PDP-8 /e/f/m memory

[Tony Duell]

> > I have mini-Maglites in my toolkit - three of 'em, and they all get use; I 
> > work in the dark a great deal, but that's another story * - and recently 
> > had the unpleasant surprise of having one of the "regular" batteries 
> > corrode and die (and the batteries had been replaced less than a month 
> > earlier). This did an _astonishingly_ effective job of destroying the 
> > interior of the Maglite as well, the acids eating away the Maglite's 

Actually, I thought the electrolyte was alkaline....

> > shell in a way I literally didn't think was possible. Defective battery? 
> > Some other problem? We may never know.
> 
> What brand of battery?  I haven't seen a battery fail like this
> in decades.  Was the light stored in a harsh environment?

With some (most?) alkaline primary cells (the 'Duracell' type of thing), 
the outer casing of the cell is the +ve connection. There's an insulating 
sleeve around it, of course. And the outer casing of a Maglite is 
connected to the -ve side of the battery via the spring at the bottom end.

So if the insualting sleeve on a cell fails, then that cell, or the whole 
battery, is shorted out. That will cause it to discharge darn fast, and 
probably leak.

-tony