US2061649A

US2061649A - Vent plug for storage batteries

Info

Publication number: US2061649A
Application number: US753497A
Authority: US
Inventors: Stanley T Campbell
Original assignee: AETNA RUBBER Co
Current assignee: AETNA RUBBER Co
Priority date: 1934-11-17
Filing date: 1934-11-17
Publication date: 1936-11-24
Anticipated expiration: 1953-11-24

Description

NOV. 24, 1936. s E L I 2,06E,@@-

VENT PLUG FOR STORAGE BATTERIES Filed Nov. 17, 1934 INVENTOR ATTORNEY5 Patented Nov. 24, 1936 PATENT OFFICE VENT PLUG FOR STORAGE BATTERIES Stanley T. Campbell, Cleveland, Ohio, assignon to The Aetna Rubber Company, Cleveland,

Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application November 17, 1934, Serial No. 753,497

8 Claims.

This invention relatesto vent plugs for storage batteries.

As storage batteries are most commonly made and used at the present time, they consist of an outer case with a number of cells, usually three. These cells are closed by covers which are generally made of hard rubber and are arranged side by side at the top of the battery, each cover having adjacent its opposite ends openings through which posts extend from the interior of the cells and having between the posts a vent plug which is screwed into an internally threaded annular flange portion forming a part of the molded cover.

It is common practice for battery manufacturers to prominently display their name or trademark on one or both sides of the battery case and also on the top of the vent plugs. Furthermore, it is becoming more and more the practice of storage battery manufacturers to so finish their batteries that they are neat and attractive in appearance, for it has been found that retail purchasers are often influenced in purchasing a particular make by the appearance of the battery and will frequently select a particular make of battery from others which may be displayed side by side on the retailer's counter or shelf, being influenced in so doing more by appearance than by actual quality or merit. However, as vent plugs have heretofore been made, the manufacturers name or trade-mark at the top of the various vent plugs did not line up with each other or with the sides ofthe battery, as would be high- 1y desirable from the standpoint of appearance, for the reason that it is virtually impossible to mold vent plugs and the threaded openings into which they are screwed with such accuracy that, when the several vent plugs are tightened, the desired alignment is obtained. On the other hand, when the plugs are screwed in place and tightened, the names or trade-marks will almost invariably stand at different angles with respect to each other and to the side of the battery, so that the effect and appearance are not at all as desired.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a novel construction of vent plug such that the top of the plug is molded separately from the body portion and is so formed and assembled and interfitted with the body of the plug that the top portion, which is in the form of a disk, can be turned or adjusted so that the manufacturer's name or trade-mark on the several vent plugs will always be aligned with each other and with the front side of the battery when the plugs are screwed in place and tightened.

The invention may be briefly summarized as consisting in certain details of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts which will be described in the specification and set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings where- 5 in I have shown the preferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a three-cell battery equipped with vent plugs made in accordance with the present invention and showing by 10 full lines the top disks of the vent plugs positioned so as to align the manufacturers name or trademark and by dotted lines the positions which they generally assume before the adjustment is made;

Fig. 2 is a detached view of one of the battery 15 covers showing how the disk is adjusted to properly position it so that the object of the invention may be attained;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the vent plug detached; and 20 Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the vent plug with a portion broken away.

Referring now to the drawing, I 0 represents the battery case which may be of any desired construction, and H represents the cell covers having at their opposite ends openings for the upstanding posts lla, each having at its center a vent plug l2 which,.together with the cover, is generally molded from hard rubber, and, as before stated, the vent plugs are generally screwed into internally threaded flanged portions of the cover.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 4, it will be seen that each of the vent plugs I2 is provided with a cylindrical body portion l3 which may be knurled or slightly ribbed on its upright wall to facilitate the removal and restoration of the plugs when it is desired to fill the cells with water or electrolyte. Likewise, each plug has a reduced externally threaded shank portion M which is screwed into the appropriate part of the cell until a shoulder 15 at the top of the threaded shank M seats upon an upstanding flange surrounding the filling opening in the battery cover. The body portion 03 and the shank portion M are hollow, and in this instance the interior hollow space is divided by an integrally formed partition l6 located near the lower end of the shank portion and preferably rounded and provided with a vent opening ll located centrally of the partition or at the lowest point thereof so that the acid which collects in the upper part of the chamber, due to the bursting of gas bubbles, will readily drain back into the battery.

The top of the vent plug is closed by a separately molded flat stiff disk I8 which has a close frictionally-tight fit in the top of the body portion l3 of the vent plug, the closeness or tightness of the fit being such that the disk can be turned in the manner hereinafter explained, and, after being turned or adjusted, will remain in the desired position without danger of its falling out of place or of turning accidentally by vibration, jars, and the like. In this instance there is an annular shoulder I9 formed just inside and below the top of the body portion l3, and the upstanding annular wall outside of and extending above this shoulder is slightly undercut. The disk it rests upon this shoulder and its peripheral edge is slightly beveled so as to fit or correspond to the undercutting or beveling of the upper part of the wall of the body portion l3 immediately above the shoulder l9 upon which the disk rests. The disk is provided near its periphery with a pair of vent openings 20, and between these openings the manufacturers name or trade-mark, indicated conventionally at 2!, is molded generally with upstanding or embossed letters so that they can be painted to make them stand out prominently. Also, the top of the disk may be otherwise ornamented by upstanding or embossed lines, as may be desired. Usually, the embossed letters and lines, which may include an embossed circle at the periphery of the disk, project above the top of the body portion of the plug, the fiat top of the disk being preferably flush with the top edge of the body portion. The indicia 2i and the associated features of ornamentation may be termed display matter, and, as that term is used in the specification and claims hereof, it is intended to include any identifying mark or symbol, such as the name or trade-mark of the manufacturer, or features of ornamentation, or both.

