Sealed battery cable termination

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIGS.
1 and 2, there is shown an in-line type battery cable termination 10 and a terminal 12 protruding from the outer surface 14 of a wet cell battery.
In FIG.
1, the termination 10 is shown in the operative position wherein it is tightened down onto the terminal 12, while in FIG.
2 the termination 10 is shown during assembly thereof to the terminal 12.
The termination 10 includes a composite terminal plate 16 which includes a metal sleeve 18 through which the metal wire strands of a battery cable 19 extend.
During the manufacture of the termination, a metal tube is placed over a portion of the cable from which the insulation has been stripped and the central portion of the tube is then compressed in a forging operation into a generally planar configuration with the wire strands tightly compressed therein.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the generally flat terminal plate is further compressed in a second forging operation to provide a circular recess 20 in the top and a complementary circular boss 22 on the bottom.
A circular hole 24 is then punched through the center of the boss 22, and the flattened tube and the enclosed wire strands are soldered together to form the solid composite plate 16.
The bottom of the recess 20 is a planar annular surface 20A surrounding the hole 24 which is planar and parallel to the planar annular surface 22A of the boss 22.
The second forging operation assures that these two annular surfaces are planar and do not have any protruding irregularities.
A plastic cover 26 is molded over the terminal plate 16 and over a short length of the insulation covering 19A on the battery cable 19.
The cover 26 includes an integral, upstanding sleeve 27 which is coaxial with the hole 24 and has an external annular bead 28 which is received in a complementary groove in the skirt of a resilient sealing cap 30.
The inner wall of the sleeve 27 is identified by the reference number 32 and has an internal diameter substantially equal to the external diameter of the recess 20