Lightweight laminated grid for lead acid-storage batteries

A method of making a substantially flat lightweight paste-retaining grid for a lead-acid type storage battery comprising the steps of:

• adhesively bonding a layer of lead or lead alloy foil to a coextensive supporting layer of a synthetic polymeric material to form a trilaminate sheet;
• forming a plurality of straight parallel rows of intermittent slits through said trilaminate, the slit portions of said row being located opposite the unslit portions of an adjacent row;
• expanding the slit trilaminate to form an open mesh network of grid wires interconnected by nodes;
• flattening said expanded network into the plane of the grid, the continuous foil layer of said wires and nodes forming ledges oriented at an angle out of the plane and facing the grid header for retaining a battery paste.

A method of making a lightweight battery grid for a lead-acid type storage battery comprising the steps of:

• adhesively bonding a layer of lead or lead alloy foil to a coextensive layer of a thermoplastic synthetic polymer to form a trilaminate;
• forming a plurality of straight parallel rows of intermittent slits through said trilaminate;
• heating said trilaminate to a temperature below its melting point whereat the elastic memory of the thermoplastic polymer is reduced;
• spreading the slit trilaminate while substantially at said temperature to form an open mesh network of grid wires interconnected by nodes, said wires and nodes being twisted out of the principal plane of the trilaminate to form a plurality of electrically connected foil-lined ledges facing the grid header for retaining battery paste.