Improvements in Mechanism for Forming Battery Plates.
Year: 1895

page_text: United States of America)
Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 12th Mar., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 12th Mar., 1895-Accepted, 15th June, 1895
Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 12th Mar., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 12th Mar., 1895-Accepted, 15th June. 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Mechanism for Forming Battery Plates.
I, CHARLES JOHN REED, of 441 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, County of
Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, United States of America, Electrical
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
My invention has for its objects, first, the construction of rolled grooved
electrodes or battery plates with stiffening ribs and connecting lugs or ears in
completed form; second, the construction of electrodes or battery plates which
shall be entirely symmetrical in form and possess an equal amount of active surface
when prepared or formed; third, the preparation of electrodes or plates possessing
all of the functions necessarily attributable to the products of the mechanism
hereinafter described.
My invention will be fully understood by referring to the accompanying drawings,
in which
Figure 1 represents a plan view of a pair of electrodes or plates as they appear
after the lead or equivalent material from which they are formed has been passed
through the machine and the forming cylinders or rolls have made one complete
revolution.
Figure 2 represents an end view of the mechanism, illustrating in dotted lines a
sheet of lead as it is being rolled.
Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken through the body of the machine on
line 3-3, Figure 2, the shafting and cog-gearing for driving the cylinders or rolls
being shown in elevation..
Figure 4 is an end view and Figure 5 an elevational view of the machine, said
figures showing in detail those portions of the rolls which cut or trim the ends of
the electrodes and the connecting or contacting lugs or ears.
In the construction of storage battery plates it has been customary heretofore to
prepare the body portion of the plate and afterward to attach the stiffening ribs and
the contacting or conducting lugs or ears which unite the independent plates
together. My invention is designed to overcome this difficulty and expense in
construction and to make a plate of this general nature which shall be integral in
form.
My invention will be fully understood by referring to the following detailed
description of the drawings and to the special features of novelty hereinafter
pointed out.
Referring first to Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5, A and B represent grooved steel
cylinders or rolls which are sustained in adjustable journal bearings by axles S
and S¹ upon a rigid frame not shown, said axles being connected together by gear
F

page_text: wheels G and G¹ which cause them to rotate at the same speed under the action of
properly applied power. These cylinders or rolls A and B are provided with
grooves a¹ a and b b which, however, do not extend entirely around them, said
grooves being discontinued over extended fractional portions of the rolls on one side
and over limited fractional portions thereof on the other side, the discontinuations
being in each instance in the nature of depressions or spaces having the same radial
distances from the axes of the rolls as the bottoms of the grooves.
K, K', K², K³, K and K are cutters or knives which are situated in dove-tailed
or equivalent grooves in the depressions or spaces, see Figures 2 and 4, the edges of
said knives being slightly below the outer portions of the grooves a¹ a¹, b¹¹, the
location of said knives being such that when the rolls advance under the action of
the gear wheels G and G¹, the knives K and K will be in alignment with each
other as shown in Figure 2, while under a further advancement the knives K
and K³ will be in like position, the knives K and K³ assuming under like conditions
the same position.
a a are trimming knives or cutters secured in the depression or groove of the
roll A and near the opposite ends thereof by screws s¹, s¹, s¹, and bb are
corresponding trimming knives which are located at the outer ends of the like
depressions of the roll B, their location upon that roll being such that the outer
edges of the trimming knives a a will act like shears upon the inner edges of the
corresponding trimming knives b b.
CC are trimming rings or disks secured by screws 5, 8, 8, s, to the opposite ends
of the roll A and are of such external diameters that when in position they extend
slightly past the opposite ends of the roll B and thereby act as trimmers for
dressing or trimming off the edges of the metal as it is rolled forward through the
machine.
In Figure is shown a pair of completed plates or electrodes P and P¹ as they
appear after the rolls have made one complete revolution, c c being the grooved or
body portions thereof, pl, p², p³, pt the stiffening ribs at the opposite ends
and L L, L' L' the lugs or ears which are afterward cut apart by a pair of shears
at the medial line p p.
I will now describe the mode of operation of the apparatus.
The rolls A and B having been properly adjusted to the thickness it is desired
to roll the grooved electrodes, sheet lead D of the required thickness and width is
passed between them as shown in Figure 2, the rolls moving under the action of
properly applied power and the gear wheels G and G. See Figures 2 and 3.
As the rolls advance the grooves a¹ a¹ and b¹ b¹ cause the lead to assume the
corrugated form shown at cc, Figure 1, and the depression or space seen
immediately on the left of the knives K and K', Figure 2, forms the stiffening
rib p, Figure 1. As the rolls advance, therefore, the electrode P' with the
grooves c is completed and the trimming disks C C, Figures 3 and 4, trim off the
surplus lead which extends over either side of the roll B. Finally when the rolls
reach such a position that the knives K2 and K³ assume the relation which now
exists between the knives K and K', Figure 2, the stiffening rib p³ is formed and
the aforesaid knives sever the lead between the electrode P' and that portion of the
lead sheet which immediately follows.. As the rolls advance still further therefore
the trimming knives a a acting like shears against the inner edges of the trimming
knives bb, Figure 5, cut out a blank sheet of lead and leave the lugs or
ears L L LL, Figure 1, until the third set of knives K K³ reach a position
similar to that of K and K, Figure 2, when the blank sheet of lead is again severed
by them and the stiffening rib p² of the electrode P formed. A further advancement
of the rolls completes the electrode P and finally the knives K and K' assume their
original position forming the stiffening rib p'. In like manner as the rolls advance,
the electrodes are made in pairs and as they are forced out of the machine they
may be severed at the medial line p p by a pair of shears or any analogous
instrument.
I do not limit myself to the particular mechanism herein described for forming a

