[Milsurplus] Duracell Coppertop battries

[Robert Nickels]

On 1/8/2023 10:44 AM, Daniel Jones wrote:
> But Rayovac says that all their Batteries are made in the USA of Domestic and Global Materials.  Since they are owned by energizer now (since 2019) I would imagine most energizer is also but I didn’t verify.

I know that the legacy Rayovac batteries were made in Middleton, Portage 
and Fennimore Wisconsin, and prior to the sale Spectrum Brands had 
consolidated and closed other factories.    Since the sale, Energizer 
closed one plant in Bennington VT that employed 90 and moved those 
operations to Portage.   A quick search didn't produce any WARN notices 
(mass layoffs) since other than at their distribution center at Dixon 
IL.    Of course that can always change, but a highly automated product 
that is also heavy (weight) is less likely to be offshored, so my guess 
is the company still does manufacture mostly in the US.

I used Rayovac batteries for  years due to a common local connection to 
the Burgess Battery Company that was once a major employer here in 
Freeport IL and through a spin-off company,  the reason I came here to 
work for Honeywell in 1986.    Dr. Charles F. Burgess founded the 
University of Wisconsin's Department of Chemical Engineering  and in 
1907 he became a consultant to the nearby French Battery Company (later 
renamed The Ray-O-Vac Company).   The Burgess Battery Company (Burgess) 
was founded by Dr.  Burgess in Madison, Wisconsin and incorporated  in 
1917. The United States entered World War I a month later and during the 
war Burgess collaborated with the US Army Signal Corps to develop 
quality batteries for radio communication equipment.   After WWI, and 
through the 1920's, the company and battery industry prospered, and in 
1925 operations were moved to Freeport, Illinois, where it grew to 
become a major supplier of zinc-carbon cells for flashlights and 
radios,  including the A/B/C batteries required for tube-type portable 
radios.   The company was dedicated to military production through WWII, 
but after Burgess died in 1945 never really got back on track.   It 
continued operating under absentee ownership until 1989, relying largely 
on the dwindling number of legacy customers who required high voltage B 
batteries using zinc-carbon technology.

Lack of investment in alkaline technology led to the company's demise, 
and poor management allowed environmental contamination to reach the 
point where the facility was demolished and the site remediated under 
EPA orders, with the last "deep pockets" owner, Gould Inc., footing the 
bill.  It's now a river and bike trailhead that I use often.

73, Bob W9RAN