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).
The failure of Exide accumulators, discussing plate buckling and suggesting improvements for sealing.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\E\August1920\ Scan25 | |
| Date | 6th August 1920 | |
| To EFC. from R.{Sir Henry Royce} Copy to CJ. X.3317 X.607 ORIGINAL RE ACCUMULATORS (EXIDE) RECEIVED 6 AUG 1920 With reference to the separators between the plates, we trust you have been able to get the necessary improvements in accordance with the suggestions we sent you, which were the outcome of the failure of the Exide cells sent here for the Buick. We do not understand how consistently the outer positive plate buckles towards the outer negative plate at each end of a cell, but came to the conclusion that the negative plate had relatively more chemical capacity, and therefore might take a larger percentage of the charging current after the middle plates were completely charged. It was definitely seen that the hollow side of the plate was towards the outer negative plate which, suggests that the buckling might be more likely caused through the short-circuit happening first. We believe, however, that there is no reason or excuse for this fault to have ever happened. This was a case that we were able to find and report, owing to the fact that we had specified separate cells, and that the Exide people had made these cells in such a way that the sealing and the plates could be easily removed. We re-sealed up with the same compound, and apparently quite satisfactorily. We suggest, however, that fibrous material unaffected by acid, such as wool or felt, might be pushed to the bottom of the groove before filling in the compound, in the same way as the deck of a ship is caulked. R.{Sir Henry Royce} | ||