Early lead-acid batteries had a significant weakness. Lead is useful for making battery plates, because it conducts electricity and resists the battery’s acidic environment. However, those plates needed stronger alloys to reach their full potential.
Pure Lead Is Relatively Soft -This Creates Problems
Battery plates have to support active material, while repeatedly charging and discharging. They also have to survive handling and manufacturing. A plate that bends, cracks or breaks, damages the battery.
The development of grid structures helped solve part of this problem. A grid provides a framework that holds the active material, while also conducting electricity. But inventors soon discovered that the lead itself needed strengthening too.
Patenting The Use Of Lead-Antimony For Battery Grids
John Scudamore Sellon realized that lead battery plates needed stronger alloys. In 1881, he patented the use of a lead-antimony alloy for battery grids. Adding antimony made the lead considerably stronger, and improved the mechanical properties of the plates.
An Important Step Towards Practical Mass Production
This was an important step towards practical mass battery production. Stronger grids supported pasted active material more effectively. They withstood the repeated stresses of battery operation too.
Lead-antimony alloys became widely used for many types of lead-acid batteries.
This Enabled a Number Of New Lead Battery Applications
Using the alloy extended use of small batteries. Similar grid designs appeared in automobile batteries, industrial batteries, traction batteries and large stationary batteries as well.
However, alloy development did not stop with antimony. Battery manufacturers continued searching for combinations that would provide strength, corrosion resistance and long service life.
Lead-calcium alloys later became important too, particularly because they could reduce some of the water-loss problems associated with antimony.
Stronger Alloys May Seem Like a Small Improvement.
The development of stronger alloys may seem like a small engineering improvement. In reality, it helped transform the lead-acid battery from an experimental invention, into a durable commercial product.
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