Patent GB-1481952-A (GB)
Title: Manufacture of tubular type battery plates
IPC: H01M4/56
Filed: 1973-07-06
Abstract: 1481952 Paste-filling machine for tubular battery plates CHLORIDE GROUP Ltd 8 July 1974 [6 July 1973 9 April 1974] 32366/73 and 15768/74 Heading H1B A machine for filling with paste tubular-type battery plates for lead-acid batteris, the plates having a number of tubes, e.g. of terylene (Trade Mark), arranged side-by-side and receiving spines connected at one end by a bar, comprises two similar supports 10, 11 permitting one battery plate to be filled on one support whilst another, previously-filled plate on the other support is removed and its place taken by a further plate which is to be filled. A pump 15 pumps the paste from a hopper 18 either in a recirculating pipe 23 back to the hopper or to a selector valve 24, as determined by a two-way valve 22. The valve 24 determines whether the paste is directed to extrusion head 20 or 21 associated, respectively, with the supports 10, 11. The heads 20, 21 are connected by tubes 26 to respective nozzle blocks 27, 28. As described, each battery plate has fifteen tubes and each extrusion head 20, 21 has fifteen ports connected by the tubes 26 to corresponding ones of fifteen nozzles 150 in respective blocks 27, 28. The ports in the heads 20, 21 are arranged in inner and outer circles of seven ports each around a central port whereas the nozzles are arranged in a straight line. Each support 10, 11 includes a carrier 35 or 36 which is horizontally slidable relatively to the nozzle blocks 27, 28, the carriers supporting respectively lower platens 30, 32 and carriers 12, 13 supporting upper platens 29, 31, the upper carriers 12, 13 being movable to the open position as shown for carrier 13 and held in the closed position by clamps, e.g. the clamps 39a, 39b, 40a, 40b, shown for the carrier 13. In Fig. 2, the carrier 112 is held in the closed position by clamps 37a, 38a, the other clamps being omitted from the drawing. The platens 29, 30 and 31, 32 are formed with grooves corresponding to the shape of the battery plates. In use, assuming the filling of a battery plate on the support 11, the plate tubes are positioned on the platen 32 with the top bar of the plate against a stop 45, the top platen 31 is closed and the carrier 13 held by clamps 39a, 396, 40a, 40b. The carrier 36 is slid towards the block 28 so that the mouths of the plate tubes seal with the nozzles 150 and a seal is established between the face 48 of the block and the ends of the platens 31, 32. The valves 22, 24 are adjusted so that the paste is pumped to fill the plate tubes, this operation being stopped by a preset timer. To accommodate the variables that affect the paste flow the nozzles 150 are adjusted in size to equalize the paste quantity delivered to each plate tube. The pump 15 comprises a rotor in the form of a single start helix fitting in a cylinder in the form of a double start helix of twice the pitch of the rotor. A pneumatic control circuit for the machine is described with reference to Fig. 4 (not shown); also, paste compositions are described. In a modified machine (Fig. 5, not shown) for filling battery plates with long tubes, a ram is disposed downstream of the pump 15, the ram containing a metered quantity of paste sufficient for a plurality of plates.