Photographic camera

Abstract

A photographic camera having a lens opening and a finder opening in the housing or casing of the camera, is provided with a cover plate or blind plate to close these openings when pictures are not being taken, to protect the picture taking lens and the finder lens from possible damage and to prevent entrance of dust or foreign matter into the housing. A manually operable slider controls the movement of the cover plate between its closed and open positions and also moves the film transport means or feeding mechanism, to advance the film through the space of one picture area or "frame." As the amount of film wound on the take-up spool increases so that the diameter of such film increases, a less amount of rotation of the take-up spool is needed in order to advance the film through the space of one picture, and therefore a less amount of movement of the operating slider is needed, and this lesser movement might not be sufficient to shift the cover plate all the way from its closed position to its open position, if the cover plate were directly coupled to the slider. Therefore, the cover plate is coupled to the slider by a lost motion connection, and after the slider has caused some initial movement of the cover plate, an auxiliary drive moves the cover plate the remainder of the distance to its fully open position even though movement of the slider may have stopped.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.