Camera with a barrier

A camera having a barrier which is rotatable around a shaft substantially parallel to an optical axis of a lens and between a closing position in which a lens barrel, an electronic flash and optical elements are covered by the barrier and an opening position in which the barrier uncovers those elements.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to a camera with a barrier, and more 
specifically relates to a camera having a barrier in the front side of its 
body. 
2. Description of the Related Art 
Conventionally, such a compact camera is well known as includes an openable 
barrier which opens and closes a lens barrel, a finder objective portion 
and an electronic flash portion on the front side of the camera body, in 
an aspect of security or design. A barrier of this type is generally 
movable in a horizontal direction (slide type) within the front portion of 
the camera body. 
However, concerning the slide type barrier, openable area is limited to the 
lens barrel and the upper and lower portions thereof. Thus, the finder 
objective portion, the electronic flash portion and the like should be 
arranged in the narrow openable area, which causes unreasonability in 
design. 
Further, if the electronic flash portion is arranged near the lens barrel, 
red-eye phenomenon is caused. If the electronic flash portion is arranged 
away from the lens barrel to prevent this phenomenon, it becomes 
impossible to close the electronic flash portion with the barrier and a 
separate pop-up mechanism is required to cover the electronic flash 
portion when not in use, which increases the cost. 
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY 
A main object of the present invention is to provide a camera with a 
barrier which widely covers a lens barrel, an electronic flash portion, 
optical elements such as AF or AE and the like. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a camera as 
described above at a reduced cost. 
These and other objects of the present invention are accomplished by 
providing a camera comprising a camera body, a lens barrel arranged in a 
front portion of the body, an electronic flash arranged in the front 
portion of the body and in the vicinity of said lens barrel, optical 
elements arranged in the front portion of the body and in the vicinity of 
said lens barrel, and a barrier rotatable around a shaft substantially 
parallel to an optical axis of a lens and between a closing position in 
which the lens barrel, the electronic flash and the optical elements are 
covered by the barrier and an opening position in which the barrier 
uncovers those elements. 
These and other objects, advantages and features of the invention will 
become apparent from the following description thereof taken in 
conjunction with the accompanying drawings with illustrate specific 
embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring now to the drawings, the camera with a barrier of the present 
invention will be explained. 
First embodiment, FIG. 1 to FIG. 4 
In FIG. 1, numeral 1 is a camera body and numeral 10 is a barrier. In the 
front portion of the camera body 1, lens barrel 2 is provided 
substantially in the center. Provided above the lens barrel 2 are AF light 
emitting portion 3a, AF light receiving portion 3b, finder objective 
portion 4 and AE light receiving portion 5. Diagonally above the lens 
barrel 2, electronic flash portion 6 is provided. 
The barrier 10 is rotatably arranged in the front portion of the camera 
body 1 with shaft 11 as a fulcrum, and substantially right 
triangle-shaped. As shown in FIG. 4, the shaft 11 is extended to the 
backside of the camera body 1, held by inside frame 7 and fixed by E-ring 
8. The shaft 11 is positioned in an acute angle portion of the barrier 10 
and arranged in the vicinity of the lower left portion of the lens barrel 
2. Further, the barrier 10 includes holding portion 12 which rises from 
the surface of the barrier 10 and guide projection 13 provided on its rear 
surface. 
On front frame 20 of the camera body 1, concave guide rail 21 and step 
portion 22 are arranged as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The projection 13 of 
the barrier 10 is interlocked with the guide rail 21. The rail 21 and the 
projection 13 are concentric around the shaft 11. 
According to the above-mentioned arrangement, barrier 10 is rotatable with 
the shaft 11 as a fulcrum by the projection 13 being guided along the rail 
21. When side 10a is rotated until it contacts with the step portion 22 as 
shown in FIG. 2, the barrier 10 closes the AF light emitting portion 3a, 
the AF light receiving portion 3b, the finder objective portion 4, the AE 
light receiving portion 5 and the electronic flash portion 6. The barrier 
10 is set to this state when the camera is not in operation. 
When the camera is to be used, the barrier 10 is rotated to left to open 
the lens barrel 2, the AF light emitting portion 3a, the AF light 
receiving portion 3b, the finder objective portion 4, the AE light 
receiving portion 5 and the electronic flash portion 6 as shown in FIG. 1. 
Both in opening position and closing position, the barrier 10 is retained 
at each position by an unillustrated click mechanism. In the opening state 
the barrier 10 turns on an unillustrated switch for detecting opening 
state, thereby the power of the camera body is turned on. 
According to the first embodiment, since the barrier 10 is rotatably 
provided in the front portion of the camera body 1, the opening and 
closing area is wide and the AF light emitting portion 3a, the AF light 
receiving portion 3b, the finder objective portion 4, the AE light 
receiving portion 5, the electronic flash portion 6 and the like are 
comfortably arranged. Especially, even if the electronic flash portion 6 
is arranged away from the lens barrel 2, the barrier 10 is able to cover 
it, thereby red-eye phenomenon caused in strobe photography is reduced or 
prevented. 
Further, the barrier 10 is substantially right triangle-shaped and is 
arranged in the opening state shown in FIG. 1 so that side 10b 
substantially accords with the base of the camera body 1 and at the same 
time side 10c substantially accords with the left edge of the camera body 
1. On this condition, by arranging the shaft 11 diagonally left of and 
below the lens barrel 2, it becomes possible to minimize the size of the 
barrier 10 and at the same time to maximize the opened and closed area. 
Further, each elements are arranged so that crossing angles between a 
segment connecting the center of the lens barrel 2 and the shaft 11 and a 
segment connecting the center of the lens barrel 2 and each of the AF 
light emitting portion 3a, the AF light receiving portion 3b, the finder 
objective portion 4, the AE light receiving portion 5 and the electronic 
flash portion 6 become over 90.degree., thereby the range of rotation of 
the barrier can be reduced. According to this embodiment, the barrier 10 
is rotated approximately 90.degree. around the shaft 11 to move to the 
closing position. 
Second embodiment, FIG. 5 to FIG. 7 
According to the second embodiment of the present invention, the guide rail 
21 for guiding the barrier 10 is arranged on the front frame 20 of the 
camera body 1 and in the vicinity of the lens barrel 2. In accordance 
therewith, the guide projection 13 of the barrier 10 is also arranged 
somewhat closer to the shaft 11. 
Other mechanisms are the same as those of the first embodiment, and the 
same marks are used for the identical members or portions. Further, 
effects of the barrier 10 of the second embodiment are the same as those 
of the first embodiment. 
Other embodiments 
It is to be noted the camera with a barrier of the present invention is not 
limited to the afore-mentioned embodiments, and is able to be variously 
modified within a range of its point. For example, optical elements 
covered by the barrier are not limited to the afore-said finder light 
receiving portion, but may be a red-eye lamp, a remote control light 
receiving portion, a self timer display portion or the like. Additionally 
the holding mechanism of the barrier holding shaft is optional. 
Although the present invention has been fully described by way of examples 
with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that 
various changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the 
art. Therefore, unless otherwise such changes and modifications depart 
from the scope of the present invention, they should be construed as being 
included therein.