Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US6574435?dq=6,977,809&ei=-AObT5vAOoSgiQL_5qznDg
Timestamp: 2015-05-27 06:32:54
Document Index: 417621538

Matched Legal Cases: ['arts 28', 'art 28', 'art 28', 'art 28', 'art 28', 'art 30', 'art 28', 'art 28', 'art 30', 'art 28']

Patent US6574435 - Underwater camera housing having sealed pivotable shutter actuator and method - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsAn underwater housing has a shell having inside and outside surfaces and an opening extending between the surfaces. An actuator is disposed in the opening. The actuator has an outer member disposed external to the opening and an inner member disposed internal to the opening. The actuator has a torsion...http://www.google.com/patents/US6574435?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US6574435 - Underwater camera housing having sealed pivotable shutter actuator and methodAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS6574435 B1Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 10/027,379Publication dateJun 3, 2003Filing dateDec 21, 2001Priority dateDec 21, 2001Fee statusLapsedAlso published asDE60204649D1, EP1321799A1, EP1321799B1Publication number027379, 10027379, US 6574435 B1, US 6574435B1, US-B1-6574435, US6574435 B1, US6574435B1InventorsStephen J. Smith, Wayne E. Stiehler, Craig A. BakerOriginal AssigneeEastman Kodak CompanyExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (30), Non-Patent Citations (1), Referenced by (4), Classifications (8), Legal Events (5) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetUnderwater camera housing having sealed pivotable shutter actuator and method
US 6574435 B1Abstract
An underwater housing has a shell having inside and outside surfaces and an opening extending between the surfaces. An actuator is disposed in the opening. The actuator has an outer member disposed external to the opening and an inner member disposed internal to the opening. The actuator has a torsion bar joining the members to the shell. The members are pivotable about an axis through the torsion bar, between an initial orientation and a pivoted orientation. The torsion bar is relaxed when the members are in the initial orientation and tensioned when the members are in the pivoted orientation. A facing is united with the shell and the actuator. The facing seals the opening.
What is claimed is: 1. An underwater housing comprising:
a shell having inside and outside surfaces and an opening extending between said surfaces; an actuator disposed in said opening, said actuator having an outer member disposed external to said opening and an inner member disposed internal to said opening, said actuator having a torsion bar joining said members to said shell, said members being pivotable about an axis through said torsion bar between an initial orientation and a pivoted orientation, said torsion bar being relaxed when said members are in said initial orientation and tensioned when said members are in said pivoted orientation; a facing united with said shell and said actuator, said facing sealing said opening. 2. The housing of claim 1 wherein said facing is softer than said shell.
3. The housing of claim 1 wherein said facing is elastomer.
4. The housing of claim 1 wherein said shell is engineering plastic.
5. The housing of claim 1 wherein said outer member has opposed first and second counterbalance surfaces, said counterbalance surfaces being external to said shell in both of said orientations.
6. The housing of claim 5 wherein said facing overlies both of said counterbalance surfaces.
7. The housing of claim 1 wherein said shell, said actuator, and said facing are a one-piece plastic casting.
8. The housing of claim 7 wherein said elastomer is united with said shell and said actuator by molecular entanglement.
9. The housing of claim 1 wherein said facing biases said arms toward said initial orientation.
10. The housing of claim 1 further comprising a guard extending outward from said shell adjacent said shutter actuator, said outer member being spaced from said guard in said initial and said pivoted orientations.
11. An underwater camera housing comprising:
a shell having inside and outside surfaces and an opening extending between said surfaces; an actuator disposed in said opening, said actuator having a outer member disposed external to said opening and an inner member disposed internal to said opening, said outer member having opposed first and second counterbalance surfaces, said members being pivotable between an initial orientation and a pivoted orientation; an elastomer facing united with said shell and said actuator, said facing sealing said opening. 12. The housing of claim 11 wherein said actuator has a torsion bar joining said members to said shell, said members being pivotable about an axis through said torsion bar between an initial orientation and a pivoted orientation, said torsion bar biasing said members toward said initial orientation.
13. The housing of claim 12 wherein said facing biases said arms toward said initial orientation.
14. The housing of claim 13 wherein said biasing by said facing is less than said biasing by said torsion bar.
15. The housing of claim 12 wherein said shell, said actuator, and said facing are a one-piece plastic casting.
16. The housing of claim 15 wherein said members are biased toward said initial orientation.
17. The housing of claim 12 wherein said facing overlies both of said counterbalance surfaces.
18. A photography method comprising the steps of:
pivoting an actuator relative to a shell within an opening extending through said shell, said actuator having an outer member disposed external to said shell and an inner member disposed internal to said opening; during said pivoting, flexing an elastomer facing sealing said opening, said facing being united with said shell and said actuator; and during said pivoting, twisting a torsion bar joined to said members, said torsion bar resiliently resisting said twisting.
