Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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IN-LINE DRY CELL CARTRIDGE OR HOUSING
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to cartridges or housings which receive dry
cells in an in-line
orientation and are subsequently inserted into appliances, such as
flashlights, which utilise those
dry cells.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Generally dry cell powered appliances have cavities which receive dry cells.
These cavities
have covers associated with them and the covers may generally have a sticker
adhered to them
which indicates the orientation in which the dry cells should be positioned.
Alternatively the
cavities or the covers are embossed to indicate the orientation. However, the
orientation that dry
cells are ultimately installed in, is dictated by the person installing the
dry cells, and because
they generally do not check the correct orientation from the diagram provided,
the process will
generally rely on that person remembering the correct orientation. The
difficulty with this is,
that if dry cells are placed in the wrong orientation then there is a chance
that some dry cells
will be dissipated or may become incapable of providing current. This could
occur even while
an appliance is switched off. Also the appliance may have polarity sensitive
circuits which
might be damaged by incorrect polarity.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a housing or cartridge
which ameliorates, at
least in part at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention provides a housing having a generally elongate body to hold at
least two dry cells
together in series connection in an end to end or in-line orientation, said
housing being
insertable into and removable from an appliance, and includes: a first end
having a first end
wall which will receive a positive terminal of a dry cell and a second end
having a second end
wall; said first end wall and said second end wall each having a passage
therethrough to allow
electrical contact to be made by terminals of an appliance with terminals of a
dry cell at said
first and second ends ; two or more dry cell cavities which each have at least
one side wall and
further having an intermediate wall common to adjacent cavities, the or each
intermediate wall
cooperating with a contact member which electrically connects the positive of
one dry cell with
the negative of an adjacent dry cell when dry cells are placed in correct
orientation in adjacent
cavities; said intermediate walls have or include a portion having a
predetermined thickness and
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an axial passage therethrough, said thickness being less than the length of a
raised cylindrical
positive terminal of a dry cell, said intermediate walls having a first
surface facing in the
direction of said second end and a second surface facing in the direction of
said first end; the or
each said intermediate wall and said contact member being arranged so that a
side of said
contact member facing said second end is recessed relative to said first
surface, so that a raised
cylindrical positive terminal of a dry cell must pass, at least partially,
through said passage to
make electrical contact with said contact member.
Preferably said passage through said second end wall cooperates with the
surface of a negative
terminal of a dry cell in the cavity at said second end, so that when
correctly positioned in said
cavity) the surface of said negative terminal is recessed from the outwardly
facing surface of
said second end wall.
Preferably the thickness of said second end wall and a portion of said
intermediate wall or said
intermediate wall determines the depth of recessing.
Preferably said intermediate walls are each constructed from two wall parts
with a space
between each wall part to receive said contact member, so that a surface or a
portion of a
surface of said contact member is recessed from said first surface by the
thickness of said wall
part which includes said first surface.
Preferably said contact member is held in each intermediate wall by the
joining of each wall
part together at one end, to enclose the space between the wall parts.
Preferably said housing has a generally semi-cylindrical body in which said
dry cell cavities are
formed.
Preferably said holding members are extensions of said body which partially
enclose a volume
to form and occlude said cavities.
Preferably said body includes an aperture to provide some resilient
flexibility to assist said
holding members to move, to allow placement and removal of said dry cells.
Preferably said contact members include a bias means associated with the
contact member to
engage a negative terminal of a dry cell.
Preferably said aperture has the profile similar to the silhouette of a dry
cell with a
representation of a positive terminal being visible.
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Preferably the contact member includes at least one angled barb which engages
one of the
facing wall parts of said end wall, said barb being angled to prevent removal
of the contact
member once it has been positioned in the end wall.
Preferably said passage through said end intermediate wall and said first and
second end walls
is of a generally U-shaped, or semi circular or part semi circular
construction.
Preferably said first end wall is semi-circular.
Preferably said intermediate walls have a generally circular periphery.
