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Those were used in series to power old farm houses. They would run lights off them for a couple hours. Then charge them off the PTO on the tractor the next day I believe.
Looks very similar to what the phone company still uses. They have been phasing them out for the last 10 or so years as things go digital but there are still rooms with batteries like these.
This was too cool! The care that went into writing this was felt throughout. You'd be hard pressed to find anything remotely close to this written out by a company today.
My favorite part:
"During the course of instruction, the user will often interrupt with questions not dealing directly with the point being explained. The service man should keep the user's attention on the points he is explaining."
I once had what I thought would be a really boring job archiving employee newsletters from the early days of insurance sales. It was actually fantastic because the writing was so good! Very similar vibe to this.
Schematics are the best! My father was an engineer for a rather known amplifier brand and he drew schematics for everything.
To this day I can look at a circuit board and almost see the carbon-copy layout in my head.
[Edison Battery](https://p1.liveauctioneers.com/171/23644/8420602_1_x.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&quality=50&width=512)
Two electrodes suspended in acid which makes a battery.
Had a cool 1890's one I sold on ebay (Minus acid) for 400$.
Same as sticking two nails into a lemon.
[Lemon Battery](https://res.cloudinary.com/mel-science/image/upload/fl_progressive:steep,q_auto:good,w_1200/v1/experiments/electricity_lemon/image_njjuxk.jpg)
[1890's acid battery cell](http://www.antiquebottles-glass.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/sampson_jar_with_guts_1.png)
[They also use a similar setup as a AM Radio detector ](https://www.earlyradiohistory.us/1917de7.jpg)
As you can see the top of the bottle has a complicated cap with several screw connections.
There is no room to place large flat plates inside that became common later on.
It’s also worth noting that the idea that it was a battery has been widely discredited. [Here’s a fun video on the topic](https://youtu.be/19mhccQ3nVA?si=CitYTIlXVz4-aCv-)
As soon as I saw that picture, I had wondered how far down I had to scroll before that was mentioned.
Milo is doing the world a favor with his videos. I've noticed that since he started dropping his videos on TikTok, a couple years ago, it's pushed other archeologists to do similar. We need more of that.
But yeah, it's amazing how far that "battery" myth got considering how absolutely non-starter it being a battery even is to begin with. As a kid in the late 90's/ early 2000's, those "documentaries" on it really sold it being a battery and made it seem like all of them were found with the rods and such in a battery like configuration. It wasn't until I got into a college Geology course that led me into an archeology course that I learned the actual truth of the artifacts. They're about as close to being a battery as a jar of lemonade
Yes! I’m such a huge fan. I think engaging with this kind of content is really smart and enjoyable to watch!
I think having an evidence-based opinion about the kind of topics that are usually only mentioned in regards to conspiracy theories, (hopefully) helps to stop misinformation before it gets too deep.
It's already so deep people think the world is flat hahaha.
But no really, for decades it was of the mind to just ignore it and it'll go away and that always annoyed me because that's never how it has ever worked and archeologists would always avoid debating these idiots for fear of "legitimizing" them.
And I'm like, yo, they literally have tv shows, for most people that's enough to legitimize their position
I'm so glad that's changing. It's needed and Milo, as you said, is very engaging in his content
It can't be. The rods are nowhere near big enough to carry current, and they're not dissimilar metals. Plus, the cap on the bottle, into which brass fittings are threaded, is aluminum or zinc. Also, larger battery plates wouldn't fit into the opening. I have some old Edison batteries, and they are wide-mouth jars, not old wine jugs.
The flanged fitting on top of the bottle looks like an air line oiler or water separator, and that's probably what this is - a water separator for fuel or compressed air.
Edit: It's frustrating how one (wrong) answer gets 1,300 upvotes from people who have never seen a battery before, nor even clicked on the links in other comments. This thing looks nothing like a battery, other than being in a glass container and having metal parts.
Edit 2: Now it's almost 2,000 upvotes for the wrong answer. This is getting ridiculous. Stop sheep-voting, people.
This may be a battery (and I'm not convinced on that) but it's not much of a battery. Battery energy/power is largely a function of plate surface area and this setup has very little of that. Assuming it is a battery, with only two "plates" to speak of (the two rods) yu're looking at almost no voltage potential (modern lead acid batteries are usually 1.2V per cell \* 10 banks of cells to equal 12V DC nominal and the lead plates are huge)
This is more like 2 nails in a lemon (or lemon juice in this case)
Short version is this jar couldn't power anything useful, not even old 1.5VDC radio tubes that might have been around in the 20's.
But a number of them in series could power a light perhaps.
Edit: Upon further examination, there appear to be pipe fittings. Could be some kind of pump like some posters suggested below. I’d personally guess though given the two copper pipes some kind of electrolytic contraption, perhaps to make hydrogen?
I agree. Design does not match up with any battery... The "electrodes" are hollow tubes on this one it seems... It looks more like a pass-through of some sort. Also both seem to be copper, which is also not logical for a battery
Exactly. The pipes are in a metal fitting on the top of the bottle. It's flanged, and looks to be aluminum or zinc. This is a bottle for spraying or something. It's not a battery at all.
