Battery-operated devices

Claim 2

In a device which operates with electric illumination, an elongated hollow grip which also functions as a battery housing, said grip having an exterior surface, a springy clip carried by said grip at said exterior surface thereof for clipping the grip onto an upper edge region of an enclosure such as a garment pocket with the grip situated in the latter, said clip having a bottom free end and a top end fixed to said grip and said clip defining an elongated gap with said exterior surface of said grip, so that the enclosure wall can pass between the grip and the bottom free end of the clip toward the top end of the latter into and along said gap, and switch means carried by said grip for closing and opening an electrical circuit, said switch means including a shiftable switch member bridging said gap and movable between a lower circuit-closing position and an upper circuitopening position, and said clip carrying a guide means which guides said switch member for movement between said positions with said switch member when in its lower position situated in alignment with the enclosure wall to be engaged by an edge of the latter for automatic displacement upwardly to said circuitopening position when the grip is situated within the enclosure with the upper wall portion thereof extending along said gap between the clip and the exterior surface of the grip.

Claim 3

The combination of claim 1 and wherein said guide means includes an elongated portion of said clip which is formed with an opening through which part of said shiftable switch member extends with edges of said clip which defines said opening thereof engaging and guiding said shiftable switch member for movement between said positions thereof.

Claim 4

The combination of claim 2 and wherein a detent means coacts with said shiftable switch member and said clip for releasably holding said switch member in one or the other of said positions thereof.

Claim 5

The combination of claim 3 and wherein said detent means includes a part of said shiftable switch member which is formed with a transverse bore, a spring situated in the latter bore, a pair of ball members urged apart from each other by said spring, and one pair of recesses formed in said clip and receiving said ball members when said switch member is in one of its positions while said clip is formed with a second pair of recesses receiving said ball members when said switch member is in the other of said positions thereof.

Claim 6

The combination of claim 1 and wherein said switch means includes a stationary contact carried by said grip and a movable contact displaced by said switch member into engagement with said stationary contact when said switch member is moved to said switch-closing position thereof while said movable contact assumes a position displaced from said stationary contact when said switch member is moved to said circuit-opening position thereof, said grip having an upper end adapted to be connected to an instrument and a lower end provided with a removable end wall which may be removed for inserting batteries into and removing batteries from the interior of the grip, said grip having an elongated tubular wall of electrically nonconductive material providing the grip with its exterior surface and carrying at the region of said lower end a circular ring of electrically conductive material, said removable end wall having a conductive portion engaging said ring and carrying a spring engaging a battery to provide part of an electrical circuit from the battery through the spring to the ring carried by said waLl of said grip, and an elongated conductor extending from said ring along said wall of said grip to said stationary contact of said switch means.

Claim 7

The combination of claim 1 and wherein said hollow grip is adapted to accommodate rechargeable batteries in its interior, said grip being made up of an elongated tubular wall of electrically nonconductive material and carrying in an inner upper end region an electrically conductive plate engaging one pole of a battery as well as a contact of an electrical instrument mounted on the grip, said grip having a lower end carrying a removable closure and in the region of said closure a threaded ring fixed to said grip and made of an electrically conductive metal, an elongated conductor extending along said grip in the interior thereof and electrically connecting said ring to said plate, said closure having an outer electrically conductive ring threaded onto said ring carried by said grip, and said closure having a bottom end wall of insulating material carried by said outer ring thereof, an inner electrically conductive support situated within said closure and carried by said outer ring thereof with a layer of insulation situated between said support and outer ring to prevent said support and outer ring from being in electrical communication with each other, a spring carried by said support and engaging a pole of a battery within said grip to connect the battery electrically to said support, said electrically nonconductive bottom wall of said closure being formed with an opening and said support carrying an electrically conductive portion accessible through said opening, and said switch means having a stationary contact carried by said grip and a movable contact displaced by said shiftable switch member into and out of engagement with said stationary contact, and an elongated conductor extending along said grip from said stationary contact to said support of said closure and being electrically connected to the latter, whereby said closure may be removed and replaced for removing and inserting batteries into said grip while with batteries still in said grip a pair of contacts of a recharging unit can respectively be placed on and engagement with said portion of said support through said opening of said bottom wall and the other in engagement with said outer ring of said closure to provide for a recharging circuit enabling batteries to be recharged while they remain within said grip.

Claim 8

The combination of claim 6 and wherein a charging unit is provided for recharging the batteries in the said grip, said charging unit having a guide sleeve for receiving said grip, and said sleeve being received between the exterior surface of said grip and said clip and having a top edge which engages said shiftable switch member to move the latter upwardly to its circuit-opening position when the grip is mounted on the charging unit, so that the circuit is automatically opened when recharging of the batteries takes place.