Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US6442342?ie=ISO-8859-1
Timestamp: 2014-12-28 12:09:36
Document Index: 415815721

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 12', 'arts 14', 'arts 14', 'art 12', 'art 12', 'art 12', 'art 16', 'art 16', 'art 12']

Patent US6442342 - One-time-use camera with electronic flash having film identifying indicia ... - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsA one-time-use camera comprises a filmstrip and an electronic flash with a concave-shaped flash reflector having a front open end, a flash illumination-producing flash tube inside the flash reflector, and a light-transmitting flash cover-lens over the front open end of the flash reflector. The flash...http://www.google.com/patents/US6442342?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US6442342 - One-time-use camera with electronic flash having film identifying indicia which cannot be removed without destroying flashAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS6442342 B1Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 09/229,216Publication dateAug 27, 2002Filing dateJan 13, 1999Priority dateJan 13, 1999Fee statusLapsedPublication number09229216, 229216, US 6442342 B1, US 6442342B1, US-B1-6442342, US6442342 B1, US6442342B1InventorsJohn R. Fredlund, Joseph A. Manico, Maureen E. Churan-King, William T. MatthiasOriginal AssigneeEastman Kodak CompanyExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (9), Non-Patent Citations (1), Referenced by (2), Classifications (7), Legal Events (4) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetOne-time-use camera with electronic flash having film identifying indicia which cannot be removed without destroying flashUS 6442342 B1Abstract A one-time-use camera comprises a filmstrip and an electronic flash with a concave-shaped flash reflector having a front open end, a flash illumination-producing flash tube inside the flash reflector, and a light-transmitting flash cover-lens over the front open end of the flash reflector. The flash reflector has film identifying indicia visible from outside the camera to identify the filmstrip, which are light-reflecting to the same extent as the flash reflector in order to reflect flash illumination produced by the flash tube in concert with the flash reflector. The flash reflector is adhered to the flash tube to prevent the flash reflector from being separated from the flash tube without breaking the flash tube, whereby removal of the film identifying indicia in effect destroys the electronic flash.
What is claimed is: 1. A one-time-use camera which comprises a filmstrip, and an electronic flash with a concave-shaped flash reflector having a front open end and an inner side, a flash illumination-producing flash tube inside said flash reflector, and a light-transmitting flash cover-lens over said front open end of the flash reflector, is characterized in that:
said flash reflector has integral depressed portions at least some of which are differently shaped than the others to form a readable message of different spatial forms that constitute film identifying indicia visible from outside said camera through said flash cover-lens to identify said filmstrip, which are depressed beginning at said inner side, and all of which are light-reflecting to the same extent as the remainder of said flash reflector in order to reflect flash illumination produced by said flash tube in concert with the remainder of the flash reflector, and said flash reflector is adhered to said flash tube to prevent said flash reflector from being separated from said flash tube to gain access to said depressed portions at said inner side without breaking said flash tube.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION Reference is made to commonly assigned application Ser. No. 09/229,692, entitled ONE-TIME-USE CAMERA WITH ELECTRONIC FLASH HAVING FILM IDENTIFYING INDICIA and filed Jan. 13, 1999 in the names of William T. Matthias, Maureen E. Churan-King and Randy E. Homing.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates generally to the field of photography, and in particular to one-time-use cameras. More specifically, the invention relates to a one-time-use camera with an electronic flash having film identifying indicia which cannot be removed without destroying the flash.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Film and cameras that are all in one, commonly referred to as single-use or one-time-use cameras, have become well known. The one-time-use camera is a simple point-and-shoot type comprising an opaque plastic main body part which supports a conventional film cartridge in a cartridge receiving chamber, an unexposed film roll prewound from the film cartridge onto a film take-up spool in a film supply chamber, a fixed-focus taking lens, a film metering mechanism with a rotatably supported metering sprocket that engages the filmstrip, a manually rotatable film winding thumbwheel rotatably engaged with a film spool inside the film cartridge, a single-blade shutter, a manually depressible shutter release button, a rotatable frame counter for indicating the number of exposures remaining to be made on the filmstrip, a direct see-through viewfinder having front and rear viewfinder lenses, and in some models an electronic flash. A pair of opaque plastic front and rear cover parts house the main body part between them to complete the camera unit. The rear cover part connects to the main body part and/or to the front cover part to make the main body part light-tight. A decorative cardboard outer box or label at least partially covers the camera unit and has respective openings for the taking lens, etc.
