PP3 Designer Remembered

Dr. Alexander "Lex" Gilmour, whose many contributions to the battery industry included developing the groundbreaking rectangular design for the 9 volt PP3 battery, died of a heart attack on March 13. He was 76.

Born in County Antrim, Northern Ireland in 1930, he demonstrated an inquisitive and

strong interest in the physical sciences from an early age and later attended Queen's University, Belfast, and received B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry. In 1956, he accepted a position at the Belfast-based Short Bros, where he developed technology used in black box flight recorders. During this time, he met his future wife Miriam through mutual friends. A move to the British Oxygen Corp. in 1961 led to a transfer to their Perivale offices in Middlesex, England, in 1962, when he and Miriam were married.

In 1966, he became the European engineering manager at the rapidly expanding manufacturers of Duracell batteries, Mallory Batteries Inc. He spent four years at the U.S. headquarters in Tarrytown, New York, conveying his eclectic mix of U.K. patented technology that later created hundreds of new jobs al a battery manufacturing facility in South Carolina.