Reference is made to commonly assigned, co-pending U.S. patent applications Ser. No. 10/037,159, entitled: UNDERWATER ONE-TIME-USE CAMERA HAVING CAMERA FRAME ASSEMBLY RETAINED IN FRONT HOUSING PART AT UNLOADING, filed Dec. 21, 2001 in the names of Wayne E. Stiehler and Stephen J. Smith; Ser. No. 10/036,723, entitled: TWO-SHOT MOLDED SEAL INTEGRITY INDICATOR, UNDERWATER CAMERA, AND METHOD, filed Dec. 21, 2001 in the names of Stephen J. Smith, Craig A. Baker, and Wayne E. Stiehler; Ser. No. 10/027,291, entitled: DEPRESSURIZED UNDERWATER ONE-TIME USE CAMERA WITH SEAL INTEGRITY INDICATOR AND METHOD, filed Dec. 21, 2001 in the names of Stephen J. Smith, Craig A. Baker, and Wayne E. Stiehler; Ser. No. 10/027,287, entitled: CAMERA AND UNDERWATER HOUSING HAVING TWO-SHOT MOLDED KNOB SEAT, filed Dec. 21, 2000 in the names of Stephen J. Smith, Craig A. Baker, and Wayne E. Stiehler, Ser. No. 10/027,379, entitled: UNDERWATER CAMERA HAVING VIEWPORTS BEARING ON VIEWFINDER TUNNEL OF FRAME, filed Dec. 21, 2001 in the names of Stephen J. Smith, Wayne E. Stiehler, and Craig A. Baker, Ser. No. 10/027,294, entitled: DUAL ACTION SHUTTER RELEASE WITH THUMBWHEEL BRAKE AND METHODS, filed Dec. 21, 2001 in the names of Wayne E. Stiehler, Stephen J. Smith, and Craig A. Baker; Ser. No. 29/153,013, entitled: UNDERWATER HOUSING ASSEMBLY, filed Dec. 21, 2001 in the names of Stephen J. Smith, Wayne E. Stiehler, Edwin J. Khang, and Jeffrey S. Eng.
The invention relates to photography and photographic methods and equipment and more particularly relates to an underwater camera housing having a sealed pivotable shutter actuator and related method.
Some one-time-use cameras are made for use both underwater and out of water. Commonly available single use cameras have a manual shutter release that is pressed to capture a picture. This kind of mechanism is practical and inexpensive, particularly when coupled with a spring operated impact shutter. For underwater use, the camera must seal out water under pressure and the shutter release must not trip as a result of the water pressure itself. With quite shallow water, the latter problem can be solved by biasing a shutter release against the water pressure. This biasing is more than the biasing required to prevent unintentional tripping of the shutter in out of water use. The biasing required increases in the same manner as water pressure and at moderate depths renders the shutter release very cumbersome to use. This is even more problematic when the camera is used out of water.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,126,772 teaches a solution to this problem. A camera housing seals out water. An indent forms a figure eight, defining a shutter actuator in the shape of a pair of joined pads. The indent is a bend in the thin housing that acts as a flexure. Within the flexure, the defined actuator acts like a single lever and pivots about a rib that bridges the neck of the flexure and bears against the underlying frame assembly. The opposed pads counterbalance the effect of water pressure. The flexure is sufficiently resilient so as to remain flexible under water. A protrusion on the underside of one of the pads acts on an inner shutter button when the respective pad is pushed. A shortcoming is that the characteristics of the housing are compromised by many different, often competing constraints: flexibility, resilience, rigidity. Other desirable characteristics, such as toughness for impact resistance and hardness for resistance to cosmetic damage would likewise compete with the other constraints. For the shutter actuator, the constraints are met by varying thickness and shape of a one-piece, single material component. As a result, the camera is less than optimal in one or more areas. The shape and low relief of the shutter button of the housing also presents a risk of temporary confusion during picture taking, since the user must locate the correct one of the two upwardly facing pads and then press down to trip the shutter.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,124 teaches another underwater camera assembly. A frame mounted on the top of the camera holds a toggle away from an inner shutter release. The toggle has a pair of opposed pads. The frame and toggle are separate pieces and are separate from a flexible bag that covers the other parts and acts as a water-tight housing. The frame and toggle are relatively large, and thus easily located tactilely, but the user must still identify which of two pads to press down to trip the shutter. The flexible bag does not protect against impacts like a rigid housing and has a risk of tearing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,766 teaches an underwater camera that has shutter actuator in the form of a cantilevered beam that is part of a rigid housing. An inner shutter button of the camera is in contact with a flexible part of the housing under the cantilevered beam. The actuator has the advantage of being large and thus easily locatable tactilely. On the other hand, the flexible part of housing over the inner shutter button is not counterbalanced and thus must be biased against water pressure. The housing provides a one-piece, one material part for the actuator, but that part is subject to competing constraints, in the same manner as U.S. Pat. No. 5,126,772; such as requiring thinness for flexibility in one part and greater thickness for rigidity in another. As a result, the camera is less than optimal in one or more areas.
