Battery package with multiple support compartments

Abstract

A retail package for round cell batteries is a transparent single sheet thermoformed clamshell having a cover connected along a hinge to a base which receives an array of upwardly extending batteries. The base has a side wall which extends upwardly from a flat bottom wall. The side wall has a lower section which is substantially perpendicular to the bottom wall and has a zero degree draft angle. Semicylindrical pockets are defined by the base wall lower portion and batteries are positioned in the pockets two abreast. Thus, each battery is engaged by a portion of the side wall and another battery. Hence, a partially emptied container will still retain most of the batteries upright. The cover has a downwardly extending skirt with an inwardly extending semicircular closure tab which engages beneath a lip formed on the base side wall. The lid closure may be released by pressing the base side wall. More than two rows of batteries may be accommodated within a package by providing the lower side wall with an intermediate segment which extends upwardly from the bottom wall within the container to divide the container into a plurality of compartments, each compartment having portions defining an array of battery pockets, each array being exactly two pockets wide, and at least two pockets long.