Patent ID: 7918613

Claim:
A switching mechanism for a camera, comprising: a control unit; a driving device coupled with and actuated by the control unit; a first gear set coupled with the driving device; a second gear coupled with the first gear set and being centrally and fixedly provided with a rotary shaft having a shaft hole formed with a plurality of threads; a spindle around which the second gear is mounted via spindle being female-connected to the shaft hole of the second gear, the spindle having an axial surface formed with a plurality of outer threads corresponding to the threads of the shaft hole so that the second gear is movable along the spindle; and a translation member positioned perpendicular to the spindle and provided with a rack for engaging with the second gear; wherein the driving device, when actuated by the control unit, drives the first gear set so that the second gear is driven threadingly by the first gear set to move linearly along the spindle as the threads of the shaft hole of the rotary shaft of the second gear match with the outer threads on the surface of the spindle, through proper spatial arrangement, the second gear, when moved to a first predetermined position along the spindle, engages with the rack of the translation member so that the rack drives the translation member to move perpendicularly to the spindle, wherein the second gear, when further moved to a second predetermined position along the spindle, is disengaged from the rack of the translation member so that the translation member stops moving.