GB2066138A - Adjustable moulds - Google Patents

Abstract

A mould for moulding a lid for an electric storage battery has means for defining on the underside of the lid downward facing troughs corresponding to the tops of intercell partitions in the battery and by use of alternative fittings the same mould can be used for making lids for use with through partition intercell connectors or lids for use with batteries with up-and-over intercell connectors.

Description

SPECIFICATION Battery lid and mould therefor This invention relates to a mould for the manufacture of a battery lid, and one object is to provide means whereby similar but different lids for similar but different batteries can be produced economically.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a mould for a battery lid has means defining on the underside of the lid, downward facing troughs corresponding to the tops of intercell partitions in the battery, there being alternative fittings for the mould enabling the troughs to be continuous if the lids are to be used with batteries with through partition intercell connectors, orto have locally widened walls defining pockets to accommodate up-and-over intercell connectors for use with batteries employing them.

The alternative fittings are conveniently removable fillets for insertion into and removal from the mould defining the underneath surface of the lid.

It will thus be a very simple matter after a batch of lids for one sort of battery have been made, to remove one or more fillets and insert one or more fillets so that the mould is then ready for manufacture of lids of the other kind.

The invention includes a battery lid having in the underside downward facing troughs corresponding to intercell partitions in the battery, the walls of the troughs at intercell connection positions being straight and continuous, but also having spaced apart portions which would have been used to define pockets for up-and-over intercell connectors if the straight continuations of the walls had been omitted in the region of the pockets.

The invention may be carried into practice in various ways, and one embodiment will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings; in which Figure 1 is an underneath view of a lid for a six cell storage battery with lead-over connections between cells; Figure2 is a section on the line Il-Il in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a top view of the lid of Figures 1 and 2; Figure 4 is a section on the line IV-IV in Figure 1; Figure 5 is a section on the line V-V in Figure 1; Figure 6 is a detail of a part of Figure 1 showing how the lid can be modified for use with a storage battery which is similar to that described except that it has through-partition intercell connections; and Figure 7 is a section on the line VII-VII in Figure 6.

The lid is moulded from thermoplastic material and has a general external form, as shown in Figure 3 with a plateau 11. A central elongate depression 12 for six cell filler holes, and two depressions 13 at the corners for the fitting of external terminals, as indicated generally at 14.

On the underside, as seen in Figures 1 and 2, there is a trough 15 between each pair of filler holes 16 formed by two depending walls 17. When the lid is to be fitted to the assembled battery and its casing, the trough is filled with a resin and the walls 17 embrace an intercell partition and becomes sealed to it by the resin. There are a number of transverse stiffening walls 18 equally spaced along each trough, as shown in Figures 1 and 5.

To allow the lid to be used for a battery with up-and-over intercell connectors, that is to say connectors which rise from the cell on one side of the partition, extend over the partition and down to the cell on the other side, the underside of the lid is formed with five pockets 19 defined by a local widening of the walls 17, as seen best in Figure 1, and with a transverse wall with a depth about half the depth of the walls 17, as shown best at 21 in Figures 1 and 2.

The pocket is also partly filled with resin before the lid is fitted over the completed battery, and the resin then encapsulates the up-and-over connections: The moulds for making that lid are conventional.

If a battery was similar to that described in all respects except that through partition intercell connectors were used instead of up-and-over connectors, the lid would ideally be designed differently in that it would be necessary to have the pockets 19 so that the walls 17 of each trough 15 could extend continuously from side to side of the lid without the local interruption at 19.

In order to enable such a modified lid to be made without the manufacture of a completely different pair of moulds, the moulds are arranged to be fitted with a pair of fillets extending across the centre of each pocket in line with the walls 17, and a component in the mould for defining the transverse wall 21 is removed.

If the mould is made with those simple modifications at each of the five intercell connector points, the underside of the lid will be as shown in Figures 6 and 7. Thus, the widened parts 19 of the walls 17 will be present but the walls 17 will continue across them whereas the wall 21 will be omitted.

The trough 15 for the resin for sealing with the intercell partitions will be of constant section throughout the width of the cells, and no resin will be in the wider parts of the pockets defined by the walls 19 so that only the minimum necessary amount of resin will be used.

Thus, with the simple modifications described, a single pair of moulds will be capable of manufacturing lids for two different kinds of battery.

1. A mould for a battery lid having means defining on the underside of the lid downward facing troughs corresponding to the tops of intercell partitions in the battery, there being alternative fittings for the mould enabling the troughs to be continuous if the lids are to be used with batteries with through partition intercell connectors, orto have locally widened walls defining pockets to accommodate up-and-over intercell connectors for use with batteries employing them.