Two shot injection molding is a well-known technique that provides one-piece plastic castings that are made of different materials in different regions of the casting. The different materials are united by codiffusion of adjoining regions of the two different materials. During molding, conditions are selected such that the molecules of the two different regions diffuse together before solidification. The codiffused zones have interpenetrating polymer networks. (This is also referred to as “molecular entanglement”.)
A variety of two shot molding techniques are known, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,066,282; 4,460,534; 6,296,796; and 5,737,002. Among these techniques is the use of a hard engineering plastic for one of the regions and a tougher, but softer material such as an elastomer, for another region of the casting. EP 0 865 779 A1 discloses an orifice coupling that has an internal, soft wiper seal formed by two shot injection molding. The use of two shot molding for the housing of an underwater one-time-use camera is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,312.
It would thus be desirable to provide improved housings and methods, in which an actuator is counterbalanced and water-tightly sealed and simply produced.
The invention is defined by the claims. The invention, in broader aspects, provides an underwater housing that has a shell having inside and outside surfaces and an opening extending between the surfaces. An actuator is disposed in the opening. The actuator has an outer member disposed external to the opening and an inner member disposed internal to the opening. The actuator has a torsion bar joining the members to the shell. The members are pivotable about an axis through the torsion bar, between an initial orientation and a pivoted orientation. The torsion bar is relaxed when the members are in the initial orientation and tensioned when the members are in the pivoted orientation. A facing is united with the shell and the actuator. The facing seals the opening. It is an advantageous effect of the invention that an improved housings and methods are provided, in which an actuator is counterbalanced and water-tightly sealed and is of one-piece with a housing part.
FIG. 14 is a top view showing the camera frame assembly and front housing part of FIG. 13 with the film door opened and the film unit removed. The front housing part is shown in cross-sectional and the camera frame assembly is shown in top plan view.
FIG. 16 is the same view as FIG. 14, but with the camera frame assembly detached from the front housing part. The front housing part is shown in cross-sectional and the camera frame assembly is shown in top plan view. The film door is shown partially closed by the action of the living hinge.
FIG. 24 is a cross-sectional view of the camera of FIG. 1 taken substantially along line 24—24 of FIG. 4. The indicator is undeflected.
FIG. 26 is a partial cross-sectional view of the camera of FIG. 1 taken substantially along line 26—26 of FIG. 2. The knob is in an initial state.
FIG. 31 is a partial cross-sectional view of the camera of FIG. 1 taken substantially along line 31—31 of FIG. 3. The viewfinder tunnel and viewports are shown.
FIG. 32 is a partial cross-sectional view of the camera of FIG. 1 taken substantially along line 32—32 of FIG. 3.
FIG. 41 is a partial cross-sectional view of the camera of FIG. 40 taken substantially all along line 41—41. The shutter actuator is shown in an initial orientation.
FIG. 44 is a partial enlargement of the view of FIG. 35, of a modification of the camera, in which the sprag is tooth-shaped and the thumbwheel has a rack. The shutter release is in the downward pivoted figuration.
The invention is generally described herein in reference to a particular embodiments in which the one-time-use camera uses photographic film and combines various features. The invention is not limited to such embodiments. It will be apparent to those of skill in the art that features, that various of the features disclosed can be included or excluded, within the limits defined by the claims and the requirements of a particular use.
For example, the camera can capture images electronically rather than using photographic film or can be a film-electronic hybrid that uses both. The camera can capture video in addition to or instead of still images. The camera can be reusable rather than one-time-use. The housing can be used other kinds of equipment, such as a rangefinder or flash unit.