After each picture is taken with the one-time-use camera, the photographer manually rotates the thumbwheel in a film winding direction to similarly rotate the film spool inside the film cartridge. This winds an exposed frame of the filmstrip into the film cartridge. The rewinding movement of the filmstrip the equivalent of slightly more than one frame width rotates the metering sprocket in engagement with the filmstrip to decrement the frame counter to its next lower-numbered setting and to pivot a metering lever into engagement with the thumbwheel in order to prevent further manual rotation of the thumbwheel. Manually depressing the shutter release button to take another picture pivots the metering lever out of engagement with the thumbwheel to permit renewed rotation of the thumbwheel. When the maximum number of exposures available on the filmstrip have been made, and the filmstrip is completely wound into the film cartridge, the one-time-use camera is given to a photofinisher who tears the outer box off the camera unit, separates the rear cover part from the main body part, and removes the film cartridge with the exposed filmstrip from the cartridge receiving chamber. Then, he removes the exposed filmstrip from the film cartridge to develop the negatives and make prints for the customer. At least some of the used camera parts may be recycled, i.e. reused, to remanufacture the camera.
Prior Art Problem There is a known problem in the recycling, i.e. reuse, of used camera parts, in that the reused parts may become worn or damaged and therefore should not be reused. Thus, it has been suggested that any worn or damaged parts be purposely fractured to render them visibly different during disassembly of the one-time-use camera to retrieve the exposed film. This allows the worn or damaged parts to be readily identified to be discarded, and prevents them from being erroneously reused.
Also, it has been suggested that the opaque front cover part of a remanufactured one-time-use camera with recycled parts have integrally formed film identifying indicia to visibly identify the particular brand of fresh film inside the camera. This kind of identification promotes brand awareness and, thus, tends to assure that the camera with recycled parts and fresh film is of the highest quality.
The Cross-Referenced Application The cross-referenced application discloses a one-time-use camera comprising a filmstrip, a concave-shaped flash reflector having a front open end, a flash illumination-producing flash tube inside the flash reflector, and a light-transmitting flash cover-lens over the front open end of the flash reflector. The flash cover-lens has film identifying indicia to identify the filmstrip which are light-transmitting to the same extent as the flash cover-lens in order to transmit flash illumination produced by the flash tube in concert with the flash cover-lens.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to one aspect of the invention, a one-time-use camera which comprises a filmstrip, and an electronic flash with a concave-shaped flash reflector having a front open end, a flash illumination-producing flash tube inside the flash reflector, and a light-transmitting flash cover-lens over the front open end of the flash reflector, is characterized in that:
at least one of the flash reflector and the flash cover-lens has film identifying indicia visible from outside the camera to identify the filmstrip and is adhered to the flash tube to prevent the flash reflector and/or flash cover-lens with the film identifying indicia from being separated the said flash tube without breaking the flash tube, whereby removal of the film identifying indicia in effect destroys the electronic flash.
According to another aspect of the invention, a one-time-use camera comprising a filmstrip, a concave-shaped flash reflector having a front open end, a flash illumination-producing flash tube inside the flash reflector, and a light-transmitting flash cover-lens over the front open end of the flash reflector, is characterized in that:
the flash reflector has film identifying indicia to identify the filmstrip which are light-reflecting to the same extent as the flash reflector in order to reflect flash illumination produced by the flash tube in concert with the flash reflector.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded front perspective view of a one-time-use camera with an electronic flash which is a preferred embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2 is an exploded front perspective view of the electronic flash;
FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of a flash reflector of the electronic flash;
FIG. 4 is a cross-section elevation view of the flash reflector;
FIG. 5 is a rear elevation view of the electronic flash;
FIG. 6 is a front perspective view of a flash cover-lens of the electronic flash which is an alternate embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 7 is a rear elevation view of the flash cover-lens; and
FIG. 8 is a cross-section elevation view of the flash cover lens.
Preferred Embodiment (FIGS. 1-5) Referring now to the drawings, FIGS. 1-5 show a one-time-use camera 10 which includes a plastic opaque main body part 12 and a pair of plastic opaque front and rear cover parts 14 and 16 which house the main body part between them. The front and rear cover parts 14 and 16 are connected to one another and to the main body part 12 via known hook-in-hole connections (not shown) such as disclosed in prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,740 issued Sep. 29, 1998, and prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,510 issued Sep. 20, 1994.
As is known, the main body part 12 has a rearwardly open cartridge receiving chamber 18 for a conventional film cartridge 20 and a rearwardly open film supply chamber 22 for a rotatably supported film supply spool on which is prewound an unexposed film roll (not shown). See FIG. 1. A rearwardly open backframe opening (not shown) is located between the cartridge receiving chamber 18 and the film supply chamber 22 for exposing successive imaging sections (frames) of a filmstrip 24 which constitutes the unexposed film roll.
