GB2084746A - Detecting coded information on film - Google Patents

Abstract

A motorised camera is designed for use with film having coded apertures (representing information on film sensitivity, length of film, etc) between the leader and the first frame area. The frame numbers are preprinted on the film. The camera includes first detecting means for metering the film movement, second detecting means for detecting the coded information, and a memory device. The camera stops automatically at the first frame area, after the coded information has been detected. After motorised rewind, the leader remains projected from the magazine. As shown in Figure 6, film movement is metered by reflecting light from generator 325. As shown in Figure 7, film movement is metered by passage of light through the sprocket holes to sensor 426 and further information is detected by passage of light through additional apertures to sensor 24. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Camera using a film having information Background of the invention Field of the invention This invention relates to a camera using a film having therein information signals for indicating the classification or the like of the film.

Description of the prior art In order to transmit the speed, length, classification, etc. of film as information to a camera, there has always been a preparatory operation which must be performed by the photographer, such as setting the film speed dial or the frame number memorandum board or placing a part of an empty film box in the memo holder behind the back lid of the camera as a reminder for the photographer.

Moreover, if this was forgotten, excess or deficiency of exposure took place, or the film came to an end at a good opportunity during photography, orthe distinction between color and monochrome was misjudged and thus, a good result of photography could not be obtained. As a solution to such problem, systems whereby film information may be automatically transmitted to a camera have been devised in recent years. For example, as seen in Japanese Patent Publication No. 31539/1980 (U.S.

Patent 4,024,557), there is a system wherein conductive portions differing in pattern depending on the type of the film are provided on the body of a film magazine and the terminal on the camera side is short-circuited to thereby transmit the information to the camera, or a system wherein a cut-away is formed at a portion of a magazine and it is introduced as information into the camera by the detecting member on the camera side. In any of these systems, a signal is present on the casing portion of the film magazine, but as another method, it would occur to mind to provide the film itself with other openings than perforations and read out such openings by the camera.

Summary of the invention It is an object of the present invention to provide a camera to which the information provided in a film is reliably transmitted prior to photography and which enables the transmitted information to be more effectively utilized.

The invention will become fully apparent from the following detailed description thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Brief description of the drawings Figure lisa plan view of a film used with the camera of the present invention as seen from the base surface side thereof.

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the internal mechanism of the camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Figures 3 and 4 diagrammatically show the circuits according to the first embodiment.

Figures 5A and 5B are a front view and a cross-sectional view, respectively, showing the arrangement of a device for detecting information signal.

Figure 6 is a perspective view showing a modification for detecting the feeding of the film.

Figure 7 is a perspective view showing another modification for detecting the feeding of the film.

Figure 8 is a perspective view showing the internal mechanism of the camera according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Figures 9 and 10 diagrammatically show the circuits according to the second embodiment.

Figure 11 is a perspective view showing the internal mechanism of the camera according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

Figures 12 and 13 are plan views for illustrating the operation of the phase clutch of Figure 11.

Figure 14 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the power source device.

Figure 15 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the mechanical memory device.

Figure 16 is a perspective view showing a modification of the mechanical memory device.

Figure 17 is a perspective view showing another modification of the mechanical memory device.

Figure 18 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the mechanical memory device.

Figure 19 is a perspective view showing still another embodiment of the mechanical memory device.

Figures 20 and 21 are circuit diagrams of the circuit portions of the Figure 19 embodiment.

Description of the preferred embodiments Figure 1 shows a film having the aforementioned information openings as fully drawn out from a film magazine FM. The film F is formed with perforations P along the opposite side edges thereof over the entire length thereof, and film information signal H representing film information such as film speed, number of photographable frames (e.g., 12, 20, 24 or 36 frames), latitude, color sensing property, etc. is formed in the film from between the xth perforation Px from the first perforation P1 on one side edge of the film and the (x+1 )th perforation Px+1 to the (x+n)th perforation Oxen. This information signal H is provided between the perforations P and the film side edge, and comprises openings formed between adjacent perforations and unholed portions h1 indicated by dotted lines between adjacent perforations (hereinafter referred to as non-openings).

Openings ho always exist at the opposite ends of the information signal H. The above-described film information is represented by an arrangement combination of such openings ho and non-openings h1.

The first photographing frame F1 of this film F begins with the nth perforation from the xth perforation. On one or the other side of this photographing frame F1, a symbol "No. 1" representing that it is the first frame is pre-printed. On the other hand, after the last photographing frame of the film, for example, the 36th frame from the first frame F1, a film end signal he representing the film end is formed as film information similarly to the information signal H.

Figure 2 shows a first embodiment of the present invention applied to a single lens reflex camera. The rotary shaft of a motor M is connected to a driving shaft 56 via a final reduction gear and a slip mechanism 2 for excessive torque. A one-way clutch board 3 is secured to the upper portion of the driving shaft 56, and the driving shaft 56 extends through the motor M and has a one-way clutch pawl plate 88 secured to the lower end thereof. The clutch board 3, a feed pawl 3' attached thereto and a pawl plate 3", and a pawl plate 88, a feed pawl 89' and a gear 89 respectively form so-called one-way clutches.

Accordingly, when the motor M revolves in the direction of solid-line arrow indicated in the figure, a first gear 5 secured to the pawl plate 3" rotates in the direction of arrow, but this rotation is not transmitted transmitted to the gear 89, and on the other hand, when the motor M revolves in the opposite direction, the gear 89 rotates in the direction of broken-line arrow, but this rotation is not transmitted to the first gear 5. Of course, these one-way clutches may also be ones using other conventional system, for example, a cam and a roller.

A phase clutch board 7 is secured to a second gear 6 which is always in mesh engagementwith the first gearS, and it is provided with the same number of grooves 7' as the teeth 11' of a sprocket 11. A phase clutch 8 is loosely fitted on the upper shaft 72 of the sprocket and is vertically movable, and the rotation of the upper shaft 72 of the sprocket may be transmitted by a mechanism, not shown. The clutch board 7, a clutch pin 8' integral therewith and a clutch 8 together form a phase clutch, and when the pin 8' is engaged with a groove 7', a sprocket shaft 81 and the upper shaft 72 of the sprocket are rotated together.A compression spring 34 disposed between the flange 72' of the upper shaft 72 of the sprocket and the clutch 8 biases the clutch 8 in a direction to maintain the engagement between the pin 8' and the groove 7', namely, downwardly.

Release of this phase clutch may be accomplished by upwardly pushing a rewind button 106 below the sprocket 11, lifting a shaft, not shown, within the sprocket shaft 81, pushing the clutch 8 upwardly and breaking the engagement between the pin 8' and the groove 7'. A clutch 103 for multi-exposure below the second gear 6 is loosely fitted on a shaft 6a secured to the second gear 6 and although not shown in detail, it is vertically movable relative to this shaft 6a and is rotatable with rotation of the shaft 6a. This clutch 103,when in its position shown, transmits the rotation of the second gear 6 to the gear 104 by the engagement between a groove 103" and the pin 104' of the gear 104 and, when it is upwardly moved, said engagement is released so that even if the gear 6 is rotated, the gear 104 will not rotate. The gear 104 is secured to a shaft 81.A multi-exposure set lever 110 is movable about a shaft 121 and, when a set knob 109 is moved upwardly, the flange portion 103' of the clutch 103 is pushed up by the central portion 110' of the set lever 110, whereby the clutch 103 assumes its released position. A holding lever 122 is rotatable about a shaft 124 and is biased by a spring 123, so that when the clutch 103 is in its position shown, the lever 122 bears against the outside diameter of the flange portion 103' and when the clutch 103 is moved upwardly, the lever 122 comes into below the flange portion 103' and maintain the clutch 103 in its released condition.When the second gear 6 is rotated in the direction of arrow, the holding lever 122 is pushed out toward the outer periphery of the clutch 103 by the friction between the underside of the flange portion 103' and the surface of the end 122' of the holding lever 122, and can thus return to its non-holding position shown.

A film counter driving first gear 78 and a generator 25 are secured to the upper portion of the sprocket 11, and a rewind clutch, not shown, is contained within the sprocket, and when a rewind button 106 is pushed upwardly, the sprocket 11 and gear 104 become disconnected so that only the sprocket 11 is freely rotatable. A rewind holding lever 107 is disposed around the rewind button 106, and this performs operations entirely similar to the holding and releasing operations of the holding lever 122.

However, the releasing operation of the lever 107 must be quick and therefore, the underside of the flange portion 106' of the button 106 is knurled.

A sensor 26 is disposed in opposed relationship with the generator 25 and these two together constitute a pulse generator which may generatethe same number of pulses as the number of teeth of the sprocket, namely, the same number of pulses as the perforations of the film fed. If this generator 25 is provided with, for example, the same number of convex portions as the number of teeth of the sprocket and a magnetic material is applied to the convex portions to magnetize them and the sensor 26 is coiled, it will be possible to detect the rotation of the sprocket as a variation in electric current.

Alternatively, the sensor 26 may be a Hall element and said rotation may be detected as a variation in voltage. An idle gear 19, an idle gear 20 and a spool gear 21 always form a gear train which is in mesh engagement with the sprocket gear 104, and a spool 10 is mounted on the spool gear 21 through a friction mechanism 22.

Asecond gear 79 is always in mesh engagement with the film counter driving first gear 78, and in response to rotation of the sprocket in normal direction or reverse direction, a film counter feeding shaft 38 is rotatable in a respective direction and a feed gear 39 having a V-shaped groove is secured to the upper portion of the feeding shaft 38 and therefore, when a ratchet pawl 40 is in mesh engagement with the gear 39, a film counter 41 integral with the pawl 40 advances by one tooth for one full rotation of the sprocket 11 in the normal direction and diminishes by one tooth for one full rotation of the sprocket in the reverse direction.

A permanent magnet 28 shown on the right-hand - side of Figure 1, with a coil 27, forms a release magnet Mg1 and, when electric power is supplied to the coil 27, the force with which the permanent magnet 28 attracts an armature 29 can be temporally decreased. A release lever 31 is rotatable about a shaft 46 at the left end thereof and has the armature 29 attached to one end thereof, and when the lever 31 is turned leftwardly, it is attracted by the permanent magnet 28 and stopped at the position shown.

When electric power is supplied to the coil 27, the lever 31 is turned rightwardly by the force of a spring 30. On the lower portion of a release operating button 17 shown at the right upper portion of Figure 1, there are a main switch SW1 and a release switch SW6. Upon depression of the operating button 17, the main switch SW1 may first be closed, and then the release switch SW6 may be closed.

Preparatory operation for photography will now be described.