page_text: completed rolled plate or electrode which shall be integral in all of its parts
as I believe I am broadly entitled to claim mechanism for rolling such completed
electrodes, and my claims are generic as to this feature. It is also obvious that
intermediate discontinuations of the grooves a¹ a¹, b' b¹ might be made in the rolls
if desired for the purpose of making one, or more intermediate stiffening ribs similar
to the end stiffening ribs p¹² p³ p. Should such be provided it is of course obvious.
that there would be no cutting knives like K K', the function of the grooves being
to form the intermediate stiffening ribs alone. It is also obvious that instead of
forming the grooves longitudinally in the plates P and P¹, the rolls might be
provided with longitudinal ribs and depressions which would form the grooves
faterally, the intermediate spaces and cutting knives together with the trimming
knives being as hereinbefore described and as shown in the drawings. All such
structures I deem as coming wholly within the scope of my claims hereinafter
made.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, 1 declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A machine for forming battery plates from a sheet or strip of metal consisting
of means for rolling grooves in the material, and additional means for forming
stiffening ribs at the ends of each plate, in combination with means for cutting out
a section of the material between each pair of plates as rolled whereby lugs or ears
are made integral with the plates.
2. A machine for forming a battery electrode or plate by rolling the same from
a sheet or strip of lead, consisting of a pair of grooved rolls provided with
corresponding depressions in each roll and one or more pairs of cutting knives on
each roll for severing the completed electrode from the material and forming the
stiffening ribs, in combination with means for cutting out a section of the material
between adjoining pairs of plates so as to form conducting lugs or ears.
3. A machine for forming a battery electrode or plate by rolling the same from a
sheet or strip of lead, consisting of a pair of grooved rolls having each two
depressions extending over fractional parts of the roll, in combination with cutters
or knives for severing the material and forming stiffening ribs, and trimming knives
for forming the conducting lugs or ears.
4. A machine for forming a battery electrode or plate by rolling the same from
a sheet or strip of lead, consisting of a pair of rolls having each corresponding
grooves over a portion of its surface and corresponding depressions, in combination
with cutting and trimming knives for forming stiffening ribs and the conducting
lugs or ears and means for trimming the sides or edges of the material as it is rolled
forward.
5. A. machine for forming a battery electrode or plate by rolling the same from
a sheet or strip of lead, consisting of a pair of rolls provided each with corre-
sponding grooves over a portion of its surface, corresponding depressions which
occupy the remainder of the surface, and pairs of cutting and trimming knives
located in said depressions.
6. A pair of rolls provided with grooves for forming two completed grooved
electrodes or plates at each revolution, and additional means for forming two
or more stiffening ribs and one or more contacting lugs or ears for each electrode or
plate.
7. Mechanism for forming grooved electrodes consisting of a pair of grooved rolls
provided with means for forming more than one complete electrode at each
revolution of the pair of rolls and additional means for severing the electrodes, the
one from the other.
8. Mechanism for forming battery electrodes or plates from lead or equivalent
material by rolling, consisting of a pair of rolls provided with means for forming
two completed electrodes or plates with conducting or contacting lugs or ears and
severing the same from each other at each complete revolution of the rolls.

page_text: 9. Mechanism for forming battery electrodes or plates by rolling the same
in pairs and simultaneously forming lugs or ears for each electrode or plate,
in combination with means for trimming the sides or edges of the material as it is
fed forward through the machine.
10. Mechanism for rolling battery electrodes, consisting of a pair of rolls having
grooves over portions of their surfaces only, depressions over the remainder of the
surfaces, severing knives or cutters for severing the plates from each other and
forming stiffening ribs at the ends thereof, in combination with additional cutters
for forming the contacting ears or lugs.
Dated this 12th day of March 1895.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.