On Saturday, 20 April 2019 15:09:17 UTC+1, NY wrote:
"Max Demian" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 20/04/2019 08:11, Brian Gaff wrote:
Yes why did we start calling batteries c and d and stopped calling them
U11
and u2?

U11 and U2? Do you mean "Baby Torch" [1] and "Standard Torch"?

[1] Actually 2 U11 size in a cardboard tube.

I've never heard the terms "baby torch" and "standard torch" but I can
vaguely remember U11 (C), U2 (D), U12 (AA). I don't remember U16 (AAA) but
maybe there weren't many devices that used sufficiently little power that a
AAA would last long enough.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_battery_sizes lists them all -
including ones I'd forgotten about like the flexible-strip terminal 4.5-volt
battery 1289 and the huge 6V spring-terminal Lantern battery. For some
reason I'd always thought that the PP3 9-volt battery was called a PP9 (9
for 9 volts) rather than PP3. I also remember a 4.5V rectangular battery
with screw terminals - the screw part was a stepped conical shape, IIRC;
that's not listed on the Wikipedia page.

I wonder if the UK started using ANSI names (AA, AAA, C, D) to come into
line with US conventions, realising that they could no longer hold out with
their own UK-specific names, in the same way that film speeds are now always
quoted in ASA (aka ISO) rather than DIN (German standard logarithmic scale).

There were 6v lantern packs with screw tops, might it be those you remember?

AAAs weren't much use until alkalines came along as they held so little energy.


NT