Optical apparatus
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsHidefumi Notagashira, Tsuyoshi Akutsu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Optical apparatus comprises an optical element and a moving mechanism having two members arranged to move the optical element in the direction of an optical axis thereof by moving one of the two members in the direction of the optical axis relative to the other while rotating said two members relative to each other. The two members include a male helicoid member having a male helicoid screw and a female helicoid member having a female helicoid screw arrangement in screw engagement with the male helicoid screw, the female helicoid screw arrangement providing only a single screw thread peripherally interiorly of the female helicoid member along an axis parallel to the optical axis.
Claims27
An optical apparatus comprising:
- a) an optical element;
- and
- b) a moving mechanism having two members arranged to move said optical element in the direction of an optical axis thereof by moving one of said two members in the direction of the optical axis relative to the other while rotating said two members relative to each other, said two members including
- b-1) a male helicoid member having a male helicoid screw, and
- b-2) a female helicoid member having a female helicoid screw arrangement in screw engagement with said male helicoid screw, said female helicoid screw arrangement providing only a single screw thread peripherally interiorly of said female helicoid member along an axis parallel to said optical axis.
An optical apparatus comprising:
- a) an optical element;
- and
- b) a moving mechanism having two members arranged to move said optical element in the direction of an optical axis thereof by moving one of said two members in the direction of the optical axis relative to the other while rotating said two members relative to each other, said two members including
- b-1) a male helicoid member having a male helicoid screw, and
- b-2) a female helicoid member having a female helicoid screw arranged to be in screw engagement with said male helicoid screw, said female helicoid member including an abutting part formed along a screw thread of said female helicoid screw and arranged to abut on an outside circumference of a screw thread of said male helicoid screw.
An optical apparatus comprising:
- a) an optical element;
- and
- b) a moving mechanism having two members arranged to move said optical element in the direction of an optical axis thereof by moving one of said two members in the direction of the optical axis relative to the other while rotating said two members relative to each other, said two members including:
- b-1) a male helicoid member having a male helicoid screw;
- and
- b-2) a female helicoid member having a female helicoid screw arranged to be in screw engagement with said male helicoid screw, said female helicoid member having a gear formed along a screw thread of said female helicoid screw, said gear having a plurality of teeth formed along the optical axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.