Surveillance device with eyeball assembly and pivotably mountable carriage assembly

A surveillance assembly comprising:

• an eyeball assembly including:
• a camera and lens assembly having a viewing axis and a viewing cone;
• a shroud substantially totally surrounding said camera and lens assembly and having a light-transmissive area aligned with the viewing axis of said camera and lens assembly and sufficient to pass said viewing cone, whereby said camera and lens assembly can view outward of said shroud;
• said eyeball assembly being adapted to be rotatable about first and second axes so as to enable rotation of said camera and lens assembly and said shroud about said first and second axes, while said viewing axis and viewing cone of said camera and lens assembly remain aligned with said light transmissive area of said shroud, said eyeball assembly including first means adjacent spaced peripheral points of said eyeball assembly and adapted to be connected to and rotate with a part of a carriage assembly for carrying said eyeball assembly and for rotating said eyeball assembly about said first axis.

Apparatus for use with a camera and lens assembly and for further use with a housing of a surveillance assembly, said housing having first spaced seating areas on a first surface of said housing and second space seating areas on a second surface of said housing, said apparatus comprising:

• a carriage assembly including:
• means for carrying said camera and lens assembly;
• and a pivot means situated along a first side of said carriage assembly and an engagement means situated along a second side Of said carriage assembly, said pivot means being adapted to engage the first surface area of said housing so as to permit said carriage assembly to be pivoted while said pivot means is maintained in engagement with the first surface area of said housing to bring said engagement means into engagement with the second surface area of said housing, thereby permitting mounting of said carriage assembly to said housing with said pivot means in engagement with the first surface area of said housing and said engagement means in engagement with the second surface area of said housing,
• said pivot means including:
• an elongated first member having first opposite ends which form pivot points and are adapted to pivotably engage the first spaced seating areas on the first surface area of said housing;
• and said engagement means including:
• an elongated second member having second opposite ends which are adapted to engage the second spaced seating areas on said second surface area of said housing.

A camera/lens mounting for mounting the image pickup of a camera to a lens, the lens including a collar at one end for receiving the mounting, the collar having threads on a threaded outer surface and an end face with an annular slot, the camera/lens mounting including:

• an annular resilient member adapted to fit within said slot;
• a tubular member having a first tubular end, a second tubular end of wider extent than said first tubular end and adapted to fit within said slot, and a shoulder connecting said first and second tubular ends;
• and a locking and adjusting ring having an inner surface which includes a threaded sidewall surface section adapted to fit around and engage the threaded outer surface of said collar and an annular surface section adapted to allow passage through said ring of said first tubular end of said tubular member and to engage said shoulder of said tubular member;
• said camera/lens mounting being connected to said collar by first inserting said annular resilient member into said slot, by next inserting said second tubular end of said tubular member into said slot against said annular resilient member and then placing said locking and adjusting ring around the outer surface of said collar and rotating said ring to cause the threads on said threaded inner sidewall surface section of said ring to engage the threads on said threaded outer surface of said collar to thereby bring the inner annular surface section of said ring into engagement with said shoulder of said tubular member and to provide positive locking of said tubular member to said collar while adjusting the position of said tubular member along the axis of said lens.

A method of mounting a carriage assembly supporting a camera and lens assembly to a housing of a surveillance assembly comprising:

• placing first opposite ends forming pivot points of an elongated first member of a pivot member of the carriage assembly in supporting engagement with first spaced seating areas of a first surface area of the housing;
• pivoting the carriage assembly via the first opposite ends of the elongated first member of the pivot member and the first spaced seating areas of the first surface area of the housing while the first opposite ends of the elongated first member of the pivot member are maintained in engagement with the first spaced seating areas of the first surface area of the housing to bring second opposite ends of an elongated second member of an engagement member of the carriage assembly into alignment with second spaced seating areas of a second surface area of the housing;
• and causing said second opposite ends of said elongated second member of said engagement member to engage and be supported by said second spaced seating areas of said second surface area of the housing, thereby permitting mounting of the carriage assembly to the housing with the first opposite ends of said elongated first member of said pivot member in engagement with the first spaced seating areas of the first surface area of the housing and the second opposite ends of said elongated second member of said engagement member in engagement with the second spaced seating areas of the second surface area of the housing.