Battery BA300/U Usage
 

This particular battery is a 1.5 volt dry cell, manufactured postwar in Canada by Union Carbide (Eveready) at least as far as the late 1970's.

It appears to be a direct descendent of an identical battery made during WW2 by Willard Battery Company and others. At that time it was known as a Cell, Dry, Type X, Mk II and was used in various combinations in Sigs equipment such as Fullerphones, any number of wood boxed field telephones and the Wireless Remote Control Unit.

Can anyone advise what equipment was still being used in the late 1970's by the Canadian Army, that needed this battery?

David

C'mon...you're talking the Canadian Army. The equipment in use in the 1970's would have been war dated RCU's, Telly D's and UC10 switchboards repainted that horrible shiny black/green!!

Bruce, Do you mean "deep bronze green"?

I call it WW2 artifact destroying goop.

The WW2 style UC10s were still being overhauled by Valcom right into the early 80s I believe. Same goes for some of the second WW field phones. Not for regular or even reserve force use mind you, but for the army cadets.

I bought one of the old remote control units from United army surplus in Wpg sometime around 1978. The old sigs sgt at the FGH gave me a couple of those batteries.

I believe they were also used in the little field desk lamp that came in the wooden box. I have one of those somewhere downstairs, but sadly, someone beat me to the pair of batteries that were recently advertised on MLU.

Actually Lynn, I think deep bronze green is a British colour. Though perhaps similar, the colour used here in Canada is of NATO origin (at least we refer to it as 'NATO green') and is, if my impressions are right, a little darker and greener.

Here it is on my UC6 switchboard. The frustrating thing is that under this paint and the crude stencil is the original WW2 paint and markings.

I have always referred to it as the m-series green. Ours is a little darker than the US equivalent. But I did note that last year, when I mixed up an original Cdn gallon of this colour, it matched my Canadian triumph TRW perfectly.

Bruce and Rob, Yes Deep bronze green would have been a British colour. In the early 70's most of the N.Z Army fleet was DBG. It was a gloss emamel. Later they went to a semigloss (Porous) enamel, closer to what you have shown. Nowadays it's a desert sand colour, which must make seeing faults easier.