The new design, introduced in 1967, included a revolutionary tough, thin-walled case of translucent polypropylene plastic, 50 percent thinner than conventional black rubber-type battery enclosures. The extra room meant bigger plates and more acid, which provided extra starting power. In addition to the space-saving and visibility advantages, the polypropylene case was stronger.

The development of tools to manufacture the clear plastic container was a major undertaking. That project alone took some of the country’s finest toolmakers more than a year and a half to build. The machines they developed represented a substantial advance in precision ejection-molding. The first, mammoth ejection molding press for the DieHard weighed 600 tons and required 500 metric tons to clamp shut. By itself, the mold for the container weighed four and a half tons.

The name DieHard came about after the battery underwent intensive testing without failure. Technicians did not report a single failure in more than 26,000 starts at temperatures ranging from sub-zero to more than 100 degrees. Sears marketed DieHard through a series of innovative advertisements ranging from batteries frozen in ice, to batteries in Baja racecars.

In the 1990s, the DieHard brand expanded to include flashlights, flashlight batteries, rechargeable batteries, gel cel batteries, and recently, work boots.

Today, Sears builds DieHard automobile batteries with a variety of innovative features. These include batteries with reserve starting power, batteries with anti-theft features, and batteries designed for specific geographical regions.

Diehard today

Read some basic facts about Diehard today or visit www.diehard.com for more information and to purchase products.