Sun shade and holding device

A sun shade for releasable connection with radially-extending, opposite clips on an annular accessory for the lens of a still camera includes an annular shade portion and two opposite latches projecting from the annular portion in an axial direction, each of the latches having at least one opening therein facing in a radial inward direction relative to the annular portion to receive clips on the accessory. The inner surface of the annular portion has radially inwardly projecting clips the size and spacing of which are complementary to those of the openings in the latches. The inner surface of the annular portion also has outwardly extending recesses the size and spacing of which correspond to those of the openings in the latches.

This invention relates to a sun shade for use with an accessory-holding 
device for a camera. In particular the sun shade is adapted for use with 
an accessory-holding device which includes an annular body, an 
intermediate assembly component, or adaptor ring extending from the body 
of the lens assembly of the still camera, said assembly component being 
made of a removable annular ring, equipped with an outer thread for 
screwing onto the lens assembly, said ring adapted to being placed in a 
corresponding area of said body so as to enable a relative rotation 
movement of said body in relation to said lens assembly, said body also 
displaying on its side opposite the area of said ring at least one pair of 
grooves which make it possible to accommodate various photographic 
accessories, especially filters. 
The accessory accommodation grooves are present inside generally parallel, 
opposite side plates, outwardly offset perpendicular to the annular body. 
In a preferred construction, the area of the annular body for accommodating 
the adaptor ring is an annular groove extending around most of a circular 
aperture in said body, the size of the groove corresponding to the outer 
diameter of the adaptor ring, a lug being provided to retain the adaptor 
ring in the groove while enabling relative rotation between the ring and 
the body. 
The annular body is also equipped with means enabling the placement of an 
additional component, especially a sun shade, which preferably is a hollow 
casing, especially square-shaped with rounded edges. 
The accessory-holding device disclosed herein brings refinements to the 
device summarized above so as to enable especially the assembly, onto a 
lens of a still camera, of several annular bodies, making it possible to 
place on the same lens a greater number of accessories such as filters 
and/or sun shades, the amount and the relative arrangement of the 
accessories being altered at will. 
This invention also serves to refine the earlier device with respect to the 
characteristics of the annular body and the sun shade for placing the 
latter. 
The device according to this invention is characterized mainly in including 
at least one adapting component which includes on the one hand a first 
means that enable it to be placed in the groove in the body which normally 
accommodates the adaptor ring, said first means making possible relative 
rotation of the adapting component in relation to the annular body while 
guaranteeing its lateral immobilization in said body, and on the other 
hand second means making possible the placement of the adapting component 
between the grooves in the opposite side plates of the body, said second 
means enabling sliding displacement in a translation motion of the 
adapting component in relation to said body. 
With such characteristics, it is possible to place on the same lens 
assembly two bodies separated by one of the adapting components, such 
adapting component adapted to sliding in relation to the body placed on 
the lens assembly by way of an adaptor ring, the other body adapted to 
relative rotation movement in relation to the adapting component, or in 
relation to the first body and the lens assembly. By multiplying the 
number of adapting components, which thus each play the role of a turret, 
one can obviously arrange a corresponding number of bodies successively on 
the same lens assembly of a still camera. 
In a specific construction, the means on said adapting component, enabling 
its rotation in relation to said body, includes a flange that protrudes 
radially from said component, and terminating in an end edge, each 
adapting component thus placed in the groove in a body in the same manner 
as an adaptor ring. 
The means for said adapting component enabling its accommodation between 
the grooves in the side plates of the body are made of two straight 
parallel edge faces of the adapting component, formed in the shape of of a 
plate, the spacing of which corresponds to the distance between the bottom 
of the grooves in the side plates of said body, the thickness of the plate 
corresponding to the width of said grooves. The adapting component is thus 
placed in said body in the same manner as an accessory such as a plane 
filter, the mobility in translation motion of the adapting component in 
relation to the body thus making possible the alteration of the relative 
lateral arrangement of two bodies assembled on either side of said 
adapting component. 
According to another characteristic of this invention, the body displays, 
preferably on the outer sides of its side plate parts such as protruding 
clips on which latches of an accessory such as a sun shade can fit through 
corresponding openings. 
