Method and apparatus for making battery plates

A coating apparatus for impregnating a porous web comprising:

• a coating housing having a cylindrical cavity located therein, the face of the coating housing forming the lower half of said cavity having a plurality of parallel channels located therein;
• a cylindrical stationary roll located within said cavity, said stationary roll having a plurality of parallel channels in the outer surface of the lower half thereof, said channels being parallel to the axis of said stationary roll and in alignment with and opposite to the channels located in the coating housing;
• a cylindrical carrier roll surrounding said stationary roll, said stationary roll and said carrier roll having a common axis, said carrier roll having an outer end plate and an inner rim with a plurality of vanes extending from said end plate to said inner rim, a narrow middle rim located in the middle of the carrier roll on the outside of said vanes, and means for driving said carrier roll;
• means for supplying and returning coating to and from said coating housing including conduit means for alternately supplying and returning coating to and from adjacent channels in said stationary roll and alternately to and from adjacent channels in said coating housing and wherein one of said opposite channels in said stationary roll and said coating housing communicates with the coating supply means and the other of said opposite channels communicates with the coating return means;
• said coating housing having a web inlet channel for introducing said web into said coating housing and into contact with said carrier roll and an exit channel for passing said web out of said coating housing.