Drumm was born in
Dundrum, County Down, in 1896, and initially attended a national school where his mother taught. His secondary education was at
St Macartan's College,
Monaghan, where he won a county council scholarship. From 1914 to 1917 he studied at the
Chemistry School of
University College Dublin (UCD) and then worked in England at the
Continuous Reaction Company. In 1922 he returned to
Dublin as a chemist for research and production at
Fine Chemicals Ltd. He then worked for various companies and participated in research projects. He modernized various processing methods, such as the conservation of peas to keep their natural green colour in tin cans. According to Casey, from 1926 to 1931, Drumm worked tirelessly on a new accumulator and finally presented the
Drumm Traction Battery. In 1931 he was distinguished for his research by the
National University of Ireland as Doctor of Natural Sciences. His most famous research result was an electric storage battery, which was known by his name. Drumm's original idea was to use a
hydroquinone electrode in a battery cell for power generation. After some experiments, he devoted his attention to
alkaline cells. In Drumm's time the only available rechargeable batteries were based on
lead,
lead dioxide and
sulphuric acid. The iron-nickel alkaline battery was developed by
Thomas Edison. Drumm created his first battery at UCD Merrion street and negotiation with the Government led to a prototype conversion of petrol
railcar 386 in July 1930. Following successful trials
two trains were built at
Inchicore and entered regular service on the Dublin–
Bray route, with charging stations being built at each end. Two more trains were built in 1939, and the trains continued in service until 1949. == See also ==