What Happened to “B” Batteries?

We’ve all heard of the different sizes of batteries; AA, AAA, C, and D. But what happened to the B size battery, and did it ever even exist?

The B size battery did, in fact, exist. Early on, there were many different manufacturer specifications for dry-cell batteries and many different national standards, so the naming of batteries was far from uniform. After World War I, battery manufacturers and different government institutions decided a standard needed to be developed for battery sizes to make things a lot easier in the world of batteries.

Based on the proposals from these groups, the American Standards Association, which would later become the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), began giving batteries designations in accordance with their size in the late 1920s. The letter “A” designated the smallest battery, and the larger batteries were named B, C, D, and so on. There was even a “№6” battery that was 6-inches long. It got grandfathered into the system and got to keep its name, likely because it was popular at the time. It was also one of the first dry cell batteries to replace the often more dangerous early “wet cell” batteries.

The B battery’s fade into obscurity really happened because the market for them just simply dried up. With the designation of AA, and later AAA which took place in 1959, the B battery didn’t have…