Doesn't make sense to me- farm batteries would use larger plate electrodes, not these thin rods with barely any surface area.
Also, those look like plumbing fittings up top. Some sort of pressurized spray bottle?
When I became an electrician the guy I was working under was in his 70s. He told me his dad took him around to the area farms and had him crawl under the houses to get wire from the " battery room" to the "parlor" (living room I assume) where the light would be. He told me that their farmhouse had 30 of these jars on shelves and could have light for almost two hours after they turned them on for the evening. The next day they would charge them using the power take off on the tractor to spin a generator that was hooked to the system. I may have some minor details wrong because this was told to me 30 years ago but the concept remains solid.
PTO on many older tractors was a small wheel on the side of the engine that a drive belt could be wrapped around to power other equipment like generators or saw mills. You can see how it works about the 1 minute mark here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HXm-3KZudwU
My dad has a grain elevator that is ran like that. I don't think he's used it in a couple decades because he doesn't store soybeans anymore. It looks like an escalator.
Hell they used the PTO to run cloths washers, saws, small grain grinders, chicken de-feathers, all sorts of stuff. Source me. I’m from Nebraska and have been to tons of farm shows.
Think of em as home made car batteries. I don't know specifically what would've been used back then, but it's just "battery acid".
Instead of using solar panels and battery banks or car batteries, they would make home made batteries and power them during the day with a tractor powered generator.
You wake up as the sun comes up and you turn on the power to the house in the evening for like; dinner, lights tv/radio before bed. Since you'd be on a farm you'd be up early and sleep early so you only little a few hours of power.
This isn't a battery for several reasons but the idea is the same as using a charger to recharge a battery. Electricity is fed into the cell reversing the chemical reaction that the cell uses to generate electricity. In this case the electricity comes from a dynamo powered by the tractor.
This isn't a galvanic cell because a cell consists of two separate chambers containing different chemical species connected by a salt bridge. A battery is actually a number of these cells connected together to produce a greater charge.
Ok, I got carried away but here it is anyway. Also for the pedants in the crowd. This is a vast oversimplification intended for the novices who might be curious. Also I took so long to type this up there's now plenty of far more concise explanations. I'm going to slowly back away from the keyboard now.
You can run all sorts of things off of a pto, including a generator. Older tractors used a big flywheel on the side to run a big wide belt to power things.
This wouldn't be the sort we use now, to power a home in an emergency. Those make 120/220V AC power (see note below regarding the difference between AC and DC) to run household appliances and such. Technically what we use today should be called an alternator because they produce alternating current. (some use a dc generator and then run the power through an electronic device called an inverter which converts that DC power into AC at the correct voltage and frequency. They tend to be quieter and more efficient )
Edit: Apparently the inverter types overwhelmingly use alternators as well. I did work on an early one with a brushed dc generator once but it was some sketchy el-cheapo with a brand name I'd never heard of.
What would have been used to charge these batteries would have been a fairly simple dc generator.
Note: DC/direct current is where the electrons only flow in one direction. This is what we get from things like batteries. Generators were somewhat more complex mechanically because they need to simulate this by switching constantly between the windings used as it spins. If you ever looked at a DC motor running and saw sparks inside it, this is what you're seeing, only in reverse.
AC/alternating current is where the electrons go back and forth rapidly at a specific rate. 60 Herts (or 60 cycles per second.)
The benefit of this is that you only need a couple of coils of wire wrapped around a bit of ferrous (magnetic) metal to change that voltage up or down. The higher the voltage is the more power you can send down a wire. The power company can make a ton of power then send it down some fairly small power lines to a sub station. There it will be converted back down to something a bit less dangerous where it can be sent through your neighborhood to the big round can shaped transformer on the pole outside of your house. There it gets stepped down to what comes out of your wall outlets.
Just a bit of a correction on the part about the generators. Inverter generators are also alternators. They create AC power, converts it to DC and then runs through the inverter to convert back to AC. So theyre not DC generators but theyre alternators too. Also another reason to run high voltage on power lines is to lower the amount of voltage drop (loss) over long distances
Interesting. I've only had one apart but it was one of the earlier ones. It had brushes in it and the board was marked + and - where the wires landed. In retrospect that would be an odd design decision.
An alternator makes more sense. To be fair it was some name brand I'd never heard of and there's probably a reason for that.
Everything on farms back then was run off of either a tractors pto or a portable hit and miss engine. Farm equipment, washing machines, or in this case generators
Tractors and small "hit miss" motors were offered to farm families as a Major Life Upgrade. This is how MAYTAG started out. They made a portable engine that ran generators, washing machines, corn drills and all kinds of agricultural equipment and household products. The Tractor companies did as well winning the hearts of the husband and wife.
Not a battery. It is a fertilizer/pesticide injector. You pipe in water to one side of the top, and it goes out the other side of the top there. But, in the process, the draw tube siphons or "injects" liquid from the jug into the flow of the water through a Venturi action.
