Patent ID: 7163766

Claim:
A primary alkaline cell comprising a negative and a positive terminal, and an outer housing having a pair of opposing flat sides running along a portion of the length of said housing; said housing having a closed end and opposing open end and said housing not having any integral cylindrical sections; said cell further comprising an anode comprising zinc and a cathode comprising MnO 2 within said housing, a separator between said anode and cathode, and an end cap assembly sealing the open end of said housing; wherein the cathode comprises at least one cathode slab having an opening defined therethrough devoid of cathode material, with at least a portion of the outer surface of said cathode contacting the inside surface of said housing, wherein the cathode comprises a plurality of rectangular shaped cathode slabs; wherein each of said slabs has a central opening devoid of cathode material; wherein said cathode slabs are stacked within the housing along the cell's central longitudinal axis so that said openings devoid of cathode material form a continuous central core along said longitudinal axis, with the outer surface of said cathode contacting the inside surface of said housing; wherein the boundary perimeter defining said central opening within said rectangular cathode slabs has an oblong configuration with a long dimension (D 1 ) defining the length of said opening and a short dimension (D 2 ) defining the width of said opening.