Bipolar storage battery of extended surface electrode type

Claim 1

A bipolar, extended surface alkaline battery comprising: (A) barrier plates; (B) dual porous electrode plates; (C) separators; (D) enclosure/supporting frames; (E) externally accessible terminal means; (F) externally accessible filling and/or venting means; and (G) electrolyte wherein said barrier plates have rims and are composed of nickel or nickel-plated steel; said dual porous electrode plates are composed of flexible rectangular nickel or nickel plated steel strips having perforated areas at each end which have been coated with a plaque of porous nickel; one half of said plates having said porous plaque impregnated with active materials adapted to confer positive electrode polarity and the other half of said plates having said porous plaque impregnated with active materials adapted to confer negative electrode polarity, said plates being folded in half to form dual-leaf electrode pairs with "U" shaped channel base, each leaf being enclosed in said separator; said separator being an envelope-shaped, ion-permeable sheet; said enclosure/supporting frames being rectangularly shaped, four-sided plastic forms whose edges contain means for sequentially connecting one frame to another, one set of edges per frame having means for connecting said barrier plate, said frame having said externally accessible filling and/or venting means positioned so as to be above said electrolyte level; whereby internal subassemblies are composed of a number of said dual-leafed positive electrodes permanently affixed to one side of said barrier plates with an equal number of dual-leafed negative electrodes permanently affixed to the opposite side of said barrier plates secured at one of the mating edges of at least one of said frames; two terminal assemblies, one positive and one negative are composed of said negative dual-leafed electrodes permanently affixed to one side of said barrier plate and conductor strips with said externally accessible terminal means permanently affixed to the opposite side of said barrier in the case of a negative terminal assembly, said positive dual-leafed electrodes being used with positive terminal assemblies; said barrier plates secured on the edge outermost the battery of said frames whereby said battery is composed of a stack of said internal subassemblies assembled with electrodes of opposite polarity in interleafed relationship and said positive terminal assembly attached at one end of said stack with said negative terminal assembly attached at the other end of said stack; said battery containing sufficient electrolyte to effectively produce an electrical potential between said externally accessible positive and negative terminal means.