The back lid (not shown) of the camera is opened, the leading end of the film F is inserted into a groove 10' in the spool 10, the perforations P are brought into mesh engagement with the teeth 11' of the sprocket 11, and then the back lid is closed. Thereupon, a part (not shown) of the back lid pushes the projection 12' of interlocking lever 12 shown at the left central portion of Figure 1 and causes the lever 12 to turn leftwardly about a shaft 14 against the force of spring 13. Thereupon, the riser portion 12" of the lever 12 retracts from the position in which it has so far borne against a lever 15, thus making the lever 15 ready to turn Ieftwardly about a shaft 16. When the operating button 17 is depressed, the main switch SW1 is closed and the motor M starts revolving in the direction of arrow.The revolution of the motor M is reduced in speed by the final reduction gear 2 and causes rotation of the one-way clutch board 3. The rotational force rotates the first gear 5 in the direction of arrow via pawl 3' and pawl plate 3", and further rotates the second gear 6, which in turn rotates the sprocket 11 via the clutch 103 for multi-exposure, gear 104 and sprocket shaft 81. At the same time, the rotation of the gear 104 also rotates spool gear 21 in the direction of arrow via idle gears 19 and 20. The gear 21 further rotates spool 10 through a spool friction mechanism 22. In this manner, the spool 10 and sprocket 11 are rotated, so that the film F advances while being taken up onto the spool 10.On the other hand, the closing of the main switch SW1 turns on a light source 23 and, when the information signal H in the film F arrives at the position of sensor 24 with the advance of the film, the pulse counter of the circuit is started by the output of the sensor. Pulses are also generated from the generator 25 rotated with the sprocket 11 and from sensor 26, and the aforementioned pulse counter starts to count these pulses in response to the output of the sensor 24. After a predetermined pulse corresponding to the first frame of the film has been counted, electric power is supplied to the coil 27 to weaken the attraction of the permanent magnet 28. Thus, lever 31 is turned rightwardly by the force of the spring 30. At thins time, the pin 31' on the lever 31 bears against one end 32' of lever 32 and overcomes the force of spring 33 to cause the lever 32 to turn rig htwardly.Therefore, the other end 32" of the lever 32 is displaced leftwardly as viewed in Figure 2 and becomes disengaged from the underside of phase clutch 8, so that the clutch 8 is lowered by the force of phase clutch spring 34 and pin 8' comes down into a groove in clutch board 7. Since a wind-up limiting board 60 and a limiting lever 59 are inengagement with each other, the clutch 8 cannot be rotated.

Accordingly, clutch board 7 is stopped, and the sprocket 11 and spool 10 connected thereto are also stopped. The power supply to the motor M is cut off simultaneously with the power supply to the coil 27 and no unreasonableness occurs to the stoppage of the phase clutch board.

In this manner, the film F is fed by a predetermined length from the first opening hoo of the signal H, and stopped at a predetermined position with the frame number "No.1" pre-printed in the film being exactly coincident with the photographing picture plane of the first frame. That is, the first frame F1 of Figure 1 becomes opposed to the film exposure aperture of the camera.

On the other hand, a further end 32"' of the holding lever 32 comes to bear against the pin 35' on a restraining hook 35 with the above-described rightward turning and overcomes the force of spring 36 to cause the hook 35 to turn lefttt'ardly about a shaft 37 and thereby release the engagement between one end 35" of the hook and the end 15' of lever 15, so that the lever 15 is turned Ieftwardly by the force of spring 36A and shaft 38 is displaced in the same direction as the lever 15 by a hole 15" in the lever 15 and the feed gear 39 comes into engagement with ratchet plate 40, thus becoming ready to advance film counter 41.Also, the protruded portion 15"' of the lever 15 comes to bear against the projection 42' of a 0 display plate 42, and the 0 display plate 42 is turned leftwardly about a shaft 43 against the force of a spring 44 attached to the riser portion of the 0 display plate, so that the "0" display at the upper end 42" of said riser portion retracts from a position in which it covers the upper portion of the film counter 41 and thus, the number "1 " on the film counter is displayed. On the other hand, the light source 23 which has been turned on upon closing of the main switch SW1 is turned off simultaneously with the power supply to the coil 27. After the sensor 24 has detected the first signal opening hoo in the film F, the presence of subsequent similar signal openings is read and the speed of the film, the number of film frames, latitude, color sensing property, etc.are stored in a memory device which will later be described. Subsequently to the power supply to the coil 27, the motor M begins to involve in the opposite direction (the direction of broken-line arrow) by the operation of the circuit.

This reverse rotation of the motor M may be accomplished in the following manner. That is, a switch SW8 for detecting the leftward turning of display plate 42 may be provided and this switch SW8 may be closed by leftward turning of the end 42" of the display plate 42, thereby reversing the revolution of the motor M.

One-way clutch pawls 88, 89' and gear 89 which have idled during wind-up become engaged with each other to rotate gear 90 connected thereto and rotate a magnet resetting cam 98 by shaft 95 via gears 96 and 97. Accordingly, a roller 69' provided at the left end of charge lever 70 is displaced toward this side in Figure 2 and the charge lever 70 is turned leftwardly about shaft 46, and an overcharge spring 71 is also turned leftwardly and bears against release lever 31 to turn it leftwardly and causes the armature 29 to be attracted to the permanent magnet 28, whereafter when roller 69' comes to the small diametered portion of the resetting cam 98, the charge lever 70 is turned rightwardly by spring 73 and returns to its position shown. Atthattime, a pin 99 provided on gear 96 closes a reverse rotation stopping switch SW5 to stop the motor This completes the preparatory operation for photography.

Photographing operation will now be described.

If the release button 17 is depressed when the pulse count of the circuit has become a count number corresponding to the first frame or when switch SW8 is in closed position, electric power is now supplied to the coil 27 by closing of release switch SW6, and release lever 31 is turned rightwardly about shaft 46 in accordance with the aforementioned procedure. By that time, lever 15 has been turned Ieftwardly at the stage or preparation for photography and the end 15' of this lever has borne against a pin 49' at one end of change-over lever 49 which has been turned rightwardly by the force of spring 48.Accordingly, one end 50' of release pawl 50 bearing against a pin 49" at the other end of the change-over lever is pushed, so that the release pawl 50 is turned Ieftwardly about shaft 47, mounted on release lever 31, against the force of spring 101, and the end 50" of the release pawl advances to a position in which it can push a pin 51' at one end of a mirror hook 51.Thus, the mirror hook 51 is turned leftwardly about shaft 53 by the aforementioned rightward turning of lever 31 through the end 50" of release pawl 50 and the pin 51' against the force of spring 54, whereby the engagement between the hook portion 50" and mirror-up lever 52 is released to permit this lever 52 to move in the direction of arrow and a quick return mirror is moved up by a mechanism, not shown, and then shutter is operated, whereafter a mirror return signal lever 102 is turned rightwardly about shaft 105 by a mechanism, not shown, and mirror charge lever 55 is moved rightwardly upwardly as viewed in Figure 2 to push one end 59' of limiting lever 59, so that the lever 59 is turned leftwardly about shaft 56 against the force of limiting spring 57 and becomes disengaged from a groove 60' in wind-up limiting board 60.At the same time, wind-up start switch SW2 is closed by one end 59' of the lever 59. Also, by the return of the mirror, lever 52 returns to its positiion shown. This completes a cycle of photography.

Wind-up operation will now be described.

When wind-up start switch SW2 is closed, the motor M begins to revolve and gears 5 and 6 rotate in the direction of arrow and in a manner similar to what has been described in connection with the preparation for photography, sprocket 11 and spool 10 begin to rotate to feed the film. On the other hand, rotation of the gear 6 rotates gear 61 via phase clutch 8 and further rotates charge gear 62 which is in mesh engagement with the gear 61. Accordingly, shaft 63 is rotated and a magnet charge cam 64 mounted thereon and a shutter mirror charge cam 65 shown in the lower portion of Figure 2 are rotated. The cam 64 causes lever 70 to turn leftwardly about shaft 46 through roller 69.Along therewith, overcharge spring 71 is also turned Ieftwardly to bear against release lever 31 and turn it leftwardly, and causes armature 29 to be attracted to permanent magnet 28, whereafter the roller 69 comes to the smalldiametered portion of cam 64, whereupon charge lever 70 is turned rightwardly by spring 73 and returns to its position shown.

On the other hand, by rotation of shutter mirror charge cam 65, arm 75 is turned leftwardly about shaft 74 through roller 67 against the force of spring 68, and pin 76 is moved rightwardly as viewed in Figure 2. Accordingly, rod 77 connected thereto is also moved rightwardly as viewed in Figure 2, and a shutter mechanism and a mirror mechanism are charged by a mechanism, not shown. With the charging of the drive force of the mirror mechanism, mirror charge lever 55 is moved leftwardly downwardly as viewed in Figure 2 by a mechanism, not shown, and becomes disengaged from limiting lever 59 and is restrained by lever 102. On the other hand, with the progress of wind-up, rod 77 is moved leftwardly by the small-diametered portion of cam 65 bearing against roller 67, and returns to a position ready for movement of the shutter and mirror, namely, the shown position.

The film counter advances in the following manner.

With the rotation of sprocket 11,film counter feed shaft 38 is rotated via gears 78 and 79 to rotate feed gear 39 and advance ratchet plate 40 by one teeth per full rotation. During the time the film is wound up in this manner, a position in which the groove 60' of limiting board 60 is engaged by limiting lever 59 is brought about and the windup is restrained. By this engagement, lever 59 is turned rightwardly and one end 59' thereof retracts leftwardly forwardly as viewed in Figure 2, so that wind-up start switch SW2 is opened. Accordingly, even if the limiting board 60 is restrained by the limiting lever 59, there occurs no unreasonableness. This completes the wind-up operation.

In this manner, photography progresses with photography to wind-up as one cycle.

Film end stopping operation will now be described.

As already described, the number of photographable frames of the film used, namely, the length of film corresponding thereto, is stored in the circuit by the detection of the film information signal H and therefore, when the setting of the first frame has been accomplished, namely, when the first power supply to the coil 27 is effected, a squaring circuit is reset to start the squaring of the amount of windup of the film and the squared value is compared with the stored value of the film length and when the two values have become equal, release is rendered impossible so that even if the release switch SW6 is closed, no electric power is supplied to the coil 27. At this time, this camera is in a condition in which wind-up has been completed.

Rewind operation will now be described.

When rewind button 106 is pushed upwardly as viewed in Figure 2, the engagement between sprocket 11 and sprocket gear 104 is released by a mechanism, not shown, and rewind holding lever 107 comes to bear against the cylindrical portion below the knurled portion 106' of the button 106 by the force of spring 80 and stops there. In response to the above-mentioned push-up of the rewind button 106, phase clutch 8 is moved upwardly as viewed in Figure 2 by an unshown mechanism provided within sprocket shaft 81, whereby the engagement between clutch pin 8' and clutch board 7 is released, thus rendering the camera ready for the next film loading.

Next, when rewind lever 82 shown at the left lower portion of Figure 2 is turned Ieftwardly about shaft 83, rewind switch 87 is closed and the motor M starts to rotate in a direction opposite from the direction of rotation during wind-up (the direction of broken-line arrow). At this time, one-way clutch pawls 88, 89' and gear 89 which have idled during wind-up come into engagement with each other to rotate gears 90, 91 and 92 connected thereto and, by the engagement between pin 93 and groove 92' provided in the upper portion of gear 92, rewind coupling 86 is rotated. On the other hand, cam 84 is secured to the shaft 83 to rewind lever 82, and leftward turning of the lever 82 causes upward movement of shaft 85 bearing against the cam 84, so that coupling 86 assumes a position in which it is engaged with a key below the spool of the film magazine.During the time rewind is taking place in this manner, wind-up operation does not take place due to the operation of one-way clutches 3, 3' and 3" above the motor.