The parts of the vent plug are assembled in a very novel manner which is useful and produces important results in different ways. With the parts proportioned as desired in the finished vent plug, it would be difficult, and impossible in most instances, to force the disk down in the undercut groove in the vent plug body. Accordingly, the disks are placed in the vent plug bodies when the latter are still hot from the molding and vulcanizing operation, but the disks themselves having been previously molded and cooled before being inserted in the tops of the plug bodies. When the disks are inserted in the plug bodies while the latter are still hot. they drop easily and readily onto the shoulders l9, and then the plug bodies shrink, and, in so doing, they grip the peripheral tapered edges of the disks. Furthermore, when the tops of the soft vent plug bodies are shrunk onto the cooled hard disks, the latter cause the shrinkage to take place uniformly and prevent the otherwise open tops of the plug bodies becoming distorted and getting out of round while they are cooling and shrinking.

When the top portions of the plug bodies are shrunk onto the disks, they grip the peripheral tapered edges of the disk tightly enough to hold them securely in place but still not too tightly to prevent the disks being turned with a suitable tool, such as a specially formed spanner wrench 22, indicated in Fig. 2, having two prongs adapted to be inserted in the oppositely spaced vent openings 20. In this manner the disks at the tops of the vent plugs can be positioned so that, when the plugs are screwed into the vent plug openings and tightened. the display matter on the several vent plugs will be aligned with each other and with the front side of the battery, as is desired.

The disk N3 of each vent plug need only be turned or adjusted once and then, initially, when the vent plug is first screwed into the cover, for the vent plugs are so made that whenever they are removed from the covers and later restored and tightened with the usual pressure, the plugs occupy the same position as before so that the relative positions of the display matter on the several top disks remain as before, and, furthermore, the top disk will not change its position by vibration or otherwise. At the same time, the tightness of fit of the disk in the upper part of the plug is not so great, and the strength and stiffness of the disk are such that the disk is not liable to be broken by the turning force exerted by the tool 22 used in adjusting the disk.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A vent plug for storage batteries comprising a hard molded hollow body portion and a separately formed top in the form of a stiff disk having display matter thereon, said disk being seated in and frictionally held closely in the top of the body portion by the latter so that the disk will be held in place against accidental turning but is capable of being turned to properly position the display matter of the disk, said disk being provided with one or more openings for venting purposes and to receive a tool by which the disk may be turned.

2. A vent plug comprising a hard molded body portion having a lower threaded part and an enlarged upper part with a chamber therein, an internal shoulder formed adjacent the periphery and top of the body portion, a separate closure for the top of the chamber consisting of a substantially fiat stiff disk having display matter thereon, said disk being seated on said shoulder and held frictionally tight thereon by the adjacent part of the body portion but turnable to adjust the position of the disk so as to align the display matter on the disk, said disk being provided with one or more openings for venting purposes and for receiving a wrench by which the disk may be turned.

3. A vent plug comprising a hard molded body portion having a lower threaded part and an enlarged upper part with a chamber therein, an internal shoulder formed adjacent the periphery at the top of the body portion, and a separate closure for the top consisting of a substantially flat stiff disk having display matter thereon, said disk being seated on said shoulder and held frictionally tight thereon by the adjacent part of the body portion but turnable to adjust the position of the disk so as to align the display matter on the disk, the wall of the body portion above the shoulder being slightly undercut, said disk having one or more openings for venting purposes and to receive a tool by which the disk may be turned.

4. A vent plug comprising a hard molded body portion having a lower threaded part and an enlarged upper part with a chamber therein, an internal shoulder formed adjacent the periphery at the top of the body portion, and a separate closure for the top consisting of a substantially flat stiff disk having display matter thereon, said disk being seated on said shoulder and held frictionally tight thereon by the adjacent part of the body portion but turnable to adjust the position of the disk so as to align the display matter on the disk, the wall of the body portion above the shoulder being slightly undercut and the periphery of the disk having its edge beveled to conform to said undercut, said disk having one or more openings for venting purposes and to receive a tool by which the disk may be turned.

5. A vent plug for storage batteries comprising a hollow hard molded body portion and a separate top closure in the form of a substantially flat, circular, stiff disk seated in a groove at the top of the body portion, the latter being shrunk onto the periphery of the disk so as to frictionally hold it in place, the disk having display matter thereon andbeing provided with one or more openings for venting gases from the battery cell and for receiving a wrench to turn the disk to properly position the display matter with reference to other parts of the battery.

6. A vent plug for storage batteries comprising a hollow hard molded body portion having a circular top with a shoulder a short distance below the top edge and an undercut wall above the shoulder, and a closure for the top of the body portion in the form of a stiff disk having display matter thereon, said disk being seated on the shoulder with the body portion shrunk on the disk while so seated, whereby it is held closely in the top of the body portion against accidental turning but is capable of being turned to properly position the display matter of the disk, said disk hav-- ing one or more openings for venting purposes and to receive a tool by which the disk may be turned.

7. A closure, comprising: body means, adapted to act as the closure; and face means for said body means, carrying indicia, and secured to said body means shiftable relative to said body means after said body means is in position, to provide for positioning of said face means to bring said indicia in desired position relative to said body means. said face means having means engageable to effect such shifting.

8. A vent plug for storage batteries comprising a body portion, and a closure for the top of the body portion in the form of a disk having display matter thereon, said disk being secured to the top of said body portion but shiftable relative thereto to provide for the positioning of said disk to bring the display matter into the desired position relative to the body portion, said disk having means engageable to effect such shifting.

STANLEY T. CAMPBELL.