Photography – Camera detail – Lens cover
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-28
2001-06-19
Mathews, Alan A. (Department: 2851)
Photography
Camera detail
Lens cover
C396S535000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06247855
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lens protecting cover-attached camera. More particularly, this invention is concerned with a camera having a lens protecting cover that shields the face of a photographic lens to protect the photographic lens when closed so that it can be opened freely.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, various types of lens protecting cover-attached cameras have been proposed as for performing photography and have been put to practical use. In this type of camera, a camera body is provided with a member for protecting the face of a photographic lens by shielding the face of a photographic lens barrel when closed in a matter in which it can be opened freely.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-113959 has disclosed a lens protecting cover-attached camera having a lens protecting cover that pivots around a supporting shaft. The supporting shaft is placed substantially parallel to a plane substantially orthogonal to the optical axis of a photographic lens. The lens protecting cover is collapsed to move from a closed position, at which it shields the face of the photographic lens, to an open position at which it exposes the face thereof.
FIG. 34
is an oblique view schematically showing a camera disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-113959. The movements made in the camera
100
will be briefed below.
To begin with, when a power switch
103
is changed from an off state to an on state, a photographic lens barrel
105
thrusts forward from a collapsed position at which it is disposed non-photography. The photographic lens barrel
105
thus moves to a photographing position at which it is disposed during photography. A lens protecting cover
101
turns in the direction of arrow O in response to the thrusting movement. The lens protecting cover
101
thus moves from a closed position at which it shields the face of the photographic lens to an open position at which it exposes the face thereof. Concurrently with these movements, a strobe lighting unit
108
turns in the direction of arrow SI in FIG.
34
. The strobe lighting unit
108
thus pops up above the top of a camera
100
and moves to a strobe lighting-enabled position. Thus, the strobe lighting unit
108
is positioned either as indicated with a dot-dash line in
FIG. 34
or fully popped up.
In contrast, when the power switch
103
is changed from the on state to the off state, the photographic lens barrel
105
is plunged from the photographing position into the collapsed position. In response to this movement, the strobe lighting unit
108
turns in the direction of arrow S
2
in FIG.
34
. The strobe lighting unit
108
thus returns from the popped-up position indicated with the dot-dash line in
FIG. 34
to a stowed position indicated with a solid line in FIG.
34
. At this time, the lens protecting cover
101
does not respond to these movements but remains in the open position shown in FIG.
34
.
As mentioned above, the lens protecting cover-attached camera
100
has been proposed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-113959 and the like, and has been used practically in the past. When the power switch
103
is changed from the off state to the on state, the camera
100
is set from the non-photographic state to the photographic state. At this time, the power switch
103
should merely be changed from the off state to the on state. Thus, the photographic lens barrel
105
is moved from the non-photographing position to the photographing position. This causes the lens protecting cover
101
to turn in the direction of arrow
0
and thus move from the closed position to the open position. Also the strobe lighting unit
108
is moved from the stowed position to the popped-up position.
However, as far as the lens protecting cover-attached camera
100
of the prior art disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-113959 is concerned, the lens protecting cover
101
does not respond to a movement for changing the power switch
103
from the on state to the off state. For setting the camera
100
to a fully non-photographic state, after the power switch
103
is moved to the off position, the lens protecting cover
101
must be manually returned from the open position to the closed position. This is cumbersome.
Moreover, in the camera disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-113959, after the power switch
103
is turned off, the lens protecting cover
101
may be left unclosed. In other words, the lens protecting cover
101
may be retained in the open state. In this case, the cover
101
extends significantly forward relative to the photographic lens barrel
105
. There is a high possibility that an unintended extraneous force or impact may be imposed to the lens protecting cover
101
. Eventually, the lens protecting cover
101
may be broken.
In an effort to solve the above problem or prevent the lens protecting cover
101
from being broken, a member located near a supporting unit for supporting the lens protecting cover
101
has been reinforced in the past. Otherwise, an auxiliary member has been included for holding the lens protecting cover
101
at the open position. However, the adoption of the additional member increase the size of the camera itself. This is unavoidable.
On the other hand, the camera that has been disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-113959 has a pop-up mechanism for popping up the strobe lighting unit
108
. In the camera, a driving force exerted by a motor or the like is utilized for, for example, extending the photographic lens barrel
105
. Due to a loss in driving force exerted by the motor, the motor to be incorporated in the camera must be capable of providing a larger output. This poses a problem in that the camera must be made to be larger in size.
Some cameras of related arts include a pop-up mechanism for popping up a strobe lighting unit. In the pop-up mechanism, unlike the pop-up mechanism described in conjunction with
FIG. 34
, a driving force exerted by a motor or the like is not utilized for popping up the strobe lighting unit. These cameras of the related art generally adopt a structure having a mechanical interlocking member interposed between the pop-up mechanism for popping up the strobe lighting unit and a power switch. The structure does not utilize a driving force to be exerted for driving a photographic lens barrel, but causes the strobe lighting unit to pop up in response to a changing movement made by the power switch.
However, in this case, an effort must be made to shorten the route of the interlocking member as much as possible. This is intended to ensure reliability for manipulations and to provide a compact design for the camera. The power switch and the pop-up mechanism for popping up the strobe lighting unit must therefore be located close to each other. Limitations are imposed on designing. This poses a problem in that the freedom in designing a camera is impaired and the locations of the members of a camera are restricted.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The first object of the present invention is to provide a lens protecting cover-attached camera capable of preventing breakage of a lens protecting cover. Herein, a driving force exerted by a motor or the like is not utilized, but a simple mechanism is provided for turning on or off a main power switch and for opening or closing the lens protecting cover in response to manipulations performed on a single manipulating member.
The second object of the present invention is to provide a lens protecting cover-attached camera capable of contributing to the design of a compact camera. Herein, a driving force exerted by a motor or the like is not utilized, but a simple mechanism is provided for turning on or off a main power switch, for opening or closing the lens protecting cover, and for popping up a strobe lighting unit in response to successive manipulations performed on a single manipulating member.
Briefly, according to the first aspect
Asakura Yasuo
Imai Yuji
Kobayashi Yuji
Motohashi Katsumi
Muroi Takashi
Mathews Alan A.
Olympus Optical Co,. Ltd.
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