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:
Jan. 25, 2000
Filed:
Nov. 25, 1998
Akira Funahashi, Sakai, JP;
Minolta Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A lens barrel is provided with a first barrel and a second barrel. The first barrel has a flange formed around its outer surface, and the flange has a plurality of clearances formed around its outer edge. The second barrel has a plurality of projections formed around its inner surface so as to protrude radially inward. The first and second barrels are coupled together by inserting all of the projections into the clearances and then rotating one of the first and second lens barrels relative to the other so that the projections engage with the flange. The first and second barrels are coupled together in such a way as to rotate independently of each other about an optical axis and move together with each other along the optical axis. In addition, in this lens barrel, each of the clearances is so shaped as not to receive any projection other than the correspondingly shaped one.