f the post. Should you find that it is off
center, tilt the drill, and with the end of the drill pointing the
center of the post as you drill, gradually straighten the drill. This
will bring the hole over the center of the post.

Having removed the connectors, sweep all the lead drillings front the
top of the battery into a box kept for lead drillings only. Fig. 194.
When this box is full, melt the drillings and pour off in the burning
lead mould.

[Fig. 193 Prying off cell connector]

Post Seal. If the post seal consists of a lead sealing nut, this may
be removed now. With some types of batteries (Willard and U. S. L.),
drilling the connectors also breaks the post seal. With other
batteries, such as the Vesta, Westinghouse, Prest-0-Lite, Universal,
it is more difficult to break the post seal.

[Fig. 194 Brushing lead drillings into box]

On these batteries, therefore, do not break this seal before drawing
out the plates. You may find that it will not be necessary to separate
the groups, and the post seal will not have to be broken at all,
thereby saving yourself considerable time on the overhauling job.

3. Heating Up the Sealing Compound. Having disconnected the cells from
each other by removing the cell connectors, the next step is to open
the joint made by the sealing compound between the covers and jars.
Fig. 195 shows the battery ready for this step. When cold, the
compound is a tough substance that sticks to the cover and jar, and
hence it must be heated until it is so soft that it is easily removed.
There are several methods by means of which compound may be heated.
These are as follows:

Steam. This is the most popular, and undoubtedly the best means of
heating the compound, and in the following instructions it will be
assumed that steam has been used. The battery is either placed in a
special box in which steam is sent, or else steam is sent directly
into each cell through the vent tube. In the first method the compound
is heated from the outside, and in the second it is heated from the
inside of the cell.

[Fig. 195 Battery ready for steaming]

[Fig. 196 Drawing up an element]

If the battery is placed in the steaming box, about ten minutes will
be required for the steam to heat up the sealing compound. For
batteries which use but very little compound, less time is required.
if steam is sent directly into the cells through the vent tubes, five
to seven minutes will generally be enough. Th