Patent ID: 7972719

Claim:
A battery assembly ( 10 ) comprising: a series ( 12 ) of rectangular cells ( 20 ), and a U-shaped tray ( 14 ) to support the cells ( 20 ) in series, with bottoms ( 24 ) coplanar and adjacent sides parallel, said tray ( 14 ) comprising spaced arms ( 43 ) interconnected by a rigid web ( 41 ) providing a generally flat seating surface upon which said cell bottoms ( 24 ) are seated and being longitudinally elongated such that the spaced arms ( 43 ) oppose the endmost ones of the series ( 12 ) of cells ( 20 ), said web ( 41 ) further being provided with a docking provision ( 41 ) that extends longitudinally beneath the bottoms ( 24 ) of all said cells ( 20 ), said bottoms ( 24 ) of the cells ( 20 ) being provided with counterpart docking provisions ( 52 ) for self-assembling with the docking provision ( 49 ) of the web ( 41 ) and thereby provide properly aligned seating of the cell bottoms ( 24 ) in series on the web ( 41 ) of the tray ( 14 ).