Battery-filling apparatus with electronic signaling unit

Claim 1

A battery-filling apparatus including a filler tube with a nozzle adapted to be inserted in the filler opening of a battery, said battery having a conductor bar on the rim of the opening electrically connected to the electrolyte of the battery, said nozzle having a surrounding conductive sleeve insulated from the filler tube to abut said conductor bar and locate the filler nozzle in the battery, and said nozzle having a conductive tip connected electrically to the filler tube, a handle for said nozzle, and a self-contained signaling unit secured to said handle and including a miniature cell, a solid-state oscillator and a sound transducer to give an audio signal when said oscillator is operative, and said signaling unit having a control circuit including a normally nonconductive SCR for connecting said cell to said oscillator, said SCR having base and emitter elements of which one is electrically connected to the tip of said nozzle via said filler tube and the other has a separate lead wire connection along said tube to said sleeve to cause said base and emitter elements to be interconnected when the electrolyte level reaches said tip to render said SCR conductive and start said oscillator to give a warning signal.