Large GPO? Battery Box what was its use?
I have a large wooden battery box about 28" long, 10" high, 7" wide including lid which had handles and terminals at both ends which I believe was a GPO battery box. I was wondering if anyone knows what batteries went in these boxes and where they were used, would they be for exchange batteries. I have seen quite a few of these at antique fairs but can't find any information on the internet.
Mike. |
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I don't know about your battery box, which is larger than the Bakelite ones I have at 11" x 8½" x 4½", but mine contain three 1½V Flag cells, as shown below.
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Re: Large GPO? Battery Box what was its use?
There was a larger box, 'Box, Battery No 10' which I think could take up to 10 Flag cells. It was used containing 8 such cells as a power source for the Planphone if mains was not available
Bur I think the OP's box is too large for that. |
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See extract from GPO's 'Vocabulary of Engineering Stores' in the 1950's. I remember happy days with the lineman going round 'subscribers' topping up Leclanche cells or renewing the zinc rods back in the 19... (rather a long time ago) In those days exchanges were often in private houses. For instance one of the exchanges was two positions in the front bedroom (circled in red) of No 3 Sunny Villas in Rossett but the exchange battery in a shed in the back garden was a 24volt lead acid cell one. The folk who lived in the house worked the board at night and two girls cam by bus from the nearby large auto-manual board at Wrexham. I worked on the replacement Strowger exchange which replaced manual exchange at Rossett then years later commissioned the replacement TXE2 electronic system. That was then replaced by System X years ago and now we're about to start going over to VoIP over IP! |
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When I was 14, I did work experience with BT and actually saw the backup batteries in use at that time. As I recall, they were made from Plastic when I saw them, but you may have an earlier version of the same sort of backup device. Ah, the days of Strowger gear, System X and (second hand) System Y. |
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Re: Large GPO? Battery Box what was its use?
Thanks for all the replies, it looks like Pellseinydd has the answer. I will take a photo and post it here, hopefully tomorrow. Only one handle left and no terminals.
Mike. |
Re: Large GPO? Battery Box what was its use?
I had one or two of these when i was a kid, dad got them from somewhere, mine held four? huge dry cells that gave 1.5 volts each, that bought back happy memories.
Greg. |
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A couple of photos of the box in question now used for storage.
Mike. |
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i have a couple of smaller one not sure if they were used for batteries but they did have a 2 way tag block on them.
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By the way, I can't see any exit holes for connections to anything electrical inside, such as batteries. |
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Re: Large GPO? Battery Box what was its use?
There are holes, Dave, just above the handle (looks like there was a similar handle at one time on the other end). I have seen similar boxes with 2 thumbscrew terminals on an ebonite? panel in this position.
Mike. |
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If there were handles on both ends, could they have been for the purpose of carrying?
I can imagine it containing four Leclanché cells with their ammonium chloride sloshing about when carried, so handles to hold steady seem a good idea. |
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Probably Flag size ones. I remember removing them when I first got it. it was configured for 30V from 20 cells. I still have a smaller one which had 6 flag cells, which now contains matches and firelighters by the wood burner. |
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Re: Large GPO? Battery Box what was its use?
Not for Leclanchés then, as three would be a very loose fit and not enough room for a fourth.
Having measured my flag-type dry cells at about 2½" diameter and 7" high it sounds as though you could probably fit ten in this. |
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That sounds like the 'Box, Battery No 10' that I mentioned earlier.
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See attached entry from Vocabulary of Engineering Stores when these boxes were much used 1950/60's. I have several of these kitted out with an 8 port Grandstream ATA plus a WiFi ATA and a 12 volt alarm battery - tethers to my mobile phone so that I can run 10 telephones (8 pulse dialling and two DTMF) anywhere off CNet. |
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Towards the end of his life my father worked as a linesman for the GPO. He drove the 'polecat' lorry from around 1959-62.
He used to bring these boxes home that were being removed from the telephone exchanges. Some were long as the posted pic and some shorter. They were lined with what appeared to be paraffin wax with a heavy brass thumbscrew type terminal at one end. A few had some very thin GPO telephone wires still connected to the terminals. I think they were left behind when the house was sold in 2000. They made excellent tool boxes but over engineered! John. |
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