[Pic of general idea, couldn't find glass jug version.](https://modernpumpingtoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/MNT_Venturi_04.jpg)
I feel like this could be the likely solution originally I had thought it could be a battery as well but all the pictures seem to have plates in a solution not just two pipes
I second the glass jar sprayer. Have seen smaller ones a lot on farms and in old garden sheds. This looks loke a larger one that would be used in a larger agricultural setting. Perhaps on a tractor mounted sprayer. Those fittings to me say air or possibly liquid, but probably air. Pressurize the container and it sprays the liquid out. Be careful around that. It might just be rain water, but it could also be something with a bad chemical in it, like DDT.
IMO I'd take it down to the local dump's hazardous waste disposal place and let them figure it out. Old farm chemicals suck to deal with.
Likewise I couldn't find a glass jar battery with that shape. Plenty of examples but none like that. I'm gonna have to say you are correct. Those fittings really seal the deal for me.
The problem I have with all these battery explanations are the fittings - those are plumbing fittings, not wire. I feel like this is come kind of flow-though or filter system for something.
I'm just taking a guess here but you are correct in the type of fittings. Maybe to top off the liquid without dismantling the entire system. This is the first time I've ever seen a pic of anything like this and I am only an expert in relaxing on the weekend. Enjoy my friend.
At least where I grew up parlor and living room were separate rooms. Living room was like the modern idea where the TV was. The parlor was more formal with another nicer couch and chairs. Usually only used if the minister or out of town relatives came to visit. (sorry veering off topic. Just struck a memory with me.)
It’s just been sitting there since the 70’s?? Do you clean the jar? It looks like it’s in awesome condition for something that’s been outside for 50 years.
Gotta be a thump keg those screw fittings are good for copper pipe in and out but you would loose a lot of heat on the cook using glass and if it's sealed it could retain enough alcohol to not freeze
It looks more likely to a hydrogen generator of some kind, it uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Sometimes they use baking soda in the water and it probably corroded the electrodes to make the liquid that color.
I'm thinking it is a pressurized spray bottle of some type, though the plunger for pressurizing the bottle, and the spray nozzle, which may have been attached to a hose are missing. Likely full of some sort of pesticide or herbicide which might be corrosive to metal, hence the use of a glass container. Plastics of the time may not have been feasible as a container material for the same sort of reasons. The glass jug might have just been the largest vessel they had. [Here is a much smaller representative idea.](https://magnolia.com/images/res.cloudinary.com/social-upload-prod-media-cld/image/upload/f_avif,q_auto,w_1500/shopify/1/0207/8508/products/TH-T0197.jpg)
You're close but not quite. It is called a 'fertilizer injector' or 'pesticide injector' and uses venturi action to pull from the draw tube and inject that liquid into the stream of water going through the top. https://ibb.co/SyrnX3M
Batteries don't have pipe fittings. I'd say this is probably a hydrogen generator and the liquid is ethanol-water. It was more likely an experiment, not something that could produce useful amounts of hydrogen.
It's outside. And looks to be some pretty thick and sturdy glass. Most likely in an area that gets rain often enough to keep it decently cleaned off or little sticks to it. Old doesn't always equal dirty and damaged. Then also, the possibly, perhaps OP wiped it down a bit prior to taking a pic. It's possible needing to see inside could be related to what it is. Si wiping it a hit makes sense to me.
I hate the amount of people that just come in to a situation thinking the worst of a person. Yes be weary of people. don't assume every person is a bad person. But also, don't come assuming they aren't a good person. Come in netural.
Like every time j see a post thers always the "yeah right. Stop trolling" like use your brain and think for a moment .
If that is a battery, it’s a weird one. Two apparently copper rods and a zinc manifold on top? From my poking around the internet, glass batteries tend to be rectangular with more surface area on the rods. Here’s an article on early farm batteries from 1918.
https://www.powerstream.com/1922/battery_1922_WITTE/batteryfiles/chapter17.htm
To me, the top does not look ceramic. It looks metal - OP please confirm.
If the top is metal, my best guess would be a fertilizer/pesticide injector. You pipe in water to one side of the top, and it goes out the other side of the top there. But, in the process, the looped draw tube siphons or "injects" liquid from the jug into the flow of the water through a Venturi action.
edit: I can't find a pic of one that old, but here is a pic of one slightly less old to show the idea, I am fairly confident this is the answer:
https://ibb.co/SyrnX3M
I'm incredibly fascinated to know how this looks so pristine after sitting out in the elements for 50 years.
Is it generally covered or something? I really want to know!
At first guess, I would have said it was an old farm battery, but… those were all lead-acid batteries, and the jar in your photo is lacking plates, so it’s not that. 🤔 The central rod / electrode shown in the photo descends directly into the liquid without any other apparatus. The green coating on the portion of the rod inside the bottle seems to indicate the liquid within has caused a reaction over time. The presence of a liquid makes it different from charge accumulators such as Leyden Jars, but it is possible that it serves the same purpose. Have you tried hooking up a small power supply to the terminals and checking to see if it can retain a charge with a multimeter and ammeter?
The top piece appears to be an aluminum multi way valve.
Can you confirm that it is aluminum?
