Patent GB-111838-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to Machines for Making Electrodes for Batteries.
Inventor: CASELLA SECONDO LOUIS
IPC: H01M4/10
Filed: 1917-10-23
Abstract: 111,838. Casella, S. L. Dec. 7, 1916, [Convention date]. Feeding articles from hoppers and shoots.-In a machine of the type described in an earlier Specification by the present applicant ior making voltaic-cell electrodes comprising a cylindrical mass of a depolarizing- material such as manganese hydroxide surrounding a central rod of carbon, the depolarizing-material contained in a receptacle 2, Fig. 18, is delivered in separate charges, by the teeth of a feed wheel 3, down a rocking hopper 26 into open-sided moulds 28 mounted on a feed turret 27. The excess material is swept off by the hopper and the filled mould 28 moved to the second position where it is pressed by a former 34 into cylindrical shape. While pressed by the former 34 it is forced by a plunger 84, Fig. 12, into one of a set of four open-ended moulds 42 carried on a turret 43, and compressed against a block 90. A quarter turn of the turret 43 carries the moulded cylinder 106 to the second position, where it is further compressed and perforated by means of a spring-pressed hollow plunger 98. Fig. 13, within which is a perforating-plunger 92. In passing to the second position, the excess of depolarizing-material is removed by a scraper 35<a>, Fig. 12. In the third position, the carbon rods from a shoot 112 are inserted by a push rod 107. The shoot 112 is maintained full of carbon rods by a notched feed wheel 117, Fig. 9, which delivers one rod from a hopper 116 to the shoot for every rod used. At the fourth position, Fig. 13, the finished electrode is ejected by a plunger 130 on to an inclined shoot 134 and delivered out of the machine, a gate 135, which rises and falls, setting the electrodes straight so that they roll out of the machine squarely. The plungers 84, 98, 107, 130 are mounted on a rod 48, which is reciprocated by a crank 72 and connecting-rod 71, Fig. 9, and carries a roller 128, which engages a cam lever 123 carrying a pawl 124 which, through gearing 119, 120, rotates the feed wheel 117 for the carbon rods. The crank-shaft 16 is driven by a belt on the fly-wheel and drives by gear wheels 17 a shaft 15 on which is mounted an operating- member 49 carrying a crank pin 58, Fig. 20. This crank-pin, co-operating with four right-angled slots on a turret-operating member 60, imparts a quarter turn to the turret for each rotation of the shaft 15. A toothed wheel 44 attached to the turret 43 gears with a similar wheel 45, Fig. 15, attached to the turret 27 so that the turrets are driven together. A locking-member 61, adapted to engage notches in the gears 44, 45, holds them stationary during the operation of the plungers. The loching-member 61 is released for rotating the turrets by means of a wiper 66, Fig. 9, mounted on the shaft 16 and engaging a roller 64 mounted on a sliding piece 63 to which the locking-piece is attached by a rod 62. The former 34 and hopper 26 are operated by the cam faces of the operating-member 49 co-operating with springs and acting through rocking arms and links, the former 34 being provided with a stop. The shaft 5 carrying the feed wheel 3 is driven by chain gear 12, 13, 14, Fig. 17, acting through a clutch 6, 7, and the rotation of the feed wheel 3 is controlled by an escapement 21, Fig. 15, operated by a cam connected to the toothed wheel 45. The impact of the teeth of the wheel 18 against the stops 19, 20 of the escapement overcomes any tendency of the depolarizing-material to cling to the pockets in the feed wheel. The flywheel is connected to the shaft by a sliding key 146, Fig. 7, having an inclined slot as shown, and is pressed into a recess in the boss of the fly-wheel by a spring 147, Fig. 5. To stop the machine, an arm 149, raised by means of a handlever, withdraws a spring-pressed pawl 139 from a shoulder on a wedge 140 which is then pushed up into the slot in the key 146 by springs 141. To start the machine, the wedge 140 is provided with a stud 150 by which the wedge is withdrawn from the slot in the key 146 when the arm 149 is lowered.