The uniting of shell 24 and facing 26 can be provided by bonding one to the other by adhesive or the like. It is preferred that the housing 12 be prepared by a technique commonly referred to as “two shot” or “two pack” injection molding. In two-shot molding, a set of die members (not shown) are initially positioned to define a mold having a first cavity that molds one of two sections of the part to be produced. The cavity is filled with a first moldable material during a first injection shot. One or more of the die members is then moved to define a second cavity that holds the molded product of the first moldable material and is larger than the first cavity. A second injection shot is then made with a second moldable material. The temperature of the mold is maintained such that the first moldable material will melt along the interface with the second moldable material during the molding process, such that the first moldable material maintains its integrity, only being effected along the interface and not washing out as the second moldable material is shot into the mold. The moldable materials are selected such that the two shots of material diffuse together at the interface, before hardening. This effect, described as: codiffusion or molecular entanglement, results in an interface region that is comparable in character to a bulk interpenetrating polymer network.
A housing part produced by two shot molding, is a one-piece plastic casting that has an engineering plastic shell 24 and a softer, preferably elastomer facing 26. The term “engineering plastic” and “elastomer” are each used herein in an ordinary technical sense. For example, a definition is provided in the Concise Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Engineering, J. I. Kroschwitz, ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1990, at page 326:
“Engineering plastics are thermoplastics that maintain dimensional stability and most mechanical properties above 100 degrees C. and below 0 degrees C. This definition encompasses plastics that can be formed into functional parts that can bear loads and withstand abuse in temperature environments commonly experienced by the traditional engineering materials: wood, metals, glass, and ceramics. Generic resins falling within the scope of this definition include acetals, polyamides (nylons), polyimides, polyetherimides, polyesters, polycarbonates, polyethers, polysulfide polymers, polysulfones, blends or alloys of the foregoing resins, and some examples from other resins types”.
“Elastomers are derived from natural rubber and synthetic polymers with rubberlike properties. They exhibit both long-range deformability on application of stress and complete recovery on removal.”
The frame unit 46 has a metering lever 68 and a high-energy lever 70, which are operated by cams 72,74 of a sprocket-cam unit 76. One or more biasing springs 78 hold the levers 68,70 against the respective cams 72,74, as needed. The sprocket-can unit 76 also has a sprocket 80 that extends into the film space 48. Perforations 82 of the filmstrip 18 d engage the sprocket 80. The sprocket 80 rotates when the film 18 d is advanced by the rotation of a thumbwheel 84.
The camera frame assembly 14 is assembled in the same manner as with other one-time-use cameras 10. Components are mounted to the frame 56. The frame unit 46 is then placed in the front cover 42, a film unit 18 is loaded in the camera 10, and the back cover 44 is attached. The film roll 18e can be formed prior to film loading or after, by winding film 118 d out of the canister 18 using an exposed end of a second spool 120 or other winding mechanism.
It is a desirable that the camera 10 have a pressurization/seal integrity indicator that provides a constant indication to the user, that the camera 10 remains sealed and, thus, available for underwater use. Such indicators are known in the art. Referring now particularly to FIGS. 4 and 23-25, in a preferred embodiment, the seal integrity indicator 134 is provided by a free region 136 of the elastomer facing 26 that covers 42,44 an opening or passage 138 in one of the housing parts 28,30. Surrounding the free region 136 is a supported region 139 that is united with a border portion or indicator support 140 of the shell 24 surrounding the opening 138. The free region 136 has an outer surface 135 that is exposed to the external environment and an inner surface 137 that is exposed to the interior of the housing 12. The outer surface 135 can be directly exposed to the outside environment, as shown in FIG. 4. The free region 136 can, alternatively, be partially shielded by an extension (not shown) of the shell that protects against intrusion by foreign objects. The latter is not preferred, since it makes difficult or precludes automated or manual detection of seal integrity by touching the free region 136.