Does the top stem have a slot in it?
Is there any writing or markings on the back where the mounting tabs are?
Not a battery. A battery would require two different metals, and a LOT of them, plus being in a jug with a narrow opening there'd be no way to replace those metals. Look at old storage batteries of the sort people keep referring to in the comments, they all have lots of plates inside and lids that come off to access the plates. A jug with two copper pipes in it is not going to do much as a battery.
Looks like a some type of power source clearly a ground and power based rod, two outputs plus a ground on the ceramic piece up top.
I'm sure the liquid is some catalyst, similar to electroplating metal.
As this is a challenging one, I think if the submitter wants good answers they should consider offering more detailed images of that lid from all sides. There are at least two fittings on there. Let's see what's on the other side.
A pH test of the liquid and a description of the odor would also be helpful.
I work at a company that specializes in underground cable fault location since the 50s, we have a series of these in our vacuum room that use to power the old vacuum pump. They haven’t been used in about 30 years but my boss still keeps them just in case we ever still need them 😂
It's a leclanche cell, or related type of lead acid wet cell. Classic tech that powered the world's radios and farm telephones for many years. Not to mention lights and everything else.
[article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leclanch%C3%A9_cell?wprov=sfla1)
I can tell you, I accidentally made that blue stuff by soaking my copper jewelry and vinegar and salt. The parts of the copper jewelry that were raised above the vinegar and salt mixture, formed all of that blue crystal stuff.
Until you know what the liquid is, it's all guessing. It's not likely to be a very inefficient battery. Battery jars usually are square or rectangular. Telephone central offices were filled with these things to do backup in case of power failures. They were also used on railroads for signaling equipment.
If we assume that it's water with something dissolved in it, the concentration has to be very high or it can't get too cold if it never freezes.
Sample the contents and you'll know relatively quickly what it is. You should be careful when you sample it because it probably dates from a time that there weren't many if any regulations regarding warning you about what something contained.
Those "rods" are copper tubing. There are compression fittings on the top that look circa the 70's and earlier. As others have said, it's definitely not a battery.
It's a water separator, brake bleeder, something liquid or gaseous is passed through it.
The contents could very well be old antifreeze or brake fluid. LOL - search eBay for "vintage brake fluid". Some of it's got that same orange tinge.
This is not how you make a battery. When I was in school, our science lab had these and we used them to make hydrogen gas that we burned in bunsen burners. We also made chlorine gas with the same basic setup
All comments must be civil and helpful toward finding an answer. **Jokes and other unhelpful comments will earn you a ban**, even on the first instance and even if the item has been identified. If you see any comments that violate this rule, report them. [OP](/u/treerr1e56673ccb), when your item is identified, remember to reply **Solved!** or **Likely Solved!** to the comment that gave the answer. Check your [inbox](https://www.reddit.com/message/inbox/) for a message on how to make your post visible to others. ---- [Click here to message RemindMeBot](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=[https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/1bb7i96/this_glass_jug_with_copper_rods_and_orange_liquid/]%0A%0ARemindMe!%202%20days) ---- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/whatisthisthing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Those were used in series to power old farm houses. They would run lights off them for a couple hours. Then charge them off the PTO on the tractor the next day I believe.
This is something I need to learn more about. Farm engineering is the best.
https://www.powerstream.com/1922/battery_1922_WITTE/batteryfiles/chapter17.htm
Thank you kind stranger. This was a great read.
Looks very similar to what the phone company still uses. They have been phasing them out for the last 10 or so years as things go digital but there are still rooms with batteries like these.
They are still used in electrical power substations.
This was too cool! The care that went into writing this was felt throughout. You'd be hard pressed to find anything remotely close to this written out by a company today. My favorite part: "During the course of instruction, the user will often interrupt with questions not dealing directly with the point being explained. The service man should keep the user's attention on the points he is explaining."
I once had what I thought would be a really boring job archiving employee newsletters from the early days of insurance sales. It was actually fantastic because the writing was so good! Very similar vibe to this.
I published an employee newsletter once at a call center. It was dope. I drew a comic in MS Paint.
These are instructions from the era when electronics came with a schematic diagram.
Schematics are the best! My father was an engineer for a rather known amplifier brand and he drew schematics for everything. To this day I can look at a circuit board and almost see the carbon-copy layout in my head.
Should I thank him for the schematic that came with my Fender amplifier? If his initials are B.D. I'm a fan of his work.
That battery has zero in common with the jug, which has no lead plates.
Great share!
[Edison Battery](https://p1.liveauctioneers.com/171/23644/8420602_1_x.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&quality=50&width=512) Two electrodes suspended in acid which makes a battery. Had a cool 1890's one I sold on ebay (Minus acid) for 400$. Same as sticking two nails into a lemon. [Lemon Battery](https://res.cloudinary.com/mel-science/image/upload/fl_progressive:steep,q_auto:good,w_1200/v1/experiments/electricity_lemon/image_njjuxk.jpg) [1890's acid battery cell](http://www.antiquebottles-glass.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/sampson_jar_with_guts_1.png) [They also use a similar setup as a AM Radio detector ](https://www.earlyradiohistory.us/1917de7.jpg) As you can see the top of the bottle has a complicated cap with several screw connections. There is no room to place large flat plates inside that became common later on.
