Motor-driven winding and rewinding camera
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorsTomoya Kitajima, Kunihiko Araki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A photographic camera which is fully automated in the film winding and rewinding operations is provided. In one form of the present camera, the film winding operation may be automatically moved into the film rewinding operation by detecting the end of the film, for example, by detecting the fact that the tension of the film has exceeded a predetermined level. In another form, a planet gear mechanism is provided in the power transmission train so as to minimize the consumption of energy. In a further form, the camera is provided with an automatic film loading or setting mechanism and an alarm unit for generating an alarm signal when the failure of automatic film setting has been detected. In a still further form, the camera may be operated without film loaded in the camera.
Claims18
A photographic camera for automatically winding a film loaded therein to a spool and rewinding said film from said spool on a frame by frame basis, comprising:
- a driving motor which is driven to rotate in a first direction which corresponds to a winding direction of said film and driven to rotate in a second direction which is opposite to said first direction and corresponds to a rewinding direction of said film;
- first power transmission means having a first end operatively connected to said driving motor for transmitting a driving power received from said driving motor to its second end;
- second power transmission means having a first end operatively connected to said second end of said first power transmission means and a second end connected to a first shaft of said camera, said spool being rotatably mounted on said first shaft;
- third power transmission means having a first end and a second end which is in power transmitting relation with said second end of said first power transmission means and operatively connected to engageable means for engaging a second shaft around which said film is initially wound;
- and
- first clutch means for operatively connecting said second end of said first power transmission means to said first end of said third power transmission means when said motor is driven to rotate in said second direction and disconnecting said second end of said first power transmission means from said first end of said third power transmission means when said motor is driven to rotate in said first direction.
A photographic camera for automatically winding the film loaded therein intermittently from a film holding shaft around which said film is originally wound to a spool rotatably supported on a winding shaft and rewinding said film from said spool to said film holding shaft, comprising:
- a driving motor which is driven to rotate in a first direction which corresponds to the winding direction of said film and driven to rotate in a second direction which is opposite to said first direction and corresponds to a rewinding direction of said film;
- a driving control circuit for controlling a driving condition of said motor;
- winding power transmission means for transmitting a power at least to said winding shaft when said motor is driven to rotate in said first direction;
- rewinding power transmission means for transmitting a power at least to said film holding shaft when said motor is driven to rotate in said second direction;
- detecting means including a constant clutch mechanism provided between said winding shaft and said spool for mechanically detecting a tension of said film when said film is being moved in said winding direction, said detecting means supplying a detection signal to said driving control circuit to cause said motor to be driven in said second direction upon detection of the tension of said film having exceeded a predetermined level.
A photographic camera for automatically winding the film loaded therein intermittently from a film holding shaft around which said film is originally wound to a spool rotatably supported on a winding shaft and rewinding said film from said spool to said film holding shaft, comprising:
- a driving motor which is driven to rotate in a first direction which corresponds to the winding direction of said film and driven to rotate in a second direction which is opposite to said first direction and corresponds to the rewinding direction of said film;
- a driving control circuit for controlling the driving condition of said motor;
- winding power transmission means for transmitting the power at least to said winding shaft when said motor is driven to rotate in said first direction, said winding power transmission means including a sprocket engageable with said film;
- and
- rewinding power transmission means for transmitting the power at least to said film holding shaft when said motor is driven to rotate in said second direction, said rewinding power transmission means including a rewind fork engageable with said film holding shaft;
- whereby, denoting the total number of rotations required for said sprocket to wind up said film over its entire length by n.sub.1, the total number of rotations required for said rewind fork to rewind said film over its entire length by n.sub.2 and the ratio of the numbers of rotations between said sprocket and said rewind fork by N.sub.1 :N.sub.2, said winding and rewinding power transmission means are so structured to satisfy the relation of N.sub.1 /N.sub.2 being equal to or larger than n.sub.1 /n.sub.2.
A photographic camera for automatically winding the film loaded therein from a film holding shaft around which said film is originally wound to a spool rotatably supported on a winding shaft and rewinding said film from said spool to said film holding shaft, comprising:
- a driving motor which is driven to rotate in a first direction which corresponds to the winding direction of said film and driven to rotate in a second direction which is opposite to said first direction and corresponds to the rewinding direction of said film;
- a driving control circuit for controlling the driving condition of said motor;
- winding power transmitting means for transmitting power at least to said winding shaft when said motor is driven to rotate in said first direction;
- rewinding power transmission means for transmitting power at least to said film holding shaft when said motor is driven to rotate in said second direction;
- means for automatically setting said film so as to locate the first frame of said film at the photographic position of said camera upon closure of the back cover of said camera;
- and
- means for detecting the occurrence of failure of automatic setting of said film by said automatic film setting means thereby supplying a stop signal to said driving control circuit to stop the rotation of said motor and at the same time generating an alarm signal to the operator.
A photographic camera for automatically winding the film loaded therein from a film holding shaft around which said film is originally wound to a spool rotatably supported on a winding shaft and rewinding said film from said spool to said film holding shaft, comprising:
- a driving motor which is driven to rotate in a first direction which corresponds to the winding direction of said film and driven to rotate in a second direction which is opposite to said first direction and corresponds to the rewinding direction of said film;
- winding power transmission means for transmitting power at least to said winding shaft when said motor is driven to rotate in said first direction;
- rewinding power transmission means for transmitting power at least to said film holding shaft when said motor is driven to rotate in said second direction;
- detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of said film in said camera and supplying a signal indicating the presence or absence of said film;
- first pulse generating means for generating pulses in association with advancement of said film;
- second pulse generating means for generating pulses independently of presence or absence of said film in said camera;
- and
- control means for controlling the driving condition of said motor in response to said signal supplied from said detecting means and pulses supplied from said first and second pulse generating means, said control means controlling the driving condition of said motor in response to said pulses supplied from said second pulse generating means when said signal supplied from said detecting means indicates the absence of said film in said camera.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.