US 5,969,889 AGranted

Lens barrel

AssigneeAsahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

InventorsMakoto Iikawa, Tomoaki Kobayashi

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Abstract

A lens barrel has an immovable cylindrical member adapted to be detachably attached to a camera body, and a lens holder for holding a group of focusing lenses. The holder is disposed in the member so as to be movable along an optical axis of the focusing lenses for a focusing adjustment. A manual-focusing ring, rotatably mounted on the member, is manually movable along the optical axis between an auto-focusing (AF) position and a manual-focusing (MF) position, and has a plurality of recesses circumferentially arranged and formed on an inner wall surface thereof. A drive mechanism, provided between the member and the holder to convert a rotation into a translation of the holder along the optical axis, has at least a pin which is subjected to the rotation. The pin is engaged in one of the recesses of the ring when the ring is at the MF position, such that a rotation of the ring is transmitted to the drive mechanism. The pin is disengaged from the one of the recesses of the ring when the ring is at the AF position.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A lens barrel comprising:

an immovable cylindrical member that is detachably mountable on a camera body;
a movable cylindrical member that includes a group of focusing lenses held therein, said movable cylindrical member being disposed in said immovable cylindrical member so as to be movable along an optical axis of said group of focusing lenses such that a focusing adjustment is performed;
a manual-focusing ring rotatably mounted on said immovable cylindrical member, said manual-focusing ring being manually movable along said optical axis between an auto-focusing position and a manual-focusing position, said manual-focusing ring having a plurality of recesses circumferentially arranged and formed on an inner wall surface thereof;
and
a drive mechanism provided between said immovable cylindrical member and said movable cylindrical member to convert a rotational movement into a translational movement of said movable cylindrical member along said optical axis, said drive mechanism having at least a pin element which is subjected to said rotational movement,
wherein said pin element is engaged in one of said plurality of recesses of said manual-focusing ring when said manual-focusing ring is positioned at said manual-focusing position such that a rotation of said manual-focusing ring is transmitted to said drive mechanism, and said pin element is disengaged from said one of said plurality of recesses of said manual-focusing ring when said manual-focusing ring is positioned at said auto-focusing position.

3 more elements

A lens barrel comprising:

an immovable cylindrical member that is detachably mountable on a camera body;
a movable cylindrical member that a group of focusing lenses held therein, said movable cylindrical member being disposed in said immovable cylindrical member so as to be movable along an optical axis of said group of focusing lenses such that a focusing adjustment is performed;
a manual-focusing ring rotatably mounted on said immovable cylindrical member, said manual-focusing ring being manually movable along said optical axis between an auto-focusing position and a manual-focusing position, said manual-focusing ring having a plurality of recesses circumferentially arranged and formed on an inner wall surface thereof;
a drive mechanism provided between said immovable cylindrical member and said movable cylindrical member to convert a rotational movement into a translational movement of said movable cylindrical member along said optical axis, said drive mechanism having at least a pin element which is subjected to said rotational movement;
a rotational movement transmission system that is operatively connectable to a rotational movement generator, provided in said camera body, on attaching said immovable cylindrical member to said camera body, so that a rotational movement of said rotational movement generator is transmitted to said drive mechanism;
and
a changeover mechanism that disengages said rotational movement transmission system when said position of said manual-focusing ring is at said manual-focusing position, and that disengages said manual-focusing ring from said drive mechanism when said position of said manual-focusing ring is at said auto-focusing position,
wherein an engagement is established between said drive mechanism and said manual-focusing ring, when said position of said manual-focusing ring is at said manual-focusing position, such that said pin element is engaged in one of said plurality of recesses of said manual-focusing ring so that a rotation of said manual-focusing ring is transmitted to said drive mechanism.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.