During such rewind, sprocket 11 is rotated in reverse direction by the reverse transport of the film, whereby both the generator 25 and film counter driving first gear 78 are also rotated in reverse direction and therefore, pulse is sent to the circuit by sensor 26 while the manner in which the film counter 41 is also rotated in reverse direction to decrease the number is displayed. The pulse generated by the reverse rotation is counted up to a number necessary for the frames corresponding to the number of photographable frames stored in the circuit to be wound into the film magazine, whereafter the motor is stopped at a position whereat reverse rotation stopping switch SW5 shown at the central left end of Figure 2 is closed by pin 99.

It is for the purpose of ensuring the positional relation between magnet charge cam 64 and charge roller 69 to be always in the shown condition during the stoppage of the motor that the stoppage of the reverse rotation of the motor is accomplished by closing of switch SW5 in addition to the pulse count value. This completes the rewind, and rewind lever 82 is returned to its shown position. Rewind button 106 is fed outwardly because it is rotated at the initial stage of the next film loading due to the friction between knurled portion 106' and holding lever 107, and the unshown clutch mechanism between gear 104 and sprocket 11 assumes its engaged condition.

Next, the back lid of the camera is opened by a mechanism, not shown, and the film magazine is removed from the camera. At that time, the pressure of interlocking lever 12 against projection 12' becomes null and therefore, by the action of spring 13, lever 12 is turned rightwardly and switch control pin 131 is moved upwardly as viewed in Figure 2, and back lid opening-closing switches SW3 and SW4 are opened and the memory stored in the circuit is cleared. As the lever 12 is turned rightwardly, lever 15 which has so far borne against riser portion 12" is turned rightwardlyand hole 15" displaces feed shaft 38 to this side in Figure 2, whereupon the mesh engagement between feed gear 39 and ratchet plate 40 is released.Also, the 0 display plate 42 which has so far borne against protruded portion 15"' is turned rightwardly by the force of spring 44 until it strikes against limiting pin 94, whereby "0" is again displayed externally. On the other hand, in preparation for the next film loading, the end 15' of lever 15 becomes engageable with one end 35" of restraining hook 35. Aiso, pin 49' which has so far borne against the end 15' turns change-over lever 49 Ieftwardly against the force of spring 48, so that pin 49" is moved leftwardly as viewed in Figure 2 and release pawl 50 is turned rightwardly, and end 50" assumes a position in which it cannot push a pin 51' at one end of mirror hook 51. What has been described above is the explanation of film loading to film removal.

Figure 3 shows an embodiment of the electric circuit corresponding to the first embodiment of Figure 2. In Figure 3, there are shown elements corresponding to those of Figure 2, namely, main switch SWl,wind-up start switch SW2, back lid opening-closing switches SW3, SW4, reverse rotation stopping switch SW5, release switch SW6, rewind switch SW7, release magnet Mg1 comprising coil 27 and permanent magnet 28, and motor M.

Details of a film information read-out circuit 1000 and a digital circuit 1001 are shown in Figure 4. An exposure setting circuit 1004 sets exposure factors such as aperture value, shutter speed, etc. for exposure control and puts out them to an exposure control circuit 1003. A power source timer is constituted by transistors Q1, Q2, Resistors R1 and capacitor C1. Transistor Q3 effects the control of power supply to the film information read-out circuit 1000.

Transistor Q4 is for securing the power supply to the exposure control circuit during the time the shutter is opened by the exposure control circuit 1003. MOS transistor Q5 is adapted to be turned on when a gate connected to the output n of the digital circuit 1001 assumes H-level. A first power source El supplies power to all the circuits including the motor, and a second power source E2 supplies power only to the digital circuit 1001 when the first power source has been consumed or when the first power source is replaced. The power sources El and E2 are connected together through reverse current blocking diodes D2 and D3, and are connected to the power supply terminal fofthe digital circuit 1001 through the back lid opening-closing switch SW4. Transistor Q6 is driven by the output g of the digital circuit 1001. When the transistor Q6 is turned on, power is supplied to a warning circuit 1002 and transistor Q7 is turned on while transistor Q8 is turned off and therefore, even if the release switch SW6 is closed, no release signal is transmitted to the exposure control circuit 1003. When power is supplied to the warning circuit 1002, a piezoelectric sound generator CV is driven to generate a sound while, at the same time, a light-emitting diode LED1 flickers to effect warning.

Transistor Q9 drives a magnet Mg2 for holding the rearward curtain of the shutter. Transistors Q11-Q20 together constitute a motor driving circuit. MOS transistor Q10 having its gate connected to the terminal k of the digital circuit 1001 effects the control of automatic stoppage during rewind, as will hereinafter be described. The motor driving circuit is designed such that when transistor 015 is turned on, transistors 016 and 013 are turned on and motor M revolves in normal direction to drive the mechanism ofthefilm wind-up driving system and that when transistor Q11 is turned on, transistors 014, 018, 017 and 012 are turned on and motor M revolves in reverse direction to drive the mechanism of the rewind driving system.When transistor 015 or Q18 is turned on, transistor 019 is turned on to cause capacitor C2 to discharge and turn on transistor 020, and when both of the transistors 015 and 018 are in non-conductive state, transistor 019 is turned off and transistor 020 remains conductive during a predetermined time determined by resistor R2 and capacitor C2, whereby transistors Q16 and Q17 are turned on to exert an electromagnetic brake on the motor M, thus stopping the motor M quickly.

The operation of the circuit of Figure 3 is effected as follows: When the back lid of the camera is opened to load a film into the camera, the back lid opening-closing switches SW3 and SW4 are opened and power is no longer supplied to the digital circuit 1001 and, even if the main switch SW1 is closed, transistor 01 is not turned on. At this time, the wind-up start switch SW2 is in its OFF position and transistor 03 is also in its OFF state. Accordingly, no power is supplied to the film information read-out circuit 1000 and the exposure control circuit 1003. The rewind switch SW7 and the exposure control circuit 1003.The rewind switch SW7 is in its OFF position at this time and therefore, transistor 011 is its OFF state and, since the wind-up start switch SW2 is in its OFF position and the back lid opening-closing switch SW3 is also in its OFF position, transistor 015 is also in its OFF state and all of the transistors in the motor driving circuit are in their OFF state. MOS transistor OS is also in its OFF state because no power is being supplied to the digital circuit 1001. When, in this state, the back lid of the camera is closed with the film and magazine placed in predetermined positions, the back lid opening-closing switches SW3 and SW4 are closed to permit power to be supplied to the digital circuit 1001.

Description will hereinafter be made by reference to Figure 4 which shows details of the digital circuit 1001.

When power is supplied to the digital circuit by the closing of the back lid opening-closing switch SW4, reset pulse of L-level is generated for a predetermined time by resistor R10, capacitor C10 and buffer amplifier Al. Flip-flops FF1, FF2, counters CO1, C02, C03 and data register RG1 are reset by the reset pulse, and the output of FF1 assumes L-level and the outputs of FF2, C01 and C03 assume H-level. On the other hand, the main switch SW1 has not yet been closed and therefore, transistor Ol is not turned on and the voltage at terminal S is at L-level and accordingly, the outputs of gates AND3 and AND4 are at Level. Because the output of gate AND4 is at L-level, MOS transistor Q5 which is driven by that output is in its OFF state.

Digital comparator CP3 puts out an H-level output when the output of counter C02 is coincident with the output of data register RG1, but the output thereof is at L-level in its initial state and accordingly, the output of gate NOR1 is at H-level, so that transistor Q6 is in its OFF state. All of transistors Q10 - Q20 in the motor driving circuit are in their OFF state.

Next, when release button 17 is half-depressed, the main switch SW1 is closed and transistor Q1 is turned on, so that the terminal S of the digital circuit 1001 assumes H-level, the outputs of gates AND3 and AND4 assume H-level, MOS transistor Q5 is turned on and transistor Q3 and transistor 015 of the motor driving circuit are turned on and therefore, power is supplied to the film information read-out circuit 1000 while, at the same time, the motor revolves to start wind-up of the film. At the same time, the output of gate NOR1 assumes L-level, so that transistor 06 is turned on to supply power to the warning circuit 1002, whereby LED1 flicks and CV generates a sound, thus indicating that idle feeding of the film is being effected.At this time, transistor Q8 is in its OFF state and therefore, even if release switch SW6 is closed, the release magnet MG1 is not energized.

When reverse transport of the film is started, a film transport pulse is generated, for the movement of the film by an amount corresponding to one perforation therein, by a magnetic flux variation detecting coil L1 of Figure 4 corresponding to the sensor 26 of Figure 2, while being amplified and waveformshaped by an amplifier OP1 and comparator CP1, and it is transmitted to gate AND1. However, the information signal H does not exist in the leading portion of the film and therefore, no film information pulse is generated and flip-flop FF1 is in the same state as that when it has been reset, and gate AND1 is closed.The film information detecting portions 23, 24 of Figure 2 comprise a light-emitting diode LED2 and a photodiode Ph2 opposed thereto, and when the information opening h0 in the film passes the film information detecting portions, a photocurrent generated in the photodiode Ph2 is amplified and waveform-shaped by an amplifier OP2 and comparator CP2 and a pulse corresponding to one film information opening ho is transmitted to the digital circuit 1001. When the idle feeding of the film progresses and the first film information opening passes the detecting portion LED2, Ph2, a film information pulse is generated and flip-flop FF1 is inverted so that its output assumes H-level, and gate AND1 is opened and this state is maintained until the back lid of the camera is thereafter opened to open the back lid opening-closing switch SW4.

Afilm transport pulse generated correspondingly to the movement of the film by an amount corresponding to one perforation upon opening of the gate AND1 is counted by counters CO1, C02 and C03.

The film information openings are such that one film information opening position is determined for one perforation in the film and therefore, shift register RG1 successively stores therein the ftim information comprising a combination of opening 9Bo and non-opening 9B1. When the range of the position at which the film information openings are provided, namely, a predetermined number N2 of perforations, have been counted by counter C01, the output of the counter C01 assumes L-level and gate AND2 is closed and, when all the film information has been stored in the shift register RG ,the information memory signal introducing operation is completed.

However, counter C03 maintains its H-level output until a predetermined number of perforations corresponding to the position at which the first designated photography picture plane F1 of the film is in register with the aperture portion of the camera is reached. Accordingly, idle feeding of the film is continued. When the number of perforations corresponding to the position at which the first photographing picture plane F1 is in register with the aperture portion of the camera has been counter, the output of counter C03 assumes L-level and the output of gate AND4 also assumes L-level, so that MOS transistor OS driven by the output of gate AND4 is turned off.By the turn-off of transistor Q5, transistor Q3 is turned off to render the film information read-out circuit 1000 inoperative, and also the transistor Q15 in the motor driving circuit is turned off, so that transistors Q16 and 013 are also turned off.

On the other hand, the output of inverter INV2 connected to the output of counter C03 changes from L-level to H-level, and the output of inverter INV3 changes to L-level while being delayed by resistor R11 and capacitor C11. Accordingly, the output of gate AND7 assumes H-level for a predetermined time determined by resistor R11 and capacitor C11 and MOS transistor 021 driven by the output of gate AND7 remains conductive for said predetermined time to drive the release magnet Mg1 of the exposure control circuit 1003. When the magnet Mg1 is driven, as already described, the mechanism of the exposure control system, namely, the mirror driving system, is not operated but only the clutch mechanism 8 of the film wind-up system is operated upon the first release during film loading.The output of flip-flop FF2 is at H-level and the output of inverter INV2 changes from L-level to H-level, whereby the output of gate AND6 assumes H-level simultaneously with the operation of the clutch mechanism 8, and transistor Q11 driven by the output of gate AND6 is turned on and transistors 014, Q18, Q17 and 012 are turned on, so that reverse current flows to the motor M, which thus revolves in reverse direction. The reverse revolution ofthe motor M acts on the film wind-up mechanism system in no way but acts on the film rewind mechanism and by the rotation of the idle gear 90 in the rewind gear train, the release magnet mechanism is reset as previously described.

