Under Your Bonnet

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign men have known something about the phenomenon of electricity since very early days but it was not until the 18th century that benjamin franklin proved the identity of lightning and electricity showing that it was possible to draw it from the thunderclouds he formed a new theory that there are two different kinds of electricity which he called positive and negative so began the search to store this power the very first battery of all was invented in 1799 by an italian research worker his name was alessandro volta and he was a physicist with the most elementary apparatus he made the first primary cell this primary cell could give out electricity but it could not be recharged and it was not until some sixty years later that the problem of creating a secondary cell which could be charged expended and charged again was solved by the french scientist plante the plant a cell consisted of lead sheets immersed in dilute sulfuric acid and his materials were well chosen for lead and sulfuric acid still form the basis of the modern storage battery the development of this was closely linked to the growth of the motor industry at first the battery only supplied ignition in those early romantic days of motoring the time of the red flag of a reckless 12 miles an hour and oil lamps but as the industry grew so the battery widened its uses and now it is called upon to do a great deal more the lights must not let the motorist down at night the windscreen wiper when it rains the heater when it's cold the radio when he wants to hear the late news and most important of all first thing in the morning he must be sure that the car will start at once when he is off to work and has cut things a bit fine no it isn't any use looking under the bonnet there is nothing to see and he hasn't time to find out what the blazes is wrong for his ringing his garage to take the card in and have a look at it when the garage hears it one start they of course ask him whether the battery isn't flat no it can't be flat he says he only bought it three months back how can it be flat anyway he hasn't time to stand and argue he's already late and now we'll have to go by train i never knows how many angry faces he'll meet when he eventually arrives and as he runs he's still wondering why it should happen to him and he'll be amazed when after a harrous day at his office he calls into his garage to see what was wrong and finds out it was the battery after all he had bought cheaply he'd never heard of the make but it looked good cost less and for three months he was sure he'd a bargain under his bonnet but take a look inside this bargain broken plates rotted separators all the familiar signs of the battery that is headed to buy cheaply in the first place is to risk false economy for the life of a battery should be measured not in months but in years and when it comes to choosing a starter battery which gives value for money there is one name above all that stands for quality and quality that is consistently high in each and every battery that bears a very proud name it was in the north of england a few miles outside manchester but chloride started making batteries in 1893 since then this works has grown until today it employs over 2500 people the exide story begins with the casting of the plate grids they are the bricks from which the battery is built although lead is the foundation of the battery grid as a metal it is too soft and these ingots contain the exact proportion of antimony for hardening and other things but this is a trade secret it is this alloy and the fine molds that shape the molten metal which produce the grid that is sound geometrically is rigid to withstand shocks and will resist corrosion uh [Music] these machines are fully automatic but a regular hand check by micrometer ensures the machine is doing its job anyone can pour molten metal into a mold but it requires considerable technical and manufacturing skill to produce perfect castings in quantity here inspection is a further guarantee of quality before the grids are allowed to pass to the next department the pasting shop high above the pasting shop is the drum store where the lead oxides the basis for the pastic process and other chemicals are emptied automatically into the hoppers to drop into the mixing machines on the floor below for maximum safety everything is enclosed so that no lead oxide dust can escape contaminate the air for the men who work below where men work with lead every precaution must be taken to safeguard their health and where the health of the worker is concerned nothing is left to chance on the floor of the pasting shop the final mixing is done the addition of sulfuric acid and water and the grids are about to become positive and negative plates the quality of the paste is carefully controlled but it plays a most important part in the life of the battery every new mix and there are about 50 every day is examined and both the density of the paste and the temperature are constantly watched to ensure a plate of high capacity and long life the inspector must be satisfied that the paste is smooth evenly spread and without cracks in the drying ovens the paste settles in the lattice framework and only after the plates are thoroughly dry are they passed to the next department the forming shop it is in this department that the plates undergo a dynamic change in the large forming tanks each of which hold something like 350 at a time but before they are put in the positive and negative plates come under the scrutiny of the inspector who make sure that they are in perfect condition to be brought to life a lead bar connects every positive plate into one complete unit and every negative plate into another with all the contacts made and sound the tanks are filled with dilute sulfuric acid and are ready for the current to be passed through as the current passes through it produces chemical changes the paste becomes active and the plates are one stage near at the time they will take their place in the [Music] battery the process of forming takes many hours but all the time is under constant watch and control when the positive and negative plates go into a battery between each one will be a separator which must have at least as long a life as the plates themselves and all exide starter batteries have separators made of polvic forbic is a thermoplastic and a british discovery it is very tough yet pliable 85 porous it is a perfect electrical insulator inert chemically and resistant to wear [Music] forever separators for all many different types of batteries are made at the rate of millions each week turned out by machine treated in long strips cut at the rate of hundreds a minute yet each separator will not be allowed to take its place in a battery before it has been hand scrutinized each and every one of the