I'ved heard of a 4wd company that makes high angle drvshfts for rock crawlers and stuff like that.  Maybe couple the ideas, high angle d/s with the telescoping ability!!??

So........ items #1 and #3 operate in basically the same fashion......control the flow of fluid?

It was said to hook batt's up in both series and parallel.  My question is this, what would you then recommend for connecting the batt's?  Such as cables, metal rods, straps, etc....