Photography – Disposable or recyclable camera
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-26
2001-08-28
Gray, David M. (Department: 2851)
Photography
Disposable or recyclable camera
C396S542000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06282375
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Reference is made to commonly assigned, co-pending U.S. patent applications Ser. No. 09/360,432, entitled: CAMERA HAVING RESILIENTLY BIASING LABEL AND METHOD, filed Jul. 26, 1999, in the names of James D. Boyd, Stephen J. Smith, and Michael P. Cramer; Ser. No. 09/361,057, entitled: CAMERA HAVING LABEL MOUNTED ELECTRICAL COMPONENT, filed Jul. 26, 1999 in the names of James D. Boyd, Stephen J. Smith, and Michael P. Cramer; Ser. No. 09/360,576, entitled: METHOD FOR ASSEMBLING CRITICALLY POSITIONED CAMERA COMPONENT ON CAMERA BODY, filed Jul. 26, 1999, in the names of James D. Boyd, Stephen J. Smith, and Michael P. Cramer, Ser. No. 09/360,909, entitled: CAMERA HAVING LIGHT-BLOCKING LABEL, filed Jul. 26, 1999, in the names of James D. Boyd, Stephen J. Smith, and Michael P. Cramer; Ser. No. 09/361,637, entitled: CAMERA HAVING LABEL INCLUDING OPTICAL COMPONENT, filed Jul. 26, 1999, in the names of James D. Boyd, Stephen J. Smith, and Michael P. Cramer; Ser. No. 09/360,752, entitled: CAMERA HAVING LABEL-STOPPED OPTICAL SYSTEM, filed Jul. 26, 1999, in the names of James D. Boyd, Stephen J. Smith, and Michael P. Cramer; Ser. No. 09/361,056, entitled: ONE-TIME USE CAMERA LOAD ING METHOD, filed Jul. 26, 1999, in the names of James D. Boyd, Stephen J. Smith, and Michael P. Cramer each of which are assigned to the assignee of this application.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to cameras and camera recycling methods and more particularly relates to one-time use cameras having breakable components and related recycling methods.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Manufacturers commonly recycle one-time use cameras by replacing some parts at every cycle and inspecting and reusing other parts for multiple cycles. This approach conserves resources and allows the use of some parts that may not be reusable without risking quality, but maintains high quality in the recycled cameras. For example, plastic lenses in one-time use cameras are commonly replaced, since the lenses can be scratched during use in a manner that is not readily detectable without very careful study.
Replacing some parts during recycling and retaining others has the shortcoming that replaceable parts must be carefully separated out, since it is difficult to quickly differentiate used parts from new replacements for those parts. For example, one-time use camera lenses are small and all look alike at a quick glance.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,542 discloses a one-time use camera having a film door, which when opened to remove exposed film, breaks an anti-backup pawl. This approach is limited to a particular rear cover and anti-backup pawl.
One-time use cameras commonly include labels that describe use of the camera and have other useful or decorative information. Some of these labels must be tom or otherwise disrupted during recycling to remove exposed film. U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,543 entitled Method for Label Application Using Bernoulli Effect”, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, discloses a labeling method in which a label is floated on an air cushion into a substantially exact alignment with an area of an item receiving the label. It has been determined that the precision of label placement provided by this method is very great.
It would thus be desirable to provide an improved methods and cameras in which replaceable parts are breakable and are broken during recycling.
It is further desirable that improved methods and cameras be provided in which the breaking is associated with disrupting of a label.
It is still further desirable that improved methods and cameras be provided in which the breaking is irreversible.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is defined by the claims. The invention, in its broader aspects, provides a camera has a body having a functional subsystem and first and second cover parts. The second cover part moves relative to the first cover part from a closed position to an unclosed position to open the body. A label has an attachment portion that is adhered to at least one of the cover parts. The label has a breakable component joined to the attachment portion. The attachment portion supports the breakable component on the body in operative relation to the functional subsystem. The attachment portion disrupts from a use configuration to a replacement configuration responsive to the moving of the secondary cover part. Responsive to this disrupting of the attachment portion, the breakable component breaks irreparably. In a method for recycling the camera, the camera is opened, destroying the breakable component. The exposed film is removed. Unexposed film is loaded. The camera is light-tightly closed and following the closing, the original label is replaced by a label having an intact breakable component.
It is an advantageous effect of the embodiments of the invention that improved methods and cameras are provided in which replaceable parts are breakable and are broken during recycling.
It is a further advantageous effect that improved methods and cameras are provided in which the breaking is associated with disrupting of a label.
It is still a further advantageous effect that improved methods and cameras are provided in which the breaking is irreversible.
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Boyd James D.
Cramer Michael P.
Smith Stephen J.
Eastman Kodak Company
Gray David M.
Walker Robert Luke
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