The Burgess Battery Company was a Wisconsin-based battery manufacturer that operated from 1917 until 1989. It was founded by University of Wisconsin professor Charles F. Burgess .
24-545: The Burgess Battery Company (Burgess) was founded by Dr. Charles F. Burgess in Madison, Wisconsin and incorporated on March 1, 1917. The United States entered World War I a month later on April 6. During the war Burgess collaborated with the US Army Signal Corps to develop quality batteries for radio communication equipment. Radio "A" and Radio "B" batteries resulted. Charles Burgess was very experienced in
48-597: A Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin in 1895. He got an advanced degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1898. Burgess joined the University of Wisconsin as instructor of electrical engineering in 1895. He later became an assistant professor. In 1900, he became professor of applied electrochemistry and chemical engineering. Of an inventive turn of mind, he developed several new processes in electrolysis , and in 1904
72-577: A heart attack at a Chicago hospital on February 13, 1945. He was interred at Riverside Cemetery in Oshkosh. Electrochemical engineering Electrochemical engineering is the branch of chemical engineering dealing with the technological applications of electrochemical phenomena, such as electrosynthesis of chemicals, electrowinning and refining of metals, flow batteries and fuel cells , surface modification by electrodeposition, electrochemical separations and corrosion . According to
96-1041: A board member of the French Battery Company in Madison, Wisconsin , which produced dry cells to his design used by the US Army in World War I. In 1913 he resigned from the university. His relationship with the French Battery Company deteriorated, and so in 1917 he founded the Burgess Battery Company in Madison, which became an important manufacturer of dry cell batteries for flashlights , radio, and other applications. He served as president and chairman of Burgess Battery. Dissatisfied with taxes in Wisconsin , beginning in 1926 he moved himself and his enterprises out of
120-651: A large manufacturing building, which commenced battery production on July 1, 1926. Also in 1926, the University of Wisconsin awarded Charles Burgess an honorary degree of Doctor of Science. In 1931, with the Great Depression , the company was losing $ 1,000 a day. In 1937, a long labor strike led to a ruling against Burgess Battery Company. At the outbreak of WWII , Burgess Battery Company sold primarily to universities, colleges, schools, private scientific laboratories and all facets of civilian governments large and small—aided by Dr. Burgess’ background in academia and
144-602: Is consumed by large-scale electrochemical operations in the US. Electrochemical engineering combines the study of heterogeneous charge transfer at electrode / electrolyte interphases with the development of practical materials and processes. Fundamental considerations include electrode materials and the kinetics of redox species. The development of the technology involves the study of the electrochemical reactors, their potential and current distribution, mass transport conditions, hydrodynamics , geometry and components as well as
168-454: The IUPAC , the term electrochemical engineering is reserved for electricity -intensive processes for industrial or energy storage applications and should not be confused with applied electrochemistry , which comprises small batteries, amperometric sensors, microfluidic devices, microelectrodes , solid-state devices, voltammetry at disc electrodes, etc. More than 6% of the electricity
192-1263: The "father of electrochemical engineering" by the Electrochemical Society , was concerned with ionic transport by diffusion, migration, and convection, exact solutions of potential and current distribution problems, conductance in heterogeneous media, quantitative description of processes in porous electrodes. Also in the 60s, John Newman pioneered the study of many of the physicochemical laws that govern electrochemical systems, demonstrating how complex electrochemical processes could be analysed mathematically to correctly formulate and solve problems associated with batteries, fuel cells, electrolyzer, and related technologies. In Switzerland, Norbert Ibl contributed to experimental and theoretical studies of mass transfer and potential distribution in electrolyses, especially at porous electrodes. Fumio Hine carried out equivalent developments in Japan. In addition, several individuals, including Kuhn, Kreysa, Rousar, Fleischmann, Alkire, Coeuret, Pletcher, and Walsh established many other training centers and, with their colleagues, developed important experimental and theoretical methods of study. Currently,
216-621: The Burgess Battery Division of Servel. In 1967 Servel was merged into Clevite Corporation (a major maker of internal combustion engine bearings). In 1969 Clevite was merged into Gould-National Batteries, Inc., and Burgess was renamed Burgess Battery-Gould, Inc., a trade name of Gould-National Batteries. In 1974 the Burgess operation was acquired by Charles Pindyck, Inc., an infants-wear maker in New Jersey. The name of
240-402: The Burgess operation then became Burgess, Inc. In 1985, with Burgess behind in payables and employment down to 100 workers, Charles Pindyck, Inc. sold Burgess, Inc. to Robert F. Schnoes; though he was an experienced industrial turn-around executive, the company's plant was shuttered in 1989. Charles Frederick Burgess Charles Frederick Burgess (January 5, 1873 – February 13, 1945)
264-558: The French No. 6 battery — the large 6-inch-tall, single-cell battery used for automobile ignition, railroad signals, telephones, doorbells and other electrical devices. Burgess was put in charge of engineering at French. Within a year, Burgess started work independently, on two new battery sizes: the Number 1 size (standardized later as the "C" cell) and the Number 2 size (the future "D" cell), which were similar in size to, but distinct from
SECTION 10