Preferably said passage through intermediate walls is of a substantially U-
shaped construction.
Preferably said intermediate wall is made from a single wall part and has said
contact member
attached to said second surface, so as to recess said contact member from said
first surface.
Preferably the housing includes holding members cooperating with said side
walls, said holding
members being moveable to allow insertion or removal of a dry cell into or out
of said cavities,
The invention also provides an appliance powered by dry cells which are
serially connected and
mounted in a housing as described in any one of the above paragraphs, wherein
the positive
terminal of said appliance is constructed so that it has at least one
projection associated with it
which can engage an external surface of said second end wall of said housing
as described in
any one of the above paragraphs, so as to prevent said positive terminal of
said appliance
making contact with the negative terminal of a dry cell in a cavity associated
with the second
end wall of said housing.
Preferably said at least one projection also engages an external surface of
said first end wall so
as to prevent said positive terminal of said appliance making contact with the
negative terminal
of an incorrectly positioned dry cell in a dry cell cavity associated with
said first end wall of
said housing.
The invention further provides a housing being insertable into, and removable
from, an
appliance, said housing holding to more than two dry cells in an in-line or
end to end
orientation, said housing including a series of dry cell cavities to receive
said dry cells, said
cavities including a body portion having at least one side wall portion , said
housing including a
part of said body associated with each cavity having a shaped aperture
therethrough which has a
profile similar to a silhouette of a dry cell with a part of the aperture
representing the positive
end of a dry cell, said part of said aperture and said aperture being oriented
so as to correspond
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to and indicate the correct orientation of the dry cell in said cavity, said
aperture being of a size
which will prevent said dry cell passing through said aperture.
Preferably said housing is generally cylindrical.
Preferably said shaped aperture cooperates with said holding means to assist
said holding means
to be moveable to allow removal or insertion of said dry cells out of or into
said cavity.
Preferably said housing includes a holding means to releaseably hold said dry
cells in said
cavity.
Preferably said aperture assists in the removal of a dry cell from said
cavity.
The invention also provides an appliance in combination with a housing as
described in any one
of the above paragraphs, wherein said appliance has a housing receiving cavity
to receive said
housing, said appliance including a positive and negative terminal for
electrical connection to
first and second ends of said housing, said housing including intermediate
walls having a
thickness or depth of a dimension so that the overall length of said housing
is greater than the
length of the same number of said dry cells, which said housing is meant to
receive, when said
same number of dry cells are series connected from end to end, said housing
receiving cavity
being of a dimension such that if said number of dry cells are placed in said
housing receiving
cavity without said housing, the positive and negative terminal of said
appliance are sufficiently
spaced that no simultaneous electrical connection can be made between all of
said dry cells and
said positive and negative terminals.
Embodiments of the invention for the housing have features which ensure that
dry cells inserted
in an incorrect orientation in the cavity will have the negative end of the
dry cell not in contact
with the contact member between adjacent cavities. Thus any impairment of the
dry cell to
perform as required will not occur.
Further, the presence of a shaped aperture to indicate the orientation of the
dry cell in the cavity,
provides several advantages namely: a more reliable method of identification
in low light
situations; a means to reduce the amount of force required to open the holding
members; and a
means to simultaneously reduce the amount of plastic in the housing or
cartridge.
Also, an appliance having the features discussed above in paragraphs 19 to 21,
has a relatively
simple means to protect the circuits of the appliance, to prevent the
incorrect installation into
the appliance of a housing containing dry cells in correct orientation in the
housing.
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Finally the appliance and housing in combination prevent the appliance being
used without the
housing thereby forcing a user to install all dry cells in the correct
orientation by having to use
the housing, otherwise no operation of the appliance will occur, without
interfering with the dry
cell arrangement.
