The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 19, 1999
Filed:
Jun. 29, 1998
Makoto Iikawa, Saitama, JP;
Tomoaki Kobayashi, Saitama, JP;
Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A lens barrel has an immovable cylindrical member adapted to be detachably attached to a camera body, and a lens holder for holding a group of focusing lenses. The holder is disposed in the member so as to be movable along an optical axis of the focusing lenses for a focusing adjustment. A manual-focusing ring, rotatably mounted on the member, is manually movable along the optical axis between an auto-focusing (AF) position and a manual-focusing (MF) position, and has a plurality of recesses circumferentially arranged and formed on an inner wall surface thereof. A drive mechanism, provided between the member and the holder to convert a rotation into a translation of the holder along the optical axis, has at least a pin which is subjected to the rotation. The pin is engaged in one of the recesses of the ring when the ring is at the MF position, such that a rotation of the ring is transmitted to the drive mechanism. The pin is disengaged from the one of the recesses of the ring when the ring is at the AF position.