Dr. Jones
Newly Enlightened
I was doing a little digging (metaphorically speaking) on the standards for dry cell battery sizes, as it's been my experience that a lot of the older vintage flashlights, particularly those from the 1930s and earlier, have clearance issues with some of the modern batteries. Went to the Energizer battery site which provides various specifications and industry standards for their batteries, and also found some old National Bureau of Standards (now termed the National Institute for Standards and Technology) documents online from the 1930s which revealed some interesting information.
I have an Eveready "Daylo" flashlight, circa 1915-1920, and it requires two 'C' cells. However, currently-manufactured alkaline 'C' cells that I've tried are too tight a fit; they will go in, but they have zero clearance with the slide switch, which binds and will not move with them inserted. According to this NBS document from 1937, page 3, Table 4:
https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/circ/nbscircular414.pdf
…the nominal diameter of a 'C' cell in 1930 was 15/16" diameter, or 0.938", with some unspecified wiggle room either side (hence "nominal"); I have some old LeClanche cells that are just about that diameter, and they fit perfectly. Now compare this figure to the current specification according to Energizer, here:
https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/e93.pdf
which I'm assuming is pretty well the current industry standard; the diameter now ranges for 0.098" to 1.031", considerably greater than the old figures, and is apparently enough of a difference to bedevil collectors of old flashlights to no end.
However, things get murky rather quickly.
According to this even earlier NBS document, from 1930, on page 3, Table 3:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg...VPUB-C13-9f2dbdfb173943fb903f35c176e26f9b.pdf
…the diameter of a 'C' cell can vary from a minimum of 31/32", or 0.969", to a maximum of 1-1/32", or 1.031"! What happened to the supposedly-nominal diameter of 0.938" given in the 1937 document? It would appear that the NBS couldn't settle on a specification.
If the above is any indication, it's apparent that there were no hard-and-fast rules regarding battery size long ago, and as long as a given manufacturer's batteries fit their own and possibly other manufacturer's flashlights, all was well. It does, however, appear from a perusal of my own battery collection that the diameters overall seem to have slowly increased as time went on.
I'd like to hear your thoughts and experiences on the matter; do you have any older flashlights that have problems with the dimensions of current alkaline batteries?
I have an Eveready "Daylo" flashlight, circa 1915-1920, and it requires two 'C' cells. However, currently-manufactured alkaline 'C' cells that I've tried are too tight a fit; they will go in, but they have zero clearance with the slide switch, which binds and will not move with them inserted. According to this NBS document from 1937, page 3, Table 4:
https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/circ/nbscircular414.pdf
…the nominal diameter of a 'C' cell in 1930 was 15/16" diameter, or 0.938", with some unspecified wiggle room either side (hence "nominal"); I have some old LeClanche cells that are just about that diameter, and they fit perfectly. Now compare this figure to the current specification according to Energizer, here:
https://data.energizer.com/pdfs/e93.pdf
which I'm assuming is pretty well the current industry standard; the diameter now ranges for 0.098" to 1.031", considerably greater than the old figures, and is apparently enough of a difference to bedevil collectors of old flashlights to no end.
However, things get murky rather quickly.
According to this even earlier NBS document, from 1930, on page 3, Table 3:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg...VPUB-C13-9f2dbdfb173943fb903f35c176e26f9b.pdf
…the diameter of a 'C' cell can vary from a minimum of 31/32", or 0.969", to a maximum of 1-1/32", or 1.031"! What happened to the supposedly-nominal diameter of 0.938" given in the 1937 document? It would appear that the NBS couldn't settle on a specification.
If the above is any indication, it's apparent that there were no hard-and-fast rules regarding battery size long ago, and as long as a given manufacturer's batteries fit their own and possibly other manufacturer's flashlights, all was well. It does, however, appear from a perusal of my own battery collection that the diameters overall seem to have slowly increased as time went on.
I'd like to hear your thoughts and experiences on the matter; do you have any older flashlights that have problems with the dimensions of current alkaline batteries?
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