# Where are the A batteries? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2005, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-a-batteries/294296 "2005-03-13T04:36:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2005, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-a-batteries/294296/1 "2005-03-13T04:36:59Z")
We have AA batteries and AAA batteries. Why no A batteries? ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2005, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-a-batteries/294296/2 "2005-03-13T04:41:02Z")
[The Master Speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_005b.html): “Virtually no one makes them today, or B batteries either.” ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2005, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-a-batteries/294296/3 "2005-03-13T04:55:10Z")
Here’s a picture of an A, B, and a C battery: [http://exn.ca/Stories/1998/06/24/59.asp](http://exn.ca/Stories/1998/06/24/59.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Ezstrete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@Ezstrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ezstrete)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-a-batteries/294296/4 "2005-03-13T16:00:29Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > Here’s a picture of an A, B, and a C battery: [http://exn.ca/Stories/1998/06/24/59.asp](http://exn.ca/Stories/1998/06/24/59.asp) This isn’t going to be easy------------ Back in the twenties, when I was in knickerbockers,Radios were NOT AC. To make the radio functional ,DC voltages were required to make the vacuum tubes operational. As I remember it–and I was just a boy at the time----The A battery provided the low voltages required for exciting tube filaments. The B battery was used to provide the required higher plate voltages. Together,but separately, they made the radio produce the sounds that RCA’s doggy could listen to. Or so I remember it-----and the “fun” as a boy of putting my fingers across the terminals of the B battery and feeling that “BUZZ”. But that’s what boy-kids did for fun on those"stay indoors" days! I assume you’ve seen “Gatsby”----so you know what kniockerbockers are. EZ ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-a-batteries/294296/5 "2005-03-13T16:24:35Z")
Just to make sure we don’t conflate them - the “A” and “B” batteries in old radios (which came in a variety of sizes and shapes, and different plate voltages were used for the B battery in different models) have nothing to do with the A, B, C, and D cell size designations as talked about in Cecil’s article - the manufacturer’s standard for cell sizes. A & B represent some sizes that simply proved unpopular, and not many manufacturers used them. Previous rounds on both subjects: > **[Battery sizes: AAA, AA,... A?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=196461)** > > My wife asks–and I don’t want to look like a total dumbass by not knowing something, so I stealth off and log in here–why we don’t have “A” size batteries? Good question, I reply. We’ve got AAA and AA… then skip to C and D. So what happened to... > **[Why aren't 9v batteries used more?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=116827)** > > Why do so many products use serial arrays of 1.5volt batteries instead? It seems kind of weird, I mean the 9v is smaller a D cell, and of about the same overall volume as a C cell. It is easier to stack up and pack into a tight container, so why... The one that starts out about 9V cells sort of wandered off into this topic. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-a-batteries/294296/6 "2005-03-13T18:31:18Z")
> [@ezstrete](#): > > Together,but separately, they made the radio produce the sounds that RCA’s doggy could listen to. Off-topic nitpick: The RCA dog (his name was Nipper, BTW) was listening to a record, not the radio. The tagline, “His Master’s Voice,” alluded to the dog’s puzzlement at hearing his master’s voice coming from a record on the Victrola, in the absence of the man. ---
**Author:** ![Ezstrete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@Ezstrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ezstrete)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2005, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-a-batteries/294296/7 "2005-03-13T18:43:28Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Off-topic nitpick: The RCA dog (his name was Nipper, BTW) was listening to a record, not the radio. The tagline, “His Master’s Voice,” alluded to the dog’s puzzlement at hearing his master’s voice coming from a record on the Victrola, in the absence of the man. strangely enough I have had dogs tht reacted to the radio also. 'Z’matter of fact the animal couldn’t distinguish what the sound came from-just that it was there. I claim crerative license! ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-a-batteries/294296/8 "2005-03-13T18:55:39Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Off-topic nitpick: The RCA dog (his name was Nipper, BTW) was listening to a record, not the radio. The tagline, “His Master’s Voice,” alluded to the dog’s puzzlement at hearing his master’s voice coming from a record on the Victrola, in the absence of the man. Another interesting point - the artist originally did the painting with an Edison machine rather than a Gramaphone - he got the idea from Nipper’s behavior when confronted with a cylinder player he had. He had trouble selling the painting. Among others, the Edison company turned him down (“Dogs don’t listen to phonographs.”). The newly formed Gramaphone Company finally offered to buy the painting from him if he would redo it with a Gramaphone instead of an Edison cylinder. [http://www2.danbbs.dk/~erikoest/nipper.htm](http://www2.danbbs.dk/~erikoest/nipper.htm) ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-a-batteries/294296/9 "2005-03-13T19:33:05Z")
It’s perhaps also worth mentioning that the instrument pictured is not actually a Victrola - Victrola was the name the Victor Talking Machine Company gave to a line of phonographs with internal horns enclosed in a cabinet: [http://www.victor-victrola.com/](http://www.victor-victrola.com/) The Victor Talking Machine Company was the result of a merger of The Gramaphone Company with another phonograph company only a few years after they bought the “Master’s Voice” painting. A couple decades later, RCA acquired them and merged them with one of its own divisions into “RCA Victor”. ---
**Author:** ![Ezstrete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@Ezstrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ezstrete)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2005, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-a-batteries/294296/10 "2005-03-13T19:54:11Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > It’s perhaps also worth mentioning that the instrument pictured is not actually a Victrola - Victrola was the name the Victor Talking Machine Company gave to a line of phonographs with internal horns enclosed in a cabinet: > > [http://www.victor-victrola.com/](http://www.victor-victrola.com/) > > The Victor Talking Machine Company was the result of a merger of The Gramaphone Company with another phonograph company only a few years after they bought the “Master’s Voice” painting. A couple decades later, RCA acquired them and merged them with one of its own divisions into “RCA Victor”. At this point I find myself wondering if “Strinka” ever did find out what an A battery is/was? summing up for him/her—it’s a battery that’s long been unused---- into folk-lore. Just like gramaphones and victorolas. But not dogs---------they still perk up their ears at sounds! EZ ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-a-batteries/294296/11 "2005-03-13T20:44:07Z")
> [@Ezstrete](#): > > I assume you’ve seen “Gatsby”----so you know what kniockerbockers are. EZ WAG Are they the same as ‘knickers?’ ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-a-batteries/294296/12 "2005-03-13T21:34:43Z")
I’ve used a device that required a ‘B’ battery – an x-radiation detector for calibration of x-ray machines. All the new ones are solid state, but this one used a tube somewhere in it’s circuitry. It required a ‘B’ battery and a couple of ‘D’ cells. IIRC, the ‘B’ battery looked like an over-large 9-volt battery, with similar terminals on one end. I remember that it was an ‘Eveready’ battery with a black cat jumping through a ‘9’. Aha! [Here’s](http://www.weirs.com/2002archive/11/07/rambling.htm) a picture – it’s the one next to the soup can. From [here](http://antiqueradio.org/bsupply.htm) is a nice discussion of how the batteries worked, and also how they got the names ‘A’, ‘B’, etc. > [@](#): > > It will help to understand a little about the difference between the A and B power supplies. > > The A supply provides low-voltage DC to heat the filaments inside the radio tubes. It can be as low as 1.5 volts. > The B supply provides higher-voltage DC for the “plate” circuits of the radio. The B supply can be 22.5, 45, 67.5, or 90 volts. > Why the difference in voltage between A and B? The answer has to do with the way that tubes work. > > When you connect the A battery, the filament of the tube is heated to release negatively charged electrons. When the B battery is connected, it puts a positive charge on the plate of the tube. Electrons travel through the partial vacuum inside the tube, flowing from the filament to the positively charged plate. Many tubes also have small structures, known as grids, between the filament and the plate. The grid regulates the number of electrons that strike the plate. > > Thus, every radio tube must be supplied with two different voltages (A and B), and most will need three (A, B, and C). The A voltage heats the filament to release electrons. The B voltage gives the plate a positive charge to attract electrons from the filament. The C voltage lets the grid regulate the flow of electrons from filament to plate. (As noted earlier, modern radio designs eliminate the need for a separate C battery.) ---
**Author:** ![Ezstrete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@Ezstrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ezstrete)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-a-batteries/294296/13 "2005-03-14T04:41:47Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > WAG Are they the same as ‘knickers?’ Yep! Started out as knickerbockers,after the breeches worn by the Dutch in the ,then,New amsterdam;became knickers trough commmon usage, and also included the blousy version introduced by the Prince of Wales and which were known as “plus fours”. Those latter became the unofficial uniform of the golfers of the day. In those days a boy wore"stovepipes" which were like todays walking shorts but fit the thigh tightly and ended a couple of inches above the knee. From there he graduated into knicker[+bockers in some areas]. After that period it was that glorious day when he got his first pair of longies! As soon as he put on those longies he knew he had grown at least 4 inches over night. Like the feller said-'Them was the days !" EZ