Olympus Optical Company, Ltd.

Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Kazuhiro Satoh

Minoru Hara

Shigeo Hayashi

Moriya Katagiri

Hiroshi Akitake

Kosaku Ichikawa

Eiji Otsuka

Akio Hirata

Kazuto Kawakami

Tatsuya Suzuki

Yoshiaki Kobayashi

Yukihiko Sugita

Toshifumi Nakano

Youji Watanabe

Ryo Nakajima

Jun Inoue

Kazuo Akai

Akira Kasai

Hirohide Fukazawa

Nobuharu Namikawa

To provide a camera configured to be supported by the hands of a photographer on the bottom surface of the body thereof whose operability is improved by allowing various settings to be easily made with the camera body supported reliably and allowing a set value to be stored and retrieved with a small number of operation members, a configuration is provided which includes a grip portion protruding in a direction orthogonal to an optical axis of a photographic optical system provided in a predetermined position of a lateral surface of the body of the camera and an operating member for allowing input of information to cause execution of a predetermined operation, the operating member being provided in the vicinity of the grip portion. There is further provided a setting member for setting a desired set value, a set value storing member for storing data representing desired set values which can be set with the setting member in advance, a set value retrieving member for arbitrarily reading the data stored in advance with the set value storing member instead of the set value set with the setting member and for setting a set value based on the same and control unit for controlling the set value storing member and the set value retrieving member such that they can be operated with a single operating member.

Camera

A power converter apparatus, including a DC power source, a semiconductor stack, connected to the DC power source in parallel, having a plurality of semiconductor devices and a cooler for refrigerating the semiconductor devices, the semiconductor devices and the cooler are stacked and pressured to each other, and a snubber circuit, connected to the DC power source in parallel, having a serial circuit of a capacitor and a diode, and a resistor connected in parallel to the diode, one terminal of the capacitor is disposed adjacent to the semiconductor stack so that magnetic flux generated by current flowing in the terminal cancels magnetic flux caused by current flowing in the semiconductor stack.

Power converter apparatus

A multiple inverter system of the present invention is disclosed. It includes a plurality of input transformers having secondary windings and a plurality of unit inverter cells connected in series at n stages to compose respective phases and supply the electric power to a multiple phase load in combination with the input transformers. The input transformers have 3n sets of three-phase windings at the secondary side and the secondary windings of the transformers, which are out-of-phase at each phase, are connected to unit inverter cells of each phase at the n-th stages. Further, the present invention is provided with a bypass switch control to melt a fuse that is applicable to a unit inverter given with a circuit closing command by giving this circuit closing command to a bypass switch corresponding to applicable unit inverters in response to an operation abnormality detector and a DC abnormality detector.

Multiple inverter system

A power converter having at least a pair of voltage drive switching elements, which comprises a gate control circuit, the gate control circuit comprising a detecting section for detecting at least one of a set of device parameters and a set of electric parameters of the voltage drive switching elements, a monitoring section for monitoring at least one of states of turn-on and turn-off of the voltage drive switching elements based on the at least one of a set of device parameters and a set of electric parameters of the voltage drive switching elements detected by the detecting section, and a control section for controlling a gate of the voltage drive switching elements based on a monitoring result of the monitoring section.

Power converter with voltage drive switching device monitored by device

A lens barrel constructed of a cam slot, a lens cylinder, a memory means, a detecting means, a motor driving means and a control means. The cam slot has a discontinuous area formed in a portion corresponding to a parting line of a molding die used for molding. The lens cylinder ass a cam follower engaging with this cam slot. The memory means stores information indicating where the discontinuous area exists in the cam slot. The detecting means detects where the cam follower is positioned in the cam slot. The motor driving means makes the lens cylinder progress and retreat in the optical-axis direction by relatively driving the cam slot and the lens cylinder. The control means controls the motor driving means to drive the lens cylinder up to a position deviating from the discontinuous area when the cam follower is in the discontinuous area by comparing memory information of the memory mens with detection information of the detecting means.

Lens barrel

A lens barrel constructed of a cam slot, a lens cylinder, a memory, a detector, a motor drive and a controller. The cam slot has a discontinuous area formed in a portion corresponding to a parting line of a molding die used for molding. The lens cylinder has a cam follower slidably engaging the cam slot. The memory stores information indicating where the discontinuous area exists in the cam slot. The detector detects where the cam follower is positioned in the cam slot. The motor drive makes the lens cylinder progress and retreat in the optical-axis direction by driving one of the cam slot and the lens cylinder relative to the other. The controller controls the motor drive to drive the lens cylinder up to a position deviating from the discontinuous area when the cam follower is in the discontinuous area by comparing memory information of the memory with detection information of the detector.

A lens barrel comprises a barrier provided at a front aperture of a photographing lens, a barrier driving mechanism for opening and closing the barrier, a lens driving mechanism for moving at least one lens group in an optical-axis direction, a driving device for operating the lens driving mechanism and the barrier driving mechanism, and a driving force switching device for transmitting driving force of the driving device to a lens driving mechanism at a state capable of photographing and for transmitting driving force of the driving device to a barrier driving mechanism at a state incapable of photographing linked with the movement of the photographing lens from a state capable of photographing to a state incapable of photographing.

