is way
are good for rental batteries, or "loaners." These batteries are
assembled and charged just as are batteries which have been in dry
storage, see page 241.

If the repairman who "fabricates" batteries takes chances, the man who
attempts to actually make his own battery plates is certainly risking
his business and reputation. There are several companies which sell
moulds for making plate grids. One even sells cans of lead oxides to
enable the repairman to make his own plate paste. Even more foolhardy
than the man who wishes to mould plate grids is the man who wishes to
mix the lead oxides himself. Many letters asking for paste formulas
have been received by the author. Such formulas can never be given,
for the author does not have them. Paste making is a far more
difficult process than many men realize. The lead oxides which are
used must be tested and analyzed carefully in a chemical laboratory
and the paste formulas varied according to the results of these tests.
The oxides must be carefully weighed, carefully handled, and carefully
analyzed. The battery service station does not have the equipment
necessary to do these things, and no repairman should ever attempt to
make plate paste, as trouble is bound to follow such attempts. A car
owner may buy a worthless battery once, but the next time he will go
to some other service station and buy a good battery.

No doubt many repairmen are as skillful and competent as the workers
in battery factories, but the equipment required to make grids and
paste is much too elaborate and expensive for the service station, and
without such equipment it is impossible to make a good battery.

The only battery parts which may safely be made in the service station
are plate straps and posts, intercell connectors, and cell terminals.
Moulds for making such parts are on the market, and it is really worth
while to invest in a set. The posts made in such moulds are of the
plain tapered type, and posts which have special sealing and locking
devices, such as the Exide, Philadelphia, and Titan cannot be made in
them.

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CHAPTER 4.
CHEMICAL CHANGES.
-----------------

Before explaining what happens within one storage cell, let us look
into the early history of the storage battery, and see what a modest
beginning the modern heavy duty battery had. Between 1850 and 1860 a
man named Plante began his work on the sto