Eveready batteries?

K A

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Wasn't Eveready bought by Energizer? Or labeled like Energizer Eveready batteries? I'm just curious as I have not seen ANY type of battery labeled with the Eveready name in years.

Then just recently our workplace has started carring a 6volt lantern battery labeled as Eveready. It even has the old black cat logo on it. Its cheaper ($4) than the Energizer and Duracell 6v lantern batteries (around $7).

Am I just mistaken and this brand has still been out and about?
 

zmoz

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Energizer does own Eveready. I haven't seen any of their batteries for a while either...but I think that is because they were crappy. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Did they even have alkaline batteries? I seem to remember alot of Eveready "heavy duty" batteries...
 

Empath

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As far as I know it's synonymous. Eveready was owned by Union Carbide Company, but was bought out in 1984 by Ralston Purina. Even before the buyout, Eveready introduced the Energizer name. It was always Eveready, even though they called their batteries Energizer. Even now the Energizer battery still states on them that it's an Eveready.

Energizer Company History
 

Doug Owen

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Somebody should tell \'em......

Eveready seems to think:

"Energizer Holdings, Inc. became an independent, publicly held company in 2000 and today is the world's largest manufacturer of dry cell batteries and flashlights."

Over at <http://www.eveready.com/>. Then again, the copyright at the bottom is 'Copyright 2003 Eveready Battery Company, Inc.' so maybe you can't tell 'em a thing?

Nice products, no matter who they are. I too miss the cat. Maybe he's just overseas.......

Doug Owen
 

Rebus

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Re: Somebody should tell \'em......

No, they are still around.
I just bought some AA,AAA & c
Eveready Alkalines (Eveready Gold brand)
at a DrugWharehouse.
Dated from 2007 thru 2010.

Also I have seen Industrial
batteries with the Eveready name.

-Rebus
 

Doug Owen

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Re: Somebody should tell \'em......

[ QUOTE ]
Rebus said:
No, they are still around.
I just bought some AA,AAA & c
Eveready Alkalines (Eveready Gold brand)
at a DrugWharehouse.
Dated from 2007 thru 2010.

Also I have seen Industrial
batteries with the Eveready name.

-Rebus

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but where's the cat?

Doug Owen
 

zmoz

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Re: Somebody should tell \'em......

I just dug up an old 9 volt at the bottom of my parts box with the cat on it... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

Wylie

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Re: Somebody should tell \'em......

Empath,
It was in the late 90s I got this information. I was trying to contact Energizer to see if they would work with my laser rods and me. At the time the energizers had the best run time in my laser fishing rods and I thought the bunny would be pretty cute truckin down the road with a lighted fishing rod in hand.
It looks like Gillette has something to do with Duracell now. That's some old mining money and resources there./ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 

Empath

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Re: Somebody should tell \'em......

[ QUOTE ]
Wylie said:
It looks like Gillette has something to do with Duracell now.

[/ QUOTE ]

Duracell's history might even be considered more colorful and varied than Eveready's. They use to be Mallory. They've been through a lot of changes since Mallory's death, even being a Kraft Foods product for awhile. You can still get Mallory batteries, and it's distributed through Duracell. I suppose Gillette actually bought Mallory rather than just Duracell.

The one I want to find out about is what happened to the Burgess batteries. When I was younger, Burgess cells were the ones most marketed to professionals in electronics work and hobbyists. I guess I'll have to check into it. I went through a lot of Burgess cells when I was younger.
 

Empath

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Re: Somebody should tell \'em......

Whew, Boy! I found some excellent information while I was checking for Burgess batteries. I don't yet know what happened to the Burgess Battery Company, buy I found some very interesting history, and it also involves RayoVac, and some disparaging remarks about Eveready.

Of course not everyone gets all excited about batteries, I suppose. I know my wife and I were walking across a parking lot and I came upon a battery that had been run over by a car and smashed. I remarked "poor battery". My wife just shook her head and said "only you would say that about a battery". Okay, we've all got our quirks.

I don't have time tonight, but I'll try to write something tomorrow of the information I found. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sleepy.gif

Stay tuned for Battery Gossip /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

JSWrightOC

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Fort Mill, SC
Re: Somebody should tell \'em......

[ QUOTE ]
Empath said:
Whew, Boy! I found some excellent information while I was checking for Burgess batteries. I don't yet know what happened to the Burgess Battery Company, buy I found some very interesting history, and it also involves RayoVac, and some disparaging remarks about Eveready.

Of course not everyone gets all excited about batteries, I suppose. I know my wife and I were walking across a parking lot and I came upon a battery that had been run over by a car and smashed. I remarked "poor battery". My wife just shook her head and said "only you would say that about a battery". Okay, we've all got our quirks.

I don't have time tonight, but I'll try to write something tomorrow of the information I found. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sleepy.gif

Stay tuned for Battery Gossip /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I, too, cringe at the sight of mutilated batteries. The parking lot at the TV station I work at is rife with numerous AA and AAAA size (from broken 9V packs) cells strewen about.

All I can say is, I hope it wasn't "alive" when it was smashed! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif I say this for reasons of safety and of the poor cell itself....
 

