Photography – Camera detail – Body structure or housing
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-14
2001-08-14
Gray, David M. (Department: 2851)
Photography
Camera detail
Body structure or housing
Reexamination Certificate
active
06275663
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical apparatus, such as a camera, having a cartridge chamber in which a film cartridge is to be loaded.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, a film cartridge having a new form different from the forms of conventional film cartridges has been proposed. In the film cartridge having the new form, a film leading end is not led out of the cartridge unlike the conventional film cartridges. When the cartridge is loaded in a camera or the like, a film is first reeled out of the cartridge and is then advanced to a film take-up spool with thrust driving.
The film in the new cartridge is given with a tendency to curl, i.e., core-set curl, which causes the film to wind around a spool in the cartridge. When the film is moved along a film transport path with the thrust driving, the film is forced to round in the widthwise direction into an arcuate shape due to the core-set curl, and a force for transporting the film from the cartridge with the thrust driving is imparted to the whole of film extending out of the cartridge so that the pliable film can reach the film take-up spool.
In this connection, if a film outlet
1
h
of a film cartridge
1
is set to locate in the same direction as a film transporting direction that is perpendicular to the optical axis of a photographing lens, as shown in
FIG. 20
, the film extending out of the cartridge with the thrust driving cannot maintain the arcuate shape of a radius R due to the presence of a pressure plate, etc., and a buckled portion
18
a
occurs in the arcuate film.
Additionally, in
FIG. 20
, reference numeral
1
i
denotes a door for opening and closing the film outlet l
h
of the film cartridge
1
. When the door
1
i
is closed, the film outlet
1
h
is perfectly shielded against light. Reference numeral
18
denotes a film which has been thrust (pushed) out of the film cartridge
1
.
If the buckled portion
18
a
occurs in the arcuate film in such a manner, the thrust force is no longer imparted to the leading end of the film
18
. If the thrust driving is further continued in such a condition, the film
18
is bent at the buckled portion
18
a
, thus resulting in that it becomes impossible to not only thrust the film, but also rewind the film because the leading end of the film is folded one part over another part.
Therefore, the film outlet
1
h
of the film cartridge
1
is generally set to orient rearward about four degrees with respect to the film transporting direction
18
b
(see
FIG. 22
) that is perpendicular to the optical axis of the photographing lens, so that, as shown in
FIG. 21
, the film can always maintain the arcuate shape of the radius R during the thrust driving.
As seen from
FIG. 22
which shows a cross-section of a camera, if the film outlet
1
h
of the film cartridge
1
is set to orient rearward an angle E, for example, about four degrees, with respect to the film transporting direction
18
b
that is perpendicular to the optical axis of the photographing lens, for ensuring the film extended out of the cartridge to take an optimum arcuate shape during the thrust driving, a problem arises in that a part of the film cartridge, including the film outlet
1
h
, protrudes in the back-and-forth direction of the camera, and a thickness of the camera increases correspondingly.
One conceivable method to suppress such an increase in thickness of the camera, i.e., to minimize a thickness F of the camera in the direction of an optical axis
14
a
of a photographing lens
14
, is to form an outer casing cover
8
of metal and construct a part of a cartridge chamber
9
, which is formed of plastic, by the outer casing cover
8
, as shown in FIG.
22
.
With the above method, however, because the cartridge chamber
9
has a limit in its wall thickness for ensuring positive shield against light, edges
9
b
,
9
c
and
9
d
of the plastic-made cartridge chamber
9
, which are positioned at the boundaries with respect to the outer casing cover
8
, cannot be formed into very sharp edges, so that steps are produced between the edges
9
b
,
9
c
,
9
d
and the outer casing cover
8
.
As seen from
FIG. 23
which shows a bottom surface of the camera, a cartridge insertion opening formed at the bottom of a camera body, therefore, also has steps between the edges
9
b
,
9
c
,
9
d
and the outer casing cover
8
.
Because of the steps between the edges
9
b
,
9
c
,
9
d
and the outer casing cover
8
, gaps are left between an inner periphery of the cartridge insertion opening and an outer periphery
13
a
of a packing
13
, which is provided around a cartridge chamber lid
2
to be fitted to the cartridge insertion opening, when the cartridge chamber lid
2
is closed. Accordingly, the cartridge chamber
9
cannot be sufficiently shielded against light.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to provide an optical apparatus, such as a camera, and a cartridge loading apparatus, with which a thickness of the optical apparatus can be reduced and a cartridge insertion opening can be sufficiently shielded against light.
To attain the above object, in accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a cartridge loading apparatus for a camera, comprising a cartridge chamber into which a film cartridge is loaded, first setting means for setting a film outlet of the film cartridge to orient in a predetermined direction in a state where the film cartridge has been completely loaded into the cartridge chamber, and second setting means for setting the film outlet of the film cartridge to orient in a direction angularly deviating from the predetermined direction when the film cartridge passes a cartridge insertion opening of the cartridge chamber. According to the above aspect of the invention, the cartridge insertion opening can be formed to have an opening width, i.e., a wall thickness, with satisfactory flexibility in design. As a result, the thickness of an optical apparatus such as a camera can be reduced, and the cartridge insertion opening can be sufficiently shielded against light.
The above and further aspects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4459000 (1984-07-01), Sekine et al.
patent: 5040010 (1991-08-01), Arai
patent: 5247325 (1993-09-01), Takahashi
patent: 5422695 (1995-06-01), Katagiri
patent: 5697007 (1997-12-01), Nishimura
patent: 5884111 (1999-03-01), Seamans
patent: 5893654 (1999-04-01), Pagano et al.
patent: 5923904 (1999-07-01), Negishi
patent: 0 703 487 (1996-03-01), None
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Gray David M.
Robin Blecker & Daley
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