Combination metering cam and film transport thumbwheel

A film drive gear for use in a photographic camera having a camera housing that receives a roll strip of film, an exposure gate in the camera housing that defines a shutter plane across which a length of film is extended, a shutter mechanism including a shutter reset lever pivotally mounted within said housing that is moved to thereby place the shutter mechanism in a set condition, allowing the shutter mechanism to be actuated, a shutter button that can be depressed to actuate the shutter mechanism, and a film metering mechanism that locks to prevent movement of the photographic film and includes a pivotally mounted metering lever that is moved to unlock the film metering mechanism and permit movement of the photographic film, the film drive gear comprising:

• a thumbwheel having an outer circumferential surface of which a portion projects externally out of the camera housing and moves the photographic film;
• a shutter cam surface that rotates with the thumbwheel so that the pivotally mounted shutter reset lever is pivoted by the shutter cam surface to reset the shutter mechanism after a predetermined rotation of the thumbwheel;
• and
• a film metering cam surface that rotates with the thumbwheel so that the pivotally mounted metering lever is pivoted by the film metering cam surface and unlocks the film metering mechanism after a predetermined rotation of the thumbwheel, said film drive gear further including a shaft that extends outwardly from the thumbwheel and on which the shutter cam surface and the film metering cam surface are separately located.

A film transport mechanism comprising:

• an actuatable shutter mechanism including a pivotally mounted shutter reset lever that is pivoted to place the shutter mechanism in a set condition allowing the shutter mechanism to be actuated;
• a film metering mechanism that locks to prevent movement of the photographic film and includes a pivotally mounted metering lever that is pivoted to unlock the film metering mechanism and permit movement of the photographic film;
• and
• a film drive gear having a rotatable thumbwheel with an outer circumferential surface of which a portion projects externally out of the photographic camera and is coupled to the photographic film so that the film drive gear moves the photographic film when the thumbwheel is rotated by a camera user, the film drive gear further having a shaft that projects outwardly from the thumbwheel and includes a shutter cam surface that pivots the pivotally mounted shutter reset lever and a film metering cam surface separately disposed on said shaft from said shutter cam surface that separately pivots the metering lever and releases the film metering mechanism when the thumbwheel is rotated.

A photographic camera comprising:

• a camera housing that receives a roll strip of photographic film;
• an exposure gate in the camera housing defining a shutter plane across which a length of the photographic film is extended;
• an actuatable shutter mechanism including a shutter reset lever pivotally mounted to said housing that is pivoted to place the shutter mechanism in a set condition so the shutter mechanism can be actuated;
• a shutter release that is actuated by the camera user and in response actuates the shutter mechanism;
• a film metering mechanism that locks and to prevent movement of the photographic film including a separate metering lever pivotally mounted to said housing that moves to unlock the film metering mechanism and permit movement of the photographic film so that a fresh frame of the photographic film can be positioned at the exposure gate;
• a rotatable thumbwheel having an outer circumferential surface of which a portion extends externally out of the camera housing allowing a camera user to rotate the thumbwheel, wherein the thumbwheel is coupled to the photographic film to move the photographic film when the thumbwheel is rotated by the camera user;
• a shutter cam surface that rotates with the thumbwheel so that the pivotally mounted shutter reset lever is moved by the shutter cam surface and resets the shutter mechanism after a predetermined rotation of the thumbwheel;
• and
• a film metering cam surface that rotates with the thumbwheel so that the pivotally mounted metering lever is separately pivoted by the film metering cam surface and releases the film metering mechanism after a predetermined rotation of the thumbwheel, said thumbwheel including a shaft extending outwardly therefrom and upon which the shutter cam surface and film metering cam surfaces are separately disposed.

A prepackaged single-use photographic combination comprising:

• a camera housing;
• a roll strip of photographic film contained within the camera housing;
• an exposure gate in the camera housing defining a shutter plane across which a length of the photographic film is extended;
• an objective lens for directing light from a photographic scene to the exposure gate;
• an actuatable shutter mechanism including a shutter reset lever pivotally mounted within said housing that is pivoted to place the shutter mechanism in a set condition so the shutter mechanism can be actuated to allow light from the photographic scene to enter said exposure gate through the objective lens;
• a shutter release, located on the camera housing, that is actuated by a camera user and in response actuates the shutter mechanism;
• a film metering mechanism that locks to prevent movement of the photographic film within the camera housing and includes a separate metering lever pivotally mounted with said housing that pivots to unlock the film metering mechanism and permit movement of the photographic film allowing a fresh frame of the photographic film to be positioned at the exposure gate;
• a rotatable thumbwheel having an outer circumferential surface of which a portion projects externally out of the camera housing, wherein the thumbwheel is coupled to the photographic film so that the thumbwheel moves the photographic film when the thumbwheel is rotated by the camera user;
• a shutter cam surface that rotates with the thumbwheel so that the pivotally mounted shutter reset lever of the shutter mechanism is pivoted by the shutter cam surface and resets the shutter mechanism after a predetermined rotation of the thumbwheel;
• and
• a film metering cam surface that rotates with the thumbwheel so that the pivotally mounted metering lever is pivoted by the film metering cam surface and releases the film metering mechanism after a predetermined rotation of the thumbwheel, wherein the thumbwheel further includes a shaft extending outwardly therefrom and upon which the shutter cam surface and film metering cam surfaces are separately disposed.