millions will be examined for size to see there are no floors no tiny holes in the finished article [Music] developed after extensive research replaces what used to be the shortest lift component of the battery by one which is virtually indestructible in service and there is another component with the same long life quality as the plates and the separators the all-important container its basis is process rubber cut and weighed by experienced hands but the rubber by itself is not hard enough and so it will have added to it other ingredients almost carefully weighed in exact proportions and together with the rubber these make up a charge for the mixing machines which feed the rolling mill in this molding shop scores of different types of containers that carry the name exide are made and here is the machine tool at its best powerful 300 ton presses delicately made molds worked at great heat and in a few minutes transforming the mix into two containers of that strongest of materials known to the traders hard rubber before they can be cleaned up they have to be cooled down and before each pressing begins any scraps left behind in the cavities are forced out by compressed air then the clean mold is sprayed with a special solution to prevent the finished containers sticking when the pressure goes on the mix will liquefy flow evenly into every corner to take solid shape from the walls of steel [Music] so [Music] so and so in a few minutes a container is molded in one piece without joints made in a tough material hard rubber to endure tough conditions right alongside the hydraulic presses are smaller presses making the cell lids and here as with all the parts the greatest possible care is taken to produce the highest quality mold in another shop the plastic components are made these modern injection molding machines each turn out 600 vent plugs an hour yet the molds are so finely made that the components never vary either in size or texture meanwhile the other important parts are being prepared ready for the final assembly the intercell connectors are made from an alloy of lead and antimony and it is the responsibility of the experienced hand molder to see that the molten metal is always at the right temperature and consistency and all the components that are made whether by hand or by machine had examined the inspection staff is a vital part of production not only to screen out and destroy every piece that is less than perfect but also to contribute in a positive way to smooth and efficient production every container is subjected to visual examination and has to be put through the high voltage tester which has such power that a hole is punched right through the container if there is the slightest thought to every motorist who uses our batteries each container is a constant reminder that with this name goes that most jealously guarded possession of reputation on one of the many assembly units of the clifton works the containers separators plates the terminals vent plugs and cell lids all of which have been through inspection are now ready to be put together in skilled hands to build the battery this jig is the beginning of it all holding positive and negative plates which are formed into groups [Music] so [Applause] [Music] with the metal straps burned on the positive and negative groups are interleaved and they are ready for the first stage of inspection [Music] now the separators are inserted between each plate and the combination of these two the long life plate grids pasted with highest quality active material and the indestructible pouring bring electrical efficiency and length of life to an altogether new level [Music] once all the elements are in the container it is passed to the second inspector whose responsibility it is to see that the assembly up to this stage is correct provided he is satisfied then the cell lids can go on so that every single battery can be traced back to the time it was made a code tag is put in and now the battery can be seen [Applause] this sealing compound has been specially developed so that it will not melt in heat or crack in cold under any service conditions and there is a daily laboratory test to safeguard this vital part of every battery the flaming over is a further step towards making certain that the compound is bedded home [Music] when the intercell connectors have been burned on the battery passes to the third of the four inspectors on the assembly unit each cell is now tested under air pressure to make sure the seal is perfect and the behavior of the float in the column is the inspector's guide with the screwing in of the vent plugs the last stage of the assembly is reached the final inspection to make sure everything is correct and that the finish of the battery and the general appearance are of the highest possible standard only if it measures up to this will it be passed the battery has only to be filled with acid and charged and it is ready to be fitted to a car but the story does not end here new batteries taken at random straight off the assembly units are filled and charged and sent to the test house where they are connected to equipment which automatically discharges and recharges and so by reproducing service conditions excite make sure that the battery will maintain to the full the rigid life specification laid down for it the structure and electrical performance are examined in other tests a wide variety of conditions are reproduced to see how it stands up to extremes of temperature and all the stresses expected of it the starter battery is sold and operated over the greater part of the earth and exactly the same battery is sold in iceland or ipswich the same one for exide there is no such thing as export only so the home market benefits from this important fact for here is a battery that must work anywhere once the products have left the works and are in service overseas a two-way traffic begins the unique experience of battery operation in extreme conditions finds its way back to the clifton works in reports or used batteries or component parts all to be investigated by the experts this knowledge is immediately applied to production and adds to the experience which makes possible the battery that will work the world over but to achieve this and at the same time keep a high rate of production is no easy matter the heads of departments and the works director meet regularly to air their problems problems of engineering to be dealt with by this the technical committee questions from the chief inspector that will be discussed by the heads of each department keeping a strict control on the raw materials are the chemists the physicists metallurgists the compound which seals the battery and assembly is subject to very strict control a sample is regularly taken from the unit to the laboratory and is heated to find the softening point to do its job on the battery