Dry cell
The dry battery is originally developed by Georges Leclanche and in the development process continually improved construction of one or more galvanic primary cells. In the dry battery, the electrolyte is bound in front of a soaked paper support, which serves as a separator at the same time. The original system of Leclanche has been significantly improved in 1876, in which the separator was wrapped with cotton.
Although the term dry battery in the professional world is no longer in use today - because anyway there are all primary batteries such as common alkaline batteries from dry cells - so he has but up to the present time in the vernacular as shorthand for the zinc - obtain carbon dry battery.
The up to the middle of the 20th century common " wet" elements with liquid electrolyte, as Leclanche elements after patent pending Georges Leclanche design named were, from 1886, replaced by a new galvanic dry cell, the zinc - carbon element. This invention made by the Danish engineer Wilhelm Hellesen who converted the liquid electrolyte with the aid of additives into a soft mass.
Its present form dates back to the invention of Carl Gassner in 1887. Paul Schmidt in Berlin in 1901, developed the dry battery for flashlights.
Dry cell batteries are the most common energy sources for portable electrical appliances that are operated only briefly or rarely.
Lead-acid batteries use a partially thickened to a gel electrolyte ( another name is also gel battery, gel battery or VRLA battery ). For them, the separator can not be made of paper and is not therefore sufficient absorbent. Gel batteries are not referred to as a dry battery.
Often, dry batteries and gel batteries have an enclosure that prevents any leakage of electrolyte. This makes them easier to transport, possess no prescribed operating position and are leak-proof ( leak proof primary elements or maintenance-free lead -acid batteries).
A well-known counterexample to the dry battery is in motor vehicles, usually coming to use starter battery which is with a liquid electrolyte, namely sulfuric acid, filled and therefore can only be used in an upright position.