When the release magnet mechanism is reset, reverse rotation stopping switch SW5 is closed and H-level set pulse is generated at the output of gate ANDS by resistor R12, capacitor C12 and inverter INV1,whereby flip-flop FF2 is set and inverted so that the output thereof changes to L-level. This state is maintained until the back lid opening-closing switch SW4 is opened.By the output of flip-flop FF2 changing to L-level, the output of gate AND6 changes to L-level and transistor 011 is turned off, so that transistors Q18 and Q12 are turned off and transistor 019 is turned off and therefore, transistor Q20 is turned on for the predetermined time determined by resistor R2 and capacitor C2 and thus, transistors 016 and Q17 are turned on for a predetermined time, whereby an electromagnetic brake is exerted on the motor M to stop it quickly. Also, the output of gate AND3 likewise assumes L-level and at this time, the output of digital comparator CP3 remains at L-level and therefore, the output of gate NOR1 assumes H-level and transistor 06 is turned off to render the warning circuit 1002 inoperative, and transistor 07 is turned off.

By the turn-off of transistor 07, transistor Q8 is turned on when transistor Q1 controlling the power supply to the exposure control circuit is in its ON state, and accordingly, release switch SW6 is closed, whereupon this is transmitted to the exposure control circuit 1003 to enable shutter release. When rewind switch SW7 is OFF, namely, in the photographing mode, the count content of counter C02 is added, for example, with eight perforations corresponding to one film picture plane, namely, eight pulses, as one unit, and that count content is compared with photographable frame number information OUT2 of the film information stored in data register RG1, by digital comparator CP3, and when the count value of counter C02 is greater than the photographable frame number, the digital comparator CP3 puts on an H-level signal.Also, when rewind switch SW7 is ON, namely, in the film rewind mode, counter C02 changes over to the subtraction mode and effects subtraction with the so far added count value as the reference value and, when the count content reaches a predetermined count value determined so that at least the first photographing picture plane is completely wound into the film magazine and the leading portion of the film is not completely wound into the magazine, an H-level signal (OUT3) is put out.

As previously, described, after the film automatically becomes photographable at the first frame, the release inhibiting condition is released and photography is effected. When the release button is depressed to close the main switch SW1 and release switch SW6, power is supplied to the exposure control circuit 1003 and power is also aupplied to the release magnet Mgl, and the mechanical sequence of the camera is started, whereupon of the film information stored in the data register RG1 of the digital circuit 1001, digital signals such as film speed, latitude, film type, etc. necessary for the setting of the exposure level are transmitted to the exposure control circuit 1003 to effect exposure control on the basis of the setting portion 1004 for exposure setting factors other than the film information and the light-receiving element Phi. When power is being supplied to shutter magnet Mg2, namely, when the film is being exposed, transistor Q4 is turned on to secure the power supply to the exposure control circuit 1003. Transistor Q3 effecting the control of the power supply to the film information read-out circuit 1000 depends only on the state of transistor Q5 and the wind-up start switch SW2 due to the presence of reverse current blocking diode D1.Accordingly, during the power supply to magnet Mg2, transistor Q5 is in its OFF state and the wind-up start switch SW2 is also in its OFF position, so that transistor 03 is turned off and power supply to the film information read-out circuit 1000 is not effected.

When shutter magnet M92 is deenergized, the rearward curtain of the shutter is closed and the mirror moves down and the wind-up start switch SW2 is closed. By the closing of the wind-up start switch SW2, power is supplied to the film information read-out circuit 1000 and transistors Q15, Q16, Q13 are turned on and by normal revolution of the motor M, wind-up of the film, shutter charge, resetting operation of release magnet Mgl, etc. are effected. When the wind-up is completed, the windup start switch SW2 is opened to stop the motor M and the power supply to the film information read-out circuit 1000 is stopped. The abovedescribed operation is continued up to the last photographable frame Ff of the film.During the film wind-up, the ON condition of the wind-up start switch SW2 is transmitted to the release circuit for operating the magnet Mgl in the exposure control circuit 1003, to thereby inhibit the release circuit from operating during the film wind-up, thus preventing malfanctioning of the release magnet mechanism for reset operation.

When the last photographable frame of the film is photographed, wind-up of the film is effected and resetting operation of the release magnet and shutter charge is effected, but as previously described, when wind-up of the film is effected after the last frame has been photographed, the count value of counter C02 is increased over the signal of photographable frame number (OUT3) and the output (OUT3) of digital comparator CP3 which is comparing the signal of photographable film frame number (OUT2) pre-stored in data register RG1 with the count value of counter C02 assumes H-level, and the output of gate NOR1 assumes L-level and transistor Q6 is turned on, so that the warning circuit 1002 is operated to indicate that no more photography can be effected while, at the same time, transistor Q8 is turned off and therefore, even if release switch SW6 is closed thereafter, release does not take place.

After the last frame of the film has been photographed, the motor M is stopped in a condition in which wind-up of the film has been completed. Next, when the rewind lever (82 in Figure 2) is moved to the rewind position, rewind switch SW7 is closed and counter C02 changes over to the subtraction mode and digital comparator CP3 puts out L-level to OUT3 until the count value of counter C02 is subtracted below a predetermined value determined in the above-described manner. Accordingly, the output of gate NOR1 assumes H-level and the warning circuit 1002 stops operating, and since MOS transistor Q10 is in its OFF state, transistor Q11 is turned on and transistors Q14, Q18. Q17, Q12 are also turned on, so that the motor M revolves in reverse direction to effect rewind of the film.When the rewind switch SW7 is in its ON state, transistor Q7 is ON and transistor Q8 is OFF and thus, release is inhibited. Also, when transistor Q11 is in its ON state, namely, in the rewind condition, transistor Q3 is turned on through reverse current blocking diode D4 to secure the power supply to the film information read-out circuit while, at the same time, transistor Q15 is prevented from being turned on by transistor 014. When the rewind of the film progresses and the count value of counter C02 is subtracted to a predetermined value, the output of digital comparator CP3 assumes H-level and MOS transis- tor Q10 driven by that output is turned on while transistor Q11 is turned off, thus stopping reverse revolution of the motor M.Also, the output of gate NOR1 assumes L-level and the warning circuit is operated to indicate that the rewind operation has been terminated. The warning display is maintained until the rewind switch SW7 is opened, even if the back lid of the camera is opened to open the back lid opening-closing switch SW4. After completion of the rewind, the film magazine can be removed from the camera with the leader portion of the film projected from the magazine because the motor does not revolve even if the back lid of the camera is opened after the rewind lever has been returned to its initial position or even if the rewind lever is returned to its initial position after the back lid of the camera has been opened, and this is convenient in using an automatic developing machine or the like.When the first power source El is interchanged in the course of photography, power is supplied to the digital circuit 1001 from the second power source E2 and therefore, the film information stored in data register RG1 and the count contents of counters CO1, C02 and C03 are all maintained. If a logic circuit comprising CMOS is used as the digital circuit 1001, the current consumed in the digital circuit 1001 can be reduced below the self-consumption of battery and its standby consumption current can be substantially regarded as zero.

The method of multi-exposure will now be described. In Figure 2, when set knob 109 is pushed upwardly, set lever 110 is turned leftwardly about shaft 121 and a portion 110' thereof depresses the underside of the flange portion 103' of clutch 103 to cut off the operative association between gear 6 and sprocket gear 104. At that time, the end 122' of holding lever 122 which has so far borne against the flange portion 103' comes below the flange portion 103'.

Next, after photographing of the first frame is effected, wind-up is effected and since sprocket 11 and spool are not rotated at that time, only the shutter and mirror are charged. During the wind-up, holding lever 122 is pushed out toward the outer periphery by the friction between the flange portion 103' of clutch 103 and the end portion 122' of the holding lever and the hold is released, but since only one groove 103" is provided in clutch 103, the holding lever slides on the pin portion 104' in the upper part of sprocket gear 104 and makes just one full roration, whereby the groove 103" and pin 104' come into engagement with each other. If second exposure is imparted thereupon, wind-up will take place subsequently and the film will now be fed.

The film end stopping method will now be described. The previously described embodiment is designed such that the number of photographable frames of the film is pre-stored on the circuit side, the count number of the pulses of the sprocket generator 25 is used for the feeding of a predetermined number of frames and after the last frame has been photographed, wind-up is effected and at that time, the circuit changes over so that no power is supplied to the coil 27 even if the release switch SW6 is closed, thus completing photography. However, completion of photography can also be accomplished by detecting the opening of wind-up start switch 2 upon completion of the first wind-up after sensor 24 has detected the film end signal opening he shown in Figure land then rendering the release impossible.

Where the film, as shown in Figure 1, has its signal H between the perforations P and the film edge, signal detectors 23 and 24 will be disposed between an inner film guide rail 151 and an outer guide rail 152 as shown in Figures 5A and 5B. Therefore, where the previously described film stopping method, namely, the method whereby detection of the trail ing end of the film is accomplished by means of the end signal opening he in the film F and then release is rendered impossible or the film feeding is automatically stopped, is adopted, if the margin of the remaining length of the film is taken into account, the detectors disposed between the inner guide rail and the outer guide rail and between exposure aperture 153 and film magazine containing chamber 154 can quickly detect the signal opening he emerg- ing from the magazine and so, during this detection, a relatively great amount of film is left in the magazine to provide an allowanceforthe next wind-up to be effected, and this is effective when the delay of the stopping operation of the film transport mechanism is taken into account or when, as in the present embodiment, the last frame Ff is automatic ally wound up by an amount corresponding to still a further frame even after exposure.

Description will now be made of another embodi ment of sprocket generator 25 and sensor 26.

Figure 6 shows an example in which light emitted from a light source 327 is reflected by the surface of a generator 325 and received by a sensor 326, whereby rotation is photo-electrically detected. Fi gure 7 shows an example in which a perforation detecting light source 427 and sensor 426 are provided separately from the light source 23 and sensor 24 for signal openings so that the number of perforations is photoelectrically counted as the perforations move.

Figure 8 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. Only the differences of this embo diment from the embodiment of Figure 2 will be described.

The operation from film loading will be described.

As in the previous embodiment, when the signal H in the film arrives at the position of sensor 24 with the advance of the film, the pulse counter in the circuit is started by the output of the sensor. Pulse is gener ated by generator 25 rotated with sprocket 11 and sensor 26 and, after the aforementioned counter has counted a predetermined pulse corresponding to the frame just before the first film frame, as it were, the 0th frame, power is supplied to coil 27 to weaken the attraction of permanent magnet 28. Therefore, armature 29 so far attracted is liberated and release lever 111 turns rightwardly. At this time, the pin 111' on the lever 111 bears against one end 32' of holding lever 32 and causes the lever 32 to turn rightwardly against the force of spring 33. Therefore, phase clutch 8 lowers and pin 8' comes down into a groove on phase clutch board 7.Since wind-up limiting board 60 and limiting lever 59 are in engagement with each other, clutch 8 cannot rotate. Accordingly, clutch board 7 is stopped, and sprocket 11 and spool 10 connected to the clutch board 7 are also stopped.

