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:
Nov. 09, 1999
Filed:
Aug. 26, 1998
Applicant:
Inventors:
Assignee:
Olympus Optical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G03B / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
396 85 ; 396349 ;
Abstract
A lens barrel permits easier switching of an extending operation between a setup operating region, which begins at a collapsed position where the lens frame of the lens barrel is retracted, and a zooming region, and accordingly provides a simpler mechanism. In the setup operation, a setting gear is driven to extend a setting frame, a float key, and a moving frame so as to extend a first group zoom frame retained on a cam frame and a second lens holding frame from a collapsed position to a photographing standby position. In the zooming operation, a zoom gear is driven to rotationally drive the moving frame so as to adjust the first group zoom frame and the second lens holding frame.