5 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
An embodiment of the present invention will now be described) by way of
example only, with
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Fig I is a perspective view of a dry cell housing;
Fig 2 is an underneath perspective view of the apparatus of Fig 1;
Fig 3 is a front view of the apparatus of Fig 1;
Fig 4 is a plan view of the apparatus of Fig l;
Fig 5 is an underneath plan view of the apparatus of Fig 1;
Fig 6 is a left side view of the apparatus of Fig 1;
Fig 7 is a rear view of the apparatus of Fig 1;
Fig 8 is a part cross section of the apparatus of Fig 1 showing two dry cells
installed incorrectly;
Fig 9 is a part cross section of the apparatus of Fig 1 showing two dry cells
installed correctly;
Fig 10 is a plan view of the apparatus of Fig 8;
Fig 11 is a plan view of the apparatus of Fig 9;
Fig 12 is a part cross section of an appliance and the front of the housing of
Figs 1 to 7;
Fig 13 is a part cross section of an appliance and the rear of the housing of
Figs I to 7; and
Fig 14 is a perspective view of a contact member.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
Illustrated in Figure 1 is a housing 2 which includes a body portion 4. The
housing 2 is meant to
receive four dry cells in an in-line or end to end orientation, so that when
they are correctly
installed they are connected in series. The body portion 4 illustrated in Fig
1 has a generally
semi-cylindrical shape because this embodiment is required to be inserted into
a cylindrical
cavity in an appliance. The shape of the body 4 can be manufactured to conform
to any shape as
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desired to be received by a matching cavity in an appliance. For example the
shape could be
square or triangular.
Body 4 has three intermediate walls 6 and first and second end walls 8 and 10,
respectively.
The walls 6, 8 and IO together with the body 4 form dry cell cavities 62, 64,
66 and 68. The
base of each of the dry cell cavities 62, 64, 66, 68 has a generally
rectangular aperture 70 which
is best illustrated in Figures 5, 4 and 2. The aperture 70 has a profile which
is similar to a
silhouette of a dry cell. The aperture 70, in keeping with the silhouette of a
dry cell, has a three
sided portion 72 which represents the raised cylindrical positive terminal of
a dry cell.
This portion 72 indicates to a user which direction the positive end and
positive terminal of a
dry cell has to be inserted into a cavity 62, 64, 66, 68. One advantage of the
aperture 70 is that if
there is any light present, even though that light may not be enough to read
by, a user peering
through the aperture 70, will be able to determine which direction is correct
for the proper
installation of a dry cell. This will be more effective in situations of low
light than either
stickers or even embossed dry cell representations, the latter relying on
touch in low light
situations.
A second function of each aperture 70 is that it reduces the amount of
material in the housing 2,
thus saving on material costs. The aperture 70 also serves a third purpose of
allowing a dry cell
in a respective cavity 62,64, 66, 68 to be pushed out of the cavity by means
of the user's finger
being pushed partially through the aperture 70. The aperture 70 has a fourth
function which will
be described later.
The first end wall 8 is at a first end of the housing 2 and is of a generally
semi-annular
construction with a semi-circular periphery and a semi circular cut-out
portion 12 which is
positioned so as to receive and locate a centrally mounted raised cylindrical
positive terminal of
a cylindrical dry cell when such a dry cell is located in cavity 68. The
thickness 14 of the first
end wall 8 is such that when the circular rim of a dry cell contacts the inner
surface 16 of the
first end wall 8, the raised cylindrical positive terminal of the dry cell
will project past the
outwardly facing surface 18 of the wall 8.
The second end wall 10 is located at a second end of the housing 2 and has a
generally circular
periphery, but has a generally U-shaped form, whereby the "U" defines a
straight sided half
round periphery of a passage 20) through the central portions of the second
end wall. The
second end wall 10, if a dry cell is correctly inserted into the cavity 62,
will be next adjacent the
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negative terminal of that dry cell. The second end wall 10 has a thickness 22
which will
effectively recess any negative terminal of a dry cell (which contacts the
inner surface 24), from
the outer surface 26 of the second end wall 10. The depth of the recess will
be to the depth of
the thickness 22 of wall 10.
