US929386A - Tool or machine for making storage-battery grids. - Google Patents

Description

R. NLCHAMB'ERLAIN. TOOL 0R MACHINE POR MAKING STORAGE BATTERY GRIDS.

APPLIGATION FILED JAN. 5, 1906.

Patented July 2?, 1909.

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RUFUS N. OHAMBERLAIN, OF DEPEW, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO GOULD STORAGE BATTERY COMPANY, OF NEW YORK,N. Y., A CORPORATION OF` NEW YORK.

TOOL OR MACHINE FOR MAKING STORAGE-BATTERY'GRIDS.

Application iled January 5, 1906. Serial No. 294,783.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 27, 1909.

To all fil/'hom t may concern:

Re it known that l, Burns N. CHAMBER- liii, acitizen of the United States, residing at Depew, Erie county, State of New York, have invented certain new anduseful lmprovements in Tools or Machines for Making Storage-Battery Grids, of which the following is a specification.

ln the type of bat-tery grids known as the Gould, a large number of thin ribs ridges or leaves, closely set together and separated by narrow grooves, are spun or rolled up from thebody of the grid-blank to provide a greatly extended surface for the action of the electrolyte. For making such grooves it has been customary to use flat sided steel disks, closely assembled together upon a shaftthe result of the operation of which is the production of similarly fiat sided ribs or leaves upon the grid separated from each other by spaces equal only to the thickness of the disks. A. form of machine adapted to the making of such grids is shown in the patent of Richards, llo. 6998131- granted May 13, 1902. Such disks or knives, in order to produce ribs or leaves of the desired fineness and close arrangement are made of thin steel liable to break or crack-,near the base before it is worn out on its spinning or rolling surface and to bend and deflect from the work while in operation, and so produce imperfections in the grids; furthermore, the weakness of the disks limits the pressure at which the rolls may be operated and consequently the speed at which the grids may be made. These are some of the defects of the old form of machine, so far as the cutting, spinning or rolling knives orl disks themselves are concerned. As to the lproduct made by them l have found that the parallel sided ribs or leaves are weak mechanically owing to their height and thinness. F urthermore, the parallel sides of the ribs of the grid seem to succumb to the extra electrochemical activity developed near the base of the rib with the result that they are eaten through and loosened from the main body of the plate in many cases. it seems that with the deep parallel-wall grooves the diffusion of the acid which allows a more even action decreases, more or less inv proportion to the depth of the groove. IThe rib, therefore, is weak from an electro-chemical standpoint, as well as weak from a mechanical standpoint, and it* is likely Y also that the parallel sides of the knife or disk destroy to a certain extent the molecular. structure of the ribs near the base allowing the electrochemical action to penetrate more actively at thatrv point. lt maybe that the lead at that point assumes more` the structure of cast lead than rolled lead.v A Y While it is not intended here to suggest that the above noted defects are sutlicient to prevent the successful making and use of such grids, they nevertheless present serious disadvantages in operationand yl have in an application filed Sept. 7, 1905, Serial No. 277421, pointed out means for overcoming them and the present invention relates to a still further improvement designed toextend the range of operation of the spinning, cutting or rolling machine. Inmy said application l have shown Vand described disks or knives beveled to a vpoint remote from the cutting edge and substantially to the depth of the cut desired, resulting in the strengthening and stiffening of the disks orknives and the consequent shortening. of the spinning or rolling operation, and also in important results as to the grid formed thereby, especially in the resulting openness of the grooves and consequent .better distribution of the electrolyte throughout their depth and eqnalizing of the action of the current on the ribs; in the thickening of the basesk of the ribs and consequentstrengthening of them mechanically while affording a greater mass of material at thepoint Where uneven action occurs, and the compacting of the lead at the base of the rib, just where under the old method, the action of the disks or cutters apparent-ly resulted in a weakening of the molecular structure of the rib. All of the above is fully described in my aforesaid application but itis necessary to repeat it here to render distinct the present improvement, which concerns merely a modi-v fied form of thatinvention. The disks or cutters of said pending application are tapered to the entire depth of their exposed surfaces. There is no possibility of burying the cutters deeper in the lead blank than the vdepth of the beveled surfaces. Thus the disks are best adapted to working only on a single thickness of blank and the tendency, if the disks be forced in too deep or there be slight irregularity of action due to the shape of the knife, is to force the apex upV into the sharp angle between the disks and so tear it from the plate.

