(Click on images to enlarge)
The text reads:
Battery Oil
Made in U.S.A.
Thomas A. Edison
Incorporated
Bloomfield, N.J.
U.S.A.
The Bloomfield, N.J. locations means that this bottle dates to 1915 or later.
On the other side of the bottle, a facsimile of Thomas Edison's signature:
This site has a picture of a full and unbroken bottle, and a little more information about the use of battery oil. I haven't been able to find much information on when battery oil went out of use, but it could be as late as the 1970s, from what I understand.
You can find a photo of a battery box here (it is the smaller box; the taller one is a relay cabinet).
4 comments:
Don't know if you came across this info while researching, but this was part of a long post someone wrote on the Antique Automotive Club of America message board.
"The "Battery Oil" was poured on top of the fresh electrolyte in each cell to prevent evaporation and gassing while charging on these utility poles.
The oil would float on top of the electrolyte to give a thick protective oil film.
This would help the battery gases to re-combine instead of gassing-off while sitting long term, or re-charging. It also prevented evaporation.
You often find empty Edison Battery Oil bottles of 3-4 oz near old railroad iron signal & switch boxes in the woods near the switch & signal boxes today.
The railroad workers would use the oil and then just toss the empty bottles in the woods along side the tracks.
Look for them near the old railroad signal boxes ! You can still find many today !
The railroads and telephone/telegraph COs still used this type of battery well into the 60s-70s in some rural areas in the USA !
Edison Electric Storage Battery Co . built them until 1972~
Exide built them until 1975 !
Folks also collect the bottles, battery jars, and batteries today ! They are not worth very much".
Thanks for copying all that out! The bottle I found was not far from a crossing.
Pretty amazing find, and neat information!
I thought it was pretty cool. Most of the time all I find around the railroad tracks are old beer and soda cans.
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