Quote:
Originally Posted by Brigham
I'd like a scan of a British 'F' cell label, if anyone has such a thing.
I've re-labelled them with the old Ever Ready style, modified from a 'U2', but it's only guesswork. It would be nice to see a real one.
|
You might struggle to obtain this.
F cells were not widely sold as loose cells but were primarily intended for assembly into batteries.
The type 800 cycle lamp battery, the door bell battery, the AD28, 996 batteries and 991 batteries all contained F cells. IIRC the now defunct HP1 contained 8 "F" cells.
Some large capacity 1.5 volt dry batteries contained multiple F cells.
I believe that loose "F" cells WERE supplied in the last war in plain brown card outers. They were about the same diameter as a "D" cell but about one and a half times the length.
Two such cells would fit a torch intended for three D cells, if the bulb was replaced with one intended for 2 cells, then a reasonable light with a long run time was obtained.
A special low consumption 2 cell bulb was available, if used with a pair of F cells this gave a battery run time of about 150 hours.
During WW2, ARP wardens, policemen, firefighters, and others needed torches, but not too bright under blackout conditions.
Later in the cold war, there was a need for minimal dry battery lighting that would run for days on one set of batteries, and for weeks with a limited number of replacements.
Bulb life was relatively unimportant. Stocking 200 spare bulbs in say a fallout shelter was trivial, 200 large batteries not trivial.
Rechargeable F cells are still popular, they were used in some early electrically assisted bicycles.