2. A mould for a battery lid as claimed in Claim 1 in which the alternative fittings are removable fillets for insertion into and removal from the mould defining the underneath surface of the lid.

3. A mould for a battery lid substantially as

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (3)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. SPECIFICATION Battery lid and mould therefor This invention relates to a mould for the manufacture of a battery lid, and one object is to provide means whereby similar but different lids for similar but different batteries can be produced economically. According to one aspect of the present invention, a mould for a battery lid has means defining on the underside of the lid, downward facing troughs corresponding to the tops of intercell partitions in the battery, there being alternative fittings for the mould enabling the troughs to be continuous if the lids are to be used with batteries with through partition intercell connectors, orto have locally widened walls defining pockets to accommodate up-and-over intercell connectors for use with batteries employing them. The alternative fittings are conveniently removable fillets for insertion into and removal from the mould defining the underneath surface of the lid. It will thus be a very simple matter after a batch of lids for one sort of battery have been made, to remove one or more fillets and insert one or more fillets so that the mould is then ready for manufacture of lids of the other kind. The invention includes a battery lid having in the underside downward facing troughs corresponding to intercell partitions in the battery, the walls of the troughs at intercell connection positions being straight and continuous, but also having spaced apart portions which would have been used to define pockets for up-and-over intercell connectors if the straight continuations of the walls had been omitted in the region of the pockets. The invention may be carried into practice in various ways, and one embodiment will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings; in which Figure 1 is an underneath view of a lid for a six cell storage battery with lead-over connections between cells; Figure2 is a section on the line Il-Il in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a top view of the lid of Figures 1 and 2; Figure 4 is a section on the line IV-IV in Figure 1; Figure 5 is a section on the line V-V in Figure 1; Figure 6 is a detail of a part of Figure 1 showing how the lid can be modified for use with a storage battery which is similar to that described except that it has through-partition intercell connections; and Figure 7 is a section on the line VII-VII in Figure 6. The lid is moulded from thermoplastic material and has a general external form, as shown in Figure 3 with a plateau 11. A central elongate depression 12 for six cell filler holes, and two depressions 13 at the corners for the fitting of external terminals, as indicated generally at 14. On the underside, as seen in Figures 1 and 2, there is a trough 15 between each pair of filler holes 16 formed by two depending walls 17. When the lid is to be fitted to the assembled battery and its casing, the trough is filled with a resin and the walls 17 embrace an intercell partition and becomes sealed to it by the resin. There are a number of transverse stiffening walls 18 equally spaced along each trough, as shown in Figures 1 and 5. To allow the lid to be used for a battery with up-and-over intercell connectors, that is to say connectors which rise from the cell on one side of the partition, extend over the partition and down to the cell on the other side, the underside of the lid is formed with five pockets 19 defined by a local widening of the walls 17, as seen best in Figure 1, and with a transverse wall with a depth about half the depth of the walls 17, as shown best at 21 in Figures 1 and 2. The pocket is also partly filled with resin before the lid is fitted over the completed battery, and the resin then encapsulates the up-and-over connections: The moulds for making that lid are conventional. If a battery was similar to that described in all respects except that through partition intercell connectors were used instead of up-and-over connectors, the lid would ideally be designed differently in that it would be necessary to have the pockets 19 so that the walls 17 of each trough 15 could extend continuously from side to side of the lid without the local interruption at 19. In order to enable such a modified lid to be made without the manufacture of a completely different pair of moulds, the moulds are arranged to be fitted with a pair of fillets extending across the centre of each pocket in line with the walls 17, and a component in the mould for defining the transverse wall 21 is removed. If the mould is made with those simple modifications at each of the five intercell connector points, the underside of the lid will be as shown in Figures 6 and 7. Thus, the widened parts 19 of the walls 17 will be present but the walls 17 will continue across them whereas the wall 21 will be omitted. The trough 15 for the resin for sealing with the intercell partitions will be of constant section throughout the width of the cells, and no resin will be in the wider parts of the pockets defined by the walls 19 so that only the minimum necessary amount of resin will be used. Thus, with the simple modifications described, a single pair of moulds will be capable of manufacturing lids for two different kinds of battery. CLAIMS

1. A mould for a battery lid having means defining on the underside of the lid downward facing troughs corresponding to the tops of intercell partitions in the battery, there being alternative fittings for the mould enabling the troughs to be continuous if the lids are to be used with batteries with through partition intercell connectors, orto have locally widened walls defining pockets to accommodate up-and-over intercell connectors for use with batteries employing them.

2. A mould for a battery lid as claimed in Claim 1 in which the alternative fittings are removable fillets for insertion into and removal from the mould defining the underneath surface of the lid.

3. A mould for a battery lid substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.