the compound must be firm without being brittle and this simple test ensures that it is up to standard the lead oxides the materials of the pasting shop are analyzed on equipment specially designed in the company's laboratories samples of the powders are examined with photoelectric cells this intricate apparatus measures the size of the particles and shows how many particles there are in each size group the alloy of lead and antimony is examined daily on the tensometer samples of the metal taken from the lead pods are checked for their strength and later examined in detail the detail of spectrographic analysis a further safeguard in keeping standards consistently high once the sensitized plate has been developed it is possible to read off the exact proportion of each constituent in the alloy on the galvanometer in this way absolute control is maintained there are laboratories doing research into the theoretical side of chemistry and physics and whether it is this highly specialized work or the daily analytical control the scientists together with the inspectors present at every stage of production and the skill and experience from the man on the floor are working to produce the finest batteries that can possibly be made [Music] and so the lorries from the works arrive at depots throughout the country this is the london depot at park royal which serves the whole of the southeast of england from norfolk to hampshire from oxfordshire to kent [Music] [Applause] the sales distribution and service organization plays a vital part in ensuring that the exide reputation for quality is maintained wherever the battery may be required to provide this service excite has built an organization which is truly worldwide the hub is that the company's works at clifton junction backed up by the company's own depots at london birmingham bristol manchester leeds glasgow and belfast working with each of these are the exide service agents many of whom have held the exide franchise for more than a quarter of a century the service agents covering the united kingdom all held stocks of exide batteries ready to serve the british motor trader wherever he may be at the shortest notice the same on the spot service is provided throughout the world the company has the benefit of the help of its sister organizations operating in australia new zealand singapore india pakistan south africa holland belgium denmark ireland and canada and so this combined force of factories depots and service agents provide exide with a worldwide sales and service organization which is second to none [Music] there is no field of human activity where a battery is not involved an exide who have specialized in batteries to the exclusion of everything else make nearly a thousand different types to fulfill every kind of need often the battery is behind the scenes playing a little known part yet how vital it is contributing in the job of increasing production revolutionizing the whole labor of moving materials bringing into being a phrase which is now commonplace mechanical handling where once the stumbling pony pulled and raw hands pushed the battery brings power and such a battery must be made well but it is up against hard tough conditions whether it is in a coal mine in britain or a gold mine in south africa [Music] when another source of power is used the battery is an essential compliment it is on wheels all over the world lighting air conditioning heating the food served in dining cars as the passengers are carried on their way through the town and through the country the batteries that work in agriculture from electric fences to combine harvesters it is at home in the countryside mechanizing the farmer saving his time and helping to win the battle against the weather and against his other enemies for exide is airborne too whether it is a helicopter spraying all the big airliners carrying passengers across the world for civil and service aircraft and the special demands for special batteries exide were pioneers in producing the battery that will not spill acid and is as light and as compact as possible and we continue to pioneer the way for in the quest for speed and safety the need is even greater for the battery that will not fail in a moment of crisis for the services in the air or on land the battery is indispensable many different types are produced all of which must be made to stand up to merciless wear and tear especially in the stress of battle the battery is everywhere it is relied upon for starting for firing it makes possible vital communications from the dispatch riders motorbike to the radio and signal transmitters and with the royal navy the battery is an integral part of the equipment on shore and on the high seas it may operate the guns or a hand signal or weighing over 100 tons power a submarine below the ocean and this is perhaps the most exacting use of all for here below the sea the battery is the very life of a submarine supplying all the needs for long periods at a time it must be strong to withstand a depth charge in every way must it be reliable for men's lives depend on it and have depended on it ever since the first british submarine carried a battery made of the clifton works in every aspect of the defense of this country and the commonwealth exile plays its part many of the batteries are on the secret list and development work on new types is ceaseless but what of the peaceful search for greater knowledge of nature an exide battery travels high to tell the story of the weather another journey is even higher to chart the way to outer space and exide looks ahead to the many new uses batteries will have in the future but as the way is pioneered to tomorrow what if now tonight we are an island and we rely on the men and the ships who bring in our food and carry abroad our goods they in turn rely on the lights around our coastline if the main source breaks down their batteries take over the men of the sea look to radar to guide them they look to radio beacons and navigation lights all of which must be dependable whenever safety is concerned exide keep watch 24 hours a day seven days a week [Music] danger can arise from an interruption in the public supply of electricity darkness even for a matter of seconds can mean the difference between life and death and the exide keeper light system installed in hospitals can take over without a break darkness can bring panic where there are crowds the law demands an infallible system of emergency lighting wherever people gather if there should be any danger tonight the keeper light will be in action be it in a dance hall a concert hall or that most historic building of all the houses of parliament while just over 200 miles away from this the heart of london the night shift at clifton junction is casting the grids pasting and forming inspecting and assembling working to safeguard a very proud name you