Charles A Montgomery

US Patent:

61827118, Feb 6, 2001

Filed:

Nov 12, 1999

Appl. No.:

9/438589

Inventors:

Earl DeWayne Wallace - Pendleton IN
Clarence Alfred Meadows - Muncie IN
Thomas Kent Lacy - Muncie IN
Charles Cletis Montgomery - Alexandria IN

Assignee:

Delphi Technologies, Inc. - Troy MI

International Classification:

H01M 482

US Classification:

141 11

Abstract:

A multi-station machine for filling storage batteries has an unloading station, a loading station and a filling station. At the unloading station, a filled battery case is removed from a pivotally mounted cradle assembly including an acid container. At the loading station, adjacent the unloading station, the battery case is loaded in the cradle assembly in a vertical orientation and then tilted to and latched in an angular orientation. At the filling station, the battery case and acid container are further tilted to a horizontal orientation, the container is filled with acid and then returned to the tilted and latched orientation. When all of the cradle assemblies are filled with battery cases and acid container are filled with acid, the cradle assemblies, are spun at a speed sufficient to rotate the assemblies to a more tilted orientation to cause centrifugally induced flow of the acid into the battery case while simultaneously unlatching the cradle assemblies. The machine speed is slowed and the cradle assemblies return to the vertical orientation for unloading.