The U-shaped passage 20 is of sufficient width to serve the purpose of
preventing a dry cell
placed in the adjacent cavity 62 from exiting the cavity 62 axially, as well
as being of sufficient
width so that a biased negative terminal of an appliance, in which the housing
2 will be
installed, can make contact with the negative terminal of a dry cell placed in
the cavity 62.
The intermediate wall 6 will now be described with reference to Figs 1, 9 and
14. Because of
congestion most of the reference numbers below are only illustrated in regards
to the
intermediate wall 6, which is closest to first end wall 8.
The intermediate wall 6 is constructed from two wall parts 28 and 30 which are
positioned so as
to provide a space 32 between them. Into the space 32 is inserted a contact
member 34. The
wall parts 28 and 30 have a generally circular periphery and are of a
generally U-shaped
I S construction with a passage 36 through them. The passage 36 is defined by
the half rounded
straight sided generally U-Shaped inner periphery of the wall parts 28 and 30.
When the contact
member 34 is situated between the wall parts 28 and 30 the contact member 34
is also
positioned inside the passage 36.
The contact member 34 has a generally circular and planar first portion 38
which when it is
installed between wall parts 28 and 30 remains recessed relative to the first
surface 40 of the
wall part 28. It remains recessed because the first portion 38 of the contact
member 34 is held
by the wall parts 28 and 30 in position at the top and bottom and side
portions of the contact
member 34 and the first portion 38 cannot protrude through. The only part of
the contact
member 34 not sandwiched by the wall parts 28 and 30 are those portions of the
contact
member 34 which are exposed in the passage 36.
The portions of contact member 34 exposed in the passage 36 include second
portion 42 having
a first part 44 which is at an angle to the first portion 38 (before a dry
cell is installed). The first
part 44 is of a generally rectangular and planar construction and is
effectively hinged and biased
relative to the first portion 38 by a bend line 48. Because the first part 44
is formed at an angle
to the first portion 38, the first part 44 will provide some bias against
movement towards the
first portion 38.
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The second portion 42 also includes a second part 46 which is formed at an
angle to the first
part 44. The second part 46 is joined to the first part 44 at a bend line 50.
The second part 46 is
of a generally planar and semi-circular construction of a diameter which is
equal to the width of
the rectangular first part 44. Extending away from a mid-section of the second
part 46 is a tab
portion 52. The tab portion 52 is of a generally rectangular and planar
construction and is best
illustrated in Fig 14. The tab portion 52 is formed at an angle to the second
part 46 and is joined
to the circumferential portion of the second part 46 at a bend line 54.
The tab portion 52 cooperates with second part 46 and first part 44 to make
good electrical
contact with a negative terminal 56 of a dry cell 58 installed in the housing
2. The angular
relationship, when first formed, between first part 44, second part 46 and tab
portion 52 is as
follows (see fig 14): the angle 51 that the first part 44 makes to the first
portion 38 can range
between 2° to 20°; the angle 53 that the second part 46 makes to
the first part 44 can range
between 2° to 20°;. the angle 55 that a tab portion 52 makes to
the second part 46 is in the range
of 20° to 50° as measured and indicated in figure 14.
When a dry cell 58 is installed against the second portion 42, the negative
terminal 56 makes
contact first with part of the tab portion 52. As the dry cell 58 is further
inserted, either the first
part 44 rotates towards the first portion 38 and then the second part 46
rotates relative to the
first part 44 also toward the first portion 38, or both first part 44 and
second part 46 rotate
simultaneously. The purpose of the tab portion 52 is to ensure that a surface
contact is made
between the tab portion 52 and the negative terminal 56 of the dry cell 58. If
tab portion were
not present only a line contact might be made between the semi circular
periphery of second
part 46 and the negative terminal 56.
To hold the contact member 34 in position between the wall parts 28 and 30,
the two wall parts
28 and 30 are fused so as to produce a fused surface 60. This fused surface 60
extends from the
base 4 to the upper extremity of the U-shaped passage 36 to ensure that the
contact member will
not be removable from the intermediate wall 6 during normal service
requirements.
