Telephone-type stationary battery

Chester L. Dawes.  Industrial Electricity.  Volume 1.  Direct Currents.  McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1956.  Previous copyrights 1925, 1942.

The Electric Storage Battery Company was founded by W.W. Gibbs in 1888 to market the ideas and patents which Gibbs had purchased from inventor Clement Payen.  In 1911, they developed the battery for use in Kettering's new automotive electric starter. They also famously produced the batteries for U.S. subs and for the Mark 18 electric torpedo during World War II.  They're know today as Exide, derived from "Excellent Oxide."  The company has gone into bankruptcy twice, in 2002 and 2013, shedding a lot of debt in the process.  Slick.