Vesta Batteries
Vesta Isolators. The Vesta plate embodies in its design devices which are intended to hold the plates straight and thus eliminate the buckling and short-circuiting which form a large percentage of battery trouble. Fig. 263 shows clearly the construction of the old type of plate. Each isolator used in the old type of plate consists of two notched strips of celluloid, with a plain celluloid strip between them. The notches are as wide as the plates are thick, the teeth between the notches fitting into the spaces between plates, thus holding the plates at the correct distances apart. The plain celluloid strip holds the notched strips in place. At each corner of the Vesta plate is a slot into which the isolator fits, as shown in Fig. 263. Since the teeth on the two notched pieces of each isolator hold the plates apart, they cannot “cut-out” or “short-out” by pinching through the wooden separators, or “impregnated mats” as they are called by the Vesta Company.
The celluloid of which the isolators are made are not attacked by the electrolyte at ordinary temperatures. At higher temperatures, however, the electrolyte slowly dissolves the isolators. The condition of the isolator, therefore, may be used to determine whether the temperature of the electrolyte has been allowed to rise above 100° Fahrenheit.