Drying of storage battery plates

Apparatus for drying storage battery plates having active mass pasted on lead grids, comprising:

• means for transporting said plates along a predetermined path;
• and
• means for producing an alterating magnetic field within said path, said field being oriented generally perpendicularly to said plates along said path,
• said field producing means being constructed to produce alternation at frequencies below the high frequency range such that currents are induced in the short circuits formed by the lead grids without appreciable current displacement toward the marginal rods of the grids,
• thereby heating the grids rapidly and evenly over the entire plate area,
• the heating of each grid in turn heating the active mass pasted thereon from the inside and causing progressive drying of the mass from the inside toward the outside of the plates.

A battery plate having active mass pasted on a lead grid, and made by the method which includes the steps of

• transporting the plate along a predetermined path, and
• producing along said path an alternating magnetic field generally perpendicular to said plate, and which alternates at frequencies below the high frequency range such that currents are produced in the short circuits formed by the grid without appreciable current displacement toward the marginal rods of the grid,
• thereby heating the grid rapidly and evenly over the entire plate area,
• the heating of the grid in turn heating the active mass pasted thereon from the inside and causing progressive drying of the mass from the inside toward the outside of the plate.