Olympus Imaging Corporation

Atsushi Nakamae

Sumio Kawai

Hiroyuki Takizawa

Koji Sakatani

A vibration wave motor includes a housing, a rotor, a bearing member, a vibrator serving as an actuator and having a support shaft and a driving element, and a leaf spring having a pressing protrusion. The vibrator is slidably disposed in an opening of the housing along a rotation axis direction of the rotor, and a support shaft of the vibrator is rotatable. The vibrator is held while being urged by the leaf spring and being in contact with the rotor. The vibrator is excited to generate supersonic vibration so that the rotor is rotated. Since the vibrator is movably supported by the housing in the rotation axis direction and the vibrator is urged by the leaf spring and is in contact with a friction contact surface of the rotor, the vibrator is evenly in contact with the rotor in a direction perpendicular to the friction contact surface so as to provide superior driving conditions of the vibration wave motor.

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Tokyo, Japan

Atsushi Nakamae