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I work as a wildlife tour guide in the Scottish Highlands so I travel widely in remote corners of the northern Highlands and islands. On two occasions in late 2009 I have come across a pile of odd objects (see photos) scattered on the ground.
The first time was on a remote island in the Orkneys; the second was a few weeks later at an altitude of around 900 metres in the Cairngorm mountains. Had they been near a road or habitation I would probably have dismissed them as just some sort of household electronic debris, but in both cases they were miles from anywhere. The pile I found in the Cairngorms was at least a 2-hour walk from any road, track or building.
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They appear to have a burnt and pitted charcoal-like solid centre encased in a hard, plastic-like cover. The ones in the Cairngorms also had some small charred battery-like cylinders with them. Can anybody suggest what they are, and why they ended up in such unexpected locations?
鈥� The objects are actually parts of , or zinc/carbon batteries to be precise. The charcoal-like centre is manganese dioxide powder shaped by a plastic cover. The powder absorbs hydrogen produced as the battery is used, which would otherwise greatly reduce the performance of the cells.
These batteries are just like domestic batteries but much larger, and able to provide up to 135 volts. They are typically used by the armed services to power their field radios.
鈥淭he objects are batteries typically used by the armed services to power their field radios鈥�
Once discarded, the battery鈥檚 cardboard outer decays, the zinc soon corrodes and all that is left are the manganese dioxide blocks, the carbon electrodes and the odd bit of copper (showing up as green in the right-hand photo).
Of course, the military often goes on training exercises and discards equipment in out-of-the-way places like those described by the questioner.
I used to visit army training areas in my youth, and parts similar to these provided ingredients for my budding interest in chemistry, while the occasional intact battery allowed small-scale arc welding or electrolysis. The 135-volt source also persuaded me never again to use my tongue as a voltmeter鈥� happy days!
Michael Southon, Technical Manager, Basildon Chemical Company Ltd, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK
鈥� This is the last resting place of a layer-type high-tension battery 鈥� also known as a pile battery 鈥� for portable radios containing valves. This type of radio receiver actually had two batteries 鈥� one of 1.5 to 3 volts for the directly heated valve filaments plus a higher-voltage high-tension pack.
The high-tension pile battery supply was a stack of cells held tightly packed by a band. In the photos, this band has rotted away. The radios鈥� current consumption was low and the packs lasted about a month鈥� provided you didn鈥檛 go to sleep with the radio on.
The batteries have probably lain there for 50 years or longer because transistorised portables started to become available in the late 1950s. I own several of these delightful receivers but nowadays the high-tension batteries are unobtainable, so a transistorised switching inverter produces the necessary voltage, using rechargeable cells.
Several of my neighbours near Ullapool in the Scottish Highlands were using such sets as late as 1985, but via mains adapters. I found a complete set of batteries, the chassis, and the sad remains of a leatherette-covered wooden case at 500 metres above Loch Maree, when installing a private UHF TV relay in 1985.
I later discovered the set had been abandoned in 1956 after lightning struck the ground near a shepherd having his lunch. He ditched his lunch very quickly and, assuming that the radio had attracted the lightning, was too frightened to return there for several years. The radio chassis was rusty and the speaker cone dissolved, but with a new speaker and alternative power supply, the set worked well.
Many years ago, I also found the remains of a much larger high-tension battery (an Eveready Winner) high above Village Bay on . This was probably a wartime army relic, because the village had been evacuated in August 1930. The Winner was still available in the late 1950s and my parents considered it to be the only safe power supply for me in 1956.
Thanks for the memories.聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽
Rob Mannion, Editor, Practical Wireless magazine Broadstone, Dorset, UK