GB846311A - Hand device having current supplying and consuming units - Google Patents

Abstract

846,311. Charging and discharging batteries. HOPT G.m.b.H., K. Aug. 22, 1957 [Aug. 25, 1956; Dec. 21, 1956], No. 26520/57. Class 39(2). [Also in Groups XXXV and XXXVI] A current supplying unit comprising a rechargeable battery and a charging rectifier housed in a casing of a size to be held in the hand is attached to a current-consuming unit by pushing the two units together so as to establish electric connection. The connecting means may be in the form of plug pins or a bayonet joint. The current-consuming unit may be an electric lamp, a photo flash device, a blinker signal, an electric fan, an electric razor, a medical apparatus, an electric clock or a lighting element for a microsope. The current-supplying unit may contain herme-. tically sealed nickel cadmium cells and rectifier means so that the cells may be recharged by plugging the unit into a source of alternating current e.g. the wall plug socket of a household electric supply. Fig. 1 shows an electric torch comprising a unit A having a bulb 5 and reflector and formed with sockets 4, 41 for the plug pins 3, 3<SP>1</SP> of the battery unit B which carries a sliding switch 11. The circuit of the battery unit B is shown in Fig. 3 and comprises a battery 8 connected by leads 19, 20, one of which includes the switch 11, to contacts 9, 10 co-operating with contacts 3a, 3a<SP>1</SP> on the plug pins 3, 3<SP>1</SP>, the contacts being closed by a projection 6 on the lamp unit A when the units are assembled. One of the pins 3 is also connected via a resistor 12 to oppositely directed rectifiers 13, 13<SP>1</SP> the opposite sides of which are connected to the poles of the battery 8, the other pin 3<SP>1</SP> being connected to the poles of the battery through capacitors 14, 141. In a modification, Fig. 4 (not shown), the pins 3, 3<SP>1</SP> are used only for charging and for connecting the units together mechaniclly, separate plug pins on the unit A engaging the contacts 9, 10 when the units are assembled. The plug pins 3, 3<SP>1</SP> may be retractable into the unit B. When the units are assembled by means of a bayonet joint, the retractable plug pins for charging may project from the opposite end of the unit B. An adaptor comprising input terminals connected to plug sockets, or to plug pins when the circuit arrangement of Fig. 4 is used, may be provided for use when the battery is to be charged by direct current, a current limiting resistance being interposed between one terminal and the corresponding socket or pin.