The fused surface 60 is just one preferable method to hold the contact member
34 between the
wall parts 28 and 30. Another includes providing the contact member 34 with at
least one barb
portion (not illustrated), at a region of the contact member 34 which will be
adjacent the
internal facing surfaces of the wall parts 28 and 30, the barb portion will
engage one of the
internal surfaces of said wall parts 28 and 30. The barb portion can be angled
so that movement
is prevented in a direction which would allow the contact member 34 to be
removed from the
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intermediate wall 6. Other methods could include riveting by plastic rivets,
riveting by metal
rivets which are recessed to prevent electrical contact; use of adhesives or
any other appropriate
means.
Extending in a circumferential direction from the body portion 4 are a pair of
holding members
74 for each cavity 62, 64, 66, 68. The holding members 74 can be generally
described as curved
extensions of the body 4 and are integrally formed therewith. The curve with
which they are
formed is the same as that as the circumference of the semi cylindrical body
4.
The holding members 74 do not extend along the whole of the length of the
cavities 62, 64, 66,
68. They are generally centrally located along the length of the cavities 62,
64, 66, 68 and are of
length to provide equally long spaces 76 at each end and along each side of
each cavity 62, 64,
66, 68. These spaces 76 allow a person utilising the housing 2 to remove dry
cells from the
cavities 62, 64, 66, 68, by permitting a user's fingers to grab the positive
or negative end of a
dry cell.
The holding members 74 achieve their holding purpose by partially occluding
the cavities 62
and 68. The holding members 74 are able to be bent or moved away from their
rest position, in
which rest position they occlude the openings of the cavities 62, 64, 66, 68.
The operation of the
holding members 74 and their occlusion of the respective cavity 62, 64, 66, 68
can be best seen
in Figures 10, 11 and 4.
The holding members 74 are preferred, but are not essential in that the dry
cells could beheld by
a variety of means if it is desired to hold them in the respective cavities
prior to insertion into an
appliance. Some other means could include the use of straps or even an outer
cylindrical tube
to slide over the housing 2, thereby leaving only the positive and negative
terminals at
respective ends of the housing 2 exposed, and ready for insertion into an
appliance.
Whereas, if it is not desired to hold the dry cells in position in the housing
prior to insertion in
the appliance, then the appliance can include a cylindrical cavity to receive
the housing 2. By
such a cylindrical cavity in the appliance, the appliance will prevent the dry
cells from exiting
the cavities 62, 64, 66, 68.
The aperture 70 serves a third purpose in that its presence allows the sides
78 in the central
regions of aperture 70 to move in the direction of arrows 80 when each
corresponding holding
member 74 is moved in the direction of each corresponding arrow 82. Without
the aperture 70
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being present, a greater force would be required to move the top edges 84 in
the directions of
arrows 82 to thereby allow a dry cell to be removed.
When a dry cell is being inserted the top edges 84 of holding members 74 will
move in a
direction of arrows 82 when a cylindrical side wall of a dry cell is placed
against the top edges
5 84 and pressure is applied to the dry cell, so as to insert it into a cavity
62, 64, 66, 68. The top
edges 84 will move because of the interaction of the cylindrical dry cell wall
and the top edges
84 and the angle between them.
In use) the housing 2 provides the advantage that if any dry cells are placed
in an incorrect
orientation the dry cell which is incorrectly positioned will not make
electrical contact at one
10 end. This will now be described in relation to Figures 8 to 11.
Illustrated in Fig 9 is a part cross section of two adjacent dry cells 58 and
88 which have been
correctly positioned in the housing 2, with a plan view of the arrangement
being illustrated in
fig 11. When in the correct position the raised cylindrical positive terminal
86 of the dry cell 88
partially passes through the U-shaped passage 36 to make electrical contact
with the first
portion 38 of the contact member 34. The terminal 86 needs to pass through
passage 36 because
first portion 38 is recessed relative to the external surface 40 of the wall
part 28. To form a
series connection, another dry cell 58 is placed in the adjacent cavity so
that its negative
terminal 56 makes contact with the tab portion 52 and second part 46 of the
contact member 34,
as has been described previously.
