Photography – Disposable or recyclable camera
Patent
1999-05-12
2000-09-12
Mathews, Alan A.
Photography
Disposable or recyclable camera
396 29, 396411, 396412, G03B 112, G03B 1702, G03B 1708
Patent
active
061189421
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a photographic film packaging unit which is provided with a lens, according to the precharacterising clause of claim 1. The invention thus relates to a camera which cannot be reloaded by the end user.
Photographic film packaging units, so called single use cameras, which are provided with a lens, which are loaded with a film by the manufacturer and which the user hands in for development together with the film, are known from DE 37 35116 for example.
So as to be able to reuse as many parts of the film packaging unit as possible, products have been developed (e.g. according to EP 679 929), in which a core housing comprising all the requisite functions for taking photographs is enclosed by a protective housing, which is formed from two shells for example.
It is thereby ensured that the core housing is protected from moisture, contamination and damage. The protective housing is transparent, at least at the location at which the taking lens is seated in the core housing, or contains a taking lens at the same location.
Film packaging units of said type are inexpensive alternatives to customary photographic cameras which the customer can reload himself. Therefore, film packaging units of said type do not usually comprise an electric motor operated by a battery for advancing the film frame by frame in the film container, but comprise a film advance handle which limits the convenience of operation, and which obviously has to be accessible from the outside and therefore cannot be completely enclosed by the protective housing.
Moreover, the sealing of the location of the protective housing at which the film advance wheel is accessible to the user is problematical, because the film advance wheel has to be movable. The use of a film packaging unit such as this as an underwater camera is therefore associated with considerable cost.
The object of the present invention was to develop a photographic film packaging unit which is provided with a lens, which is convenient to operate and for which the sealing problems are solved.
This object is achieved by providing for the film packaging unit to contain a motive spring which is tensioned before being put into operation and which acts on the empty film cartridge so that after each exposure the motive spring is released to such an extent that the film is wound into the film cartridge by one frame. The spring is preferably designed so that a complete film can be wound frame by frame into the film container without the motive spring having to be tensioned again.
Accordingly, the motive spring is installed in a tensioned state in the film packaging unit before the film packaging unit is closed.
Preferred embodiments of the photographic film packaging unit according to the invention are given in the subsidiary claims.
As mentioned above, the film packaging unit is also suitable as an underwater camera, and is distinguished in particular by an increased level of convenience in operation, since it is not necessary to advance the film manually from photograph to photograph. A further advantage of one preferred embodiment is that a version without a motive spring can be produced using substantially identical components, since in order to advance the film the handwheel can be mounted at the same place where the motive spring is seated in the version with the motive spring.
Moreover, in one preferred embodiment the use of the film packaging unit as an underwater camera is ensured by enclosing the film packaging unit in a water-tight protective housing and by providing for the protective housing to comprise a water-tight, flexible membrane at the location of the shutter release, through which the shutter release button can be operated.
Photographic cameras which are driven by a spring mechanism have already been described, e.g. in D Gbm 1 950 084. The camera which is described there is reloadable. It therefore necessitates a device component which is accessible from the outside and by means of which the spring can be tensioned again, and is subject to the sealin
REFERENCES:
patent: 5634160 (1997-05-01), Lee
patent: 5640609 (1997-06-01), Reibl et al.
VDI nachrichten, Nr 24, Jun. 14, 1996, S.32.
Luhrig Hermann
Sykes John
Agfa-Gevaert Naamloze Vennootschap
Mathews Alan A.
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