Small general purpose mercury or alkaline batteries are well known and commercially available. This is also true with respect fo specialty batteries such as those used in cardiac pacer devices, watches and the like which take advantage of electrochemical systems in which the depolarizer is a charge transfer complex and the anodes are of various metals, such as lithium. Illustrative of these batteries are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,653,966, 3,660,163, 3,723,183, 3,817,791, 3,874,929, 3,937,635, 3,957,533, 4,049,890 and 4,072,803. See also U.S. Pat. No. 4,217,403, issued Apr. 12, 1980 (Ser. No. 896,639, filed Apr. 17, 1978).
Lithium halide batteries have been found to have extended life and capacity for use in cardiac pacer devices and watch applications, see for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,660,163 3,674,562 and 4,148,975. However, such electrochemical systems have not been found useful in general purpose consumer batteries commonly known as "C" and "D"-sized dry cells which are commercially available from leading battery manufacturers. The lithium halide cells have been found deficient since they do not have the necessary power capacity for high drain applications, for example, in battery operated flashlights.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a battery structure which has the same size as a conventional "C" or "D" dry cell and utilizes the advantages of the lithium halide electrochemical system. It is contemplated that the batteries of the present invention may not have the same current capacity as the conventional alkaline or mercury dry cells, but will be, nevertheless, suitable for use in numerous applications requiring extended life such as traffic counters. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a lithium halide battery which can be substituted for conventional "C" or "D" batteries in applications not requiring long periods of high drain. It is also an object of the invention to provide a battery having very low self-discharge characteristics.