Abstract: A battery backup installation for a time of use register for an electric meter is mounted within a case of the electric meter. The case includes a hatch which permits removal and replacement of the battery without requiring removal of the case from the meter. In one embodiment, the battery is installed in a battery clip on the face plate of the meter where it is accessible through the hatch. An extra length of wires from the battery permits the battery, and its mating connectors, to be withdrawn through the hatch for replacement thereof. In a second embodiment of the invention, the battery is captured in a door of the hatch and is withdrawn from the meter by the action of opening the hatch. In this embodiment, the hatch may be hinged or not hinged. Battery replacement is facilitated while the electronic register module is separated from line-supplied power. An auxiliary battery provides an auxiliary source of backup power during batterychange.

Abstract: A modular electronic demand register for an electric meter is enclosed in an insulating housing into which substantially all components are installable by drop-in, snap-together methods. A display is dropped into the housing and metallic contact pads thereof are interconnected with corresponding metallic contact pads on a printed circuit board using a resilient contact strip of a type having parallel longitudinal resilient conductors insulated from each other by an insulating resilient matrix. The as-formed contact strip is slightly longer than the distance between the two sets of metallic contact pads which it interconnects, whereby, when the printed circuit board is tightened in place, the contact strip is compressed slightly to provide a stable, resiliently urged fit. Guide surfaces on the electronic demand register cooperate with surfaces on the remainder of the electric meter to guide the electronic demand register into its operational position and to lock it in place.

Abstract: A skid plate retained below an electronic register module includes a plurality of cantilevered spring fingers formed by parallel pairs of slots in the skid plate. Each cantilevered spring finger includes a frusto-conical button which bears against a back plate in a housing during installation of the electronic register module therein. A rear end of the back plate includes a pair of mouse holes into which a rear pair of frusto-conical buttons engage during an intermediate stage of inserting the electronic register module into the housing. This engagement establishes the correct side-to-side positioning of the rear end of the electronic register module. A front cantilevered spring finger and its associated frusto-conical button resiliently urge the front of the electronic register module upward during substantially all stages of installation and in the operational position thereof.

Abstract: An electronic demand register for an electric meter includes a plurality of pushbutton controls for controlling material displayed or a mode of operation of the demand register. A lockable switch actuator includes an actuating paddle within a cover or housing of the meter which, when unlocked, can be rotated into alignment with a selected one of the pushbutton controls and then pushed inward to actuate the selected pushbutton control. A pair of bosses bracketing one of the pushbutton controls prevents actuation of its respective control until the actuating paddle is accurately positioned between them. A second pair of bosses bracketing another of the pushbutton controls are spaced too closely apart to permit the actuating paddle to pass therebetween and they thus prevent actuation of their respective pushbutton control.