Photography – With film drive – Mechanical detail
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-21
2001-12-11
Gray, David M. (Department: 2851)
Photography
With film drive
Mechanical detail
C396S442000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06328486
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera and, more particularly, to the structural arrangement of a body of the camera.
2. Description of Related Art
The structural arrangement of a body of a conventional camera has been made as shown in
FIG. 6
in general. Referring to
FIG. 6
, which is an exploded perspective view, the camera body
100
is integrally composed of a cartridge chamber
100
a
into which a container containing a film therein (such as a film cassette or a film cartridge) is loaded, a spool chamber
100
b
in which a film take-up spool arranged to take up and wind an exposed part of the film thereon is disposed, an aperture part
100
c
which is provided for exposing the film to light between the cartridge chamber
100
a
and the spool chamber
100
b
, and inner rails
100
d
and outer rails
100
e
which are provided outside the aperture part
100
c
as a travel path of the film for guiding the travel of the film. Dowels
100
f
mounted on the camera body
100
are arranged to be fitted in respective mounting datum holes
102
f
provided in a pressure plate
102
ao as to fix the pressure plate
102
in position.
With the camera body
100
arranged in the above manner, a photo-taking lens barrel
101
is secured to a part of the camera body
100
between the cartridge chamber
100
a
and the spool chamber
100
b
, and the pressure plate
102
is disposed on one side of the camera body
100
opposite to the photo-taking lens barrel
101
so as to keep the flatness of the film.
FIG. 7
is a sectional view taken across a middle part of the camera shown in FIG.
6
. Referring to
FIG. 7
, it is apparent that portions of the camera body
100
corresponding to the upper and lower inner rails
100
d
and the upper and lower outer rails
100
e
are set sufficiently thick in view of the rigidity of the camera body
100
.
Meanwhile, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. HEI 6-95226, there is disclosed such a structural arrangement of the camera body that a fixed photo-taking lens barrel is formed integrally with the camera body for the purpose of reducing the size of the whole camera, and a member having an aperture part and a film-travel rail part, which is formed separately from the camera body, is fixed to the camera body from behind the camera body. In this structural arrangement, the aperture part and the film-travel rail part are relieved from the above-stated requirement for giving a sufficient rigidity to the camera body and thus can be formed thin for reduction in size of the camera.
However, in the structural arrangement of the camera body generally employed in the conventional camera described above, the aperture part inclusive of the film-travel rail part is used not only for interconnecting the cartridge chamber and the spool chamber but also for giving a sufficient rigidity or strength to the camera body. To meet this requirement, the thickness of the aperture part must be sufficiently thick. Therefore, it has been impossible to reduce the thickness of the camera body in the direction of a photo-taking optical axis.
Further, in recent years, a high-magnification zoom lens having two or more times variations of focal length is popularly used in the compact camera. Therefore, in order to enable the camera body to support such a heavy zoom lens, the above-stated requirement for thickening the aperture part has increased.
On the other hand, in the case of the camera disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. HEI 6-95226, the fixed photo-taking lens barrel, which is formed integrally with the camera body, serves to strongly connect the spool chamber and the cartridge chamber to each other. The member having the aperture part and the film-travel rail part is not required to serve as such a connecting part. Therefore, this member can be formed thin. However, since the structural arrangement of the camera body is necessarily made complicated, it is still impossible to make the camera body sufficiently thin in the direction of a photo-taking optical axis.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a camera, which comprises a camera body having formed integrally therewith a film-travel guide part in a film exposing position and a fixed photo-taking lens barrel, and a photo-taking image frame forming member mounted in the film exposing position on the camera body, so that the camera has a compact structural arrangement capable of accurately forming a photo-taking image frame and accurately guiding the travel of film.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a camera, which comprises a camera body having formed integrally therewith a fixed photo-taking lens barrel, a photo-taking image frame forming member mounted in a film exposing position on the camera body, and fixing means for fixing the photo-taking image frame forming member to the camera body and for guiding travel of film in the film exposing position on the camera body, so that the camera has a compact structural arrangement capable of accurately positioning the photo-taking image frame forming member and accurately guiding the travel of film.
These and other aspects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4384774 (1983-05-01), Tuck
patent: 5187512 (1993-02-01), Kirkendall
patent: 5521668 (1996-05-01), Ezawa
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Gray David M.
Robin Blecker & Daley
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