Need help to identify a strange tools

[john k]

I've seen batteries rebuilt in a shop.   A lot depends on the type.  Auto, home power plant, deep cycle marine batteries, but like in the photo,  the lead post is sealed into the top, these days by plastic, but often times by melted lead.  So we got a torch, heat, lead fumes, yes, I'd like to keep as far away as possible.   Remember, the bigger batteries are often rebuilt, not just scrapped. 

[johnsironsanctuary]

I think that we are on the wrong track here. I lead welded a lot of battery cables onto forklift batteries back in the 70's. First step was to use a hollow drill to get the old cable off. That left behind a post that was the same diameter as a car battery post. New cables came with a molded banjo on the end that fit loosely on the post. The cable was welded on with a lead stick and either a carbon arc rod using the battery for power or an acetylene torch. I prefer the torch. You can do a neater job. The lead intercell connectors are replaced in the same way. Oh yeah, blow the hydrogen out of the nearby cells before lighting the torch and work quickly before it reaccumulates. I don't know much about the old Edison Alkali Batteries, they used copper strips between the cells that were bolted on. I don't know what those tongs would be used for on a motive power battery. My guess is that they were used somehow in the manufacture of batteries.

[keykeeper]

While they may be battery tongs by the patent, I still say they would be good for handling hot rivets!!!

Just thinking like a blacksmith, is all.... :)

[RWalters]

I may have answered my own question. Reading the patent information posted by mvwcnews, it seems that the terminal connections "very often stick" and tongs of this type were designed to remove the terminal connections from the battery post without damaging the battery. So the long handles may well have been just for added leverage.

[mvwcnews]

Patent no. 1,346,306 ( https://www.google.com/patents/US1346306?dq=patent:1346306&hl=en&sa=X&ei=s3DkUeL4F6r-igL9mIHIBw&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA ) battery tongs. --  Gotta get ready for work, but will put the patent in DATAMP in the next day or so.

The more I look at these, the more I wonder if they were for "industrial scale" storage batteries like those used in telephone & DC current electrical systems rather than automotive batteries that jump into our minds.
By 1922, Thompson Mfg. was making the "Pelican Pliers" ( http://books.google.com/books?id=cSpaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA955&dq=thompson+pelican+meadville&hl=en&sa=X&ei=B97qUafDFoasigKx54CAAg&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=thompson%20pelican%20meadville&f=false ) for use with automobile batteries.  I have a pair & they are made of fairly thin stampings.