Illustrated in Fig 8 is a part cross section of two adjacent dry cells 58 and
88 which have been
incorrectly positioned in the housing 2, with a plan view of the arrangement
being illustrated in
fig 10. The first portion 38 of contact member 34 is recessed and the external
surface 40 of wall
part 28 keeps the negative terminal 56 of the dry cell 58 from making contact
with the recessed
first portion 38, thus no electrical connection is made to the positive
terminal 86 of dry cell 88.
Even if only one dry cell in a series of four is placed incorrectly in a
cavity, because no contact
is made by one negative end of a dry cell with the first portion 38 of a
contact member 34
(which is that portion designated for contact with the positive terminal of a
dry cell) no
dissipation of the stored charge of the dry cells will occur. If however the
dry cell 58 in Figure 8
were placed so that its positive end were making contact with the first
portion 38 of contact
member 34, then the two positives would be in contact with each other. However
still no
dissipation of the stored charge from either of the dry cells will occur
because one negative
terminal of one dry cell is not making electrical connection.
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Illustrated in Fig 12 is a positive terminal end 92 of an appliance, (the rest
of which is not
illustrated) and an end of housing 2 with a correctly positioned dry cell 88.
The positive
terminal 86 of dry cell 88 protrudes past the external surface 18 of first end
wall 8, so as to
make contact with the positive contact 94 of the appliance. The positive
terminal 86 and
positive contact 94, are pushed together because of bias associated with the
negative terminal of
the appliance, which pushes against the negative terminal of a dry cell in
cavity 62, which in
turn pushes the whole housing 2 forward.
Elround the positive contact 94 are ribs 96 and 98 which are shown in cross
section in Figure 12
(and 13). The ribs 96 and 98 could be replaced by a single rib, such as a U-
shaped rib if desired.
When the housing 2 is inserted in the correct orientation into the appliance,
the ribs 96 and 98
are separated from external surface 18 by a gap 100. In one embodiment, such
as that
illustrated, the gap 100 is also substantially equivalent to the distance
which the positive
terminal 86 protrudes past the external surface 18 of the first end wall 8.
However, the gap 100
can be reduced or increased depending upon: the thickness of the first end
wall 8, distance from
the end of positive contact 94 to the end of the ribs 96 and 98.
If desired the positive contact 94 could be spring mounted, in which case the
gap 100 might not
be present.
Illustrated in Fig 13 is the positive terminal end 92 of the appliance of Fig
12, and a correctly
positioned dry cell 58 in cavity 62, but the housing 2 has been inserted with
its negative end
pushed toward the positive contact 94. The second end wall 10 is adjacent the
negative end 56
of the dry cell 58 positioned inside the cavity 62. The ribs 96 and 98 engage
the external surface
26 of the second end wall 10. Because the surface of the terminal 56 is
separated from the
surface 26 of second end wall 10 (by the thickness 22 of the second end wall
10) the positive
contact 94 does not make electrical contact with the negative terminal 56.
By recessing the end of positive contact 94 from the end of the ribs 96 and
98, there will be
even less chance that inappropriate contacts will be made. By recessing the
end of positive
contact 94 from the end of the ribs 96 and 98, will also prevent contact being
made with a
positive terminal of a dry cell which is incorrectly positioned in the cavity
62, whereby the
positive terminal of the dry cell may be protruding through passage 20 and
past the outer
surface 26 of end wall 10. However, in this situation such a dry cell in
cavity 62 will also not be
making electrical contact with a adjacent terminal of an adjacent dry cell in
cavity 64, due to the
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construction of the intermediate wall 6 and the positioning of the surfaces of
the contact
member 34.
