Grid base plate for an electrode plate for a storage battery and method

Abstract

A grid base plate and its method of manufacture comprising intermittently conveying a thin elongated metallic sheet longitudinally in one direction through successive first, second and third stations, the sheet being stopped in each of the stations between successive conveying steps. In the first station, the sheet is bent to form a peripheral upwardly projecting portion in a frame region surrounding an inner grid region. In the second station, a plurality of openings are punched in the grid region and in the third station, the sheet is punched along an outer peripheral edge surface to separate the base plate from the sheet. The upwardly projecting portion forms a space with the grid region which is filled with an active material of a thickness determined by the height of the upwardly projecting portion. The upwardly projecting portion has an outer bend region with an end surface constituting a peripheral edge of the frame which faces laterally outwards and is disposed vertically. The outer bend region has a lower surface disposed in the same horizontal plane as a lower surface of an inner region in the vicinity of the juncture of the projecting portion and the grid region. Thereby, when the base plate is placed on a horizontal planar surface, the peripheral frame region will rest on the horizontal surface along two lines of contact respectively at the bottom of the edge surface and at the lower surface at the juncture of the frame region and the grid region.