Rayovac is a brand of batteries

Battery (electricity)

An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...

 owned by Spectrum Brands

Spectrum Brands

Spectrum Brands is a diversified company established in 2005 as the successor company to Rayovac Corporation. Rayovac had been located in Wisconsin since its conception as The French Battery Company in 1906, but then in 2004, as Spectrum Brands, located its Corporate headquarters just north of...

 of Madison, Wisconsin

Madison, Wisconsin

Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

History

Rayovac was founded by James Bowen Ramsay (1869-1952) in 1906 as the French Battery Co. in Madison, Wisconsin, with Alfred Landau as its first president. Landau was replaced by C.F. Burgess

Charles Frederick Burgess

Charles Frederick Burgess was an American chemist and engineer. He was founder of the University of Wisconsin-Madison department of Chemical Engineering in 1905, and was a pioneer in the development of electrochemical engineering...

, and the company became profitable in 1910. After a fire destroyed the plant in 1915, Burgess left to found his own company. Production rose during the First World War, and by 1920 the French company had $2.74 million in sales and 600 employees, and 1000 employees in 1931.

In 1930 the company name was changed to Ray-O-Vac, an allusion to the then-new technology of vacuum tubes and electron rays. In 1933 the company patented the first wearable vacuum tube hearing aid

Hearing aid

A hearing aid is an electroacoustic device which typically fits in or behind the wearer's ear, and is designed to amplify and modulate sound for the wearer. Earlier devices, known as "ear trumpets" or "ear horns", were passive funnel-like amplification cones designed to gather sound energy and...

. During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 the Blake Manufacturing Division joined five other firms to form the New England Small Arms

New England Small Arms

New England Small Arms Corporation was a consortium of small manufacturers who coordinated their facilities for production of M1918 Browning Automatic Rifles during World War II. The company was an unusual variation of United States conversion of small manufacturing plants from civilian goods to...

 Corporation for manufacture of M1918 Browning Automatic Rifles.

During its ownership by the parent company of ESB Industrials, a British subsidiary was established to manufacture and market batteries in the United Kingdom under the Ray-O-Vac name. This operation ceased in 1972; Ray-O-Vac batteries continued to be marketed, though they were manufactured by the British Ever Ready company.

Rayovac changed its name to Spectrum Brands in 2005 after it acquired non-battery related businesses including Remington Products

Remington Products

Remington Products, commonly known as simply Remington, is a worldwide personal care corporation which manufactures razors , epilators, and haircare products for both men and women. It is a subsidiary of Spectrum Brands.-History:...

 and United Pet Group. Rayovac also bought other battery companies including Varta

VARTA

VARTA AG was a company based in Germany manufacturing batteries for global automotive, industrial and consumer markets. A sales slogan was "you're smarter to fit Varta!" in the mid 1990s...

, Ningbo Baowang, and Microlite S.A.. The Microlite acquision included the rights to the Rayovac name in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, giving the company world wide rights to the Rayovac name.

In 2004, Rayovac successfully underbid Energizer as RadioShack

RadioShack

RadioShack Corporation   is an American franchise of electronics retail stores in the United States, as well as parts of Europe, South America and Africa. As of 2008, RadioShack reported net sales and operating revenues of $4.81 billion. The headquarters of RadioShack is located in Downtown...

's battery supplier and now produces the "Enercell

Enercell

Enercell is a battery brand sold exclusively by RadioShack at retail stores and online. For decades, Enercell batteries were manufactured by Eveready, and then by Energizer when Energizer Holdings bought out Eveready. In 2004, Rayovac successfully underbid Energizer as RadioShack's battery supplier...

" brand of battery sold exclusively at RadioShack.

Products

Rayovac manufactures alkaline batteries ranging in size from AAA to 9V, the "Renewal" rechargeable alkaline series, and several types of NiMH

Nickel metal hydride battery

A nickel–metal hydride cell, abbreviated NiMH, is a type of rechargeable battery similar to the nickel–cadmium cell. The NiMH battery uses a hydrogen-absorbing alloy for the negative electrode instead of cadmium. As in NiCd cells, the positive electrode is nickel oxyhydroxide...

 (Nickel-Metal Hydride) batteries with recharge times as low as 15 minutes. Rayovac also makes hearing aid batteries, lithium photo batteries and specialty batteries. In addition, a variety of portable LED flashlight

Flashlight

A flashlight is a hand-held electric-powered light source. Usually the light source is a small incandescent lightbulb or light-emitting diode...

s and lanterns are produced under the Rayovac brand.