120 / 154
batteries and portable lighting products.
Energizer products are distributed in more than
160 countries and the company manufactures
nearly one out of three batteries sold in the world.
HISTORY
More than a century ago in the 1890s, JoshuaLionel
Cohen began selling his latest invention. This was
a tiny battery-and-bulb device used to illuminate
flowers in a pot, and Conrad Hubert, who operated
a NewYork City restaurant, was so impressed that
he quit his job to sell the devices for Cowen. When
the power failed in a restaurant where Hubert
had just installed the flowerpots, he had an
inspiration—put the “flowerpot lights” in
people’s hands. And the seeds for Eveready
Battery
Company—and
portable power—were planted.
Hubert acquired the patent for
the first Eveready® “electric
hand torch” in 1898. His first
flashlights were handmade,
consisting of a dry cell battery, a
bulb, and a rough brass reflector
inside a paper tube. By 1900, his flashlights were
being sold in London, Montreal, Paris, Berlin - and
Sydney.
Hubert’s company became American Ever
Ready in 1905 to emphasise the dependability of
its flashlight products and merged in 1914 with
National Carbon Company. The newly
formed company, which was the only
manufacturer specialising in both battery
and lighting products, merged with Union
Carbide Company three years later, and,
as it expanded, the company’s “Eveready”
brand name became synonymous with
power and reliability.
Over the course of several decades, the
company continued to grow, focusing
upon its strong reputation as the
dependable battery that a consumer could
trust.
The batterieswere certainly reliable, but
one young, persistent scientist knew they
could be better, and his work launched a
new era for the company. Assigned to an
existing Eveready division in 1957, Lew
Urry soon began to focus on an entirely
new chemical system—a system known
today as alkaline.
Urry made a mock-up of an alkaline
battery from an empty flashlight shaft,
inserted it into a toy car and tested it on
the cafeteria floor- and the rest is history! Today
alkaline batteries are the top selling standard battery
inAustralia.
THE MARKET
Australians are unplugged. They play,
communicate, calculate and plan all with
the help of portable power. Energizer®
batteries power the lifestyle of this on-the-
go society. In fact, the average Australian
household owns more than ten battery-
operated devices, and that number
continues to climb. In a technological game
of leapfrog, devices evolve as battery
power improves and battery power
improves to make way for the next
evolution of gadgets and gizmos.
More devices with added bells and
whistles are certainly one trend that drives
the category. Smaller devices are another.
For example,musicmachines once the size
of a small suitcase now fit in the palm of
the hand. This trend toward
miniaturisationhasmadeAAandAAAsize
batteries the workhorses of the category,
making up more than half of the battery
market.
In short, there is an ever-increasing
demand for reliable batteries that can keep pace
with today’s mobile lifestyles. Energizer continues
to be the leading premium alkaline power source
that “never says die”.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Energizer inventedalkalinebatteries in the late1950s
and has continued to enhance them over the years.
Since 1960, the service life of an Energizer battery
has improved dramatically. Anticipating the trend
toward high-tech devices, Energizer led the
industry in designing batteries to meet the power
requirements of these sophisticated devices.
The company continues to innovate in all
segments of the battery category. Energizer was
the first company to design and introduce a super-
premium battery, the Energizer® e²™; harness the
power of lithium in a AA cell size; and to
revolutionise the rechargeable category when it
introduced high-powered Nickel Metal Hydride
(NiMH) cells.
Energizer is the world’s largest manufacturer of
40
040-041_energizer.p65
10/21/2007, 1:53 AM
40