Storage battery

A storage battery having a housing with a plurality of contact forks which are opposite a switch disposed on the housing. The switch has a slider which slidably guides a portion of the switch inside the housing in a direction transverse to the housing longitudinal axis. A locking piece is resiliently fixed in the housing and holds the switch in place while allowing it to slide such that the switch is electrically connected and disconnected to the forks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The invention relates to a storage battery for incorporation in a 
prosthesis which is externally powered by electricity, and more 
particularly to a storage battery provided with contact forks embedded in 
the front end thereof for engagement with knife-type contacts provided at 
the end of the prosthesis. 
2. Description of the Related Art 
A conventional storage battery can be found in German Patent Specification 
no. 2,542,933. Prostheses powered externally by electricity are controlled 
by myoelectric controls and electromechanical control systems, which are 
driven by a storage battery incorporated in the prosthesis. Previously 
known rechargeable storage batteries fit in a holder. These storage 
batteries can be integrated in all types of shafts, and because of their 
small external dimensions, can also be inserted into the case of long 
stumps. Provided in the prothesis are knife-type contacts which, upon 
insertion of the storage battery into the holder, engage with the contact 
forks of the storage battery. A snap-type closure is provided for securing 
the storage battery in its holder. 
A switch for the electrical supply is provided outside the storage battery, 
and its holder, and is integrated, for example, in a hand prosthesis and 
is activated from the outside through the hand covering. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
An object of the invention is to simplify the previously known storage 
battery with respect to its handling. 
According to the invention, this object is achieved by arranging a sliding 
switch on the large face of the battery housing which lies opposite to the 
contact forks. The sliding switch is guided, within the housing and 
transverse to the longitudinal axis of the housing, by means of a slider 
which is equipped with contact springs, and is fixed in its sliding plane 
by means of a locking piece resiliently snapped into the housing. 
According to the invention, a detachable connecting part, equipped with 
contact forks, can be detachable connected into the locking piece. The 
connecting part has a safety arrangement inserted therein which is in 
electrical communication with a contact fork. 
Thus, according to the invention, the switch is integrated directly into 
the storage battery. However, the construction according to the invention 
affords the possibility of reducing the external dimensions of the storage 
battery as compared to conventional designs. Additionally, the housing of 
the conventional storage battery consists of a top part and a bottom part, 
each part being designed in the form of a flat shell. According to the 
invention, it is advantageous for the sliding switch, locking piece and 
connecting part to be accommodated in a housing head, which is glued to 
the housing body. The switch can be connected as a main switch allowing 
the entire current supply to be switched centrally switched on and off. 
The storage battery is particularly suitable for incorporation in a hand 
prosthesis for children, in which case a person attending to the disabled 
child has easy access to the switch.

The storage battery shown comprises a housing, which is made up of a 
housing body 1 and a housing head 2 which are glued together. A distancing 
pad 3 and a storage battery unit (not shown) are pushed into the housing 
body 1. The housing head 2 encloses a sliding switch 23, a locking piece 4 
and a connecting part 5, the design of which will be described 
hereinbelow. 
The sliding switch 23 consists of a slider 6 which is guidably displaceable 
in the housing head 2 in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis 
of the housing; is equipped with a contact spring 7, and bears on a slide 
button 8, which lies on a large face of the housing body 2. The slider 6 
bears, via a resilient arm 9, on a guide (not shown) inside the housing 
head 2, and engages via a locking nose 10, situated at the end of the arm 
9, notches 24 which fix fixing the switching position of the sliding 
switch. The contact spring 7 is held in place by a pin 11. 
The slider 6 is fixed in its sliding plane inside the housing head 2 by the 
locking piece 4 which is pushed into the housing 2 and fixed resiliently 
therein. In its pushed-in position, the locking piece 4 lies flush with 
the end face of the housing head 2. The locking piece 4 has two spring 
tongues 13 lying opposite each other which are each equipped with a 
locking nose 12. Spring tongues 13 couple the locking piece 4 to the 
housing head 2 by engaging the locking noses 12 behind correspondingly 
designed undercuts 25 in the housing head 2. In an end view of the housing 
head 2, the locking piece 4 has a U-shape and engages with a frame 14 over 
a branch 15 of the slider 6. 
The connecting part 5 fits between the U-branches of the locking piece 4. 
Lateral guide noses 16 thereby engage with corresponding guide grooves 
(not shown) on the inner side of the U-branches. The connecting part 5 is 
equipped, on its side facing away from the slide button 8, with contact 
forks 17. One of the forks 17 is electrically connected to a safety 
arrangement (such as a fuse) 18. The safety arrangement 18 fits into the 
connecting part 5 in a direction parallel to the U-branch of the locking 
piece 4, and is held clamped in place by a bracket 19 at one end and 
engages with its free end a corresponding recess in the locking piece 4 
when the connecting part 5 is pushed fully in place. A compression spring 
20 bears against the safety arrangement 18 at a right angle. In its 
assembled position, the connecting part 5 engages, with the free ends of 
its guide noses 16 facing toward the contact forks 17, behind a shoulder 
(not shown) of the housing head 2. The connecting part 5 must therefore be 
pushed fully into the locking piece 4 before the locking piece 4 is in 
turn pushed into the end opening of the housing head 2. The connecting 
part 5 is electrically connected and disconnected from the contact spring 
7 depending on whether or not the contact spring 7 is in contact with the 
safety arrangement 18 as the contact spring 7 moves with the switch 23. 
Additionally, a second contact spring (not shown) moves with the switch 23 
into and out of electrical contact with the contact fork 17 which is not 
connected to the safety arrangement 18. 
Arranged between the contact forks 17 is a pressure part 22 which can be 
displaced upward due to the action of a spring 21. Thus, when the storage 
battery is fit into an adapted holder inside a prosthesis, the pressure 
part 22 is pressed in by a prosthesis-side nose to lock the storage 
battery in place. When the storage battery is unlocked, the pressure part 
22 presses the storage battery up and out of the holder on one side so as 
to facilitate the removal of the storage battery. Further details on this 
feature can be found in German Patent Specification 2,542,933 the subject 
matter of which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
While specific embodiments of the invention have been described, it will be 
understood that the invention is capable of modification and this 
application is intended to cover any variations, use or adaptation of the 
invention and including such departures from the present disclosure as to 
come within the knowledge of customary practice in the art to which the 
invention pertains, and as may be applied to the essential features 
hereinbefore set forth and following within the scope of the invention and 
the limits of the appended claims.