Empath

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Re: Somebody should tell \'em......

While searching for information on Burgess batteries I came across some interesting history, not just on Burgess, but also on RayoVac and Eveready. For those that missed the Burgess era, here's a picture of the familiar striped cell.

burgess.jpg


It seems that C.F. Burgess in the very early 1900s was running a company named Northern Chemical Engineering Laboratories, a small battery manufacturer contracted with Burgess, and he started the engineering arm of the French Battery Company. Burgess, not satisfied with the public perception that the newly invented 'flashlight' was an impractical novelty, developed a mass market flashlight that was accepted by the public. French Battery contracted with Burgess to sell both his batteries and his flashlights. Eventually they combined operations, with Burgess re-engineering the batteries sold by French. During world war I, they landed a contract to supply the bulk of the batteries used by the armed forces. During this time a fire broke out in the French Battery facilities and practically wiped them out. French and Burgess split and went their separate ways following that, with the French Battery Company headed by French, and of course the Burgess Battery Company headed by Burgess. Both were successful beyond their dreams.

Another battery manufacturer, in the U.S., Eveready, that had originally enjoyed the lions share of the market began to feel the pinch, and the word was they initiated litigation against the others in an attempt to make themselves the sole battery manufacturer. Claiming a patent on the chemical process in use at the time, they attempted to shut down the others. Burgess developed a new formula that was superior. So superior it was, that Eveready's formula couldn't match it, and Eveready had to end up purchasing a license from Burgess in order to compete.

French Battery Company eventually changed their name and came to be known as RayoVac. RayoVac and Eveready targeted the basic user market, while Burgess targeted industrial and high volume users. Eventually, the targeting of the basic user created a more recognized branding, although Burgess's sales weren't hurt. Burgess would work with manufacturers to make specialized sizes, often times the sizes would not be available for any other product. Even now if you're into collecting of older products, you might find a requirement for a battery bearing a Burgess number, but they're unfortunately no longer available.After Burgess' death the Burgess line was purchased by Gould. Gould was heavily diversified and relied heavily on private labeled batteries for retailers such as Montgomery Ward, a market beginning to receive heavier competition from overseas competitors. The Burgess facilities received poor environmental studies due to oversaturation with heavy and hazardous materials, and workers were appearing to have a extra high rate of cancer. They started losing money and abandoned the Burgess product line.

I ran across an interesting forum with some comments by previous workers at Burgess. You might enjoy reading it.
 

Rebus

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Re: Somebody should tell \'em......

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but where's the cat?

Doug Owen wrote
-----------------------------------

These Eveready Gold brand batteries had a small Cat logo
on them.

-Rebus
 

Kirk

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Re: Somebody should tell \'em......

Just to set the record straight, Gillette owns Duracell. Eveready/Energizer is their competition. Burgess is still around in England and makes "Microswitch"-style precision switches. In fact, Burgess owns the trademark/copyright for the name Microswitch outside of the U.S. What we call "Microswitch" here in the States is known as "Honeywell" (the parent company) just about everywhere else.
Empath, I need a Burgess 4F2H battery for an old lantern. Boy, talk about a "specialized" battery. It appears nobody else, nowhere, made anything even remotely resembling this thing. I have deduced from the part number that this battery was made of 4 "F" cells, stacked 2 "High", hence the name 4F2H; but who knows? All I know is, it is a goofy size. Geez, you can still get all sorts of high-voltage batteries for camera flashes, and old style "radio" batteries, but nothing like a 4F2H. Unique flashlight, unique battery. Thanks for the interesting read.
Kirk
 

jayflash

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Re: Somebody should tell \'em......

Thank you all for the replies. I found a a Burgess in the basement that looks a little newer than the red topped cell in Empath's photo - mine has a rusty chrome top and was made in Freeport, IL.

I should have mentioned that the Evereadys I picked up are the "gold" or alkalines. BUT...does anyone know why Eners & Evers are BOTH marketed? I believe that Eveready was not available for some years, at least I didn't see them. Apparently they come from the same company.
 

gwbaltzell

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Re: Somebody should tell \'em......

I suspect the main reason we again have both is the same reason there are 20 "brands" of dog food all made by Ralston-Purina. (Or is that now made by Purina Mills?) Or that every major place that carry matresses (matri ?) has their own variation. Market share. Consumer confusion. Self space. Suppose a store only carries 3 "brands" and customers just bought randomly. Each company would get 1/3 the business. Now add a fourth "brand", if the customers still just buys randomly and the two "brands" are made by the same company, that company has increased their market share to 50%. As for customer confusion, you want to buy a battery and be smart about it. You compare two batteries, ones a little cheaper, a little less capacity, shorter shelf life. How much is that worth to you. Answer is it doesn't matter, you've still bought a battery made by Energizer/Eveready.
 

jayflash

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Re: Somebody should tell \'em......

Obviously I'm not in marketing. Yes, baltz, your explanation sounds logical. I suppose the consumer feels they have more choices and the manufacturer wins either way. Thanks for the insight.
 
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