David wrote:

[ Piles = Batteries ??]

Voltaic Pile is one of the original batteries, invented about 300
years ago.



Much further back in time than that, I believe.

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Dr. Konig also found copper vases plated with silver in the Baghdad
Museum, excavated from Sumerian sites in southern Iraq, dating back to
at least 2500 BCE. When the vases were lightly tapped, a blue patina or
film separated from the surface, which is characteristic of silver
electroplated onto copper base. It would appear then that the Parthians
inherited their batteries from one of the earliest known civilizations.

http://www.world-mysteries.com/sar_11.htm
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In 1938, whilst rummaging through the basement of the Baghdad Museum,
Austrian archaeologist Dr. Wilhelm Konig made a strange discovery. A 6
inch yellow clay pot with a sheet copper cylinder soldered with lead tin
- dating back 2000 years, this was possibly the world's first battery
and an example of a neat soldering job. An iron rod holding the
construction in place was corroded with acid, not a chance arrangement
but an ancient electric battery.


http://snipurl.com/liz2

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