In the Beginning

When i was an apprentice for The Ever Ready Battery Company, i worked on some very unique and sometimes very dangerous and not always modern equipment.

A Mercury Arc Rectifier(see pic below) ..This was a vintage piece of equipment in the sixties, but it converted AC voltage to DC and handled high Current and was used to control the speed of a DC motor on a Plastic Tube Extrusion machine. The rectifier looked like a glass octopus and connections were on the end of very delicate glass teats. The connections had to be periodically cleaned and required a very delicate touch as you can imagine. Then maintenance on the very large DC motor, which involved cleaning the Commutator (sometimes while upside down) with emery board while it was running. This was my baby for some years until it was replaced by Solid State Rectifiers, (Boring).

Then there was RF (Radio Frequency)Di-Electric Heating Presses, that formed thermoplastic tubes into battery cells. It was incredibly dangerous and could cause tissue burns and sterility if not handled properly. They became a bit of a speciality of mine on their electrics.

The battery manufacturing lines were all 3 Phase 440volt supplied with electronic motor / hydraulic functions and photo-electric controls. Drive motors for equipment/machines varied in size depending on what they were running, but some very large units.

But a great place to work and learn my trade.. they put you through every department in Electrical and Engineering which gave me a great technical knowledge for the future.