Photoflash Battery

Photoflash Cell (battery) - A specialized zinc-carbon cell optimized to provide a high current output for a short duration of time, such as required to fire a flashbulb. Service life for this battery in flashlight service was short, since flashlights required a lower continuous current.

Photoflash cells were in production during the flashbulb era, and were slowly phased out as alkaline cells came into general usage. The photoflash cell was produced as a 1.5 volt size D and size C cell.

The carbon cathode (the material packed between the carbon rod and zinc shell) of a zinc-carbon cell is generally made of powdered carbon black (or acetylene black), MnO₂ and electrolyte. The MnO₂ to carbon ratios vary between 10:1 and 3:1 for general purpose cells. A 1:1 mixture was used for photoflash batteries, for this allowed a high current output with intermittent use - just perfect for photoflash use.

References

[http://www.doitpoms.ac.uk/tlplib/batteries/batteries_zn_c.php Cell Construction]

Photoflash Battery - A combination of individual cells are combined in series to make a battery. One zinc-carbon battery for photoflash use is available as a 510 volt unit [http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/497.pdf] . Another is the Eveready 225V Photo Flash Carbon Zinc Battery - EVR489 [http://www.batteriesplus.com/p-25663-eveready-225v-photo-flash-carbon-zinc-battery.aspx]