Zamboni dry pile
Pila seca de Zamboni
- Date
- 1812 · confidence medium
- Place
- Verona, Veneto, Italy
- Credited to
- Giuseppe Zamboni
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A column of paper discs with one tin face and one manganese dioxide face that yields very little current but a high and long-lasting voltage. It powered clocks and bells, such as the Oxford Electric Bell, ringing since 1840.
Johann Behrens (1806) and Jean-André de Luc (1809) built similar dry columns earlier. Zamboni's is the best known and the one that saw practical use.
What it led to
- low-current electric clocks (Oxford Electric Bell, 1840)
- electroscopes and electrometers powered by dry piles
- precedent for commercial dry cells