US 6,028,658 AGranted

Film viewer

AssigneeFuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.

InventorsHisashi Hamada, Tokuji Sato

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Abstract

A lamp house holds a light source, which is attached to a bottom plate. A film feed unit is arranged above the light source. A cartridge chamber is provided at the right of the unit body, and a film takeup chamber is formed at the left of the unit body. The takeup chamber is provided with a takeup spool. A film feed motor is built in the takeup spool, and the rotational force of the motor is transmitted to a spool driving shaft of the cartridge chamber via a driving force transmission mechanism. A film feed unit body to be incorporated into a camera is also used as a film feed unit body including the cartridge chamber, the takeup chamber and the driving force transmission mechanism. In order to observe the frame images on the film, the developed film is pulled out of a film cartridge mounted in the cartridge chamber.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A film viewer comprising:

a cartridge chamber for housing a removable film cartridge containing photographic film which has a plurality of photographing frames and is would around a spool;
a film takeup chamber provided with a takeup spool for taking up said photographic film pulled out of said film cartridge mounted in said cartridge chamber;
a film passage having an aperture between said cartridge chamber and said film takeup chamber, said aperture specifying a visual field, said film passage keeping flat said photographic film pulled out of said film cartridge;
a film feed mechanism engaged with said spool of said film cartridge mounted in said cartridge chamber, said film feed mechanism winding up said photographic film from said film cartridge into said film takeup chamber or rewinding said photographic film taken up by said takeup spool of said film takeup chamber around said spool of said film cartridge;
a viewer window through which a frame image on developed film pulled out of said film cartridge is observed;
and
wherein said cartridge chamber, said film takeup chamber and said film feed mechanism comprise a film feed unit, said film feed unit being adapted for incorporation into a camera using said film cartridge;
wherein a visual field in a film feed direction through said viewer window is larger than a size of a frame on said film so that more than a single frame is viewable at any time during use of the film viewer.

5 more elements

A film viewer comprising:

a housing, including an electrical power source;
a viewer window disposed on the housing;
and
a film feed unit removably attached to the housing, the removable film feed unit comprising:
a film feed motor electrically connected to the electrical power source when the film feed unit is attached to the housing;
a cartridge chamber including a rotatable drive shaft, the drive shaft being mechanically connected to the film feed motor, the cartridge chamber being structured and arranged to accept a film cartridge containing only one film supply spool so that the rotatable drive shaft is able to engage the film supply spool, the cartridge chamber being accessible from an exterior of the housing when the removable film feed unit is installed in the housing;
a rotatable takeup spool mechanically connected to the film feed motor;
and
a film passageway arranged between the cartridge chamber and the takeup spool;
wherein when the removable film feed unit is installed in the housing and a film cartridge is inserted in the cartridge chamber from the exterior of the housing, actuation of the film feed motor causes a photographic film strip wound within the film cartridge to be ejected from the film cartridge and pass through the film passageway by the viewer window to the takeup spool, allowing a user to view images on the photographic filmstrip through the viewer window.

7 more elements

A system for making photographic images on a filmstrip and for viewing the photographic images after processing of the filmstrip, comprising:

a film feed unit comprising:
a film feed motor;
a cartridge chamber including a rotatable drive shaft, the drive shaft being mechanically connected to the film feed motor, the cartridge chamber being structured and arranged to accept a film cartridge containing only one film supply spool so that the rotatable drive shaft is able to engage the film supply spool;
a rotatable takeup spool mechanically connected to the film feed motor;
and
a film passageway arranged between the cartridge chamber and the takeup spool;
a film viewer comprising:
a housing;
a light source disposed within the housing;
a viewer window disposed on the housing;
and
a film viewer power supply;
and
a camera comprising:
a camera body;
a taking lens disposed on the camera body;
a shutter mechanism disposed within the camera body behind the taking lens;
and
a camera power source disposed within the camera body;
wherein the film feed unit, the camera, and the film viewer are structured and arranged so that the film feed unit may be removably installed in both the camera and the film viewer.

17 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.