In his every day work, the storage battery service man must deal chiefly
with three materials, wood, rubber and lead.
The wooden parts, such as boxes and separators are pretty well
standardized, can be purchased at reasonable prices and are used solely
for replacements. It would not pay the battery man to equip his shop to
manufacture any of these items.
[Illustration: Figure 1]
The same is true of the rubber parts, the jars and top covers. A dozen
different sizes in stock will take care of nearly all the various makes
and models of batteries which come in for repair.
With the lead parts, however, the conditions are entirely different. All
the active and wearing parts are made of lead, or its compounds, and
practically every battery that needs repair, needs some of them
replaced. Then again there is a much greater variety in the design of
these parts and the up-to-date shop, in order to give real service, must
carry a large assorted stock of end connectors, connector straps, plate
straps and posts.
In speaking of lead parts, however, the plates are to be considered on
the same basis as the rubber parts or wooden boxes, because it would not
pay the ordinary battery shop to try and cast grids, mix paste and
manufacture plates. It is much more satisfactory to purchase plates made
by a responsible manufacturer who has the facilities and capital to
properly develop his formulae and processes.
Every battery that has to be opened must have the top connectors drilled
off as in Fig. 1, which naturally makes a lot of lead chips. These
drillings have to be cleaned off before proceeding with the repair and
can, with no loss of time, all be collected, as in Fig. 2, and saved.
Then the old sulphated end connectors and parts from “junked” batteries
accumulate very fast.
[Illustration: Figure 2]
This then is the situation—The battery service station is constantly in
need of new lead parts. Should they be obtained from a manufacturer at a
price that includes material, labor and the manufacturer's
profit—OR—should equipment be purchased that will permit of moulding
these same parts from the accumulated scrap lead at a cost of nothing
but the time employed in pouring, with no cost for material and no
“Profits” added?
No matter how cheap you think you are buying your lead parts, just
compare the market price per pound on lead with the weight of a few of
your “cheapest” ones.
It is now common practice to melt some of this accumulation of scrap
lead and pour it into sticks or bars for use in lead burning on repair
work. A great amount, especially old groups, is generally sold at a low
price in order to get it out of the way. The one important fact, and one
generally overlooked, is, that the battery man who melts lead and moulds
it into sticks for lead burning, certainly is able to melt the same
metal and mould it into the lead parts he requires, provided, of course,
that he has the proper moulds.
Many a wide awake man has whittled a wooden mould for some part that he
wanted in a hurry and couldn't wait for the manufacturer to deliver.
Naturally this condition, really an effort to render service to the
customer, created a demand for moulds of a permanent character.
In an effort to supply this demand, the moulds that have been produced
were all made for some individual part, were light in weight and easily
became overheated, making them hard to handle and often burning the
workman's hands.
[Illustration: Figure 3]
From a business standpoint, it would certainly be mighty profitable for
a battery shop to be able at a moment's notice, to convert junk lead
into new salable parts. In addition to the large profit from the sale of
these new parts, another good feature, is that, instead of tieing up a
lot of capital in stock, the new parts can be made as needed, without a
cent of investment.
From a service standpoint, it is a cheaper and faster process to cast a
new top connector than to spend a lot of valuable time, whittling an old
one so that it can be used again.
How much time have you or your men wasted cleaning up an old terminal as
in Fig. 3, so that you could burn it on again?
All new connectors and terminals put on a rebuilt or reinsulated job
make the customer feel that he is getting a real repair. He sees a new
finished job.
From an electrical standpoint, the new parts mean better work, because
better burning can be done, certainly a new connection will allow the
battery to deliver more current than an old partly sulphated one could
ever do.