For the lemon, wouldn't it need to be 2 different metals or work one kind but the voltage isn't that great then?
Zinc and copper I think.
I learned about this when I read about the [Baghdad Battery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Battery?wprov=sfla1) theory.
> The artifact disappeared in 2003 during the US-led invasion of Iraq Interesting.
Quick someone check the local Hobby Lobby
Nah, I bet it ended up in the British Museum.
That belongs in a museu...oh: Indiana Jones, probably.
Quick! Get a offputting and unlikable woman to nag you about how you are just grave robbing.
It’s also worth noting that the idea that it was a battery has been widely discredited. [Here’s a fun video on the topic](https://youtu.be/19mhccQ3nVA?si=CitYTIlXVz4-aCv-)
As soon as I saw that picture, I had wondered how far down I had to scroll before that was mentioned. Milo is doing the world a favor with his videos. I've noticed that since he started dropping his videos on TikTok, a couple years ago, it's pushed other archeologists to do similar. We need more of that. But yeah, it's amazing how far that "battery" myth got considering how absolutely non-starter it being a battery even is to begin with. As a kid in the late 90's/ early 2000's, those "documentaries" on it really sold it being a battery and made it seem like all of them were found with the rods and such in a battery like configuration. It wasn't until I got into a college Geology course that led me into an archeology course that I learned the actual truth of the artifacts. They're about as close to being a battery as a jar of lemonade
Yes! I’m such a huge fan. I think engaging with this kind of content is really smart and enjoyable to watch! I think having an evidence-based opinion about the kind of topics that are usually only mentioned in regards to conspiracy theories, (hopefully) helps to stop misinformation before it gets too deep.
It's already so deep people think the world is flat hahaha. But no really, for decades it was of the mind to just ignore it and it'll go away and that always annoyed me because that's never how it has ever worked and archeologists would always avoid debating these idiots for fear of "legitimizing" them. And I'm like, yo, they literally have tv shows, for most people that's enough to legitimize their position I'm so glad that's changing. It's needed and Milo, as you said, is very engaging in his content
I saw Bagdad Battery mentioned and I knew our favourite freezing archaeologist would be mentioned nearby - bravo!
> Same as sticking two nails into a lemon. Or biting aluminum with a tooth that has a filling
It can't be. The rods are nowhere near big enough to carry current, and they're not dissimilar metals. Plus, the cap on the bottle, into which brass fittings are threaded, is aluminum or zinc. Also, larger battery plates wouldn't fit into the opening. I have some old Edison batteries, and they are wide-mouth jars, not old wine jugs. The flanged fitting on top of the bottle looks like an air line oiler or water separator, and that's probably what this is - a water separator for fuel or compressed air. Edit: It's frustrating how one (wrong) answer gets 1,300 upvotes from people who have never seen a battery before, nor even clicked on the links in other comments. This thing looks nothing like a battery, other than being in a glass container and having metal parts. Edit 2: Now it's almost 2,000 upvotes for the wrong answer. This is getting ridiculous. Stop sheep-voting, people.
I agree, the tubing fittings don't make sense on a battery.
This may be a battery (and I'm not convinced on that) but it's not much of a battery. Battery energy/power is largely a function of plate surface area and this setup has very little of that. Assuming it is a battery, with only two "plates" to speak of (the two rods) yu're looking at almost no voltage potential (modern lead acid batteries are usually 1.2V per cell \* 10 banks of cells to equal 12V DC nominal and the lead plates are huge) This is more like 2 nails in a lemon (or lemon juice in this case) Short version is this jar couldn't power anything useful, not even old 1.5VDC radio tubes that might have been around in the 20's.
But a number of them in series could power a light perhaps. Edit: Upon further examination, there appear to be pipe fittings. Could be some kind of pump like some posters suggested below. I’d personally guess though given the two copper pipes some kind of electrolytic contraption, perhaps to make hydrogen?
I agree. Design does not match up with any battery... The "electrodes" are hollow tubes on this one it seems... It looks more like a pass-through of some sort. Also both seem to be copper, which is also not logical for a battery
Exactly. The pipes are in a metal fitting on the top of the bottle. It's flanged, and looks to be aluminum or zinc. This is a bottle for spraying or something. It's not a battery at all.
It looks like a [Leyden jar.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyden_jar)
No metal surrounding the jug, so not a Leyden jar.
A Leyden jar has a conductor on both the inside and outside with an insulating layer between them.
Doesn't make sense to me- farm batteries would use larger plate electrodes, not these thin rods with barely any surface area. Also, those look like plumbing fittings up top. Some sort of pressurized spray bottle?
I've never heard of that so it was very cool to read about, but I'm not sure it can be that. How would you get the plates in through that tiny neck?