After this, motor M starts idle rotation by slip mechanism 2. In this manner, film F is fed by a predetermined length from the first one hoo of signals H and stopped at a predetermined position, namely, at one frame before the photographing picture plane of the first frame of the first number pre-printed on the film. On the other hand, with the rightward turning of holding lever 32, restraining hook 35 turns leftwardly and lever 15 turns leftwardly to cause gear 39 to engage ratchet plate 40 through feed shaft 38, thus completing the preparation for advancing film counter 41. At this time, the film counter 41 displays "0".

Another end 111" of release lever 111 moves rightwardly as viewed in Figure 8 as the lever 111 turns rightwardly. Thereby, a pin 51' at one end of mirror hook 51 is moved rightwardly as viewed in Figure 8 and the mirror hook 51 is turned leftwardly to permit movement of lever 52 in the direction of arrow, and the mirror is moved up by a mechanism, not shown, and then the shutter is operated, but before the circuit side detects the amount of fed film by the pulse count of sprocket generator 25, the shutter time control of the shutter control circuit is rendered into zero millisecond and the shutter curtain is moved without being opened so that the film is not exposed.

When the shutter is operated, mirror return signal lever 102 turns rightwardly about shaft 105 to cause limiting lever 59 to turn leftwardly through mirror charge lever 55 and cause the limiting lever to be disengaged from the groove 60' in limiting board 60.

Thus, an upper sprocket shaft 72 becomes rotatable.

Also, by the return of the mirror, lever 52 returns to its position shown. By the upper sprocket shaft 72 becoming rotatable, the motor M which has so far idled by the slip mechanism 2 causes a first gear 5 and a second gear 6 to rotate, so that, as described in connection with the first embodiment, sprocket 11 and spool 10 start rotating and thus, the film is fed.

The slip mechanism 2 continues its slipping condition only during film loading and moreover for a short time and therefore, the durability of each part is not marred.

The rotation of gear 6 turns release lever 111 leftwardly via phase clutch 8, gear 61 and shaft 63 on the one hand and via cam 64, roller 69, lever 70 and spring 71 on the other hand, to cause armature 29 to be attracted to permanent magnet 28. Thereafter, when roller 69 arrives at the small-diametered portion of cam 64, lever 70 is turned rightwardly by the force of spring 73 and returns to its position shown. Rotation on shaft 63 charges the shutter mechanism and mirror mechanism through shutter mirror charge cam 65 and roller 67 on the one hand and through arm 75, pin 76 and rod 77 on the other hand. Charge lever 55 returns to its shown position with the charge of the driving force of the mirror mechanism, and rod 77 returns to its shown position with the progress of wind-up.The step advance of the film counter is effected in the same manner as described in connection with the first embodiment.

Photographing operation will now be described.

This is the same as in the first embodiment, but after the amount of fed film corresponding to the first frame has been detected by the circuit, shutter control is effected art a predetermined shuttertime.

Since, however, the release pawl 50 in the first embodiment is absent in the present embodiment, the release of the mirror is accomplished by directly moving mirror restraining hook 51 by means of release lever 111.

Wind-up operation and film end stopping operation are entirely the same as those in the first embodiment and therefore need not be described.

As regards rewind operation, the rewind stoppage is the same as that in the first embodiment except that the motor M is stopped immediatelyafterthe pulse generated by reverse rotation of sprocket 11 has been counted up to a number necessary for the amount of film corresponding to the number of photographable frames stored in the circuit to be wound into the film magazine.

The above-described second embodiment will now be compared with the first embodiment. In the first embodiment, during the preparatory operation for photography, the film is idly fed up to the first frame of the film and, when a predetermined pulse corresponding to the first frame has been counted, power is supplied to coil 27 to thereby liberate armature 29 and bring phase clutch 8 into its engaged condition, and the film transport mechan ism is restrained at the first frame of the film by the engagement between wind-up limiting board 60 and limiting lever 59, and release lever 31 is changed over to a mirror release operable condition by change-over lever 49 and further, motor M is revolved in reverse direction to reset release lever 31 to its attracted position, thus becoming ready for start of photography.Also during completion of rewind, in preparation for the next film loading and idle feeding, detection of the phase of magnet reset cam 98 is effected by reverse rotation stopping switch SW5 in order to stop the motor M art a position whereat release lever 31 is operable. In contrast, in the second embodiment, the film is idly fed up to the 0th frame of the film during the preparatory operation for photography, whereupon power is supplied to coil 27 to liberate armature 29 and bring phase clutch 8 into its engaged condition to thereby stop the film, and the mirror is released, whereby the shutter is moved without forming an exposure slit to effect a cycle of idle photography, and then wind-up is effected to reset armature 29, thus becoming ready for photography of the first frame.

Accordingly, the first embodiment may effectively be applied to a camera provided with a shutter having a mechanical limiter, namely, a safety device which prevents the shutter time from becoming shorterthan a predetermined shutter speed, and has an advantage that if the release button is depressed once during film loading, the preparation for photography of the first frame can be accomplished thereafter without any useless shutter operating sound.

On the other hand, the second embodiment employs a greatly reduced number of switches and change-over levers and enables the idle feeding up to the first frame by a simpler construction.

Also, in Figure 2, power is supplied to coil 27 so that the film is stopped when the photographing picture plane of the first frame, or in Figure 8, the 0th frame, has come to the position of the sensor, but with the operation delay of each member taken into account, power may also be supplied to coil 27 at a point of time corresponding to the count number slightly before the pulse from sensor 26 reaches a predetermined value. In that case, in order to ensure the film to be stopped at the 0th frame or the first frame, namely, in order that pin 8' may not come into the groove before or after the target groove 7' for the purpose of reliable engagement of phase clutch 8, adjusting the forces of springs 34,30,33, etc. so that there is obtained a timing with which pin 8' comes down into the portion between the target groove and the groove just before it would be effective.

Also, after sensor 24 has detected the first signal opening hoo, the subsequent information signal H is read out, but the timing of the pulse generated by one set of generator 25 and sensor 26 and the timing of the pulse generated by one set of light source 23 and sensor 24 may or may not be coincident with each other and, each time a pulse is generated from sensor 26, the presence of the output of sensor 24 is checked up and stored in the circuit.

In both of the above-described embodiments, the release magnet Mug 1 acts, during idle feeding of the film, as a part of the means for stopping the film transport mechanism for ensuring the first frame (the first embodiment) or the 0th frame (the second embodiment) to be opposed to the film exposure aperture, or more specifically, as the drive means for moving phase clutch 8, and acts, during photography after that, as the ordinary magnet for shutter release. However, if space or cost permits, discrete magnets may be used for these functions. Also, mirror moving-up lever 52 is shown as being restrained by mirror release hook 51, but if the camera to which the present invention is applied is not a single lens reflex camera, the shutter may be suddenly started by the lever 52 and at that time, mirror return signal lever 55 will provide a rearward shutter curtain signal and will be a lever for detecting the movement of the rearward curtain, for example, the completion of the movement of the rearward curtain. Even if the camera to which the present invention is applied is a single lens reflex camera, the aperture control mechanism may first be started by the movement of the lever 52, and then the mirror may be moved up. Again in that case, the signal lever 55 may be the rearward curtain signal.

In Figure 2, the main switch SW1 functions, during film loading, as the start switch for idle feeding of the film (the start switch for motor M) and functions, during the photography of the first frame and soon, as a mere main power source switch and the change-over thereof is effected in the circuit by the pulse count of the sprocket generator when a number corresponding to the first frame has been reached, whereas this may also be accomplished by the use of switch SW8 as already described.

Also, in Figure 8, for example, a switch SW9 operatively associated with the film counter may be provided and during its OFF condition, switch SW1 may perform the function of the start switch of motor M and the shutter time of the shutter control circuit may be set to a shutter time at which the slit of the shutter is not opened (for example, zero millisecond), and during the ON condition of switch SW9, switch SW1 may change over to a mere main power switch and the circuit may be constructed such that the shutter control circuit operates at a desired shutter time.

Further detailed description will be partly made of the foregoing two embodiments.

In Figures 2 and 8, the light source 23 is present on the back lid side of the camera and the sensor 24 is disposed on the lens side,- but these may of course be disposed at reverse positions. The light source may be a filament bulb, LED or the like, and the sensor 24 may be a photodiode, a phototransistor, a photocell or the like. The release magnet Mg1 for moving the phase clutch 8 at a timing with which the clutch 8 is brought into its engaged condition may be replaced by an ordinary electromagnet which, when supplied with power, maintains its attracting condition and, when electrically deenergized, liberates the armature 29.

Figures 9 and 10 show examples of the circuit corresponding to Figure 8 which illustrates the mechanism of the second embodiment. In Figures 9 and 10, members functionally similar to those of Figures 3 and 4 are given similar reference numerals and appelations. The operation is effected in the following manner. As previously described, when the film is disposed in place within the camera and the back lid of the camera is closed to close the main switch SW1, motor M revolves to effect wind-up of the film and the film information is stored in data register RG 1. At that time, the output of gate AND4 is at H-level and therefore, the output of gate NOR2 assumes L-level and warning circuit 1002 operates.

The output of initial release counter C04, when reset, assumes L-leveland when it counts a predetermined value, it puts out an H-level signal. When C04 puts out the H-level signal, gate AND8 puts out an H-level signal by resistor R13, capacitor C13 and inverter INV4 for a predetermined time determined by R13 and C13, whereby MOS transistor Q21 is turned on and release magnet Mg is operated.Initial release counter C04 is designed such that its output changes to H when it counts the number of perforations corresponding to the time from after gate AND1 has opened, namely, from after the first opening hoo of the film information signal has been detected, until a pointoftimewhereatthe picture plane just before the first photographing film picture plane F1 has become coincident with the aperture of the camera, and that state does not change thereafter even if pulse is input.

When the output of counter C04 changes to H-level, as previously described, release pulse is put out to turn on transistor Q21 and the camera is released with the sequence of exposure control of the camera started, but at that time, the output of counter C03 is at H-level and therefore, gate AND4 also puts out an H-level output and transistor Q22 is turned on, so that without transistor Q9 being turned on, the rearward curtain of the shutter is not held but is moved with the forward curtain and thus, that film picture plane is not exposed.Accordingly, the mirror lower immediately and wind-up start switch SW2 is closed and, when the first film picture plane F1 has become coincident with the aperture of the camera, switch SW2 is opened while, at the same time, the output of counter C03 changes to Land transistors Q5 and Q22 are turned off to stop motor M, thus becoming ready for ordinary photography. In this case, the inversion of counter C03 need not always be in synchronism with the opening of switch SW2, but counter C03 may be inverted during the time from when switch SW2 is closed after inversion of counter C04 until switch SW2 is again opened by normal revolution of motor M.

In the foregoing description, the film information signal has been shown as openings or a combination of openings and non-openings, but this-signal may be of any type.

Figure 11 shows a third embodiment of the present invention, and particularly another embodiment of the engaging mechanism portion of the phase clutch.

