Patent GB-671751-A (GB)
Title: An improved apparatus for assembling storage battery elements
Inventor: GALLOWAY CHARLES DOUGLAS
IPC: H01M10/14
Filed: 1950-03-29
Abstract: 671,751. Endless conveyers; lifting devices. ELECTRIC STORAGE BATTERY CO. March 29, 1950. No. 7823/50. Classes 78 (i) and 78 (iv). [Also in Group XXXVI] Apparatus for stacking accumulator plates and separators in correct order for insertion in a battery comprises stationary stacks of negative plates, separators, and positive plates arranged near a conveyer, and devices for lifting the top member of each stack and lowering it on to the conveyer. Fig. 1 shows in plan a number of stationary stacks of negative plates 25, 29, separators 26, 28, and positive plates 27, the total number of stacks depending on the number of plates required in the accumulator. An endless conveyer 10 actuated by a motor 15 is given an intermittent motion by a blank space 18 in the toothed wheel 17, and each time the conveyer stops the top plate of each stationary stack is lifted and de posited on the stack opposite to it on the conveyer. The number of plates in each stack on the conveyer thus increases towards the end from which they are removed. Cams 35, 36 on a shaft 14 actuate the devices for lifting, transporting and lowering the plates from the stationary stacks to the conveyer. One of these devices is shown in Fig. 2 in which a number of plates 33 are shown on the conveyer 10 which is at rest with the plates 33 opposite the stationary stack 27. A suction head 34 rests on the top plate of stack 27 and is carried by a pipe 37 connected to a pipe 38 and a source of vacuum. On the pipe 37 are two sliding members 40, 56 connected through links and levers to rollers 51, 64, which engage the cams 35, 36 on the shaft 14. The vacuum in the head 34 is made and broken by a rotary valve actuated by a rod 87 which is raised and lowered by the engagement of a head 89 on the rod with the member 56. When the vacuum is made the top plate in the stack 27 adheres to the suction head 34 and further movement of the member 56 brings it into contact with a fixed collar 55 on the pipe 37 which is thus lifted to bring the top plate of the stack 27 into position for transportation to the conveyer. The roller 51 and cam 35 now come into operation to move the link 41 to the right and draw the pipe 37 with the attached plate to a position over the stack of plates 33 on the conveyer. The pipe is then lowered, the vacuum broken and the plate carried by the suction head 34 deposited on the plates that have already been deposited on the conveyer by the lifting and lowering devices at previous stations. Fig. 3 shows in section one of the suction heads 34 resting on a separator plate 26. The head comprises a cup-shaped member 67 to which is screwed a plate 70 provided with openings 71. The plate 70 prevents bending of the plate 26 due to the vacuum in the cup 67. The edge of the cup is fitted with a flexible rubber skirt 72. The cup communicates through a passage 78 with the valve housing 75 in which is a rotary valve having openings 81, 82, 83 which put the cup into communication with the atmosphere or with the pipe 37 leading to the source of vacuum. The valve is fitted with a spindle carrying a ratchet wheel 84, Fig. 2, which is rotated through 60 degrees by each upward movement of the rod 87 which carries a pawl at its lower end. Figs. 7, 9 and 10 show a modification in which the stacks of separators and plates are situated on both sides of the conveyer 106. All the separators 103 are on one side of the conveyer, the positive and negative plates 102, 102a being arranged in alternate stacks on the other side as shown in plan in Figs. 9 and 10. While the conveyer is stationary, a bar 128 is raised and lifts two suction heads 104, 105 at each station. The heads are then moved to the right from the position shown in Fig. 9 by the levers 121, 122, Fig. 7 and again lowered into the position shown in Fig. 10. The bar 128 may be operated at each end by a piston in a cylinder 117 to which compressed air may be admitted by a reciprocating valve actuated by a cam on the main driving shaft 131 of the machine. A further modification (not shown) employs a single lifting and lowering device as shown in Fig. 2 which is situated between the conveyer and a table which supports alternate stacks of positive plates, separators, and negative plates. The table is given a step-by-step rotary motion and when it is at a postion of rest the lifting device removes the top plate from a stack and lowers it on to the conveyer which remains stationary till a complete stack of plates and separators has been formed. The conveyer then moves the completed assembly to a transfer station.