The sun shade of the present invention is a hollow, ring-shaped member 
adapted to be assembled to the above-described body, to the 
above-described adapting component or to another sun shade of the same 
kind. These alternative connections are made possible by the provision of 
properly located projecting clips and clip-receiving apertures or 
recesses. For connection to the body or to the adapting component the sun 
shade includes two parallel, axially projecting latches each having 
openings therein adapted to receive complementary clips projecting from 
the body or from the adapting component. The sun shade can also be 
connected to the body or the adapting component by means of radially 
outwardly facing recesses in the inner surface of the sun shade adapted to 
receive those same clips on the body or on the adapting component. For 
connecting the sun shade to another sun shade of the same kind the sun 
shade includes radially inwardly projecting clips on the inner surface of 
the sun shade adapted to receive the apertures in the latches of the other 
sun shade. 
Advantageously, the adapting component according to the invention includes 
also protruding clips similar to those carried by the body and the sun 
shade and prone to fit inside cavities that form corresponding openings 
arranged for that purpose in the inner sides of the sun shade casing, 
opposite to those bearing said protruding clips. 
Hence, at will, because of this invention, one can assemble on the same 
lens, in any desired succession, several bodies each equipped with 
accessories such as plane or circular filters, and several adapting 
components and/or sun shades.

The device according to the invention is comprised of modular components 
illustrated in FIG. 1. 
Among those modular components is a thin annular body 1 which is roughly 
hexagonal in shape with rounded corners. For the assembly of the body onto 
the lens assembly there is an adaptor ring 2, which includes an externally 
threaded annular radial flange 3 adapted to be screwed onto the threads 
normally present on lens asssemblies for still cameras. 
The body 1, which may be a cast body, displays a central circular aperture 
4 and on one of its sides an annular-shaped groove 5 which extends around 
most of the aperture 4, such groove being formed in the outer wall of the 
body 6. 
The annular body 1 includes in its entry zone of the adaptor ring, inside 
groove 5, a roughly triangular-shaped lug 7 designed to retain the adaptor 
ring 2 inside inside the groove 5 of the body. The groove 5 extends across 
a little more than a halfcircle so as to maintain elastically the adaptor 
ring 2 which is fitted into it. 
The annular body 1 of the device according to the invention includes also 
two parallel side plates 8, that face one another, on two opposing sides 
of the body. 
Each of the side plates 8 includes on its inner side a plurality of 
grooves, each groove on one of the side plates facing one of the grooves 
in the other side plate. 
The side plates 8 display also on their outer sides protruding clips 9, 
that number four on each cheek in the depicted example, the function of 
which will be described later. 
In FIG. 1 we see, as well as in FIGS. 2 and 4, an adapting component 
designated overall as 10 in the shape of a roughly rectangular plate 
displaying two straight sides 11 and 12 brought together by set-backs 13 
with two straight sides 14 and 15 each displaying two protruding clips 16 
of which the spacing and the size are identical to the spacing and the 
size of the protruding clips 9 on the outer sides of the side plates 8 of 
body 1. 
The plate that comprises the adapting component 10 includes a central 
circular aperture 17 defined by a flange 18 which protrudes radially from 
said component, itself defined by an end edge 19. 
The dimensions of the plate that comprises the adapting component 10 are 
defined to enable cooperation between the adapting component 10 and the 
body 1 in the following manner. 
First of all, the spacing between the straight parallel sides 11 and 12 is 
defined so as to enable the entry, as well as the sliding in a lateral 
translation motion, of the adapting component 10 between two grooves 
facing one another that are arranged in the opposing side plates 8 of the 
body component 1. 
Also the dimensions of the flange 18 and its end edge 19 are selected so as 
to enable the entry of the adapting component 10 inside the groove 5 of 
the body 1 in lieu of an adaptor ring 2 and to allow, once the placement 
is achieved, a relative rotation movement of the adapting component 10 in 
relation to the body, while preventing lateral movement relative to the 
lug 7. 
