Abstract: A lattice of metal or plastics material obtained by stretching a blank or strip which has been provided with rows of slits. The lattice has rhomboid or rhomboidal openings which are bordered by webs which extend obliquely relative to the plane of the lattice. The major diagonals of the openings include an acute angle with the edge of the lattice. The major diagonals of the openings have such an angular position that two webs which extend parallel to one another also extend parallel to the edge of the lattice. The webs located in the same row which define openings arranged one behind the other in the direction of the lattice edge are arranged so as to follow each other immediately and at least approximately in a straight line.

Abstract: A storage battery of the type used in an automotive vehicle has a housing forming a plurality of transversely elongated and upright cells and respective plus sets and minus sets of U-section electrode elements interleaved with each other in each cell. Each such element is unitarily formed with an imperforate sheet-metal back having a pair of opposite edges, respective expanded sheet-metal arms extending from the edges generally perpendicular to the back, and an imperforate connection tab projecting upward from the back. Each back has a horizontal width that is a fraction of the horizontal width of the respective arms. Respective plus and minus bus bars in each of the compartments are connected to the tabs of the respective electrode sets. The arms are multiply expanded, that is each one has a width that is a multiple of its width before it was slitted and expanded. The arm width is equal to at least four times the back width, normally about five times the back width.

Abstract: A rectangular grid for supporting the active mass of a plate for an electric battery is formed by slitting a metal sheet to produce mutually staggered tiers of cuts, adjacent tiers being separated by distances substantially less than the sheet thickness. Upon a subsequent stretching of the slitted sheet to expand the cuts into generally rhomboidal meshes, the webs bounding these cells are twisted whereby the nodes connecting them, which are formed by the unslitted parts of the several tiers, are tilted onto their sides; with proper dimensioning, the flanks of the tilted nodes are substantially coplanar with the faces of two border strips which extend along the major sides of the rectangle and are formed integral with the grid from unslitted sheet portions. One of these border strips is integral with a terminal tab of reduced thickness extending over slightly less than half the length of that strip.

Abstract: Process for the manufacture of a grid comprising cutting a series of equal-length, parallel slits in a blank, each primary slit having a first neighboring slit on one side that is co-extensive with one-half of the primary slit and a second neighboring slit on the other side that is co-extensive with the other one-half of the primary slit, so that an area of double width appears beside each primary slit.