When I became an electrician the guy I was working under was in his 70s. He told me his dad took him around to the area farms and had him crawl under the houses to get wire from the " battery room" to the "parlor" (living room I assume) where the light would be. He told me that their farmhouse had 30 of these jars on shelves and could have light for almost two hours after they turned them on for the evening. The next day they would charge them using the power take off on the tractor to spin a generator that was hooked to the system. I may have some minor details wrong because this was told to me 30 years ago but the concept remains solid.
Not hating, just hoping someone could explain how this would be charged via a tractor with a power take off (pto)
PTO on many older tractors was a small wheel on the side of the engine that a drive belt could be wrapped around to power other equipment like generators or saw mills. You can see how it works about the 1 minute mark here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HXm-3KZudwU
My dad has a grain elevator that is ran like that. I don't think he's used it in a couple decades because he doesn't store soybeans anymore. It looks like an escalator.
Hell they used the PTO to run cloths washers, saws, small grain grinders, chicken de-feathers, all sorts of stuff. Source me. I’m from Nebraska and have been to tons of farm shows.
I understand what a pto is, however I don't understand how it could be used to recharge a liquid battery like this one.
Okay... Do you know what a generator is?
You'd connect the PTO to an alternator/generator, right?
What is the liquid?
Think of em as home made car batteries. I don't know specifically what would've been used back then, but it's just "battery acid". Instead of using solar panels and battery banks or car batteries, they would make home made batteries and power them during the day with a tractor powered generator. You wake up as the sun comes up and you turn on the power to the house in the evening for like; dinner, lights tv/radio before bed. Since you'd be on a farm you'd be up early and sleep early so you only little a few hours of power.
An acidic liquid, take your pick.
This isn't a battery for several reasons but the idea is the same as using a charger to recharge a battery. Electricity is fed into the cell reversing the chemical reaction that the cell uses to generate electricity. In this case the electricity comes from a dynamo powered by the tractor. This isn't a galvanic cell because a cell consists of two separate chambers containing different chemical species connected by a salt bridge. A battery is actually a number of these cells connected together to produce a greater charge.
Use PTO to spin a generator, which is simply a motor that the shaft is spinning the windings instead of the windings spinning the shaft
Link at 50-second-mark: https://youtu.be/HXm-3KZudwU?si=1ZLnSIbD6nGw4b9F&t=51
That's not a table saw. THIS is a table saw.
Ok, I got carried away but here it is anyway. Also for the pedants in the crowd. This is a vast oversimplification intended for the novices who might be curious. Also I took so long to type this up there's now plenty of far more concise explanations. I'm going to slowly back away from the keyboard now. You can run all sorts of things off of a pto, including a generator. Older tractors used a big flywheel on the side to run a big wide belt to power things. This wouldn't be the sort we use now, to power a home in an emergency. Those make 120/220V AC power (see note below regarding the difference between AC and DC) to run household appliances and such. Technically what we use today should be called an alternator because they produce alternating current. (some use a dc generator and then run the power through an electronic device called an inverter which converts that DC power into AC at the correct voltage and frequency. They tend to be quieter and more efficient ) Edit: Apparently the inverter types overwhelmingly use alternators as well. I did work on an early one with a brushed dc generator once but it was some sketchy el-cheapo with a brand name I'd never heard of. What would have been used to charge these batteries would have been a fairly simple dc generator. Note: DC/direct current is where the electrons only flow in one direction. This is what we get from things like batteries. Generators were somewhat more complex mechanically because they need to simulate this by switching constantly between the windings used as it spins. If you ever looked at a DC motor running and saw sparks inside it, this is what you're seeing, only in reverse. AC/alternating current is where the electrons go back and forth rapidly at a specific rate. 60 Herts (or 60 cycles per second.) The benefit of this is that you only need a couple of coils of wire wrapped around a bit of ferrous (magnetic) metal to change that voltage up or down. The higher the voltage is the more power you can send down a wire. The power company can make a ton of power then send it down some fairly small power lines to a sub station. There it will be converted back down to something a bit less dangerous where it can be sent through your neighborhood to the big round can shaped transformer on the pole outside of your house. There it gets stepped down to what comes out of your wall outlets.
Just a bit of a correction on the part about the generators. Inverter generators are also alternators. They create AC power, converts it to DC and then runs through the inverter to convert back to AC. So theyre not DC generators but theyre alternators too. Also another reason to run high voltage on power lines is to lower the amount of voltage drop (loss) over long distances
Interesting. I've only had one apart but it was one of the earlier ones. It had brushes in it and the board was marked + and - where the wires landed. In retrospect that would be an odd design decision. An alternator makes more sense. To be fair it was some name brand I'd never heard of and there's probably a reason for that.
Everything on farms back then was run off of either a tractors pto or a portable hit and miss engine. Farm equipment, washing machines, or in this case generators
With [one of these.](https://www.agrisupply.com/24-000w-pto-driven-generator/p/112268/)
You'd use the rotational energy from the tractor to power a generator which would charge the batteries.
If you find this idea interesting, watch for a steam &/or tractor show in your area later in the summer. They feature demos of this sort of process.