The operation thereof will hereinafter be described. Again in this embodiment, idle feeding of the film is effected during film loading, but motor M is revolved in reverse direction during the idle feeding. Thereupon, gear 90 is rotated in the direction of arrow by one-way clutches 88 and 89'. Then, a crank shaft 152 secured thereto is rotated and the end 155' of crank pawl 155 is moved substantially to left and right as viewed in Figure 11 by crank 153, crank pin 154 and crank pawl 155. Therefore, a feed ratchet wheel 157 is fed by one tooth for one full rotation of crank shaft 152. The number of teeth and pitch of the feed ratchet wheel are the same as the teeth of sprocket 11 and grooves 7' of phase clutch board 7 and therefore, the teeth of the sprocket are fed intermittently one by one by reverse revolution of motor M. When the feed pawl 155 is moving fully to right as viewed in Figure 1i,there is provided a so-called right dead center and the feed ratchet wheel 157 becomes nearly stationary. By constructing the grooves 7' such that the then position of a groove 7' comes just below the pin 8' of phase clutch 8 as shown in Figure 12, and suitably setting the timing with which power is supplied to coil 27 by the signals from sprocket generator 25 and sensor 26, the pin 8' can smoothly enter into the groove 7'.

Alternatively, as shown in Figure 13, the grooves 7' may be constructed such that the pin 8' comes just above a groove 7' when a stop pawl 158 is restraining the feed ratchet wheel 157. In that case, there is created a time zone in which the feed ratchet wheel 157 becomes entirely stationary during the time the feed pawl 155 begins to retract Ieftwardly in Figure 13 and begins to feed the next pawl 157 via the left dead center, and if power is supplied to coil 27 in synchronism with that time zone, the pin 8' will smoothly engage the groove 7' again in this case.

Particularly, in Figure 12, phase clutch 8 is reliably engaged even for the irregularity of angle of reverse rotation of the sprocket created by the curling force of the film.

During the wind-up effected each time the shutter is released after the idle feeding has been terminated, motor M is revolved in normal direction (the direction of broken-line arrow). During rewind, motor M is again revolved in reverse direction and in that case, by the push-up operation of rewind operating button 167 which takes place priorthereto, lever 165 is turned rightwardly and cone rod 163 is moved up against the force of spring 164 and, by the rightward turning of lever 160, a pin 161 secured thereto displaces the feed pawl 155 so that the end 155' of the feed pawl 155 is retracted from the feed ratchet wheel 157. Thus, gear 90 becomes rotatable.

Therefore, as in the first embodiment, a rewind coupling, not shown, is driven by reverse revolution of motor M and through gears 89,90,91 to thereby effect film rewind.

As described above, in the present embodiment, phase clutch 8 is operated while it is stationary or nearly stationary and therefore, any overrunning between grooves 7' and pin 8' can be prevented and moreover, during photography, wind-up is effected not intermittently but continuously, and this leads to high efficiency of wind-up and higher speed of wind-up and no production of unpleasant sound.

In both of the first and second embodiments, the detected film information and the amount of fed film are stored in the circuit, and this circuit is constructed so that in preparation for the time when the power source circuit has been opened, or the time when the battery has been consumed to leave only a small available capacity therein, or the time when the power source has been removed from the camera, a second power source is separately provided to thereby prevent the memory of the memory circuit from being lost. Consequently, the first power source can be interchanged in the course of photography of a film. In this case, providing the second power source with a safety device as shown in Figure 14 will provide completeness.That is, a safety hook 204 is provided which is engageable with the flange portion 203' of the lid 203 of the battery case of the second power source E2, and design is made such that when the cartridge 205 of the first power source El is pushed into a position for ensuring conduction, the safety hook 204 escapes with the aid of an interlocking lever 206 and only in such case, the second power source E2 can be interchanged.

Thus, the camera can avoid the state of having no power source therein.

If the stored content of the circuit of the camera is maintained in this manner, when the film is running short, a warning sound may be easily generated or a warning lamp may be easily turned on and the information obtained from the film can be displayed within or outside the finder view field of the camera.

For example, display of the footage of the film in use or display of the film speed can be effected.

In contrast with the above-described electrical storage of the detected information, the mechanical storage which will hereinafter be described is also effective.

An embodiment of the mechanical memory device disposed within the camera body will be shown below.

In Figure 15, film F is provided with the aforementioned information opening ho associated with perforations P. The direction of feeding of the film F is indicated by an arrow. A light-emitting element 523 and a light-receiving element 524 are disposed at opposed positions with the information opening ho interposed therebetween so as to photoelectrically detect the presence of the opening ho. A light emitting element 527 and a light-receiving element 526 are disposed at opposed positions with the perforations P interposed therebetween so as to photoelectrically detect the presence of the perforations P.

An information extracting circuit 503 extracts information from the relation between the photoelectric output of the light-receiving element produced as the film F is fed and the photoelectric output of the light-receiving element 524.

The circuit 503 supplies film speed information in the form of an electrical signal to a pulse generator circuit 504.

Upon reception thereof, the circuit 504 supplies to an electromagnet Mg3 a number of pulses corresponding to the film speed. A feed pawl lever 505, a stop pawl lever 506, a ratchet 507, a resistor plate 508 coaxial and integral with the ratchet 507, and a reset lever 509 together constitute the mechanical memory device.

The electromagnet Mg3 attracts an armature 505a provided on the feed pawl lever 505 against the force of a spring 505b each time it receives a pulse. By one attraction, the lever 505 is turned leftwardly about a shaft 505c, and a feed pawl 505d at the end thereof turns the ratchet 507 rightwardly by one tooth against the force of a spring 507a which biases the ratchet 507 leftwardly. The stop pawl lever 506 prevents the ratchet 507 from being turned leftward- ly by the spring 507a when the attraction of the feed pawl by the electromagnet Mg3 is released. Thus, the resistor plate 508 is rotated in accordance with the pulse number generated from the pulse generator circuit 504. The film speed information obtained from the information opening is mechanically maintained as the amount of rotational displacement of the resistor plate 508.

An exposure operation circuit 510 obtains the film speed information stored in the form of the amount of rotational displacement, in the form of resistance value between brushes 51 Oa and 51 Ob in contact with an earth land 508a and a resistor 508b, respec tively, provided on the resistor plate 508, and operates the exposure on the basis of this film speed.

When the back lid is opened to remove the photographed film, a pawl 511 operatively associ ated therewith releases the restraint of reset lever 509. The lever 509 is turned rightwardly about a shaft 509b by a spring 509a and the riser portion 509c thereof brings the feed pawl 505 and stop pawl 506 out of engagement with the ratchet 507. As a result, the ratchet 507 and the resistor plate 508 are turned leftwardly by the biasing force of the spring 507a and reset into their initial conditions. A manual setting plate 512 is connected to the resistor plate 508 through a rod 512a and displays the information, indicated by the resistance value, by means of the scale of the manual setting plate.Where use is made of a film provided with no information opening, the manual setting plate is manually rotated to set the film speed. It is also possible to display the information, indicated by the resistance value, by means of an electrical display element through the circuit 510.

Figure 16 shows a modification. The detector device includes conductor plates 623 and 624 disposed so as to be opposed to each other with the information opening ho interposed therebetween and electrostatic-capacitively detecting the presence of the information opening h,, and conductor plates 627 and 626 disposed so as to be opposed to each other with the perforations P interposed therebetween and electrostatic-capacitively detecting the presence of the perforations P.

The number of pulses of the pulse generator circuit 504 corresponding to the film speed is supplied to a pulse motor PM. The pulse motor PM revolves in accordance with the pulse number input thereto, and the revolution thereof is transmitted to a one-tooth gear 606 through a gear train. The gear 606 is rotated by the pulse number input to the motor PM and rotates the ratchet 507 which is in mesh engagement therewith. A reset lever 609 releases the mesh engagement between the gear 606 and the retchet 507 against the force of a plate spring 613 by any signal during termination of the film photography. The information extracting circuit 503 supplies the film speed information in the form of a digital signal also to a volatile memory 605. The exposure operation circuit 510 usually adopts the output of memory 605 which is advantageous in accuracy.The film speed information of the resistance value from the resistor plate 508 is used when the film speed information stored in the memory 605 has disappeared for some reason or other, for example, due to consumption of the back-up power source.

Figure 17 illustrates another modification. The detector device includes switch pieces 723,724 and 726, 727 for detecting the information opening ho and the perforations P, respectively, by contact. The resistor plate 508 is replaced by a digital code plate 708, and the film speed information is obtained in the form of a digital signal by a plurality of brushes 710. A reset lever 709, instead of the pawl 511, its operated by the pulse generated upon termination of the photography of all frames of the film being input from the information extracting circuit 503 to a combination magnet Mg4 similar in constraction to the magnet Mgl of Figure 2. The magent Mg4 attracts the lever 709 usually by a permanent magnet and causes gear 606 and ratchet 507 to mesh with each other.When the aforementioned pulse is input to the magnet Mg4, the lever 709 is released from the magnet Mg4 and turned leftwardly by the force of spring 709a, whereby the mesh engagement between gear 606 and ratchet 507 is released.

The pulse is generated when the detector device 723,724 has detected the information opening (he of Figure 1) representing the end of the film which is provided near the end of the film F.

Figure 18 illustrates an example in which the information included in the information opening of the film is detected by any detector device, that information is extracted, and only the information on the number of film frames is selected from the information extracting circuit and not stored in the circuit but is directly mechanically stored in the film counter of the camera. In this manner, a single bit or plural bits of information can be selected from the extracting circuit and that information signal can be directly replaced by an amount of mechanical displacement and is not stored in the circuit but only mechanical storage can be effected.

The condition of Figure 18 is one in which it has been detected from the information opening that the number of frames of the film is "36" and a mechanical reverse operation type counter has been set to "36".

When the back lid is opened, a protrusion 850 which is a part of the back lid is moved in the direction of arrow. Thereupon, a sector lever 851 is rotated clockwisely about a shaft 853 by the force of a spring 852. A gear 851 a is provided on the sector lever 851, and by rotation of this gear 851a and through a gear train, a charge plate 858 is rotated counter-clockwisely. A charge pin 859 is provided on the charge plate 858 and this charge pin 859 pushes one surface 861 a of a member 861 provided on the lower end of the shaft 860 provided coaxiallywith but separately from the charge plate 858. Accordingly, the shaft 860 is rotated counter-clockwisely against the force of a spring 862, and a ratchet 863 coaxial and integral therewith, a gear 864 and a film counter 865 are likewise rotated counter-clockwisely.

At this time, the scale provided on the film counter 865 is rotated to a position slightly past "36" relative to an index mark 866. The scale of the film counter 865 is biased clockwisely by the spring 862 and tries to rotate in the direction from "36" toward "0".

Now, when the back lid is closed with the film set, the protrusion 850 is moved in the direction opposite to the arrow to close the switch SW80 of the back lid.

Thereupon, a combination magnet Mg5 is energized, and a restraining lever 869 is rotated counterclockwisely about a shaft 870 by the force of a spring 871 and comes into pawl portion 863a of ratchet 863.

Also, a conventional magnet Mg6 is energized, and a lever 873 is rotated clockwisely against the force of a spring 874 to bring a control cam 876 integral with a shaft 875 out of engagement with gear 864.

When the back lid is further closed, the sector lever 851 is pushed by the protrusion 850 and rotated counter-clockwisely against the force of the spring 852. By this rotation and through a gear train, the charge plate 858 is rotated counter-clockwisely. At this time, the shaft 860 is restrained by the action of the restraining lever 869 and therefore, the charge pin 859 becomes disengaged from the surface 861a and singly returns to its original position.

