Abstract: Apparatus for manufacturing separator sleeves and/or pockets, for the reception of battery plates, seals the edge gaps of a sandwich of two separators and a plate with an extruded ribbon of plastics material. The sandwich is automatically assembled in an assembly section, from stacks of separators in separate magazines and a stack of plates in a further magazine. The assembled sandwich is fed to a sleeve-sealing section, with a conveyor which conveys the sandwich past extruders which seal the side edges. Water-cooled blocks cool and size the sealed edges, and rotary cutters under the control of sensors trim off excess plastics material extruded between successive sandwiches. At the end of the conveyor the sealed sleeves are fed on to a delivery table, if sleeve products are required, or passed on to a further conveyor of a pocket-sealing section if pockets are required.