Repro WS No 19 Cdn battery box

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

Me. I scribbled those drawings on some scrap paper. The batteries were found in the Sydney road Coburg yard.

There were Aust. pattern wireless battery boxes which look . A ham I was on air with one night, he was a signaler in Syria . He said they rebuilt the wireless batteries every three months , they used a kero blow lamp to melt the tar sealer out, install new plates , fill with fresh acid .

It wasn't quite that simple, the batteries were returned to REME for repair when they reached a certain level of capacity (or suddenly failed). The "Battery Shop" would then test them rather thoroughly and replace any faulty parts, either plates and separators if distorted/sulphated up, or complete cells and containers if badly damaged/cracked. It was not a nice place to work, everyone got a milk ration of 1 pint per day to reduce the risk of lead poisoning.

There are various EMERs on batteries (and the WW2 vintage battery shop manual, I think, with a photo of the "scrap dump" and a plea to treat batteries properly to prolong their life) in the WS19 group archive. (The originals are in one of my gazillion boxes, somewhere....)

Cells could be 'pulled' by centre-drilling the ends of the lead connector bars on top of the battery, then using a counterbore tool to separate the bar and
leave most of the connector post intact. The pitch (Chattertons Compound) was then softened with a steam hose, and the cell extracted from its case.
(Obviously the entire battery had been drained of acid and thoroughly washed out before you started this!) The plate assembly could then be refurbished/rebuilt with new plates and separators as required, then reinserted and sealed with more compound. Finally the connector bars would be dropped back into place and fresh lead poured in to make the connection - using a ladle much like those seen for hand-casting bullets. The battery would then be refilled, allowed to stand for a while for the plates to absorb the acid, then charged and tested before being reissued.

(I read the manual while scanning it for the archive, and a lot of it appears to have stuck!)

Chris.

[Eric B]

The CDN battery box posted by Tim is wood inside. Painted black.

I had the original box and took photos of it before finding a good home for it.

Thanks

Eric

[guy labbe]

collected some BEF battery boxes on the Belgian coast, surely left behind in 1940.

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by guy labbe

collected some BEF battery boxes on the Belgian coast, surely left behind in 1940.

Not unless they had a time machine back then: the one at bottom left has a 1944 date on it!

They're almost certainly ones which have been sold off as surplus/scrap post-WW2, because the wooden cases were re-used continuously. Faulty or worn out batteries would be returned to workshops for testing and dead cells would be replaced or the entire battery rebuilt as necessary before being refilled, charged, tested and finally reissued. The boxes represent a considerable amount of time and money and would not be discarded unless damaged beyond repair. They would finally be disposed of in bulk when the army changed over to the steel-cased equivalents in the 1950s.

(If they'd been left behind in 1940 they would not exist now, because once they were useless as batteries the spare plates, separators, and repair facilities would not exist in the occupied territories.)

Having said that, it's a wonderful set of battery boxes, do you have a radio truck to put them in?

Chris.

[guy labbe]

You don't know what still turns up over here Chris , on the way to Dunkirk the BEF left tons of kit behind. for sure there is one box from 1944 but al the outers where found on local flea markets .
Indeed, I am working on a Morris Commercial C4 W/T!

Guy.

Originally Posted by Chris Suslowicz

Not unless they had a time machine back then: the one at bottom left has a 1944 date on it!

They're almost certainly ones which have been sold off as surplus/scrap post-WW2, because the wooden cases were re-used continuously. Faulty or worn out batteries would be returned to workshops for testing and dead cells would be replaced or the entire battery rebuilt as necessary before being refilled, charged, tested and finally reissued. The boxes represent a considerable amount of time and money and would not be discarded unless damaged beyond repair. They would finally be disposed of in bulk when the army changed over to the steel-cased equivalents in the 1950s.

(If they'd been left behind in 1940 they would not exist now, because once they were useless as batteries the spare plates, separators, and repair facilities would not exist in the occupied territories.)

Having said that, it's a wonderful set of battery boxes, do you have a radio truck to put them in?

Chris.

[kevin powles]

Gents,

Anyone know the correct size of battery box which go's in the armoured box on the back of a Mk1 universal carrier ?, I have several battery boxes but they are not tall enough to be clamped down with the installed clamp arrangement. I would be willing to swap what I have for the correct box.

thanks kevin.

[Chris Suslowicz]

What is the battery used for?

If it's a radio set it's likely to be 12V 22 or 75 AH, or a pair of 6V batteries (85 or 100/125 AH). (Depending on if it's WS19 or WS22.)

[Thinks]

On the other hand: if it's for a WS18 then it's the "Static Battery Box" made of bakelite and stuffed full of primary batteries to give 162V (tapped at 12V) and 3V. This is actually more likely as the WS18 was used in the Support Platoon carriers for an Infantry Battalion (not in an Armoured Regiment), with WS19s added for the Armoured Regiment version (as well as lorries for the rifle companies). WS18 battery box is approximately 11.5/8-in high x 13.1/2-in long x 4-in thick. (The latter is guesswork because it's missing the lid and all the fittings, someone converted dozens of them into storage drawers, which is a great pity.)

If it's the vehicle battery all bets are off - check the vehicle manual.

Chris.