Joan Roca i Caball staged in 1976 and passed away shortly afterward due to pulmonary edema. Joan Roca i Caball Joan Baptista Roca i Caball (1898–1976) was a Catalan Carlist and Christian-Democratic politician. He is known as co-founder of Unió Democràtica de Catalunya and recognized as representative of a "Third Spain", the group which emerged during the Spanish Civil War and claimed to have stood in-between the warring factions. He is also counted among leaders of the Catalan opposition to Francoism. The Roca family has traditionally owned vineyards in the Barcelona province; heavily hit by the phylloxera plague in the mid-19th century, it was
Mercury battery popular power source for portable electronic devices. Due to the content of toxic mercury and environmental concerns about its disposal, the sale of mercury batteries is now banned in many countries. Both ANSI and IEC have withdrawn their standards for mercury batteries. The mercury oxide-zinc battery system was known more than 100 years ago but did not become widely used until 1942, when Samuel Ruben developed a balanced mercury cell which was useful for military applications such as metal detectors, munitions, and walkie-talkies. The battery system had the advantages of long shelf life (to 10 years) and steady voltage output.