In my present invention the disks are as before set forth Vin said application, beveled to a point remote from the cutting edge and substantially to the depth of cut desired. But from that point a flat Vsided channel is provided between the disks into which the apex of the rib may flow-to a greater or less extent accoi'ding to the thickness of blank employed and the depth of cut desired-thus forming higher ribs if need be and larger capacity grooves by allowing the disks to feed deeper into the blank and preventing tlie partial destiuction of the rib which would occur if it struck the base of the groove between the disks.

In the accompanying drawing Figure l is a sectional view of portions of cutting, spinning or rollingl'rolls constructed in accordance with my present invention, and showing also in section a portion of a grid in which the cutting disks are embedded to the normal depth of cut; Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the effect produced by more deeply embedding the cut-ting tools in the blank. These two views are to a greatly enlarged scale. Fig. 3 is an elevation of a part of the roller, substantially twice the full size.

Upon the arbo-i" or shaft l are placed 'a series of cutting' disks or knives 2 whose cutting' edges are beveled as shown in Fig. l, to a depth substantially equal to the Adepth of cut desired, and I have shown at 3 a portion of a lead blank in which the cutting tool has been embedded by the action of the machine until the apex of the rib 4 has reached the end of the beveled portion of the disks.

it will be noticed that if by reason of too great penetration of cut due either to an effort to obtain greater capacity oi to slight irregularities of the action of the machine, or of the form of the cutting disk, the apex of the lead leaf oi rib ascending into the converging angle between the disks is apt to be torn thereby, and in any event to be prevented froni sufficient expansion to allow slight changes of depth of cut. and capacity. In the present form, however, the bevel ends at the point x where it meets the flat side of the disk, the angle between the two surfaces each other, as for example, by the washers 5, there is thus provided a channel G into which any expansion of the rib due to accidental or intentional excess depth of cut takes place.

In Fig. 2 is shown the result when the embedding of the tool into the lead blank is sufficient to cause the apex of the lead rib to pass slightly beyond the beveled face of the tool and into the channel (5. lt is in any case notI intended that there shall be any great flow of metal into the channel 6 but only sufficient to provide for necessary irregularities of action and slight modifications inV capacity and thickness of blank.

@ther means than those shown for separating the disks may be employed, the disks and washers are clamped upon the shaft in the usual manner, and in other respects the general construction of the machine may be of the usual or preferred construction, for example, that. shown and described in the said Letters Patent of Richards.

Having thus described the invention what l claim new and desire to secure by Leb ters Patent is l. fa cutting, spinning or rolling tool for the forming of lead storage battery grids of large capacity from l'lat blanks, con'iprising a shaft or roller and a seriesof relatively thin disks closely set thereon having cutting edges tapered or beveled substantially to the depth of cut of the tool forming inwardly converging spaces between them and having relatively thin, parallel-walled overflow channels between the disks and extending inward toward the roller axis from the beveled poi'- tion of the disks.

2. A cutting, spinning or rolling tool for the forming of lead storage battery grids of large capacity from flat blanks, comprising a shaft or roller, a series of relatively thin disks closely set thereon, having cutting edges tapered or beveled substantially to the `depth of cut of the tool forming inwardly converging spaces between them and relatively thin circular washers separating the disks to forni thin, parallel-walled overflow channels between the disks extending inward" toward the roller axis from the beveled portion of the disks.

RUFUS N. CHAMBERLAIN.

lVitnesses HARRY E. Kniciir, ELLEN HOUGH.

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