A film winding thumbwheel (not shown), rotatably supported on the main body part 12, protrudes outwardly from a slot (not shown) in the rear cover part 16 and has a depending coaxial stem in coaxial engagement with an exposed top end of a film spool inside the film cartridge 20. Manual winding rotation of the film winding thumbwheel counter-clockwise in FIG. 1 similarly rotates the film spool inside the film cartridge 20 to wind each exposed imaging section of the filmstrip 24 into the film cartridge.
The rear cover part 16 has a door cover portion 26 over the cartridge receiving chamber 18 and a remaining cover portion 28. A fracture line of weakness 30 which divides the door cover portion 26 and the remaining cover portion 28 permits the door cover portion to be pivoted open relative to the remaining cover portion in order to remove the film cartridge 20 from the cartridge receiving chamber 18. The film cartridge 20 is to be removed from the cartridge receiving chamber 18 when the maximum number of exposures available on the filmstrip 24 have been made and the filmstrip is completely wound into the film cartridge.
A built-in electronic flash 32 comprises a generally flat flash circuit board 34 supported on the main body part 12, a concave-shaped flash reflector 36 located (partly) in a rectangular hole 38 in the flash circuit board, a flash illumination-producing flash tube 40 positioned rearmost within the flash reflector against an inner side 42 of the flash reflector, and a light-transmitting transparent (or alternately translucent) plastic flash cover-lens 44 positioned over a front open end 46 of the flash reflector. See FIG. 2.
The flash tube 40 is filled with an ionizable gas, and it has an in-line pair of anode and cathode main electrodes 48 and 50 at its opposite ends. The anode and cathode electrodes 48 and 50 protrude from respective side openings 52, 52 in the flash reflector 36 and are connected at respective electrically conductive solder deposits 54 to a pair of identical resilient contact beams 56, 56 on the flash circuit board 34 which, in turn are connected to a capacitor 58 on the flash circuit board. See FIGS. 1, 2 and 5. The resistance of the gas in the flash tube 40 is normally too high to permit a direct discharge. For firing the flash tube 40, there is provided a third electrode, i.e. a triggering electrode, for example a triggering wire 60 that is connected rearmost to an outer side 62 of the flash reflector 36 using solder, tape or the like. When the triggering wire 60 applies a triggering voltage to the flash reflector 36, the gas in the flash tube 40 is ionized, thus lowering its resistance and allowing the capacitor 58 to discharge its stored energy through the flash tube in the form of a brilliant flash of light.
The flash reflector 36 is shaped to concentrate the flash illumination produced by the flash tube 40 and to direct the flash illumination to the front open end 46 of the reflector, through the flash cover-lens 44, and towards the subject to be illuminated. A pair of top and bottom resilient prongs 64 and 66 on the flash reflector 36 are received in mating openings 68 and 70 in the flash circuit board 34 and are adhered to the flash circuit board 34 via non-conductive adhesive deposits 72 and 74 at the openings. See FIGS. 2 and 5. The flash reflector 36 is adhered to the flash tube 40 via non-conductive adhesive deposits 76, 76 adjacent the side openings 52, 52 in the flash reflector. See FIG. 5.
The flash cover-lens 44 has two identical resilient side-hooks 78, 78 that are received in mating openings 80, 80 in the flash circuit board 34 and are adhered to the flash circuit board and the flash tube 40 via non-conductive adhesive deposits 82, 82 at the openings. See FIGS. 2 and 5. A top prong 84 of the flash cover-lens 44 is received in a mating opening 86 in the flash circuit board 34 and is adhered to the flash circuit board via a non-conductive adhesive deposit 88 at the opening.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, film identifying indicia 90, such as �Kodak Film Inside�, to identify the filmstrip 24 constitute depressed portions 92 of the flash reflector 36 which are depressed beginning at the inner side 42 of the flash reflector 36. The depressed portions 92 project from the outer side 62 of the flash reflector 36 and each one of them is an individual letter of the alphabet that collectively forms the message �Kodak Film Inside�. The depressed portions 92 are light-reflecting to the same extent, i.e. have the same reflectivity, as the remainder of the inner side 42 of the flash reflector 36 in order to reflect the flash illumination produced by the flash tube 40 in concert with the flash reflector.
Since the flash reflector 36 is adhered to the flash tube 40 via the adhesive deposits 76, 76 at the side openings 52, 52 in the flash reflector, and the anode and cathode electrodes 48 and 50 of the flash tube are connected via the solder deposits 54 to the contact beams 56, 56 on the flash circuit board 34, any attempt to separate the flash reflector from the flash tube in order to replace the flash reflector with one not having the film identifying indicia 90 will break the flash tube and, thus, in effect destroy the electronic flash 32. See FIG. 5.
