Photography – Camera support – Operator supported
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-25
2001-02-13
Gray, David M. (Department: 2851)
Photography
Camera support
Operator supported
Reexamination Certificate
active
06188849
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to a camera stabilizer of the kind defined in the preamble of claim
1
.
The invention thus relates to a camera stabilizer, for instance a film camera stabilizer or a video camera stabilizer.
A video camera stabilizer or like camera stabilizer is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,229,798. The known stabilizer includes a camera attachment that enables the camera to be mounted on the upper side of the attachment, an attachment-carried arm system which when the stabilizer is positioned for use extends at least vertically away from the attachment. The arm system carries a stabilising weight or mass at its outer end. The stabilizer also includes a handle, which is connected to the attachment means through the medium of a universal joint that prevents unintentional transmission of angular movement of the handle in relation to the vertical to the camera. Thus, the camera can be carried by means of the stabilizer handle with the camera constantly steady and without the “wobbling” movements of the camera operator being transferred to the camera.
A fundamental principle of the camera stabilizer is that it carries an inertial mass at a relatively long distance from the common centre of gravity of the camera and the stabilizer, so as to require the application of a comparatively large torque or turning moment to change the orientation of the camera. Because pivotal movement or down-folding movement of the handle is not transmitted to the camera and the remaining parts of the stabilizer, the camera pictures will have significant stability even when the camera is carried by the stabilizer handle while taking pictures.
The stabilizer known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,229,798 includes an arm system that has a horizontal axle which enables the arm system to be folded from a working position to a storage position in the vertical plane, wherein a monitor and a battery box are placed in front of the objective lens of the camera and its ocular end. The handle is connected to a fixed point in the attachment, in a horizontal plane. The camera is supported by the attachment through the medium of a so-called X-Y table, which enables the camera to be moved horizontally in relation to the handle and to said mass to a position in which the stabilizer holds the camera balanced horizontally.
In order to enable stabilisation to be effected also in the Z direction, one end of the stabilizer handle has a threaded peg or stud that engages with a corresponding sleeve on the attachment, wherein the sleeve axis is perpendicular to the plane of the X-Y table so as to enable the handle pivot point to be moved vertically in relation to the camera.
This known stabilizer has certain drawbacks. For instance, the X-Y table is an expensive and complex device and has a relatively large overall height and relatively short adjustment distances from the handle connection point. In turn, this results in the stabilizer mass being insufficiently large to provide for static balancing of those cameras whose centres of gravity lie at a relatively large horizontal distance from the point at which the handle is connected to the attachment. This drawback is particularly manifested by the requirement for the mass to be placed in the proximity of a vertical axis through the handle pivot.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a low-weight stabilizer that is relatively uncomplicated and that affords simple static balancing of the camera even when the centre of gravity of the camera is located at a relatively long distance from the camera attachment point to the stabilizer attachment.
Further objects of the invention will be apparent from the following text.
The object of the invention is achieved with a stabilizer having the features set forth in the accompanying claim
1
.
Further embodiments of the inventive stabilizer arrangement will be evident from the accompanying dependent Claims.
One significant feature of the invention is that the arm system that carries the stabilising inertial or sluggish mass at a horizontal and vertical distance is divided into two arm parts through the medium of a pivot joint that enables the outer arm part, which carries the mass, to be swung horizontally in relation to the inner arm part, which is connected to the attachment.
This enables the stabilizer attachment to be given a very simple and robust construction. For instance, when the arm-part connected to the attachment extends in the longitudinal direction of the camera, it suffices to permit the handle to be displaceable in its longitudinal direction in order to balance the camera in this direction. The camera can be balanced in the direction perpendicular to this direction in the horizontal plane, by swinging the outer arm-part horizontally and optionally also displacing said arm-part in the direction of its longitudinal axis, such that the outer arm-part will generate a turning moment or torque that adjusts the camera in the horizontal plane and also in the lateral direction of the camera.
By giving the vertical pivot means of the arm-parts the form of a telescopic arm, suitable balancing of the camera can also be ensured in the Z direction, by varying the length of the vertical telescopic arm.
The invention thus provides a simple and robust construction that includes long adjustment distances for balancing the stabilizer and the camera in relation to the handle joint. The camera position relative to the longitudinal extension of the arm can also be readily adjusted.
Transmission of rotary or pivotal movements from the handle-gripping part to the camera and to the stabilizer arrangement can also be prevented by providing a pivot joint, e.g. a slide bearing or a ball bearing, between the handle gripping part and the universal joint.
The simplified attachment of the inventive stabilizer system enables the attachment to be formed in principle by a square profile provided with slots in two mutually opposing side surfaces. This enables the camera to be mounted on an upper profile side with the aid of a screw that is passed through the slot from within and screwed into the threaded mounting bush of the camera with the aid of a screwdriver inserted into the interior of the hollow profile through the slot on the opposite side thereof.
The connecting end of the handle may carry a screw which is inserted through the slot in the bottom side-surface of the hollow profile and screwed into a nut located within said profile, wherein said nut may optionally be held against rotation by coaction with imperforate side-walls of the profile. This enables the handle to be readily unscrewed from its nut and displaced along the slot to a desired position along the hollow profile, where the handle can then readily be screwed securely by gripping and rotating its universal joint such as to screw the screw into the nut. The arm-parts of the inventive stabilizer arrangement and the telescopic arm that extends vertically between said arm-parts will preferably be releasable from one another or collapsible in relation to each other such that in a dismantled state, the stabilizer will comprise essentially a bundle of mutually parallel and mutually adjacent straight arm parts.
In one embodiment, the vertically positioned telescope arm may be extended with the aid of a crank means that enables the region of the effective radius of the outer arm-part to be increased from the vertical axis represented by the telescopic arm.
The mass, or weight, may typically comprise the batteries required to operate the camera, wherein current conductors may extend along the stabilizer arms, from a battery box located on the free end of the stabilizer arrangement to camera-mounted current connection means.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4946272 (1990-08-01), Brown
patent: 5098182 (1992-03-01), Brown
patent: 5229798 (1993-07-01), Brown
patent: 5360196 (1994-11-01), DiGiulio et al.
patent: 5842859 (1998-04-01), Acker
Fasth Rolf
Fasth Law Offices
Gray David M.
LandOfFree
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