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US 7,412,161 B2Granted
Pop-up flash of a camera
AssigneeHoya Corporation
InventorToshiaki Yamada
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pop-up flash of a camera includes a slidable member mounted to a camera body, the slidable member being movable between a retreated position and an advanced position in front of the retreated position; and a flash unit supported by the slidable member to be movable between a retracted position, in which the flash unit is accommodated in the camera body, and a fully-lifted position in which the flash unit projects from the camera body. The flash unit moves from the retracted position to the fully-lifted position when the slidable member moves from the retreated position to the advanced position.
Claims29
A pop-up flash of a camera, comprising:
- a slidable member mounted to a camera body, said slidable member being movable, in an optical axis direction between a retreated position and an advanced position in front of said retreated position;
- a slidable-member biasing device provided to the slidable member for biasing said slidable member toward said advanced position;
- a flash unit supported by said slidable member to be movable between a retracted position, in which said flash unit is accommodated in said camera body, and a fully-lifted position in which said flash unit projects from said camera body;
- a flash-unit biasing device provided to the flash unit for biasing said flash unit toward said fully-lifted position,
- wherein said flash unit moves from said retracted position to said fully-lifted position when said slidable member moves from said retreated position to said advanced position.
2 more elements
A pop-up flash of a camera which includes a flash unit rotatable about a pivot between a retracted position, in which said flash unit is accommodated in a camera body, and a fully-lifted position, in which said flash unit projects from said camera body, comprising:
- a pivot-position changing mechanism which moves said pivot forward, in an optical axis direction throughout movement of said flash unit from the retracted position to the fully-lifted position, whereby said flash unit rotates to fully-lifted position about said pivot;
- a flash-unit biasing device provided to the flash unit for biasing said flash unit toward the fully-lifted position;
- and
- a pivot-position changing mechanism biasing device provided to the pivot-position changing mechanism for biasing said pivot-position changing mechanism to move said pivot forward.
1 more element
A pop-up flash of a camera, comprising:
- a linear movable member guided in an optical axis direction of said camera between a retreated position and an advanced position in front of said retreated position;
- a flash unit, one end of which is pivoted at a front end portion of said linear movable member to be rotatable between a retracted position, in which said flash unit is retracted into said camera body, and a fully-lifted position, in which said flash unit juts from said camera body, a flashlight emitter being fixed to a free end of said flash unit;
- a flash-unit biasing device provided to the flash unit for biasing said flash unit toward said fully-lifted position;
- and
- a linear movable member biasing device provided to the linear movable member for biasing said linear movable member toward said advanced position,
- wherein said flash unit rotates from said retracted position to said fully-lifted position while said linear movable member moves from said retreated position to said advanced position when said pop-up flash pops up.
3 more elements
A pop-up flash of a camera, comprising:
- a slidable member mounted to a camera body to be movable between a retreated position and an advanced position in front of said retreated position;
- a slidable-member biasing device provided to the slidable member for biasing said slidable member toward said advanced position;
- a flash unit supported by said slidable member to be rotatable between a retracted position, in which said flash unit is accommodated in said camera body, and a frilly-lifted position, in which said flash unit projects from said camera body;
- a flash-unit biasing device provided to the flash unit for biasing said flash unit toward said fully-lifted position;
- and
- an accommodation guide mechanism which applies a component force on said flash unit and said slidable member to assist said flash unit and said slidable member in moving to said retracted position of said flash unit and said retreated position of said slidable member, respectively, in accordance with a rotation of said flash unit toward said retracted position from said fully-lifted position when said slidable member is in said advanced position, wherein a direction in which the flash unit is pushed towards the retracted position is different from a direction in which the slidable member moves.
3 more elements
A pop-up flash of a camera, comprising:
- a slidable member mounted to a camera body to be movable between a retreated position and an advanced position in front of said retreated position;
- a flash unit pivoted to said slidable member to be rotatable between a retracted position, in which said flash unit is accommodated in said camera body, and a fully-lifted position, in which said flash unit juts from said camera body;
- and
- an accommodation assisting mechanism which assists said flash unit and said slidable member in moving to said retracted position and said retreated position, respectively, in accordance with a rotation of said flash unit toward said retracted position from said fully-lifted position when said slidable member is in said advanced position,
- wherein said accommodation assisting mechanism includes a roller mounted to said camera body, said roller being rotatable on a rotational axis substantially parallel to a rotational axis of said flash unit, and a roller contacting surface formed on said flash unit at a position thereon away from said rotational axis of said flash unit to be capable of coming into contact with said roller when said flash unit is in a range of rotational movement thereof in a vicinity of said retracted position of said flash unit.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.