A lens barrel according to the present invention includes a first frame member which is moved in the direction of the optical axis with respect to a fixed member due to a predetermined operation; a second frame member which is moved in the direction of the optical axis with respect to the fixed member and the first frame member due to a predetermined operation; and a flare diaphragm engaging to the second frame member and interposed between the first frame member and the fixed member, wherein the flare diaphragm is engaged by one of the fixed member and the first frame member as a result of the movement of the second frame member in the direction of the optical axis due to the predetermined operation, so that the flare diaphragm is moved in the direction of the optical axis with respect to the second frame member.

Lens barrel having a flare diaphragm mechanism

A waterdrop-proof camera includes lens frames which are moved backward and forward relative to an optical axis during zooming or focusing; a camera main body in which the lens frames are slidably held in a liquid-sealed state; vent holes, provided in positions where they will not be covered by the hand of a user, on either the wall surface of the camera main body or that of the lena frames, through which vent holes the inside of the camera is communicated with the outside thereof; and a sheet-like member, having sufficient water repellency and air permeability, arranged on the camera body containing the inner side of the vent holes so as to seal them. A sealing member formed from a elastic member is fixed to either one of first and second lens frames which move relative to each other, by which sealing member one of the lens frames is radially pressed against the other, so that a section between the two lens frames is waterproofed. In addition, a device is disposed for increasing the amount of pressure at a specific focal distance or in a state in which the lens frames are housed.

Waterdrop-proof camera

A lens barrel having a fixed frame fixed to the body of a camera; a first cam frame mounted to rotate about the outer surface of the fixed frame; a second cam frame arranged inside the fixed frame and rotatable around the optical axis upon rotation of the first cam frame; a movable member integral with the second cam frame, extending in the direction of the optical axis and rotatable around the optical axis so that rotation of the movable member around the optical axis with respect to the fixed frame is restricted, the movable member having a linear-movement key extending in the direction of the optical axis; a lens holding frame inside the second cam frame and guided by with the movable member around the optical axis, the movable member being connected to the second cam frame on the outer surface thereof, the lens holding frame engaging the inner surface of the linear-movement key, and movable forward/rearward along the optical axis due to rotation of the second cam frame; and another lens holding frame movable forward/rearward along the optical axis due to rotation of the second cam frame, and limited to linear movement by the linear movement key.

Lens barrel of short length having the capability of a large zooming

A lens barrel according to the invention comprises a fixed tube fixedly mounted on a camera body, a drive tube fitted with respect to the fixed tube, a data projector fixedly mounted on the camera body for radiating a projecting luminous flux toward a film surface from respective outer peripheries of the fixed tube and the drive tube, to project photographing information, a through bore formed through a portion of the fixed tube through which the projecting luminous flux of the data projecting means passes, and a cut-out provided in a portion of the drive tube which is overlapped with the through bore in the fixed tube upon photographing. Upon non-photographing, a portion of the drive tube having no cut-out shields the through bore in the fixed tube.

In a battery housing for a camera of the present invention, when a rotatable rotary member included in a battery cover is engaged with projections of a battery casing formed in a camera body, the battery cover is mounted. Unlike a conventional battery cover, claw members or other members dedicated for holding a battery cover are unnecessary. Therefore, the battery housing of the present invention can be constructed with a limited number of parts. Moreover, the shapes of members employed are simple, which upgrades cost-effectiveness.

Battery housing for a compact electric apparatus

A lens barrel drive unit for a camera, in which the present invention is implemented, comprises a lens barrel that is a moving object having a female screw, a drive screw that includes a male screw which engages with the female screw and that moves the lens barrel back and forth with the rotation of the male screw, a drive source for rotating the drive screw, a signal generator for generating a pulse signal according to the rotation of the drive source or drive screw, a first memory that stores a difference between a theoretical lead and an actual lead of the drive screw as a correction coefficient, a second memory that stores the theoretical number of pulses associated with a quantity of rotation of the drive screw which is required to drive the lens barrel to a given position corresponding to a subject distance, and a computing unit that uses the correction coefficient and the theoretical number of pulses to compute the actual number of pulses required for extending the lens barrel.

Moving object extension controller

A multipoint rangefinder employs a light-emission device including a package which has a plurality of light-emission elements contained therein and mounting terminals extending therefrom, the light-emission elements being arranged in a line crossing a dimension along which mounting terminals extend. If, in mounting the rangefinder in a camera, the light-emission elements are arranged obliquely, the dimension along which the mounting terminals extend is made to coincide, for example, with the horizontal dimension. This arrangement provides various remarkable advantages. For example, it helps to avoid a substantial increase in the height of the camera housing and attain an improvement in the compactness with which the camera components are mounted, thus proving effective in camera miniaturization.

Rangefinder for cameras

A camera of the present invention comprises a stationary frame adjustable in position with respect to a camera body in the direction of an optical axis; a cam frame disposed around an outer circumference of the stationary frame to be rotatable about the optical axis and movable in a direction of the optical axis with respect to the stationary frame; a finder optical system provided on the camera body; and a finder optical system driving cam provided integrally with the cam frame for driving the finder optical system. In-focus position adjustment of a photographing optical system of the camera is performed during assembly by moving only the stationary frame in the direction of the optical axis, while the cam frame is kept immobile with respect to the camera body.

Growing community of inventors

Sagamihara, Japan

Kazuhiro Satoh