Alternate Embodiment (FIGS. 6-8) FIGS. 6-8 show an alternate embodiment of the flash cover-lens 44.
Film identifying indicia 94, such as �Kodak Film Inside�, to identify the filmstrip 24 constitute integrally-formed raised-portions 96 of the flash cover-lens 44 that project from a flat inside surface 98 of the flash cover-lens. See FIGS. 6-8. Each one of the raised portions 96 is an individual letter of the alphabet that collectively forms the message �Kodak Film Inside�. The raised portions 96 are light-transmitting to the same extent, i.e. have the same transparency, as the remainder of the flash cover-lens 44 in order to transmit the flash illumination produced by the flash tube 40 in concert with the flash cover-lens.
Since the flash cover-lens 44 is adhered to the flash tube 40 via the adhesive deposits 82, 82 at the openings 80, 80 in the flash circuit board 34, any attempt to separate the flash cover-lens from the flash tube in order to replace the flash cover-lens with one not having the film identifying indicia 94 will break the flash tube and, thus, in effect destroy the electronic flash 32. See FIG. 5.
The invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment. However, it will be appreciated that variations and modifications can be effected by a person of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, instead of the film identifying indicia 94, being raised-portions 96 of the flash cover-lens 44 that project from the flat inside surface 98 of the flash cover-lens, they can be depressions in the flat inside surface. Similarly, instead of the film identifying indicia 90 being depressed portions 92 of the flash reflector 36 that are depressed beginning at the inner side 42 of the flash reflector, they can be raised from the inner side.
26. door cover portion
28. remaining cover portion
30. fracture line of weakness
32. electronic flash
34. flash circuit board
38. hole
40. flash tube
42. inner side
44. flash cover-lens
46. front open end
48. anode electrode
50. cathode electrode
52, 52. side openings
54, 54. solder deposits
56, 56. contact beams
58. capacitor
60. triggering wire
62. outer side
64. top prong
66. bottom prong
70. opening
72. adhesive deposit
74. adhesive deposits
76, 76. adhesive deposits
78, 78. side-hooks
80, 80. openings
82, 82. adhesive deposits
84. top prong
86. opening
88. adhesive deposit
90. film identifying indicia
92. depressed portions
94. film identifying indicia
96. raised-portions
98. flat inside surface
Patent CitationsCited PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS3484597 *May 19, 1967Dec 16, 1969Loewe Opta GmbhReflector for an electronic photographic flash unitUS3718815Mar 9, 1971Feb 27, 1973Gte Sylvania IncPhotographic flashlamp unit with flashed lamp indicator and method of making sameUS4239369 *Nov 20, 1978Dec 16, 1980Gte Products CorporationCamera and reflector having offset optical and mechanical axesUS4317625 *Aug 4, 1980Mar 2, 1982Polaroid CorporationStrobe reflector assemblyUS4325104Aug 27, 1980Apr 13, 1982Gte Products CorporationMultilamp photoflash unit with functional labelUS4412276Dec 7, 1981Oct 25, 1983Polaroid CorporationStrobe reflector assemblyUS5634152Jan 2, 1996May 27, 1997Nikon CorporationCamera with built-in flashUS5651601 *Sep 30, 1994Jul 29, 1997Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaStrobe deviceUSD117575Feb 23, 1939Nov 14, 1939 Design for a camera* Cited by examinerNon-Patent CitationsReference1 *Cover for Kodak Fun Saver 35 camera, serial Nos. KP 100904, P/N 3B0464, and ST 50.93, Jun. 1995.* Cited by examinerReferenced byCiting PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS6744979 *May 28, 2002Jun 1, 2004Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.Lens-fitted photo film unitEP2134143A1Jun 9, 2008Dec 16, 2009Leister Process TechnologiesElectric resistance heat element for a heating device for heating a flowing gaseous medium* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification396/6, 396/176, 362/3International ClassificationG03B19/04Cooperative ClassificationG03B19/04, G03B2219/045European ClassificationG03B19/04Legal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionOct 24, 2006FPExpired due to failure to pay maintenance feeEffective date: 20060827Aug 28, 2006LAPSLapse for failure to pay maintenance feesMar 15, 2006REMIMaintenance fee reminder mailedJan 13, 1999ASAssignmentOwner name: EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY, NEW YORKFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:FREDLUND, JOHN R.;MANICO, JOSEPH A.;CHURAN-KING, MAUREENE.;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:009704/0597Effective date: 19990113RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services©2012 Google