Name/Title
Volta's PileEntry/Object ID
2013.3.89Description
Description from L.A. Brown's 1959 catalog: "A device to produce electricity by chemical action, this is a type of wet-cell battery. "Allessandro Volta (1745-1827) was a native of Como, where he was Professor of Physics before he was thirty years old." (A. Wolf. A History of Science, Technology and Philosophy in the 18th century, 1952.)
This was one of the earliest means employed to produce "voltaic" electricity. "The primary battery was constructed by Volta in 1799. The voltaic pile was made by piling a series of pairs of copper and zinc disks one above the other and separating each pair from the one above by a piece of cloth moistened in a solution of common salt." (Encyclopœdia Brittannica 11th Ed.)"Collection
Moosnick Museum - Scientific Apparatus