A photographic camera film drive gear comprising:

• a thumbwheel having an outer circumferential surface of which a portion projects externally out of the photographic camera that moves photographic film retained in the photographic camera when the thumbwheel is rotated by a camera user;
• a shutter cam surface that rotates with the thumbwheel so that a shutter reset lever of the photographic camera is moved by the shutter cam surface to reset a shutter mechanism after a predetermined rotation of the thumbwheel;
• and
• a film metering cam surface that rotates with the thumbwheel so that a metering lever of the photographic camera is moved by the film metering cam surface to release a film metering mechanism after a predetermined rotation of the thumbwheel, wherein the thumbwheel outer circumferential surface is coupled to a frame exposure counter wheel having frame index numbers such that one revolution of the thumbwheel moves the frame exposure counter wheel by one frame index number relative to the thumbwheel, the outer circumferential surface being toothed and in meshing engagement with the frame exposure counter wheel, which also is toothed.

A film drive gear for use in a photographic camera having a camera housing that receives a roll strip of film, an exposure gate in the camera housing that defines a shutter plane across which a length of film is extended, a shutter mechanism that is actuated after being placed in a set condition to momentarily open and thereby expose a frame of film at the exposure gate and includes a shutter reset lever that is moved to thereby place the shutter mechanism in the set condition so the shutter mechanism can be actuated, a shutter button that can be depressed to actuate the shutter mechanism, and a film metering mechanism that locks to prevent movement of the photographic film and includes a metering lever that is moved to thereby unlock the film metering mechanism and permit movement of the photographic film so that a fresh frame of the film can be positioned at the exposure gate, the film drive gear comprising:

• a thumbwheel having an outer circumferential surface of which a portion projects externally out of the camera housing and moves the photographic film when the thumbwheel is rotated by the camera user;
• a shutter cam surface that rotates with the thumbwheel so that the shutter reset lever is moved by the shutter cam surface to reset the shutter mechanism after a predetermined rotation of the thumbwheel;
• and
• a film metering cam surface that rotates with the thumbwheel so that the metering lever is moved by the film metering cam surface and releases the film metering mechanism after a predetermined rotation of the thumbwheel, wherein the thumbwheel outer circumferential surface is coupled to a frame exposure counter wheel having frame index numbers such that one revolution of the thumbwheel moves the frame exposure counter wheel by one frame index number relative to the thumbwheel, wherein the thumbwheel outer circumferential surface and exposure counter wheel are toothed and in meshing engagement.

A photographic camera comprising:

• a camera housing that receives a roll strip of photographic film;
• an exposure gate in the camera housing that defines a shutter plane across which a length of the photographic film is extended;
• a shutter mechanism that is actuated after being placed in a set condition to momentarily open and thereby expose a frame of the photographic film at the exposure gate and includes a shutter reset lever that is moved to thereby place the shutter mechanism in the set condition so the shutter mechanism can be actuated;
• a shutter release that is actuated by the camera user and in response actuates the shutter mechanism;
• a film metering mechanism that locks and thereby prevents movement of the photographic film within the camera housing and includes a metering lever that moves to thereby unlock the film metering mechanism and permit movement of the photographic film so that a fresh frame of the photographic film can be positioned at the exposure gate;
• a rotatable thumbwheel having an outer circumferential surface of which a portion extends externally out of the camera housing so that the camera user can rotate the thumbwheel, wherein the thumbwheel is coupled to the photographic film so that the thumbwheel moves the photographic film when the thumbwheel is rotated by the camera user;
• a shutter cam surface that rotates with the thumbwheel so that the shutter reset lever of the shutter mechanism is moved by the shutter cam surface and resets the shutter mechanism after a predetermined rotation of the thumbwheel;
• a film metering cam surface that rotates with the thumbwheel so that the metering lever of the film metering mechanism is moved by the film metering cam surface and releases the film metering mechanism after a predetermined rotation of the thumbwheel;
• and
• a frame exposure counter wheel having frame index numbers and gear teeth, wherein the thumbwheel outer circumferential surface is coupled to the frame exposure counter wheel gear teeth such that one revolution of the thumbwheel moves the frame exposure counter wheel by one frame index number relative to the thumbwheel, the thumbwheel outer circumferential surface and the frame exposure counter wheel being toothed, and in meshing engagement.

A film transport mechanism comprising:

• a shutter mechanism that is actuated after being placed in a set condition to momentarily open and thereby expose a frame of photographic film at an exposure gate in a photographic camera and includes a shutter reset lever that is moved to thereby place the shutter mechanism in the set condition so the shutter mechanism can be actuated;
• a film metering mechanism that locks to prevent movement of the photographic film and includes a metering lever that is moved to unlock the film metering mechanism and permit movement of the photographic film so that a fresh frame of the film can be positioned at the exposure gate, and
• a film drive gear comprising a thumbwheel with an outer circumferential surface of which a portion projects externally out of the photographic camera and is coupled to the photographic film such that the film drive gear moves the photographic film when the thumbwheel is rotated, the film drive gear further comprising a shaft that projects outwardly from the thumbwheel and includes a shutter cam surface that engages the shutter reset lever to thereby reset the shutter mechanism and a film metering cam surface that engages the metering lever to release the film metering mechanism upon rotation of the thumbwheel, wherein the thumbwheel outer circumferential surface is coupled to a frame exposure counter wheel having frame index numbers such that one revolution of the thumbwheel moves the frame exposure counter wheel by one frame index number relative to the thumbwheel, the thumbwheel outer circumferential surface and the frame exposure center wheel being toothed and in meshing engagement.