Below the wall portion 168 the knob 22 is divided into an engagement portion 172 that mates with the socket 110 of the thumbwheel 84 and an attachment portion 174 that releaseably joins the knob 22 to a joining portion 176 of the front housing part 28. The attachment portion 174 and joining portion 176 together comprise the earlier discussed catch 122:
The engagement portion 172 is shaped so as to mesh with the socket 110 of the thumbwheel 84 and can be solid or, as shown, in the form of a pair of opposed flanges 178. The flanges 178 act as an overrunning clutch, by deflecting under excessive pressure and then recovering elastically. This prevents excessive winding from damaging the components. With a solid engagement portion 172, the socket 110 of the thumbwheel 84 can be modified to provide a similar flexible member and over-running clutch function. It is preferred that the attachment portion 174 and joining portion 176 of the catch 122 resiliently interlock and that one or both of the attachment portion 174 and joining portion 176 be able to resiliently deflect to permit easy seating and detachment of the knob 22 without risk of damage to the knob 22 or housing part. In the embodiment shown in the Figures, the attachment portion 174 is a pair of opposed hooks 174 a,174 b and the joining portion 176 is a pair of opposed ledges 176 a,176 b that are portions of the inner surface 32 of shell 24. The ledges 176 a,176 b shown in FIGS. 26-27 protrude toward the interior of the housing 12 relative to the rest of the inner surface 32. The ledges 176 a,176 b can alternatively be coplanar with or recessed relative to the inner surface 32, depending upon shell 24 thickness and the length of the shaft 148 of the knob 22. The hooks 174 a,174 b each extend downward and then hook or recurve outwardly. The hooks 174 a,174 b engage the inner surface 32 of the shell 24 when the knob 22 is initially inserted in the housing 12. The bottom rim 180 of the passage 36 is angled inward toward axis 164. The hooks 174 a,174 b are flexible and the angled bottom rim 180 bends the hooks 174 a,174 b to ease the effort required for seating the knob 22. The attachment portion 174 and joining portion 176 can be varied. For example, the joining portion 176 can be in the form of hooks and the attachment portion 174 in the form of ledges or recesses. Hooks can be replaced by spring-loaded detents or other like structures.
The knob seat 150 can be modified to accommodate other rotary user controls 16. Such user controls 16 have seal portions 166 and bushing portions 156 like those above-described. The knob seat 150 can be modified for linearly movable controls if a separate feature, such as a flexible bag, is added to provide water-tightness and/or air-tightness. With such a linearly movable control, FIGS. 26-27 would represent a transverse cross-section. Due to the added complexity, a linearly movable control is not preferred.
Referring now particularly to FIGS. 3, 15, 21-22, and 33-43, in a particular embodiment, the actuator 20 is attached to the front housing part 28. In the embodiments shown, the actuator 20 is positioned to act on a shutter release. For this reason the actuator 20 is generally referred to herein as a “shutter actuator 20”. It will be understood that the actuator can act on any of a wide variety of effectors within the housing, such as pressure or mechanical switches for a variety of camera functions.
It is highly preferred that the biasing of the shutter actuator 20 toward the initial orientation is mostly provided by the torsion bar 218 rather than the corner pads 228,230. The change in resilience of the torsion bar 218, with depth, is less than the change in resilience of the corner pads 228,230. The corner pads 228,230 tend to “stiffen”, that is become more resistant to deflection, when distended inward by water pressure. The effect of such stiffening on the shutter actuator 20 can be minimized by limiting the biasing of the shutter actuator 20 by the corner pads 228,230 to a small percentage of the total biasing of the shutter actuator 20. The use of corner pads 228,230 that provide a small percentage of the total resilience also reduces the effect of any inadvertent inequalities in the resilience of the upper and lower corner pads 228,230 due to irregularities in the molding process or the like.
The outer member 214 of the shutter actuator 20, which extends outward from the front surface 220 of the front housing part 28, has two opposed counterbalance surfaces 232,234. One counterbalance surface 232 faces upward the other counterbalance surface 234 faces downward. A shutter actuation is provided by pressing the upper counterbalance surface 232 of the outer member 214 in a downward direction. Since both counterbalance surfaces 232,234 are exposed to the external environment in both the initial orientation and the pivoted orientation, water pressure on the outer member 214 does not change when the shutter actuator 20 is tripped. The facing 26 of the camera 10 provides some corner padding against rough treatment. For additional protection, a guard 236 can be provided on the front housing part 28 so as to help protect the outer member 214 of the shutter actuator 20. The guard 236 can be shaped so as to extend beyond the outer member 214 in all directions and protect the outer member 214 from impact. The counterbalance surfaces 232,234 are continuously spaced from the guard 236 to ensure equal water pressure on both counterbalance surfaces 232,234.
In a particular embodiment of the invention, the frame assembly 14 is held in place by interference between fasteners in the form of lugs 250 of the front cover 42 and catch portions 252 of the filmless camera frame assembly 14. The catch portions are outwardly extending external ledges of the covers. The lugs 250 can be the same ones use for the attachment of the rear housing part 30 to the front cover 42. This is not preferred, because the positioning of the lugs 250 required for the two functions, causes the camera frame assembly 14 to be loosely gripped after the rear cover 44 is removed. This can cause rattling and an incomplete closure between the front housing part 28 and the front cover 42. In a preferred embodiment, a second set of lugs 250 is present on the front housing part 28. The second set of lugs 250b are forward of the first set of lugs 250 a used with the rear housing part 30. The second set of lugs 250 b hold the camera frame assembly 14 tightly in place against the front housing part 28. This allows better exclusion of contaminants from the front surface 258 of the taking lens.
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