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:
Mar. 03, 2015
Filed:
Jun. 28, 2011
Takahiro Ooya, Yokohama, JP;
Katsunobu Yoshida, Sagamihara, JP;
Takahiro Ooya, Yokohama, JP;
Katsunobu Yoshida, Sagamihara, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A lens barrel includes a plurality of lens groups including a retractable lens group, a plurality of lens retaining frames to retain the plurality of lens groups, a movable lens barrel to retain the plurality of lens retaining frames therein, and a fixed cylinder portion to retain the movable lens barrel therein. The plurality of lens retaining frames, the movable lens barrel and the fixed cylinder portion are configured to move the plurality of lens groups between a collapsed state with at least one portion of the plurality of lens groups collapsed and a photographing state. The plurality of lens retaining frames include a retractable lens retaining frame configured to movably retain the retractable lens group so as to position the plurality of lens groups in photographing positions on a single optical axis in the photographing state and to retract the retractable lens group to a retracted position outside an inside diameter position of the fixed cylinder portion in the collapsed state. The retractable lens retaining frame moves the retractable lens group between the photographing position and the retracted position by a driving force to drive the movable lens barrel relative to the fixed cylinder portion.