Patent ID: 8191438

Claim:
A camera apparatus comprising a drive mechanism which converts a rotational driving force of a drive source into a linear thrust force, wherein the camera apparatus comprises: a drive gear to which the rotational driving force of the drive source is transmitted; a driven member around which a helical gear is formed to engage with the drive gear and to which a rotational driving force of the drive gear is transmitted with reduced gear ratio; a support unit which supports the driven member rotatably around a rotation axis of the driven member and movably along the rotation axis; and a conversion unit which converts the rotational driving force transmitted to the driven member into a linear thrust force along the rotation axis so that the driven member moves along the rotation axis as the driven member rotates, wherein the conversion unit comprises: a first threaded portion which is provided with the driven member; and a second threaded portion which is provided with the support unit and is engaged with the first threaded portion.