End-loaded battery carriage

A battery-operated device comprising:

• a battery chamber defined within a housing which is configured to permit end-loading of a battery into the battery chamber;
• a first dual-contact assembly disposed at a first opposing end of the housing and including a positive contact configured to contact a positive terminal of a battery and a negative contact configured to contact a negative terminal of the battery;
• and
• a second dual-contact assembly disposed on a battery chamber door and including a positive contact configured to contact the positive terminal of the battery and a negative contact configured to contact the negative terminal of the battery;
• where the battery chamber door is selectively moveable into and out of a coupled state with a second opposing end of the housing;
• where, in the coupled state, the first dual-contact assembly and the second dual-contact assembly are held in a spaced relationship to receive and hold opposing ends of the battery;
• and
• where moving the battery chamber door into the coupled state establishes electrical conductivity between the positive contact of the first dual-contact assembly and the positive contact of the second dual-contact assembly and establishes electrical conductivity between the negative contact of the first dual-contact assembly and the negative contact of the second dual-contact assembly.

A battery carriage, comprising:

• a battery chamber defined within a housing configured to permit longitudinal insertion of a plurality of batteries, such that, when installed into the battery chamber, the plurality of batteries define an end-to-end stack having a distal end located at a distal end of the housing and a proximal end located at a proximal end of the housing;
• a dual-contact assembly at the distal end of the housing;
• a dual-contact assembly disposed on a battery chamber door which is affixable to the proximal end of the housing;
• and
• a spacer assembly disposed within the housing for each adjacent pair of the plurality of batteries, the spacer assembly separating that adjacent pair of the plurality of batteries and having a dual-contact assembly for a first battery of that adjacent pair and a dual-contact assembly for a second battery of that adjacent pair;
• wherein the dual-contact assemblies and the one or more spacer assemblies are configured so that each of the plurality of batteries in the end-to-end stack is held in an orientation-neutral battery-length receptacle defined by a pair of the dual-contact assemblies, the orientation-neutral battery-length receptacles being electrically coupled together to produce a desired electrical architecture for the end-to-end stack regardless of how each of the plurality of batteries is inserted into the housing.