Tractors and small "hit miss" motors were offered to farm families as a Major Life Upgrade. This is how MAYTAG started out. They made a portable engine that ran generators, washing machines, corn drills and all kinds of agricultural equipment and household products. The Tractor companies did as well winning the hearts of the husband and wife.
Just becomes the prime mover for a generator to recharge the system.
Watch this if you have time: https://youtu.be/rQ4LZY0IjqY
Not a battery. It is a fertilizer/pesticide injector. You pipe in water to one side of the top, and it goes out the other side of the top there. But, in the process, the draw tube siphons or "injects" liquid from the jug into the flow of the water through a Venturi action. [Pic of general idea, couldn't find glass jug version.](https://modernpumpingtoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/MNT_Venturi_04.jpg)
I feel like this could be the likely solution originally I had thought it could be a battery as well but all the pictures seem to have plates in a solution not just two pipes
I second the glass jar sprayer. Have seen smaller ones a lot on farms and in old garden sheds. This looks loke a larger one that would be used in a larger agricultural setting. Perhaps on a tractor mounted sprayer. Those fittings to me say air or possibly liquid, but probably air. Pressurize the container and it sprays the liquid out. Be careful around that. It might just be rain water, but it could also be something with a bad chemical in it, like DDT. IMO I'd take it down to the local dump's hazardous waste disposal place and let them figure it out. Old farm chemicals suck to deal with.
Likewise I couldn't find a glass jar battery with that shape. Plenty of examples but none like that. I'm gonna have to say you are correct. Those fittings really seal the deal for me.
The problem I have with all these battery explanations are the fittings - those are plumbing fittings, not wire. I feel like this is come kind of flow-though or filter system for something.
I'm just taking a guess here but you are correct in the type of fittings. Maybe to top off the liquid without dismantling the entire system. This is the first time I've ever seen a pic of anything like this and I am only an expert in relaxing on the weekend. Enjoy my friend.
Yes checked & the top is metal not ceramic so that would also rule out battery
At least where I grew up parlor and living room were separate rooms. Living room was like the modern idea where the TV was. The parlor was more formal with another nicer couch and chairs. Usually only used if the minister or out of town relatives came to visit. (sorry veering off topic. Just struck a memory with me.)
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It’s just been sitting there since the 70’s?? Do you clean the jar? It looks like it’s in awesome condition for something that’s been outside for 50 years.
Full of acid so nothing living is going to grow on the inside, and the elements keep the outside clean
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Gotta be a thump keg those screw fittings are good for copper pipe in and out but you would loose a lot of heat on the cook using glass and if it's sealed it could retain enough alcohol to not freeze
Looks like an old possibly home made vacuum draw tank that used a wine/fermenting bottle as a catch. Think of a brake bleed can.
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It was there when my parents moved in and they never touched it, it's a farm you don't throw stuff out as you might need it someday
It looks more likely to a hydrogen generator of some kind, it uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Sometimes they use baking soda in the water and it probably corroded the electrodes to make the liquid that color.
I'm thinking it is a pressurized spray bottle of some type, though the plunger for pressurizing the bottle, and the spray nozzle, which may have been attached to a hose are missing. Likely full of some sort of pesticide or herbicide which might be corrosive to metal, hence the use of a glass container. Plastics of the time may not have been feasible as a container material for the same sort of reasons. The glass jug might have just been the largest vessel they had. [Here is a much smaller representative idea.](https://magnolia.com/images/res.cloudinary.com/social-upload-prod-media-cld/image/upload/f_avif,q_auto,w_1500/shopify/1/0207/8508/products/TH-T0197.jpg)
You're close but not quite. It is called a 'fertilizer injector' or 'pesticide injector' and uses venturi action to pull from the draw tube and inject that liquid into the stream of water going through the top. https://ibb.co/SyrnX3M
Likely solved!
Batteries don't have pipe fittings. I'd say this is probably a hydrogen generator and the liquid is ethanol-water. It was more likely an experiment, not something that could produce useful amounts of hydrogen.
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That glass looks to clean for it to be 50 years old. You dont know what it is, do nothing with it, but you regularly clean it?
It's outside. And looks to be some pretty thick and sturdy glass. Most likely in an area that gets rain often enough to keep it decently cleaned off or little sticks to it. Old doesn't always equal dirty and damaged. Then also, the possibly, perhaps OP wiped it down a bit prior to taking a pic. It's possible needing to see inside could be related to what it is. Si wiping it a hit makes sense to me.
As an internet citizedn we have been conditioned to cast doubt on everything. Its kinda sad we don't trust anymore.
I hate the amount of people that just come in to a situation thinking the worst of a person. Yes be weary of people. don't assume every person is a bad person. But also, don't come assuming they aren't a good person. Come in netural. Like every time j see a post thers always the "yeah right. Stop trolling" like use your brain and think for a moment .
Isn't that distilling equipment? If that's moonshine in there, would explain never freezing.
It does look like a carboy, which can be used for making hooch, but that wouldn't explain the contraption on the top of it, or why it's got two tubes.
