Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US4593982?ie=ISO-8859-1&dq=7751826
Timestamp: 2015-04-25 20:58:53
Document Index: 777570784

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 2', 'art 3', 'art" 4', 'art 2', 'art 2', 'art 51', 'art 21', 'art 2', 'art 2', 'art 1']

Patent US4593982 - Device for taking panoramic photographs with ordinary cameras - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsA rotating support (1) is placed on a fixed support (6) such as a traditional tripod, and an ordinary camera may be attached to the rotating support. This rotating support (1) is rotated with respect to the fixed support (6) by a geared motor (7) by means of a belt drive (72) with pulleys (52,71). A...http://www.google.com/patents/US4593982?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US4593982 - Device for taking panoramic photographs with ordinary camerasAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS4593982 APublication typeGrantApplication numberUS 06/665,433Publication dateJun 10, 1986Filing dateOct 26, 1984Priority dateOct 26, 1983Fee statusLapsedAlso published asEP0141385A2, EP0141385A3Publication number06665433, 665433, US 4593982 A, US 4593982A, US-A-4593982, US4593982 A, US4593982AInventorsIvo RossetOriginal AssigneeI.C.C. -Integrated Camera Complements s.r.l.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (5), Referenced by (28), Classifications (7), Legal Events (4) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetDevice for taking panoramic photographs with ordinary cameras
US 4593982 AAbstract
A rotating support (1) is placed on a fixed support (6) such as a traditional tripod, and an ordinary camera may be attached to the rotating support. This rotating support (1) is rotated with respect to the fixed support (6) by a geared motor (7) by means of a belt drive (72) with pulleys (52,71). A second geared motor (8), also by means of a belt drive (82) with pulleys (41,81) activates a connecting rotating element (44) which engages on the film rewind knob (45). A camera attachment piece with a window (9) is attached to the camera lens like an ordinary filter. This piece (9) consists of at least one opaque screen with a vertical slit (931), whose function is to reduce the width of the image, like the plate with a slit placed in front of the sensitive part of the film in panoramic cameras. Both geared motors (7 and 8) are provided with rotation rate detectors (73,83). An electronic device (90) monitors and regulates rotation rates and, in particular, causes controlled variation of the rotation rate of the geared motor (8) so that the film transfer rate will be constant.
1. A device for taking panoramic photographs with an ordinary camera, comprising:a support means adapted to fixedly support a camera; a first drive mechanism attached to said support means for causing said support means to be rotated with respect to a fixed support; a second drive mechanism attached to said support means, said second drive means including means operatively connected to cause rotation of a rewind spindle of a camera mounted on said support means; and control circuit means operatively connected to said first and second drive mechanisms for monitoring and regulating individually the rates of rotation of said first and second drive mechanisms, said control circuit means causing the rate of rotation of a camera body attached to said support means to be maintained constant and causing the rate of rotation of a rewind spindle of a camera body attached to said support means to be varied as the film is wound around the rewind spindle so that the advance rate of film being exposed in the camera body is regular and uniform. 2. The device of claim 1, wherein said first drive mechanism includes a first geared motor and said second drive mechanism includes a second geared motor, the rotational speed of said first and second geared motors being individually regulated by said control circuit means.
The object of this invention is a device which makes it possible to take panoramic photographs with an ordinary camera when the camera is attached to this device.
It is known that, to obtain photographs covering a field even slightly larger than normal, special lenses such as wide-angle lenses are usually used. Fish-eye lenses are sometimes used to cover wider fields, but these cause considerable distortion of the image. However, they obtain photographs covering very extensive fields, up to 180� and even beyond, the so-called panoramic shots, using special cameras which are often very complicated and expensive. Furthermore, these cameras can be used only for the purpose for which they were constructed, and most are of the type described in Canadian Pat. No. 30143 of 1888. Other types of cameras provide various types of systems, all very complex.