It will be understood that the construction of the intermediate wall 6 ensures
that any dry cells
incorrectly positioned into any one of cavities 62, 64, 66, 68, will not make
electrical contact
with an adjacent dry cell and thus no premature dissipation of the dry cells
will take place.
Further) interaction of the housing 2 at the first end wall 8 and second end
wall 10 with the
positive terminal end of an appliance ensures that even if all batteries or
dry cells are correctly
positioned inside each of the cavities 62, 64, 66, 68, if the housing 2 is
inserted incorrectly into
an appliance, then no circuit is formed with the series connected dry cells,
thus providing
protection for the appliance.
The number of cavities provided can be varied according to usage. It could
vary between 2 to 4,
or more, dry cells per housing 2, depending upon the appliance. The housing 2
illustrated in the
figures is of dimensions to receive AA-sized dry cells. However, the housing 2
and the cavities
62, 64, 66, 68 can be sized to accept any cylindrical dry cells, having
terminals at two ends.
While the above embodiment describes the intermediate wall 6 as having two
wall parts 28 &
30, a modified version can be manufactured by using a single wall part 28,
with a passage 3
therethrough. In this case the contact member 34 of figure 14, by means of the
first portion 38,
can be riveted by means of a plastic rivet or attached by some other
appropriate means, to one
side of the wall part 28. In this way, by having first portion 38 on the same
side of wall part 28
as illustrated in fig 9 (that is the second surface of said intermediate wall
6), and with wall part
absent, the alternatively constructed and assembled intermediate wall 6 and
contact member
34 will function in the same fashion as the embodiment described above.
Another feature of the housing 2 described above is that the intermediate
walls 6 can be
increased in size, by such modifications as an increase in the thickness or
depth of the wall part
25 30, together with a commensurate change in shape and or length of the
second portion 42 of the
contact member 34. By increasing the size of the intermediate walls 6, the
overall length of the
housing 2 will increase. The length is increased so that it is appropriately
longer than the length
of the same number of dry cells connected end to end, which are meant to fit
into the housing 2.
The appliance will have its positive and negative terminals spaced so as to
make electrical
30 contact with the dry cell terminals at the ends of the housing 2. If a
person were to place dry
cells without using a housing 2, into the appliance cavity which would
normally receive the
housing 2, no simultaneous electrical contact will be made between each
adjacent terminal of
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the dry cells and the positive and negative terminals of the appliance)
because of the provision
of spacing of the terminals of the appliance. Thereby, the appliance is
protected and the chances
will be very low of any of the dry cells prematurely dissipating or being
impaired and thus not
able to provide current as designed. Thus by providing a specially sized
housing 2 with the
appliance, the user will need to use the housing 2 thereby ensuring that the
all the dry cells are
correctly oriented for series connection.
While the housing 2 illustrated in the drawings does provide an increase in
the overall length of
the distance from the positive terminal in the cavity 68 to the negative
terminal in the cavity 62,
the placing of dry cells into the appliance with a housing as illustrated may
still be of sufficient
length to make simultaneous contact, because the appliance may provide a
negative contact or
terminal which can travel a significant distance and is spring biased. Such
travel and biasing
may make the necessary contact, with the bias being sufficient to complete the
contacts of all
the dry cells. Thus thicker intermediate walls 6 can be provided to decrease
the probability of
simultaneous electrical contact of the terminals being made.
The above describes how the correct orientation of the dry cells to be
inserted in the cavities is
assisted by the apertures 70. However, the correct orientation can be
determined readily by
feeling the two differently shaped first and second end walls 8 & 10, to
identify the positive or
first end.
It will be understood that the invention disclosed and defined herein extends
to all alternative
combinations of two or more of the individual features mentioned or evident
from the text or
drawings. All of these different combinations constitute various alternative
aspects of the
invention.
The forgoing describes embodiments of the present invention, and
modifications, obvious to
those skilled in the art, can be made thereto, without departing from the
scope of the present
invention.
