remember seeing one for a long time.

Last edited by Boulevardier; 29th Apr 2021 at 10:46 am.
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Old 29th Apr 2021, 10:35 am   #26
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

The bell battery was the Ever Ready 126.

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...08&postcount=7
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Old 29th Apr 2021, 10:49 am   #27
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

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I was thinking of the large flattish rectangular battery - the one with two screw terminals on top. It seemed to be just known as a "Bell battery".
What I remember as a "bell battery" was the 4.5V type 126. I think it's basically three F-size cells in a cardboard box. There was also a bigger one, 6V type 991, but that was generally called a "lantern battery", though not to be confused with the much more common 996 with springs on the top.

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Old 29th Apr 2021, 10:54 am   #28
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

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The bell battery was the Ever Ready 126.

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...08&postcount=7
That's the one. So it didn't have a "PP" number.

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Old 29th Apr 2021, 12:53 pm   #29
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

No, the "PP" range was specifically for powering transistorised equipment: and they were all built of layer cells, though lately some of the batteries offered as equivalents for the PP9 and others turn out to have cylindrical cells inside.
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Old 29th Apr 2021, 2:38 pm   #30
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

The gaslighter battery was a U14. It only worked with town gas and was not hot enough to ignite natural gas. They produced an improved element but by that time the piezo electric types had taken over, J.
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Old 29th Apr 2021, 9:59 pm   #31
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

At the risk of being a bit vague, I remember a battery from my childhood years that was about the size of two C cells stacked together and had a PP-style connector on each end. If memory serves, one powered the smoke alarm my parents had back then, and I may have encountered a European-made portable transistor radio which was powered by a battery like that. Dad told me they stopped making them because they were a mercury cell.

Sound familiar to anyone?
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Old 30th Apr 2021, 12:15 am   #32
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

The No.8 3v battery?
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Old 30th Apr 2021, 12:57 am   #33
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

Doesn't much resemble anything I've seen, unless at a stretch the PP4, but a PP4 is of quite similar dimensions to a single 'C' cell, not a pair of them. The No.8 is comprised of two cells end to end that are considerably smaller than the 'C' type, and has an ordinary raised cap and flat base as in single cylindrical cells, rather than being fitted with snaps.

Mercury cells and batteries were fairly widely used for a while, but weren't at all common except as button cells, and I'm not aware of any that were nearly this big.
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Old 30th Apr 2021, 1:51 am   #34
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

The 126 "bell battery" did of course have other uses.
Three in series to power a small model railway in the absence of the more usual transformer.
Three in series to power a small 12 volt fluorescent light for camping or in a caravan.

96 or 100 in series to provide the emergency HT supply of about 400 volts to the radio transmitter on board a ship.

During the 1970s power cuts torch batteries were in very short supply as were candles and torches. I purchased a large number of bell batteries to make very basic lights for relatives.
An MES bulbholder attached to the top of the battery with two short pieces of wire and a 3.5 volt 0.25a or 0.3a bulb. Gave enough light for safe movement and was portable.
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Old 30th Apr 2021, 10:27 am   #35
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

Can we stay on topic please.

This thread concerns the PP (power pack) series of batteries not every style of battery ever produced.

That's the subject for a different thread

Cheers

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Old 4th May 2021, 9:44 pm   #36
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

I have a vague recollection, the large `beer can size` 1.5 volt battery you refer too was, in fact PP1, several of them were connected in series to run Intruder Alarms.
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Old 4th May 2021, 10:10 pm   #37
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

It can't have been - at least, not by Ever Ready - the PP1 was a rectangular 6V battery.

See the photo in post #17.
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Old 5th May 2021, 9:32 am   #38
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

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I have a vague recollection, the large `beer can size` 1.5 volt battery you refer too was, in fact PP1, several of them were connected in series to run Intruder Alarms.
Ken G6HZG
I think you're referring to a flag cell. Used to operate the "flags" on a servant bell board.
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Old 7th May 2021, 9:34 pm   #39
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

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Quote:
Originally Posted by its ur aerial View Post
I have a vague recollection, the large `beer can size` 1.5 volt battery you refer too was, in fact PP1, several of them were connected in series to run Intruder Alarms.
Ken G6HZG
I think you're referring to a flag cell. Used to operate the "flags" on a servant bell board.
I always wondered why they were called flag cells, we had several in our physics lab at school to power electrical experiments back in the early 70's thanks for the answer
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Old 7th May 2021, 9:42 pm   #40
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Default Re: Where are the missing PP* battery numbers?

There's a list of "PP" batteries, their sizes weights voltages and intended discharge-regimes - in the RSGB "Radio Communication Handbook" [1970s edition]. I'll snapshot this and post it if you're interested.

Did the big fat 1.5V metal-cased Ever Ready cells used with glowing-wire lighters for coal-gas ever have a PP-number?
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