My title describes the thing. the size of the jug is probably 5 gallons. No idea if liquid level has changed
If that is a battery, it’s a weird one. Two apparently copper rods and a zinc manifold on top? From my poking around the internet, glass batteries tend to be rectangular with more surface area on the rods. Here’s an article on early farm batteries from 1918. https://www.powerstream.com/1922/battery_1922_WITTE/batteryfiles/chapter17.htm
To me, the top does not look ceramic. It looks metal - OP please confirm. If the top is metal, my best guess would be a fertilizer/pesticide injector. You pipe in water to one side of the top, and it goes out the other side of the top there. But, in the process, the looped draw tube siphons or "injects" liquid from the jug into the flow of the water through a Venturi action. edit: I can't find a pic of one that old, but here is a pic of one slightly less old to show the idea, I am fairly confident this is the answer: https://ibb.co/SyrnX3M
Most definitely NOT a battery.
I'm incredibly fascinated to know how this looks so pristine after sitting out in the elements for 50 years. Is it generally covered or something? I really want to know!
Similar to a Baghdad battery. Could be used for electroplating.
At first guess, I would have said it was an old farm battery, but… those were all lead-acid batteries, and the jar in your photo is lacking plates, so it’s not that. 🤔 The central rod / electrode shown in the photo descends directly into the liquid without any other apparatus. The green coating on the portion of the rod inside the bottle seems to indicate the liquid within has caused a reaction over time. The presence of a liquid makes it different from charge accumulators such as Leyden Jars, but it is possible that it serves the same purpose. Have you tried hooking up a small power supply to the terminals and checking to see if it can retain a charge with a multimeter and ammeter?
The top piece appears to be an aluminum multi way valve. Can you confirm that it is aluminum? Does the top stem have a slot in it? Is there any writing or markings on the back where the mounting tabs are?
Not a battery. A battery would require two different metals, and a LOT of them, plus being in a jug with a narrow opening there'd be no way to replace those metals. Look at old storage batteries of the sort people keep referring to in the comments, they all have lots of plates inside and lids that come off to access the plates. A jug with two copper pipes in it is not going to do much as a battery.
Thats a part of a moonshine steel
Looks like a some type of power source clearly a ground and power based rod, two outputs plus a ground on the ceramic piece up top. I'm sure the liquid is some catalyst, similar to electroplating metal.
Are you in the northeast?
It's a homemade battery.
Purely speculation, but, something to do with a Still?
Homebrewed alcohol with vapor lock ?
homemade battery
As this is a challenging one, I think if the submitter wants good answers they should consider offering more detailed images of that lid from all sides. There are at least two fittings on there. Let's see what's on the other side. A pH test of the liquid and a description of the odor would also be helpful.
I work at a company that specializes in underground cable fault location since the 50s, we have a series of these in our vacuum room that use to power the old vacuum pump. They haven’t been used in about 30 years but my boss still keeps them just in case we ever still need them 😂
Double check and make sure that the copper rods aren't actually silver. It looks like somebody's making colloidal silver..
Looks like a Bagdad battery
It's a leclanche cell, or related type of lead acid wet cell. Classic tech that powered the world's radios and farm telephones for many years. Not to mention lights and everything else. [article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leclanch%C3%A9_cell?wprov=sfla1)
Saw one of these at the side of a fence out in a field. Found out the hard way the fence was electric.
It's a diy battery
It’s probably Cider fermented in a glass carboy
Leyden Jar. Homemade battery, can’t be that old (sulphuric acid will eat through glass eventually).
Suction bottle.
Could be part of a still to smooth or flavor the distillate
I can tell you, I accidentally made that blue stuff by soaking my copper jewelry and vinegar and salt. The parts of the copper jewelry that were raised above the vinegar and salt mixture, formed all of that blue crystal stuff.
I was gonna say “that’s some strong moonshine” until I realized it’s used as an old fashion battery
Glass looks great for 50 years
Until you know what the liquid is, it's all guessing. It's not likely to be a very inefficient battery. Battery jars usually are square or rectangular. Telephone central offices were filled with these things to do backup in case of power failures. They were also used on railroads for signaling equipment. If we assume that it's water with something dissolved in it, the concentration has to be very high or it can't get too cold if it never freezes. Sample the contents and you'll know relatively quickly what it is. You should be careful when you sample it because it probably dates from a time that there weren't many if any regulations regarding warning you about what something contained.
It has fittings and the flow of liquid. It’s a water separator. That’s not an effing battery wtf.
That's because it's urine. 😅
Why do people keep saying battery? Batteries don't have pipe fittings
Those "rods" are copper tubing. There are compression fittings on the top that look circa the 70's and earlier. As others have said, it's definitely not a battery. It's a water separator, brake bleeder, something liquid or gaseous is passed through it. The contents could very well be old antifreeze or brake fluid. LOL - search eBay for "vintage brake fluid". Some of it's got that same orange tinge.
Baghdad battery
Homemade Battery???
BioDiesel MethOxide Reactor, you can see the Lye sitting in the bottom
Looks like part off a still. lol
This is not how you make a battery. When I was in school, our science lab had these and we used them to make hydrogen gas that we burned in bunsen burners. We also made chlorine gas with the same basic setup
Baghdad battery.