Rechargeable battery unit

Claim 1

A SELF-SUPPORTING BATTERY UNIT ADAPTED TO BE INTERCHANGEABLE WITH CONVENTIONAL DRY CELLS FOR ENERGIZING A LOAD, SUCH AS A FLASHLIGHT, SAID BATTERY UNIT COMPRISING A TUBULAR HOUSING HAVING A PAIR OF TRANSVERSE END WALLS, JOINED BY A CONTINUOUS CYLINDRICAL WALL, SAID TUBULAR HOUSING CONTAINING TWO RECHARGEABLE CELL SETS EACH HAVING AT LEAST ONE RECHARGEABLE CELL AND TWO OPPOSITE CELL POLES, TWO OUTPUT TERMINALS AT SAID TRANSVERSE END WALLS FOR REMOVABLE COUPLING OF SAID TWO CELLS SETS TO A LOAD AND SUPPLYING CELL CURRENT THERETO AND TWO RECHARGING TERMINALS NORMALLY CONCEALED BY ONE OF SAID TRANSVERSE END WALLS FOR REMOVABLE COUPLING OF SAID TWO CELL SETS TO ALTERNATING CURRENT POWER SUPPLY AND RECHARGING SAID TWO CELL SETS, A TRANSFORMER CORE IN SAID TUBULAR HOUSING HAVING PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TRANSFORMER WINDINGS, SAID PRIMARY WINDING BEING CONNECTED BETWEEN SAID TWO RECHARGING TERMINALS, A FULL-WAVE RECHARGING CIRCUIT IN SAID TUBULAR HOUSING FOR RECHARGING SAID TWO CELL SETS WITH ALTERNATING CURRENT FROM SAID SECONDARY WINDING COMPRISING A CELL CONNECTION FROM THE POSITIVE POLE OF ONE CELL SET TO THE NEGATIVE POLE OF THE FURTHER CELL SET OF SAID TWO CELL SETS, TWO RECTIFIER MEANS EACH WITH OPPOSITE POLES, A RECTIFIER CONNECTION BETWEEN ONE POLE OF ONE AND THE OPPOSITE POLE OF THE FURTHER OF SAID TWO RECTIFIER MEANS, A POLE CONNECTION FROM THE OPPOSITE POLE OF SAID ONE RECTIFIER MEANS TO THE POSITIVE POLE OF SAID FURTHER SET AND A POLE CONNECTION FROM THE ONE POLE OF SAID FURTHER RECTIFIER MEANS TO THE POSITIVE POLE OF THE SAID FURTHER CELL SET, AND CONTROL MEANS WITHIN SAID TUBULAR HOUSING ACTUATABLE TO AN OUTPUT SETTING FOR SERIALLY CONNECTING SAID TWO CELL SETS THROUGH SAID TWO POLE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SAID TWO OUTPUT TERMINALS AND SUPPLYING CELL CURRENT THERETHROUGH SAID CONTROL MEANS SELECTIVELY ACTUABLE UPON MOVEMENT OF SAID ONE TRANVERSE END WALL TO REVEAL SAID RECHARGING TERMINALS TO A RECHARGING SETTING FOR CONNECTING SAID SECONDARY WINDING BETWEEN SAID CELL CONNECTION AND SAID RECTIFIER CONNECTION AND CAUSING ALTERNATING CURRENT FROM SAID SECONDARY WINDING TO PASS OPPOSITE HALF-WAVES OF EACH ALTERNATING CURRENT CYCLE THROUGH SAID TWO CELL SETS, RESPECTIVELY.