Optical lens case

A kit for receiving and protecting interchangeable camera lenses comprising:

• a cylindrical body shell, the body shell including an outer rigid casing having inner and outer diameters, and an inner soft-lined receptacle within the inner diameter of the body shell for receiving a lens therein;
• a base end cap positioned at a bottom end of the body shell to form a closed-end floor therewith, with a visco-elastic material disposed thereon;
• a ring-shaped mouth member disposed at the top end of the body shell forming an opening sized to receive a camera lens, the mouth member including an engagement thread arrangement;
• a lid cap including a complementary engagement thread arrangement and adapted to removably engage the mouth member by means of a rotational interference fit accomplished by engaging the engagement thread arrangements, the lid cap including a visco-elastic material disposed to extend into the body shell when the lid cap is engaged with mouth member;
• at least one shock-absorbing stabilizing disk having an outer diameter of a dimension adapted to engage the interior surface inner soft-lined receptacle in a friction fit;
• and
• a guide member having concentric circle indicia of different diameters thereon and adapted to be concentrically aligned with the stabilizing disk by means of the circle indicia, the circle indicia including indicia indicating the diameter of the interior surface of the body shell.

A threaded joint apparatus of the type in which a cylindrical female member includes an inward-facing annular mating surface and a cylindrical male member includes an outward-facing annular mating surface adapted to selectively engage the inward-facing annular mating surface in a rotational interference fit, the apparatus comprising:

• a first engagement thread arrangement disposed on the inward-facing mating surface and including a number of ridges protruding from and extending partway around the mating surface;
• and
• a second engagement thread arrangement disposed on the outward-facing mating surface and including an annular ledge and a corresponding number of ridges each extending generally upward therefrom and partway around the respective mating surface, with the upper ends of adjacent ridges being spaced from each other a distance greater than the length of the ridges of the second engagement thread arrangement;
• wherein the engagement thread arrangements are removably engageable in a two-stage interference fit, wherein in a first stage each ridge of the first engagement thread assembly is slidably captured between an upper portion of a corresponding ridge of the second engagement thread assembly and the annular ledge thereof, and wherein in a second stage each ridge of the first engagement thread assembly is wedged between a lower portion of a corresponding ridge of the second engagement thread assembly and the annular ledge thereof;
• and
• wherein in the first stage the male and female members are relatively translatable along the central axis thereof in a range of motion corresponding to the distance between the upper portions of the ridges of the second engagement thread assembly and the annular ledge.