From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Materials and construction of battery cell separators, comparing various makes.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\F\February1921\ Scan31 | |
| Date | 14th February 1921 | |
| To EFC. from R.{Sir Henry Royce} Copy to CJ. X.664 X.604 ORIGINAL RECEIVED RE BATTERIES. 4 D 14 FEB 1921 R4/G11/2/21. RECEIVED I should be pleased if you would send me a specimen cell of the Chloride up-to-date, and any other make that is likely to be adopted in England, such as, Peto & Radford and Tudor. How is it wood separators can be made to stand the sulphuric acid ? I should have thought it would have been necessary to use some wool fibre. Are the little wicks in the Willard separators made of cotton or wool ? Is the rubber soft or hard ? If it is hard rubber, it could be termed ebonite. I suppose there must be some virtue in using the combination of perforated ebonite and wood between the plates. Possibly the makers were afraid of the scale of the plates reaching through plain perforations. Personally, I should have thought that a woollen fabric would have stood the acid better than possibly to make the thin layer of wood usually mentioned. In the case of the Exide cell mentioned the pressure from the corner of the slightly buckled plate pressed right through the thin wood separator by crushing it. R.{Sir Henry Royce} S.E. 380v (100 L) (2 H '193' 11-9-30) C' 3200 | ||