3 ms·

I'm very surprised there's no prior art here. It seems like something I've seen before, although I can't think of any specific examples. (I've definitely seen

by Kadin 16y ago

I'm very surprised there's no prior art here. It seems like something I've seen before, although I can't think of any specific examples. (I've definitely seen old flashlights designed for those big square 6V lantern batteries so that, as long as you put the thing in with the contacts facing up, they would always work...) If there's no prior art in the wild, then my tendency is to wonder why not -- I find it pretty hard to believe the guys at Microsoft are the first to think of this. I wonder if some poorly-manufactured batteries would short out the contacts, and that's why other designers have shied away from doing it?

jacksoncarter 16y ago
It seems like something you've seen before, because it is. There are lots of devices that require batteries to be inserted. Perhaps there's no prior art, because it's an unobvious advancement to battery technology. Is that so hard to believe? Why do you find it hard to believe the guys at Microsoft were the first to think of it? They create lots of battery operated devices like mice and keyboards and microsoft has a ton of geniuses working for them to boot. I've never seen anything like this before. I wish all batteries were as easy to insert as this invention makes them.
- jncraton 16y ago
  I'm sure the guys working on Microsoft hardware are a brilliant bunch. I have no doubt that they possess the ability to come up with this type of innovation. The part that amazes me is that with all the other engineers that have worked hard to design battery enclosures no one had thought of this yet. It's so simple. Brilliant, but simple.
rbanffy 16y ago
A flashlight doesn't care which way current flows through the lightbulb. As long as you insert all batteries the same way (or, at least, not insert them in equal groups each way) it will work. It depends on the design of the AA or AAA cell. I am not sure how reliable this will be.

by Kadin 16y ago

jacksoncarter 16y ago

It seems like something you've seen before, because it is. There are lots of devices that require batteries to be inserted. Perhaps there's no prior art, because it's an unobvious advancement to battery technology. Is that so hard to believe? Why do you find it hard to believe the guys at Microsoft were the first to think of it? They create lots of battery operated devices like mice and keyboards and microsoft has a ton of geniuses working for them to boot. I've never seen anything like this before. I wish all batteries were as easy to insert as this invention makes them.

jncraton 16y ago
I'm sure the guys working on Microsoft hardware are a brilliant bunch. I have no doubt that they possess the ability to come up with this type of innovation. The part that amazes me is that with all the other engineers that have worked hard to design battery enclosures no one had thought of this yet. It's so simple. Brilliant, but simple.

rbanffy 16y ago

A flashlight doesn't care which way current flows through the lightbulb. As long as you insert all batteries the same way (or, at least, not insert them in equal groups each way) it will work. It depends on the design of the AA or AAA cell. I am not sure how reliable this will be.