Method of making a battery

1. A method of making a battery comprising:

forming a strip of interconnected grids from a grid material, each interconnected grid including a plurality of wires, each wire having opposed ends, each opposed end being joined to one of a plurality of nodes to define a plurality of open spaces;

modifying at least one of the wires at a position intermediate the opposed ends of the wire such that a first transverse cross-section taken intermediate the opposed ends of the wire differs from a second transverse cross-section of the wire taken at one of the opposed ends of the wire;

applying paste to the strip; and

cutting the strip to form a plurality of plates;

wherein modifying at least one of the wires comprises rotating at least a portion of the wire at the position intermediate the opposed ends of the wire.

2. A method of making a battery comprising:

forming a strip of interconnected grids from a grid material, each interconnected grid including a network bordered by at least one frame element, one of the frame elements having a current collector, the network comprising a plurality of spaced apart grid elements, each grid element having opposed ends, each opposed end being joined to one of a plurality of nodes to define a plurality of open spaces in the network;

forming at least a portion of the grid elements at a position intermediate the opposed ends of the grid element such that a first transverse cross-section taken intermediate the opposed ends of the grid element differs from a second transverse cross-section taken at one of the opposed ends of the grid element;

applying paste to the strip; and

cutting the strip to form a plurality of plates;

wherein forming at least a portion of the grid elements comprises stamping the grid element at the position intermediate the opposed ends of the grid element;

wherein the first transverse cross-section substantially has a shape selected from the group comprising diamond, oval, rhomboid, hexagon, and octagon; and

wherein the network and each of the frames define opposed substantially planar surfaces, and each first transverse cross-section does not extend beyond the planar surfaces.

3. A method of making a battery comprising:

forming a strip of interconnected grids from a grid material, each interconnected grid including a network bordered by at least one frame element, one of the frame elements having a current collector, the network comprising a plurality of spaced apart grid elements, each grid element having opposed ends, each opposed end being joined to one of a plurality of nodes to define a plurality of open spaces in the network;

forming at least a portion of the grid elements at a position intermediate the opposed ends of the grid element such that a first transverse cross-section taken intermediate the opposed ends of the grid element differs from a second transverse cross-section taken at one of the opposed ends of the grid element;

applying paste to the strip; and

cutting the strip to form a plurality of plates;

wherein the network and each of the frames define opposed substantially planar surfaces, and each second transverse cross-section does not extend beyond the planar surfaces.

4. A method of making a battery comprising:

forming a strip of interconnected grids from a grid material, each interconnected grid including a plurality of wires, each wire having opposed ends, each opposed end being joined to one of a plurality of nodes to define a plurality of open spaces;

modifying at least one of the wires at a position intermediate the opposed ends of the wire such that a first transverse cross-section taken intermediate the opposed ends of the wire differs from a second transverse cross-section of the wire taken at one of the opposed ends of the wire:

applying paste to the strip; and

cutting the strip to form a plurality of plates;

wherein forming the strip of interconnected grids from a grid material comprises:

feeding a continuous strip of the grid material along a linear path aligned with the longitudinal direction of the strip; and

punching grid material out of the strip to form the strip of interconnected grids.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein modifying at least one of the wires comprises:

stamping the wire at the position intermediate the opposed ends of the wire.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the first transverse cross-section substantially has a shape selected from the group comprising diamond, oval, rhomboid, hexagon, and octagon.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein the continuous strip of the grid material is formed by a continuous casting process.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein the continuous strip of the grid material is formed by a rolling process.

9. The method of claim 4 wherein forming the strip of interconnected grids from a grid material comprises:

melting the grid material;

continuously casting the grid material to from a continuous web; and

rolling the web to form the strip of interconnected grids.

10. The method of claim 4 wherein forming the strip of interconnected grids from a grid material comprises:

melting the grid material; and

continuously casting the grid material to form the strip of interconnected grids.

11. The method of claim 4 further comprising modifying at least a portion of at least one of the nodes before applying paste to the strip.

12. The method of claim 4 wherein modifying at least one of the wires comprises deforming the at least one wire.

13. The method of claim 4 further comprising installing at least one plate in a container.

14. The method of claim 4 further comprising providing acid in the battery.

15. The method of claim 4 wherein the plurality of plates each comprise a lug.

16. A method of making a battery comprising:

forming a strip of interconnected grids from a grid material, each interconnected grid including a plurality of wires, each wire having opposed ends, each opposed end being joined to one of a plurality of nodes to define a plurality of open spaces;

modifying at least one of the wires at a position intermediate the opposed ends of the wire such that a first transverse cross-section taken intermediate the opposed ends of the wire differs from a second transverse cross-section of the wire taken at one of the opposed ends of the wire;

applying paste to the strip; and

cutting the strip to form a plurality of plates;

wherein forming the strip of interconnected grids from a grid material comprises:

feeding a continuous strip of the grid material along a linear path aligned with the longitudinal direction of the strip;

piercing apertures m the strip of grid material; and

laterally expanding the strip of grid material to form the strip of interconnected grids.