Subsequently, the information of the film counter is selected from the information extracting circuit, and a signal representing the information of the number of frames of the film in use as an amount of time is transmitted magnet Mg5. The magnet Mg5 attracts the restraining lever 869 within a very short time determined by this signal and permits clockwise rotation of the ratchet plate 863 by the spring 862. After lapse of a predetermied time, the end 869a of the restraining lever 869 is engaged with the pawl portion 863b of the ratchet plate 863, so that rotation of the shaft 860 is stopped. At this time, the scale of the film counter 865 indicates "36". The pawl portions 63c, 63d and 63e of the ratchet plate correspond to the divisions "24", "20" and "12", respectively, of the scale.

Now, after the film counter has been set in accordance with the number of frames, magnet Mg6 deenergized in response to the attraction release signal of the aforementioned magnet Mg5. Therefore, lever 873 is rotated counter-clockwisely and control cam 876 comes into contact with gear 864.

Also, in response to the deenergization of magnet Mg6, power is supplied to the coil of magnet Mg5 to thereby release the restraint of the ratchet plate by lever 869. Gear 877 integral with shaft 875 is rotated by gear 878 for transmitting the rotation of the sprocket which is similar to the gear 79 of Figure 2.

When the film is fed by an amount corresponding to one frame, shaft 875 and control cam 876 make one full rotation, so that gear 864 is fed by an amount corresponding to one tooth and film counter 865 is fed by an amount corresponding to one division. In this manner, the scale of the film counter 865 is subtracted to "0" frame by frame.

The device of Figure 18 is also provided with a manual frame number setting mechanism which is capable of manually setting the number of frames when a film having no information opening therein is used. When set dial 882 is depressed against the forces of springs 880 and 881, gear 883 is displaced to a position for engaging gear 864 and, in response to such displacement, power supply to magnet Mg5 is cut off and the restraint of rarchet 863 by restraining lever 869 is released. Since gears 883 and 864 are in mesh engagement with each other, rotation of set dial 882 is transmitted to film counter 865 through gear 864. When the frame number scale is set to any desired number and the hand is released from dial 882, this dial 882 moves up to its original position.Thereupon, magnet Mg6 becomes deenergized, control cam 876 moves to a position for engaging gear 864, the engagement between gears 883 and 864 is released, control cam 876 further comes into mesh engagement with gear 864 and film counter 865 rotates in the direction of subtraction with the feeding of the film.

Figure 19 illustrates another embodiment of the mechanical memory device.

As in the previously described embodiment, provision is made of light-emitting and light-receiving elements 904 and 905 for detecting film information signal H and light-emitting and light-receiving element 906 and 907 for detecting perforations P.

When the back lid of the camera is opened, a protrusion 911 which is a part of the back lid is moved in the direction of arrow, and a sector lever 910 similar to that of Figure 18 is rotated clockwisely about shaft 913, and a charge plate 919 is rotated counter-clockwisely through a gear train. There is a protrusion 919a on the charge plate 919, and this protrusion 91 9a pushes one surface 921 a of a member 921 at the lower end of a shaft 920 provided coaxially with but separately from the charge plate 919. Accordingly, shaft 920 is rotated counterclockwisely against the force of spring 925. By this rotation, spring 925 is charged with a biasing force which tends to clockwisely rotate a ratchet plate 922 integral with shaft 920.

At this time, the end 944a of restraining lever 944 bears against the toothed portion of ratchet plate 922, whereby the ratchet plate becomes rotatable only counter-clockwisely.

Line the ratchet plate 922, governor gear 926, resistor plate 927 and scale plate 928 are also integral with shaft 920 and are rotated counterclockwisely with the opening of the back lid. Resistor plate 927 is provided with a resistor and an earth land for providing the film speed information which are similar to those of the resistor plate 508 of Figure 15, and these are contacted by brushes 952 and 953, respectively. Brushes 952 and 953 are fixed to a brush plate 954 and connected to conduction lands 955 and 956, respectively. Brushes 957 and 958 are in contact with the lands 955 and 956, respectively, and transmit the resistance value of the resistor to a circuit 2000.

The resistance value of the resistor varies with the rotation of resistor plate 927. Also, the resistance value is coincident with the number of the index mark 945 of scale plate 928.

By the time when the clockwise rotation of sector gear 910 resulting from the opening of the back lid has been terminated, shaft 920 has been rotated counter-clockwisely to such an extent that the end 944a of restraining lever 944 bears against the untoothed smooth portion 922a of ratchet plate 922.

Governor gear 926, with gears 929,930,931, escape wheel 932 and ankle 933, constitutes a governor mechanism.

The rockable shaft 934 of ankle 933 is fixed to lever 935, which tries to rotate counter-clockwisely about shaft 937 with the aid of the force of spring 936. This rotation is restrained by pin 938 and at this time, ankle 933 bears against escape wheel 932 and performs a governing function.

In response to the clockwise rotation of sector lever 910 by the opening of the back lid, lever 940 rotates counter-clockwisely about shaft 941 until it bears against pin 943. At this time, a pin 944 provided on lever 940 rotates lever 935 clockwisely.

Therefore, ankle 933 becomes disengaged from the escape wheel 932 and does not perform a governing function. Accordingly, the rotation of shaft 920 by the opening of the back lid becomes independent of the governor mechanism and is not delayed.

This completes the operation of opening the back lid and charging the spring 925. At this point, a film is loaded into the camera. Next, when the back lid is closed, protrusion 911 causes sector lever 910 to rotate counter-clockwisely.

By the time when the clockwise rotation of sector gear 910 resulting from the opening of the back lid has been terminated, shaft 920 has been rotated counter-clockwisely to such an extent that the end 944a of restraining lever 944 bears against the untoothed smooth portion 922a of ratchet plate 922.

Governor gear 926, with gears 929,930,931, escape wheel 932 and ankle 933, constitutes a governor mechanism.

The rockable shaft 934 of ankle 933 is fixed to lever 935, which tries to rotate counter-clockwisely about shaft 937 with the aid of the force of spring 936. This rotation is restrained by pin 938 and at this time, ankle 933 bears against escape wheel 932 and performs a governing function.

In response to the clockwise rotation of sector lever 910 by the opening of the back lid, lever 940 rotates counter-clockwisely about shaft 941 until it bears against pin 943. At this time, a pin 944 provided on lever 940 rotates lever 935 clockwisely.

Therefore, ankle 933 becomes disengaged from the escape wheel 932 and does not perform a governing function. Accordingly, the rotation of shaft 920 by the opening of the back lid becomes independent of the governor mechanism and is not delayed.

This completes the operation of opening the back lid and charging the spring 925. At this point, a film is loaded into the camera. Next, when the back lid is closed, protrusion 911 causes sector lever 910 to rotate counter-clockwisely. This in turn causes charge plate 919 to rotate clockwisely. When charge plate 919 has been slightly rotated, the toothed portion 922b of ratchet plate 922 comes into engage ment with the end 944a of restraining lever 944 and thus, rotation of shaft 920 is restrained. Protrusion 919a which further continues clockwise rotation becomes disengaged from one surface 921 a of member 921. At this time, the cam surface 927a of resistor plate 927 causes switch SW 1 to be closed.

Also, scale plate 928 indicates the position of "START" relative to index mark 945. Toward the end of the counter-clockwise rotation of sector lever 910 by the closing of the back lid, sector lever 910 causes switch SW12 to be closed. Also, sector lever 910, by clockwise rotation of lever 940 and counter clockwise rotation of lever 935, causes ankle 933 to approach the escape wheel 932 to a position in which governing function can be performed.

After the back lid has been completely closed, the detection of the information signal by idle feeding of the film and the preparation for mechanical storage thereof are completed by the above-described oper ation. Figure 19 shows the condition at such time.

When detection of the information signal is effected, electromagnet Mg7 is electrically energized by the signal of the circuit 2000 and restraining lever 944 rotates clockwisely about shaft 951. Therefore, the engagement between ratchet plate 922 and restraining lever 944 is released and shaft 920 begins to rotate clockwisely with the aid of the biasing force of charged spring 925. The aforementioned governor mechanism causes shaft 920 to rotate at a substantially constant low speed. With this rotation of the shaft, resistor plate 927 is is also rotated and the variation in the resistance value between brushes 957 and 958 is transmitted to the circuit 2000.At a point of time whereat, of the film information previously detected by the circuit 2000, the information of film speed and the information transmitted from brushes 957, 958 have become coincident with each other, power supply to electromagnet Mg7 is cut off. Thereupon, restraining lever 944 rotates counter-clockwise and the end 944a thereof restrains the rotation of ratchet plate 922, namely, the rotation of shaft 920. At this time, the ASA scale of scale plate 928 indicates the ASA number of the loaded film with respect to index mark 945.

By the above-described operation, the film speed information has been mechanically stored.

Switch SW13 adapted to be closed only during wind-up operation is provided in the wind-up lever portion. When wind-up lever 983 is wound up counter-clockwisely, shaft 988 integral with gear 987 is rotated counter-clockwisely by a silent clutch comprising clutch cam 984, cam rollers 985a, 985b, 985c and gear 987. Ring spring 981 is provided on shaft 988. In accordance with the counter-clockwise rotation of shaft 988, ring spring 981 rotates due to friction until the bent portion 981 a thereof bears against pin 989, and spring 981 come into contact with wire 982 and, when the wind-up lever returns to its initial position, ring spring 981 becomes disengaged from the wire. The spring 981 and wire 982 together constitute switch SW13.

Figure 20 shows the electric circuit 2000 of Figure 19. In Figure 20, a resistor 2119 for setting the film speed is provided by the resistor plate 927 of Figure 19. The output of photodiode 905 is amplified and waveform-shaped by amplifier circuit 2104 and transmitted to flip-flop 2106 and data register 2110.

The output of photodiode 907 is amplified and waveform-shaped by amplifier circuit 2105 and transmitted to gate 2107. The output of flip-flop 2106 is transmitted to gate 2107 to control the openingclosing of this gate. The output of gate 2107 is transmitted to counter 2108 and gate 2109. Counter 2108 is for counting the number n from the perforation Px of Figure 1 to the perforation Px + n and knowing the range of presence of the information signal H on the film. The output of counter 2108 is transmitted to gates 2109 and 2116 to control the opening-closing of these gates. Data register 2110 is a memory circuit to which are input the output of circuit 2104, namely, the information signal H, and the output of gate 2109, and which stores the states of the opening h0 and non-opening h1 of the information signal H by 1 or 0 signal at memory addresses successively designated each time a perforation detection pulse is generated from circuit 2105 through gate 2109.

