[klondike98]

We received an inquiry from a metal detecting group who was at a WWII site. They unearthed the Philco battery you see in the photos and were curious about it. I told them of Philco's early battery history and of the switch to military gear production during the war. I suspect this battery powered one of the wartime pieces of equipment. Does anyone have any other specific info about this that we could share with the group?

Relevant Links:
From our History page: https://philcoradio.com/library/index.ph...n-and-war/
From our Library, a 1942 annual report with wartime production discussion: https://philcoradio.com/library/index.ph...al-report/
From Library, 1944 Army Navy Philco Service: https://philcoradio.com/library/index.ph...ce-ca1944/
1944 Philco Ordnance for Victory brochure: https://philcoradio.com/library/index.ph...t-booklet/
Probably not relevant to this battery but WWII related, Radar on Wings: https://philcoradio.com/library/index.ph...tion-1945/
Philco display during WWII: https://philcoradio.com/library/index.ph...ring-wwii/
Another dislplay photo during WWII: https://philcoradio.com/library/index.ph...ing-wwii2/

[Paul Philco322]

Scaled to the persons foot in photo safe to safe that's a big one. I am sure there was all kinds of war materials they provided.

Paul

[morzh]

While a kid, in our garage there was a 12V Lead-Acid battery from T54 tank.
This job was probably 150 lbs or so, ad was 3 times longer than a battery taht would go into a Jeep Cherokee (those were much larger than the modern Japanese jobs).
We used it to start the car in winters when the battery inside the car would get anemic.

[Arran]

Well Philco did start out in the lead acid battery manufacturing business, and I think that they were still doing so during the war. The two materials of choice for battery cases used to be vulcanized rubber, and glass, even so that one is in decent shape for being buried in the ground for who knows how long. It could have been used as an aircraft battery, or even in a submarine, it's a 12 volt unit regardless, each cell being 2 volts.
Mike;
I have no doubt that a battery for a T54 would have been a big one, most of those Soviet tanks were Diesel powered so they needed a lot of cold cranking amps to turn the engine over.
Regards
Arran

[morzh]

Yep.

It had handles on either side, and it took two reasonably strong men to carry it.
We had that Soviet FIAT 500 clone for a car, and starting it on a cold winter morning (and we lived in Southern Russia!) took some doing.
The car's own battery (and we had serviceable ones, where you measure the electrolyte specific gravity and add distilled water if needed etc) would get farly anaemic, and so the tank battery would get hooked up.

Sometimes, as that extra help, some oild would have to be drained, put in a tea kettle (we had an old aluminum one dedicated specifically to this) and set on a gas stove to make it hot; then it would get poured right back, and then thet car would get cranked.
Imagine several morning in a row like this, after you get up and are ready to go to work.