Battery operated power supply

Claim 1

A CONSTANT VOLTAGE POWER SUPPLY WHICH IS ADAPTED TO OPERATE EFFICIENTLY FROM LOW VOLTAGE BATTERIES WHOSE OUTPUT VOLTAGE MAY PROGRESSIVELY DECREASE AS THEY ARE USED UP, SAID SUPPLY COMPRISING A FIRST TRANSISTOR HAVING TWO OUTPUT ELECTRODES AND A CONTROL ELECTRODE, A TRANSFORMER HAVING A FIRST WINDING, SAID WINDING IN SERIES WITH THE OUTPUT ELECTRODES OF SAID FIRST TRANSISTOR BEING ADAPTED TO BE CONNECTED ACROSS A LOW VOLTAGE BATTERY, A HIGH VOLTAGE WINDING ON SAID TRANSFORMER, RECTIFIER MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID HIGH VOLTAGE WINDING TO PRODUCE A DIRECT OUTPUT VOLTAGE, A GAS DISCHARGE VOLTAGE REGULATING TUBE CONNECTED IN SERIES WITH A LARGE VALUE LOAD RESISTOR ACROSS SAID DIRECT OUTPUT VOLTAGE AND NORMALLY CONDUCTING WHEN SAID OUTPUT VOLTAGE IS AT OPERATING VALUE, A SECOND TRANSISTOR HAVING AN INPUT AND AN OUTPUT, THE INPUT THEREOF BEING CONNECTED TO AT LEAST A PORTION OF SAID LOAD RESISTOR, A THIRD TRANSISTOR HAVING AN OUTPUT COUPLED TO THE CONTROL ELECTRODE OF SAID FIRST TRANSISTOR AND HAVING AN INPUT CONNECTED TO THE OUTPUT OF SAID SECOND TRANSISTOR, AND OSCILLATING SIGNAL FEEDBACK MEANS COUPLED TO SAID FIRST TRANSISTOR IN SERIES WITH THE OUTPUT OF SAID THIRD TRANSISTOR AND THE CONTROL ELECTRODE OF SAID FIRST TRANSISTOR TO RAPIDLY INTERRUPT THE FLOW OF CURRENT BETWEEN SAID TWO OUTPUT ELECTRODES AND TO VARIABLY BIAS SAID FIRST TRANSISTOR, WHEREBY A HIGH DIRECT VOLTAGE IS GENERATED FROM SAID LOW BATTERY VOLTAGE AND EVEN THOUGH SAID BATTERY VOLTAGE DECREASES WITH USE, SAID OUTPUT VOLTAGE IS MAINTAINED SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT.