US1227675A - Focusing mechanism for cameras. - Google Patents

Description

A. A. RUTTAN & C. E. HUTCHINGS. FOCUSING MECHANISMFFOR CAMERAS.

APPLlfiATIONfILED NOV. 18, I916.

Patented May 29, 1917.

7234 TTOR/VE K 5 UNITED STATES PAilil'rl ii'T GFFICE.

ALFRED A. RU'ITAN AND CHARLES E. HUTCHINGS, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK,

ASSIGNOIRS TO EASTMAN KODAK COMFANY,

PORATION or NEW YORK.

FOCUSING MECHANISM FGB CAMERAS.

Application filed November 18, 1916.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that we, ALrnnn A; ll o'r'rnn and CHARLES E. HUTCI-IINGS, of Rochester, in the countyof Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and use-' ful Improvements in Focusing lsfechanlsnr for Cameras; and we do hereby declare the foll wing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, and to the referonce-numerals marked thereon.

Gur present invention relates to photography and more particularly to folding photographic cameras of the type inwhich the front door of the camera when extended constitutes the bed on which the lens front is adjusted back and forth for focus, and the invention has for its object to provide a simple, compactand smooth working focu in device applicable to such cameras. The focusing device of our invention contains few parts and is easy to assemble and to these and other ends the invention re sides in certain improvements and combinations of parts all as will be hereinafter more fully v described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of the specification.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a folding camera provided with a focusing device constructed in accordance with and illustrating one embodiment of our invention, the camera being shown extended for use and the lens carriage being in horizontal section;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary bottom plan view of the main bed plate with the leather or other covering removed;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the bed with the cover plate of the extension bed removed;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged section taken substantially on the line 1-4: of Fig. 3, and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the focus adjusting lever.

Similar reference numerals throughout the several views indicate the same parts.

Referring first to Fig. 1, 1 indicates the camera body, 2 the main bed hinged thereto and 3 the bracket supports that permit the bed to be folded as a closure for the front of the body and support it in its operative Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 29, 191'7.

Serial No. 131,992.

position, all as usual. An extension bed 1, 1* ig. 3-3, provided with guide slots 5 receiving headed guide pins 6 secured in the main bed 2, is slidable to the limited extent indicated on the latter and its edges are curved upwardly to provide tracks 7 on which the lens carriage 8 is in turn adapted to slide and by which it is supported. The present invention has to do with the means for adjusting the extension bed l accurately with respect to the main bed 52, this mechanism being normally concealed beneath a cover plate 0 suitably secured on the extension bed.

Approximately centrally of the main hcd plate 2 is prorided a circular bearing opening 10, Fig. extending therethrough from side to side, with which communicates a segmental cutaway portion 11. Journaled in this hearing opening is a disk 12 integral with the portion 13 of a focusing lever 11 which swings across the top of the main bed plate 9 and terminates in a finger portion 15 at the side of the bed. The offset portion 13 is accommodated within the cutaway portion 11 of the main bed and lies in the plane the latter as does the disk 12 so that the lever can swing in a limited arc. Overlying the disk 12 and fixed thereto, as by welding, is another larger disk 16, the margin of which rests upon the'plate 2 and has a turn'ng bearing against it. A portion of the c rcumference of the disk 16 is formed into toothed sector 17 and the whole disk is received within an elliptical opening 18 in the extension bed plate 4. It will be seen that the disk 16 holds the disk 12 against disengagement from the bearing opening 10 in one direction and both disks are held against disengagement in an upward direction by a keeper plate 19 fastened on the extension bed plate 1 and also by the contact of the offset portion 13 of the lever beneath the plate 41. As before stated, all of this mechanism is concealed by the cover plate 9 which appears in Fig. 1.

At one side, the margin of the opening 18 is provided with a series of teeth 20 meshing with the teeth 17 on the disk 16. The lever 14 is resilient and its spring holds it in engagement with the underside of a raised scale bracket 21 graduated in focal distances, with which graduations an indicator 22 cooperates. As the lever is moved back and forth, it turns on the center provided by the disk 12- in the bearing 10 and the toothed disk 16 engaging the rack 20 on the extension bed plate 4: slides the latter back and forth correspondingly, the opening 18 being designed to give clearance for the disk 16. To fold the camera, the extension bed must be in its extreme retracted position, as shown in Fig. 3, and the position of the lever 14 that defines this position of the extension bed is maintained by a look ing projection 23 on the lever that engages within the opening 24 in the bracket 21. During the other adjustments of the lever, the locking projection 23 simply rides against the under face of the bracket. The lever is depressed to unlock it and while it is in the act of moving the extension bed plate and this downward pressure, if extreme, is taken by a segmental embossed rib 245 on the main bed plate 2.

Referring to Fig. 4, the main bed plate 2 is reinforced on its under side by a cover plate 25 which in turn receives the leather covering 26 and hence the openings 10 and 11 are concealed and protected.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a focusing device for cameras, the combination with a main bed having an opening therein forming a bearing, of a lever journaled in the bearing and having a toothed sector above the same and a finger portion accessible at the side of the bed and an extension bed guided on the main bed and having an opening receiving the toothed sector on the lever, there being teeth at the margin of the opening meshing with those on the sector.

2. In a focusing device for cameras, the combination with a main bed having an opening therein forming a bearing, of a lever terminating in a disk journaled in the bearing and having a finger portion accessible at the side of the bed, a second disk overlying the first to rest on top of the bed and comprising a toothed sector, and an extension bed guided on the main bed and having an opening receiving the toothed disk on the lever, there being teeth at the margin of the opening meshing with those of the sector.

8. In a focusing device for cameras, the combination with a main bed having an opening therein forming a bearing, of a lever terminating in a disk journaled in the bearing and having a finger portion accessible at the side of the bed, a second disk overlyingthe first to rest on top of the bed and comprising a toothed sector, an extension bed guided on the main bed and having an opening receiving the toothed disk on the lever, there being teeth at the margin of the opening meshing with those of the sector, and a separate keeper plate secured to the extension bed to span the toothed disk and hold the under disk Within the bearing in the main bed.

4. In a focusing device for cameras, the combination with a main bed plate having a circular opening therein forming a bearing and a cutaway portion communicating therewith, of a lever having a finger portion accessible at one side of the bed and an ofl'set portion arranged in the cutaway portion of the latter and terminating in a disk journaled in the bearing opening, a second and larger disk overlying the first to rest on top of the bed and comprising a toothed sector, and an extension bed plate guided on the main bed plate and having an opening receiving the toothed disk on the lever, there being teeth at the margin of the opening meshing with those of the sector on the lever.

ALFRED A. RUTTAN. CHARLES E. HUTCHINGS.

Witnesses LINDA SorIwING,

HELEN M. FRASER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

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