Electricity: battery or capacitor charging or discharging – Cell or battery charger structure – For diverse sizes of cells – batteries – or battery packs
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-02
2002-05-07
Toatley, Gregory (Department: 2838)
Electricity: battery or capacitor charging or discharging
Cell or battery charger structure
For diverse sizes of cells, batteries, or battery packs
Reexamination Certificate
active
06384575
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a battery charger, and more particularly to a battery charger capable of charging different size of batteries.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many products, for example a calculator, a clock, a pager, a Walkman, an electric razor, a flashlight, a camera, etc., are widely used and operated by one or more batteries because they are portable and convenient power source. In order to reduce cost of the batteries and be environmentally friendly, a rechargeable battery is successfully developed. There are many types of commercially available batteries such as Nickel-Cadmium (Ni—Cd) batteries, Nickel Metal Hydride batteries, Lead Acid batteries and Lithium Ion batteries.
The standard size of battery usually has been designated as AAA, AA, C, and D. In response to the marketplace's demand, a battery charger has been developed to simultaneously charge batteries. Such battery charger has a plurality of charging units having predetermined sizes of battery receptacles for receiving specific batteries. For example, if four batteries of size AA or AAA are going to be simultaneously charged, five battery chargers having four charging units (i.e. four AAAs, three AAAs and one AA, two AAAs and two AAs, one AAA and three AAs, and four AAAs) would be manufactured, which is costly and not environmentally friendly. Furthermore, fabricating more battery chargers is necessary when more sizes of batteries and more of different sizes are designed for receiving specific batteries, which is not pleasing to the eye.
A battery charger has been developed to overcome the above drawbacks. FIGS.
1
(
a
) and
1
(
b
) show a typical battery charger capable of charging two standard batteries, e.g. AAA size and AA size, by using springs to expand and contract the length of battery receptacles. The battery charger includes a main body
11
having four sets of charging units, wherein each set of charging unit includes a battery receptacle
12
, a contact element
13
, an adjusting plate
14
and a slot
15
. The adjusting plate
14
is connected to a spring
16
under the battery receptacle
12
and as another contact element. The anode and cathode of a battery to be charged are engaged and electrically connected with the contact element
13
and the adjusting plate
14
. In normal condition, the adjusting plate
14
is positioned in one side of the battery receptacle
12
by a pulling force resulted from the spring
16
. If the adjusting plate
14
is pulled in the direction distant from the positive electrode contact
13
via the slot
15
, the charging unit is capable of charging an AA size battery. Although such charger could simultaneously charge different size batteries, it has the following disadvantages:
(1) The pulling force by the spring
16
needs to be large enough to pull the adjusting plate
14
when an AA size battery is charged, which is inconvenient; and
(2) The elastic fatigue of the spring
15
is common; therefore, the electric engagement of the charging unit could not be achieved.
Therefore, the present invention provides an improved battery charger for overcoming the problems described above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a battery charger capable of charging a battery selected from one of a first size battery and a second size battery.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a battery charger capable of simultaneously charging different size batteries.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the battery charger includes a housing and at least one charging unit. Each of the charging unit includes a battery receptacle disposed on the housing for receiving and supporting a battery selected from one of a first size battery and a second size battery, a switching device positioned in one side of the battery receptacle and has a metal strip thereon, and a contact element positioned in the other side of the battery receptacle. The first size battery would be charged when the switching device is switched to a first position and the second size battery would be charged when the switching device is switched to a second position.
Preferably, the housing includes an upper housing, a lower housing.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the anode and cathode of the battery are respectively electrically connected with the metal strip and the contact element. Furthermore, the metal strip includes a first protruding pad corresponding to the first size battery and a second protruding pad corresponding to the second size battery. The switching device further includes a protuberance for facilitating adjusting the switching device by hand.
Preferably, the battery receptacle is a concave recess having multiple supporting surfaces.
Preferably, each of the first size battery and the second size battery is selected from a group consisting of size AAA battery, size AA battery, size C battery and size D battery.
The above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which:
REFERENCES:
patent: 5057761 (1991-10-01), Felegyhazi, Sr.
patent: 5686811 (1997-11-01), Bushong et al.
patent: 6014010 (2000-01-01), Yao
Chen Chen Chun
Kuan Hsu Wen
Delta Electronics , Inc.
Toatley Gregory
Volpe and Koenig P.C.
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