Stepping motor and taking lens barrel for camera incorporating said stepping motor
AssigneeMinolta Co., Ltd.
InventorMasatoshi Kamitani
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A stepping motor is equipped with a rotor, a supporting member that rotatably support the rotor, and stators that have multiple stator teeth and that face each other across the diameter of the rotor, wherein said multiple stator teeth are positioned such that they are apart from each other. Using the construction described above, it is possible to make the rotor diameter smaller than the conventional model, thereby reducing the overall size of the stepping motor. Therefore, it is possible to make the outer diameter of lens barrel smaller than the conventional model without changing the lens diameter, which in turn makes the overall size of the camera more compact.
Claims27
A stepping motor comprising:
- a rotor having an essentially cylindrical configuration, a longitudinal axis, and a circumference, said rotor being polarized along the circumference;
- a supporting member which rotatably supports said rotor;
- and
- at least a first stator and a second stator each having at least a first tooth and a second tooth, said first stator and said second stator substantially facing each other across said rotor,
- wherein said first tooth of said first stator and said second tooth of said first stator are located in different positions along the circumference of said rotor, and said first tooth of said first stator and said second tooth of said first stator are located in different positions along the longitudinal axis of said rotor.
A taking lens barrel for a camera, comprising:
- a stepping motor positioned outside and at least partially around a lens, said stepping motor including:
- a rotor having an essentially cylindrical configuration, a longitudinal axis, and a circumference, said rotor being polarized along the circumference,
- a supporting member which rotatably supports said rotor, and
- at least a first stator and a second stator each having at least a first tooth and a second tooth, said first stator and said second stator substantially facing each other across said rotor,
- wherein said first tooth of said first stator and said second tooth of said first stator are located in different positions along the circumference of said rotor, and said first tooth of said first stator and said second tooth of said first stator are located in different positions along the longitudinal axis of said rotor.
A camera, comprising:
- a stepping motor including:
- rotor having an essentially cylindrical configuration, a longitudinal axis, and circumference, said rotor being polarized along the circumference,
- a supporting member which rotatably supports said rotor, and
- at least one stator having a coil and a yoke, said yoke having at least a first stator tooth and a second stator tooth,
- wherein the first stator tooth and the second stator tooth are located in different positions along the circumference of the rotor and along the longitudinal axis of the rotor.
A stepping motor, comprising:
- a substantially cylindrical and polarized rotor having a longitudinal axis and a circumference;
- and
- a stator having at least a first tooth and a second tooth, said first tooth located at a first position, said second tooth located at a second position, said first position being spaced from said second position about said circumference of said rotor, said first position being spaced from said second position along said longitudinal axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.