Photography – Disposable or recyclable camera
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-01
2001-06-19
Gray, David M. (Department: 2851)
Photography
Disposable or recyclable camera
C396S440000, C396S511000, C396S538000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06249646
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photographic film package for a lens-fitted photographic camera, and more particularly to a photographic film package with a reloadable film container holding chamber for holding a film container therein.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Lens-fitted photographic film packages or cassettes are now on the market. These prior art photographic film packages are single-use and low-cost camera preloaded with photographic film therein. These film packages make it possible to take pictures whenever desired without buying or carrying an expensive and heavy camera. Examples of such prior art photographic film packages are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,408,288, 4,954,857, 5,436,685, 4,972,649, 4,884,087, 5,063,400, and 4,855,774.
For example, the photographic film package as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,087 has a film housing of which a front cover and a rear cover are secured to a main assembly, in which assembly an optical lens, a film wind-up wheel, a shutter mechanism and a wind-up stopping mechanism are incorporated.
The structure of the prior art film package includes a film supplying chamber and a film take-up chamber formed on opposite horizontal sides of the optical lens. The unexposed film is wound in a roll and contained in the film supplying chamber. A user who has purchased the film unit winds up the film frame by frame at each exposure on a spool in a cassette contained in the film take-up chamber. The film unit in its entirety is forwarded to a photo laboratory when the whole strip of the film is exposed. The film package needs to be unloaded in a dark room and the film package after processing will be destroyed and discarded as waste. It is noted that the destroyed film package will cause damage to the environment, so that it is desirable to be able to recycle the film package after processing and reload a new film container therein.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a recycled photographic film package for a photographic camera.
The other object of the present invention is to provide a photographic film package with a film container holding chamber for holding a reloaded film container therein. The photographic film package may be preloaded with a film container therein for first use. After the whole strip of the film contained in the film container is exposed, it is possible to recycle the photographic film container by simply reloading a new film container.
In order to achieve the above objects above, the photographic film package with a film container holding chamber in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a light-tight casing having an exposure opening, and a film container holding chamber formed on one side of the exposure opening in the light-tight casing for holding a film container, and a film winding chamber formed on the other side of the exposure opening. The film container holding chamber includes two opposite plates defining a C-shaped clipping structure and an axially-extending side opening through which a film container is inserted into the C-shaped clipping structure to be substantially surrounded thereby.
Preferably, the film container holding chamber further comprises an upper supporting plate formed on the upper section of the film container holding chamber, and a lower supporting plate formed on the lower section of the film container holding chamber.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1944312 (1934-01-01), Black
patent: 2933027 (1960-04-01), Hollingworth et al.
patent: 4290680 (1981-09-01), Muramatsu et al.
patent: 5040010 (1991-08-01), Arai
Dougherty & Troxell
Gray David M.
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