#1732801417121288-579: The University of Wisconsin July 1, 1913. In 1915, NCEL became C. F. Burgess Laboratories, which became the parent firm for subsidiaries including the Burgess Battery Company at its founding. In 1916, Burgess severed all connections with the French Battery Company, and he incorporated Burgess Battery Company in 1917. After WWI , and through the 1920s, the company and battery industry prospered. On December 15, 1925, in Freeport, Illinois , Burgess purchased
312-465: The electrolysis of brine in large mercury cells for the production of chlorine and caustic soda, effectively founding the chlor-alkali industry with Karl Kellner in 1892. The next year, Paul L. Hulin patented filter-press type electrochemical cells in France. Charles Frederick Burgess developed the electrolytic refining of iron ca. 1904 and later ran a successful battery company. Burgess published one of
336-428: The field of dry cell batteries when he started his battery company. Following graduation from the University of Wisconsin in 1895, he taught chemistry there until 1913. In 1905, he became a Full Professor and later founded the university's Department of Chemical Engineering. In 1907, he became a consultant to the nearby French Battery Company (later renamed The Ray-O-Vac Company ). He was charged with improvement of
360-541: The first texts on the field in 1920. Industrial electrochemistry followed an empirical approach during the first three decades of the 20th century. After the Second World War, interest focused on the fundaments of electrochemical reactions. Among other developments, the potentiostat (1937) enabled such studies. A critical advance was provided by the work of Carl Wagner and Veniamin Levich in 1962, who linked
384-400: The hydrodynamics of a flowing electrolyte towards a rotating disc electrode with the mass transport control of the electrochemical reaction through a rigorous mathematical treatment. The same year, Wagner described "The Scope of Electrochemical Engineering" for the first time as a separate discipline from a physicochemical perspective. During the 60s and 70s Charles W. Tobias, who is regarded as
408-443: The main tasks of electrochemical engineering consist of the development of efficient, safe, and sustainable technologies for the production of chemicals, metal recovery, remediation, and decontamination technologies as well as the design of fuel cells, flow batteries, and industrial electrochemical reactors. The history of electrochemical engineering has been summarised by Wendt, Lapicque, and Stankovic. Electrochemical engineering
432-492: The mid-19th century. Michael Faraday described his laws of electrolysis in 1833, relating for the first time the amount of electrical charge and converted mass. In 1886 Charles Martin Hall developed a cheap electrochemical process for extracting aluminium from its ore in molten salts, constituting the first true large-scale electrochemical industry. Later, Hamilton Castner improved the process aluminium manufacturing and devised
456-490: The old No. 1 and No. 2 sizes produced by companies like Columbia, which were 1 inch tall and 2 inches tall respectively. Burgess also created the Number Z size (the future "AA" cell), the Number 7 size (the future "AAA" cell), and the Number N size (the future "N" cell). In 1910, Burgess formed and incorporated Northern Chemical Engineering Labs (NCEL). Using the trade name “Northern Lights,” NCEL made and sold some dry batteries to Madison Gas and Electric . Burgess resigned from
480-833: The quantification of its overall performance in terms of reaction yield , conversion efficiency, and energy efficiency. Industrial developments require further reactor and process design, fabrication methods, testing, and product development. Electrochemical engineering considers current distribution, fluid flow , mass transfer, and the kinetics of the electro reactions to design efficient electrochemical reactors. Most electrochemical operations are performed in filter-press reactors with parallel plate electrodes or, less often, in stirred tanks with rotating cylinder electrodes. Fuel cell and flow battery stacks are types of filter-press reactors. Most of them are continuous operations. This branch of engineering emerged gradually from chemical engineering as electrical power sources became available in
504-547: The scientific community. In 1944, Burgess received an honorary doctor's degree in engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology . During WWII, when employment in a Burgess plant had reached 1,000, Burgess died unexpectedly of a heart attack on February 13, 1945, in a Chicago hospital. Burgess was acquired in December 1958 by Servel, Inc. (a maker of refrigerators and refrigeration equipment) and became
SECTION 20
#1732801417121528-488: The state. He went to Florida and Burgess Battery Company went to Freeport, Illinois . Burgess Laboratories was reincorporated under Delaware laws. In 1930, he was elected to the board of directors of the Wisconsin Bankshares Corporation. Burgess married Ida M. Jackson of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on June 23, 1905. Together, they had two children, Jackson and Betty. Burgess died from
552-613: Was an American chemist and engineer . He was founder of the University of Wisconsin-Madison department of Chemical Engineering in 1905, and was a pioneer in the development of electrochemical engineering in the United States. In 1917 he founded the Burgess Battery Company . Charles Frederick Burgess was born on January 5, 1873, in Oshkosh , Wisconsin . He attended local schools in Oshkosh and received
576-685: Was made investigator of electrolytic iron alloys for the Carnegie Institute . In 1910, he helped found the Northern Chemical Engineering Laboratories, which was later renamed to C. F. Burgess Laboratories. He also served as president. In 1910, he wrote “The Strength of the Alloys of Nickel and Copper with Electrolytic Iron.” In World War I , Burgess was a district draft board member for southern Wisconsin. He became an engineering consultant and later
#120879