The purpose of this invention is to correct the limitations and disadvantages cited above. This purpose is achieved with the device described here, which is constructed fundamentally, in a known manner, of a rotating support to which an ordinary camera can be attached; this rotating support can be placed on a fixed support, such as a camera tripod or a similar support. This device is characterized by the fact that a piece with a window is attached to the camera lens like an ordinary filter, and this piece with a window can transversally demarcate the image. It includes first drive mechanisms that rotate the rotating support with respect to the fixed support and second drive mechanisms that operate the rotation of the camera's film rewind spool. These first and second drive mechanisms consist of two distinct geared motors. An electronic circuit capable fundamentally of monitoring and regulating the rates of the first and second drive mechanisms in order to keep the rate of the first strictly constant and to vary the rate of the second so that the film will move at a regular and uniform rate is also provided.
The invention, in a preferred form of implementation, and only as a non-limiting example, will be described in more detail below with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
FIGS. 1 and 2 in particular show that the device in question is made up of a casing 1 formed in such a way that it constitutes a base part 2 which is substantially parallele-piped shaped, from one end of which a vertical part 3 branches off at a right angle and ends above it with a part referred to below as the "upper part" 4 projecting above the base part 2. A flange 5 projects from the lower part of the base part 2, and penetrates the lower wall with a cylindrical part 51 to which the pulley 52 is attached with a bolt 53. A first set of balls 55 is positioned between this flange 5 and the corresponding raised part 21 on the lower wall of the base part 2, and a second set of balls 56 is positioned between the pulley 52 and the corresponding lower wall of the base part 2, thus forming an actual ball bearing allowing free but precise rotation of the entire part 1 with respect to the flange 5. This flange 5 also has a central threaded hole 58 in which the screw 61 of a fixed support such as an ordinary tripod 6 may be engaged for attachment to the support. The pulley 52 is also connected, by means of the belt 72, to pulley 72 which is applied to the shaft of a first geared motor 7. The result is that when this geared motor 7 is rotated, the entire casing 1 and thus the device in question will rotate with respect to the fixed support 6.
In relation to the focal length of the lens used, he selects the corresponding camera rotation rate and the corresponding film transfer rate by means of the rate selector SV, which controls the data comparator CD, to determine the feeds from geared motors M1 and M2 which correspond, respectively, to geared motors 7 and 8 of FIG. 2, and thus the respective fundamental rotation rates. The feeds determined in this way will then pass through the regulators RMRM (camera rotation motor regulator) and RMAP (film advance motor regulator). The regulator RMRM acts on the feed from the geared motor M1 (7) in such a way that its rotation rate, and therefore that of the camera, is kept strictly constant, while the regulator RMAP acts on the feed from the geared motor M2 (8) so that its rotation rate will be progressively reduced in direct relation to the increase in the rewind diameter of the film in order to obtain, as already mentioned, a strictly constant film advance rate. The impulses coming from the sensor 73 with which the geared motor 7 is equipped are fed into the detector RVM, which detects the camera rotation rate, and into the field width detector RAC whose function is to indicate, from one moment to the next, the angle of rotation described by the camera as soon as it begins to move. The signal issuing from the detectors RVM and RAC is sent to the data comparator CD, in which it is compared with the pre-established value in the selector SV to obtain the desired rotation rate of the geared motor M1 (7) and thus the desired rotation rate of the camera, and it is also compared with the pre-established value in the field width selector SAC so that the geared motor M1 (7) will be stopped automatically.
The impulses coming from the sensor 83 with which the geared motor 8 is equipped are fed into the detector RVP which detects the rotation rate of the rewind spool (96) of the film (98) and into the exposure counter CF. The signal issuing from the detector RVP is sent to the data comparator CD, where it is compared with the pre-established value in the rate selector SV to obtain the desired fundamental rotation rate of the geared motor M2 (8), which will then be varied appropriately by the film advance motor regulator RMAP, and with the pre-established value in the field width selector SAC so that the geared motor M2 (8) will be stopped automatically at the same time that M1 (7) is stopped. The signal issuing from the exposure counter CF is sent to the exposure memory MF, and the value stored in memory is then sent to the data comparator CD, which will command the film advance motor regulator RMAP to feed the geared motor M2 (8) in such a way that the rotation rate of the latter will always be a function of the rewind diameter that is attained which, in turn, is clearly dependent upon the length of film used (or equivalent number of exposures) stored in the memory of the MF.
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