1988 advert for Duracell.

Duracell originated via the partnership of scientist Samuel Ruben and businessman Philip Rogers Mallory, who met during the 1920s. The P.R. Mallory Company produced mercury cells for military equipment use, trumping the Zn-air battery technology used then in virtually all applications. During the late 1970s, when the company’s concerns for the now-known effects of mercury began, mercury quickly became an obsolete ingredient in all their manufacturing processes. It was replaced by alkaline technology.

During the 1950s Kodak introduced cameras with integral flash: the design required a new cell size and thus size AAA was developed.

In 1964 the term “Duracell” was formally introduced as a brand. The name is a portmanteau for “durable cell”.

Duracell manufactures alkaline batteries in many common sizes, such as AAA, AA, C, D, and 9V. Lesser used sizes such as AAAA (primarily for pagers, penlights and blood glucose meters) and J size batteries (for hospital devices) are also manufactured along with a range of “button” batteries using Zinc-air chemistry, used in calculators, hearing aids and other small (mostly medical related) devices.

Duracell also manufactures specialty batteries, including NiMH rechargeable batteries and batteries for cameras, watches, hearing aids, etc. Their two main battery brands are “Coppertop”, marketed as longer-lasting, and “Ultra”, directed mainly at users of digital devices and devices that need more power. The Coppertop and Ultra brands of batteries use the alkaline-manganese dioxide chemistry. Duracell also has a line of lithium chemistry batteries and products, now manufactured outside of the U.S.

In recent years, Duracell’s innovations expanded to include new battery designs with their prismatic batteries, which are prismatic in shape rather than cylindrical. Prismatic cells were made available in both alkaline and lithium designs. In 2006, Duracell introduced “Power Pix^TM” batteries with metal hydroxy technology, designed to supply longer life in digital cameras and other high drain devices by up to twice the number of photos typically achievable with alkaline batteries.

Duracell batteries are also bulk packaged for end users under the brand name Procell.

Info taken from Wikipedia.