No matter how cheap you think you are buying your lead parts, just compare the market price per pound on lead with the weight of a few of your “cheapest” ones.
It is now common practice to melt some of this accumulation of scrap lead and pour it into sticks or bars for use in lead burning on repair work. A great amount, especially old groups, is generally sold at a low price in order to get it out of the way. The one important fact, and one generally overlooked, is, that the battery man who melts lead and moulds it into sticks for lead burning, certainly is able to melt the same metal and mould it into the lead parts he requires, provided, of course, that he has the proper moulds.
Many a wide awake man has whittled a wooden mould for some part that he wanted in a hurry and couldn't wait for the manufacturer to deliver. Naturally this condition, really an effort to render service to the customer, created a demand for moulds of a permanent character.
In an effort to supply this demand, the moulds that have been produced were all made for some individual part, were light in weight and easily became overheated, making them hard to handle and often burning the workman's hands.
Figure 3
From a business standpoint, it would certainly be mighty profitable for a battery shop to be able at a moment's notice, to convert junk lead into new salable parts. In addition to the large profit from the sale of these new parts, another good feature, is that, instead of tieing up a lot of capital in stock, the new parts can be made as needed, without a cent of investment.
From a service standpoint, it is a cheaper and faster process to cast a new top connector than to spend a lot of valuable time, whittling an old one so that it can be used again.
How much time have you or your men wasted cleaning up an old terminal as in Fig. [3], so that you could burn it on again?
All new connectors and terminals put on a rebuilt or reinsulated job make the customer feel that he is getting a real repair. He sees a new finished job.