Hence one can achieve an assembly arrangement such as the one depicted in 
FIGS. 5 and 6 where two bodies 1a and 1b are placed on either side of an 
adapting component 10, the body 1a can be displaced in a translation 
motion in relation to the adapting component 10, therefore in relation to 
the body 1b, the latter also adapted to a relative rotation movement in 
relation to the adapting component 10, therefore to the body 1a. The body 
1a can, in turn, be assembled directly on a lens by way of an assembly 
ring, such as the one depicted in 2 on FIG. 1. We can also anticipate 
other types of assembly by arranging successively several adapting 
components, therefore several bodies. 
As depicted in FIG. 1 the device according to the invention includes as 
another modular component a sun shade designated universally as 20 formed 
as a hollow casing, made in one sequence, that is roughly square-shaped 
with rounded corners so as to exhibit four sides. 
The sun shade 20 includes an annular portion of uniform thickness in a 
radial direction, this thickness being considerably smaller than the axial 
dimension of the sun shade 20. From each of two opposite sides of the 
annular portion a latch 21 extends in an axial direction away from the 
annular portion. Each latch 21 is provided with two openings 22, of which 
the size and spacing correspond to the size and spacing of the protruding 
clips 9 and 16, carried respectively by the side plates 8 of the body 1 
and by the adapting component 10. In the illustrated embodiment the 
openings 22 extend through the latches 21. They may extend, however, only 
part way through the latches 21 from the radial inner surfaces thereof. 
Because of the cooperation between such protruding clips and such openings 
it is possible according to the invention to assemble a sun shade onto the 
body as depicted especially in FIG. 5 or else to assemble the sun shade on 
an adapting component 10. 
In addition, within each of the two inner opposing sides of the sun shade 
20 are two radially inwardly protruding clips 23, the size and spacing of 
which are identical to the size and spacing of the clips 9 and 16. The sun 
shade 20 can thus be assembled to another, identical sun shade by engaging 
the clips 23 of one sun shade in the openings 22 in the latches 21 of the 
other sun shade. Each pair of clips 23 reside in a recess 30 which is open 
in an axial direction opposite to the direction in which the latches 21 
extend. Each recess 30 has an axial width, a length and a radial depth 
corresponding respectively to the axial width, the length and the radial 
thickness of a latch 21 so that the latter will be accommodated within the 
respective recess 30 when the clips 23 are inserted into the openings 22 
of the latch 21. 
Furthermore, as seen in FIG. 6 it is advantageous to equip the sun shade in 
its two inner sides opposite those bearing the protruding clips 23 with 
radially outwardly extending indentations 32, of which the spacing and 
size correspond to the openings 22 of the outer latches 21 of the sun 
shade. Hence one can place directly a sun shade onto an adapting component 
or on a body either by way of those recesses 32 in the inner side or by 
way of openings 22 on the outer latches 21. The indentations 32 can extend 
part way through or all the way through the radial thickness of the sun 
shade 20. 
In summary, the sun shade 20 can be connected to the body 1 by insertion of 
the clips 9 on the body 1 into the openings 22 in the sun shade latches 21 
or by insertion of the clips 9 into the indentations 32 in the sun shade 
20. Similarly the sun shade 20 can be connected to the adapting component 
10 by insertion of the clips 16 on the adaptor component 10 into the 
openings 22 on the sun shade latches 21 or by insertion of the clips 16 
into the indentations 32 in the sun shade. Connection of one sun shade to 
another sun shade is effected by inserting the sun shade latches 21 of one 
sun shade into the recesses 30 in the other sun shade so as to engage the 
latch openings 22 of said one sun shade with the clips 23 on said other 
sun shade. Thus the openings 22 are used for engagement with the clips 9 
on the body 1 or with the clips 16 on the plate 10 or with the clips 23 on 
another sun shade. The indentations 32 are used for engagement with the 
clips 9 or 16. The clips 23 of a given sun shade are used only to engage 
with openings 22 in another sun shade. 
In view of what has just been described as concerns the various 
possibilities for assembling those components one in relation to another, 
one must understand that the assembly example of FIGS. 5 and 6, only 
illustrates a variation among many others, the number of those components 
and their relative arrangement can be multiplied at will according to the 
demands of snapshots, in relation especially to the number of filters or 
sun shades that the photographer wishes to use.