Various types of information of the film deter mined by a combination of film information signals, namely, the information of film speed, the information of film type, the information of photographable film frame number, the information of latitude, etc.

are stored in data register 2110, and of these plural types of information, the digital signal regarding the film speed is put out to D/A converter 2114. D/A converter 2114 converts the digital signal of the film speed into an analog voltage and transmits itto analog comparator 2115. Resistance value read-out circuit 2118 converts the resistance value of resistor 2119 into a voltage and puts out it to analog comparator 2115. The analog comparator compares the output voltage of D/A converter 2114 with the output voltage of resistance value read-out circuit 2118, and puts out to gate 2116 and signal based on the difference between the two voltages. Driving circuit 2117 controls magnet Mg7 by the signal of gate 2116.Exposure control circuit 2121 is controlled in a known manner by the film speed information set in resistor 2119, the object brightness information from photodiode 2120 provided in the metering device of the camera, and the other exposure setting factors. Power supply circuit 2113 controls the power supply from a power source, not shown, to LED 904, 906, circuits 2104-2112, circuits 2114-2118 and circuit 2122. Reset circuit 2111 generates a reset pulse for a short time simultaneously with the start of the power supply by the power supply control circuit to set the initial conditions of flip-flop 2106, counter 2108 and data register 2110.Warning circuit 2122 caused LED 2123 to flicker when power supply circuit 2113 is in power supplying condition and at the same time, causes piezoelectric sound generating member 2124 to generate a sound, thereby indicating and warning that the film information introduction hereinafter described is going on.Power supply circuit 2113 supplies power to each circuit when both of switch SW12 adapted to be closed when the back lid is closed and switch SW13 adapted to be closed when the film is transported by the wind-up lever are closed and the ON signal of switch SW11 delayed for a predetermined time by delay circuit 2112 is transmitted, and once it assumes the power supplying conditon, such condition is maintained independently of switch SW3 and, after lapse of a predetermined time from the opening of switch SW11, power supply circuit 2113 becomes cut off independently of switch SW3 and thus, power supply to each circuit is not effected. Also, the condition of power supply circuit 2113 is transmitted to the exposure control circuit.

When the back lid is closed with a film loaded into the camera, switch SW12 is closed and, when the wind-up lever is moved to transport the film, switch SW13 is closed. Also, switch SW11 is closed since it has been reset and restrained as already described.

Accordingly, power supply circuit 2113 assumes the power supplying condition and such condition is maintained.

LED's 904 and 906 are turned on and each circuit is operated and when a perforation passes the detecting portion, circuit 2105 puts out an output to gate 2107 for each perforation but since the film information signal H is not present in the predetermined area of the film corresponding to the perforations P1 - the flip-flop remains in its reset condition. Gate 2107 is closed by the output of flip-flop 2106 and the output of this gate 2107 does not vary. The output of counter 2108 is reset by reset circuit 2111 and gate 2109 is opened by the output of counter 2108, but gate 2107 is closed and therefore, no pulse from circuit 2105 is supplied to data register 2110, which thus is not effecting its storage operation.Gate 2116 which operates reversely to gate 2109 is closed and the output of analog comparator 2115 is not trans mitted to circuit 2117 and no current flows to magnet Mg7.

When the first opening hoo of the film information signal H passes the detecting portion, flip-flop 2106 is set and therefore, the output thereof is inverted to open gate 2107. Thereafter, each time a perforation passes the detecting portion, one pulse output is put out from gate 2107 and it is counted by counter 2108 Gate 2109 remains open until the counter counts a predetemined count value, and the pulse for each perforation is input to data register 2110 to successively shift the memory addresses of the data register, which thus stores the presence of the film information opening, namely, the film information, for each perforation pulse.Warning circuit 2122 is operated by power supply circuit 2113 to cause LED 2123 to flicker and cause piezoelectric sound generating member2124to generate a sound, thus warning that film information introduction is going on. This prevents the film transport for information detection from being interrupted in the course thereof.

When counter 2108 counts n perforations, the counting is terminated and the output thereof is inverted and gate 2109 is closed, and the film information is stored in the data register. The film speed information in the data register is converted into a voltage corresponding to the film speed information by D/A converter 2114 and is put out to analog comparator 2115. Also, the output of resistance value read-out circuit 2118 when resistor 2119 is reset to start position is selected in a relationship in which, for any value of the film speed, analog comparator 2115 puts out a signal of the polarity for energizing magnet Mg7 and therefore, the output of analog comparator 2115 is putting out a signal for energizing magnet Mg7.

As previously described, when the output of the counter is inverted, gate 2116 is opened and the magnet energizing signal energizes magnet Mg7 through magnet driving circuit 2117. Accordingly, the restraint of the ratchet plate 922 of Figure 19 by restraining lever 944 is released and shaft 920 is rotated at a predetermined speed by the drive force of spring 925 and along therewith, the resistance value of resistor 2119 varies and the output of read-out circuit 2118 varies. When the magnitude relation between the output of circuit 2118 and the output of D/A converter 2114 is inverted, the output of comparator 2115 puts out a signal of nonenergizing polarity, so that magnet Mg7 is deenergized and the restraining lever 944 of Figure 19 returns to its initial position to restrain ratchet plate 922.That is, a predetermined resistance value corresponding to the film speed information in data register 2110 is stored. Also, when resistor 2119 varies, switch SW11 is opened and this is transmitted to power supply circuit 2113 while being delayed by delay circuit 2112 by a predetermined time, namely, a time necessary for at least ratchet plate 922 to rotate through a maximum angle of rotation.

Accordingly, the power supply holding operation of power supply circuit 2113 is reliably effected by the time when the setting of the film speed in resistor 2119 is completed. After a predetermined time, the operation of the power supply circuit is stopped. The stoppage of the power supply stops the warning operation of warning circuit 2122 and thereafter, the exposure control circuit operates in a known manner on the basis of the film speed information mechanically held by resistor 2119.

Figure 21 shows power supply circuit 2113 and delay circuit 2112 in detail.

In the power supply circuit 2113 of positive feedback circuit construction comprising a power source EB common with exposure control circuit 2121, transistors Q31, Q32 and resistors, as previously described, when switch SW11 is once closed when switch SW12 is in its ON position, transistors Q31 and Q32 start positive feedback operation and thereafter the ON state of transistors Q31 is maintained independently of the ON or OFF position of switch SW13, and a circuit 3000 which is to be supplied with power by power supply circuit 2113 is supplied with power from power source EB. Circuit 3000 includes the aforementioned LED's 2100, 2102, circuits 2104-2111,2114-2118 and 2122.

When magnet Mg7 is energized by inversion of the output of counter 2108, switch SW1 is opened, but the delaying capacitor C31 of delay circuit 2112 keeps the conductive state of transistors Q31 and Q32 for a predetermined time, thereby maintaining power supply. Thereafter, due to the OFF position of switch SW11, reverse current is blocked by diode D31 even if switch SW13 is closed and therefore, transistor 031 is not turned on.

As described above, the film speed information included in the information signal provided in the film is automatically stored in the memory device having a mechanical holding mechanism and it is held until the back lid is opened to remove the film from the camera.

As is evident, the other information included in the film information signal, namely, the information of film type, latitude, number of film frames, distinction between monochrome and color, etc., is also transferred to the mechanical memory device by a similar method. An exposure correcting mechanism is furth er provided in the device of Figure 19. An exposure correcting knob 959 is movable in the direction of arrow and brought to a standstill by a click, not shown, at predetermined intervals. A rod 960 engag ing a U-shaped groove 954a in a brush plate 954 is provided on the underside of knob 959. Accordingly, when knob 959 is rotated, brush plate 954 is rotated and brushes 952 and 953 are displaced, so that the apparent ASA speed varies and exposure level varies.If the number of steps of this relative displacement and the position of the exposure correction number provided on knob 959 relative to index mark 945 are prescribed, exposure correction will be possible.

When the back lid is once opened and closed, knob 959 is reset and restrained by a click, not shown, at a position whereat it indicates "0" with respect to index mark 954. This resetting is accomplished by the operation of levers 961,962 and 963. That is, when the back lid is opened, a portion 911' of the back lid is moved in the direction of arrow. Thereupon, lever 961 is moved in the same direction by the force of spring 964, lever 962 is rotated clockwisely about shaft 967, and lever 963 is rotated counterclockwisely about shaft 969.

Accordingly, rod 960 so far rotatively displaced for exposure correction is returned to its initial position by one of levers 962 and 963. This exposure correcting mechanism may be designed such that the user does not move the knob 659 or the knob is made immovable by some means until the film information is read an that brush plate 954 remains stationary at its regular position during the operation of the memory device.

Claims (16)

1. A camera capable of photographing by the use of a roll film having detectable information on the type of the film provided in the film between at least the leading end of the film itself and the effective recording area of the film for recording photographic images thereon, said camera having a device for dividing by a drive source a device for feeding the loaded film in preparation for photography, said camera comprising: a) first detecting means for detecting the amount of movement of the film fed by said feeding device; b) second detectig means for detecting said information during said feeding; and c) means for controlling said feeding including means for starting said driving device and means for stopping said driving device after the detection by said second detecting means has been completed.

2. A camera according to Claim 1, wherein said first detecting means starts its operation for detecting said amount of movement in response to the detecting operation of said second detecting means.

3. A camera according to Claim 2, wherein said first detecting means generates a detection signal after having detected the amount of movement of said film sufficient for the completion of the detection by said second detecting means, and said stopping means responds to said detection signal.

4. A camera according to Claim 3, wherein said firt detecting means includes counter means for quantitatively counting the amount of movement of said film.

5. A camera according to Claim 1, wherein said second detecting means includes an information read-out circuit for electrically detecting said information, and a circuit for supplying power to said information read-out circuit in synchronism with said starting means.

6. A camera according to Claim 5, wherein said first detecting means includes counter means for quantitatively counting the amount of movement of said film and putting out a detection signal when it has counted said amount of movement enabiing completion of the detection of said second detecting means, and said power supply circuit stops said power supply in response to said detection signal.

7. A camera according to Claim 1, wherein said driving device includes: a) an electric motor; b) circuit means for drive-controlling said motor selectively in normal and reverse directions of revolution; c) means for operatively associating said feeding device with the revolution of said motor in normal direction; and d) means for reversely transporting the film moved by said feeding device in response to the revolution of said motor in reverse direction.

8. A camera according to Claim 1,furtherinclud- ing means for storing therein the information detected by said second detecting means.

9. A camera according to Claim 8, wherein said second detecting means includes an information read-out circuit for putting out the detected information as an electrical signal, and said storing means includes a register for recording the output of said read-out circuit.

10. A camera according to Claim 9, wherein said storing means includes a first power source circuit for supplying power to said register, and a second power source circuit capable of supplying power to said register when the power supply by said first power source circuit is not sufficient for the operation of said register.

11. A camera according to Claim 8, wherein said storing means includes: a) first converter means for converting the information detected by said second detecting means into an electrical signal and putting out the same; b) a dispiaceable member displaceable spatially; and c) second converter means for imparting to said displaceable member a predetermined positional variation corresponding to said electrical signal.

12. A camera according to Claim 11, wherein said second converter means includes means for driving said displaceable member in response to said electrical signal, and means for holding said displaceable member varied in position.

13. A camera according to Claim 12, wherein said storing means further includes third converter means capable of converting the amount of displacement of said displaceable member into an electrical quantity and putting out the same.

14. A camera according to Claim 11, wherein said second converter means includes: a) means for driving said displaceable member; b) third converter means capable of converting the amount of displacement of said displaceable member into an electrical signal and putting out the same; c) comparison means for producing an output when the electrical signal from said first converter means and the electrical signal from said third converter means have assumed a predetermined relation; and d) means for stopping the operation of said driving means in response to the output of said comparison means.

15. Acamera having drive means for advancing a film loaded in the camera, means for detecting information on the film when the film is being advanced, and control means for rendering the drive means operative when a first predetermined condition is fulfilled and inoperative when a second predetermined condition is fulfilled.

16. A camera substantially as herein particularly described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.