GB2207252A - Film exposing package - Google Patents

Abstract

A photographic film package has a taking lens 14 in a box-like internal film casing 10 with an open back which removably houses a film cartridge and an external casing (12, not shown) into which the internal casing 10 is inserted. Access openings 74 in the front of the internal casing 10 facilitate removal of the spent film cartridge using a tool 77. <IMAGE>

Description

PHOTOGRAPHIC FILM PACKAGE The present invention relates to a photographic film package.

Usually, a photographer will provide himself with a camera for a trip, excursion, or holiday, to take commemorative or souvenir pictures. However, because the camera is a precision instrument and relatively massive and heavy, it is sometimes inconvenient to carry it where the user intends to go. In addition to the inconveniende of carrying the camera, it is all too easy to forget to take the camera along at all. Then, if a person who has not taken a camera along with him wants to take pictures, it is hardly desirable to buy a new camera at his destination, from the economic point of view.

Even if economic factors can be ignored, it may be hard to find a camera shop at many locations.

Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide an extremely low cost photographic camera having a roll of film already contained therein.

Such a camera would after the exposure of all of the frames of the film, be forwarded to a photographic shop or a processing laboratory without removing the film. At the processing laboratory the exposed film is removed and developed to make prints therefrom, while the camera minus the film is scrapped. Such a single use camera has been proposed in U.S. patent No. 3,731,586. This single use camera is encased closely in a camera casing whch includes a retractable view finder having a pair of retractable parallel plates with viewing openings. However, because Qf the quite complicated shape of the outer camera casing, the manufacturing cost of this single use camera is impracticably high. For this reason, this camera has not proved feasible for use as a single use camera, from the economic point of view.One requirement for such camera is ease of removing the exposed film from the camera.

Viewed from one aspect the present invention provides a photographic film package having at least a taking lens and means for effecting an exposure, comprising: a box-like internal film casing with an open back which removably houses a film cartridge; means defining an exposure chamber in said internal film casing; means for supporting and urging said film cartridge against said exposure chamber defining means to maintain said exposure chamber light-tight; and a box-like external film casing for enclosing said internal film casing therein, said external film casing being provided with openings for exposing said taking lens and said exposure effecting means.

Viewed from another aspect the invention provides a photographic film package having at least a taking lens and means for effecting an exposure, comprising; a box-like film casing with an open back which removably houses a film cartridge; at least one access opening in the front wall of said film casing for allowing access to said film cartridge therethrough; means defining an exposure chamber inside said film casing; and means supporting said film cartridge in said film casing so as to urge said film cartridge against said exposure chamber defining means whereby to maintain said exposure chamber light-tight.

According to a preferred feature of the invention, the internal film casing is provided with openings which receive therein operating members such as a shutter release button, a film advancing knob, and the like, in such a way that the said operating members are substantially level with the outer surface of the internal film casing, which makes it easy to insert the internal film casing closely in the external film casing.

According to a further preferred feature of the invention, the internal film casing is formed with at least one opening in its front wall as access means to the film cartridge, to facilitate removal of the film cartridge from the internal film casing.

According to a still further preferred feature of the present invention, the film cartridge and the internal film casing are made of the same plastics material. Then, although the film cartridge is apt to defom due to heat, nevertheless, since the internal film casing will deform in substantially the same way as the film cartridge, no gap is produced between the film cartridge and the exposure frame and the exposure area is thus kept light-tight.

The internal film casing is preferably made of a styrene plastics. Then, the internal film casing produces no formalin gas which would fog the film if the film package is left un-used for a long time.

Sme embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of the photographic film package of a first embodiment of the present invention, showing an internal film casing separated from an external film casing; Figure 2 is a plan view of a blank for making the external film casing of Fig. 1; Figure 3 is a rear perspective view of the internal film casing of Fig. 1, containing a film cartridge; Figure 4 is an expoded perspective view of the internal film casing of Fig. 1, with a film cartridge and a pressure plate; Figure 5 is a perspective front view of the cartridge seen in Fig. 4; Figure 6 is a perspective view of another type of pressure plate for use with the internal film casing of Fig. 1;; Figure 7 is a perspective view of the photographic film package of another embodiment of the present invention, again showing an internal film casing separated from an external film casing; Figure 8 is a transverse sectional view of the internal film casing of Fig. 7; Figure 9A is an exploded view of an internal film casing of still another embodiment of the present invention; Figure 9B is a sectional view of a prop member of Fig 9A; and Figure 10 is a rear perspective view of the internal film casing of Fig. 9A, including a film cartridge.

Photographic film packages according to embodiments of the present invention incorporate various elements, in particular exposure operation elements and film advancing elements, similar to those of known still picture cameras. Because such elements are well known to those skilled in the art, this description will be directed in particular to elements directly concerned with the functioning of the present invention.

It is to be understood that any elements not specifically shown or described may take any of various forms well-known to those skilled in the art.

Referring now to Fig. 1, shown therein is a disposable photographic film package (hereinafter referred to as a film package for simplicity) of the present invention. The film package comprises a rectangular box-shaped internal film casing 10, with a film cartridge pre-loaded therein, and an external film casing 12 in which the internal film casing 10 is to be closely encased. The internal film casing 10, which is desirably made of plastics material, is open at its back and is provided with a taking lens 14, a tunnel-like view finder 16, a shutter release button 18, and a film advancing knob 20, all of which are well known per se. Around the taking lens 14 is a frustro-conical bore 22 with ridges coaxially formed on the inner surface thereof for preventing diffused reflections from entering the casing 10 through the taking lens 14.Ridges are also formed on the inner surface of the tunnel-like finder 16 for the same purpose, whereby to provide for easy and clear observation of an object to be photographed. In the top wall of the casing 10 is an opening 24, with its inner periphery trimmed at an angle, which receives the shutter release button 18, whose top surface is level with, or below, the surface of the said top wall. At the bottom of the front wall of the casing 10 is formed an opening, surrounded by a recess 26, which receives the film advancing knob 20, whose outer periphery does not project beyond the surface of the said front wall. The internal film casing 10 thus constructed has no operational elements projecting beyond any of the outer surfaces of the walls thereof. Due to the resulting flat surface of the casing 10, the casing can be inserted smoothly into the external film casing 12, which will be described in more detail later. Although the outer periphery of the film advancing knob 20 is level with the outer surface of the casing 10, nevertheless the film advancing knob can be operated without any difficulty, because of the recess 26 around the opening which receives it.

The internal film casing 10 described above is inserted into and packed closely in the external film casing 12, which is made of a printable cardboard or a printable thin plastics sheet or the like.

A blank 60 for making the external casing 12 has a flat shape as shown in Fig. 2. The blank 60, to which an ornamental surface pattern may be applied, is formed with a circular opening 140 for the taking lens 14, rectangular openings 160 and 161 to be aligned with the front and rear windows of the tunnel-like view finder 16, a rectangular opening 180 for the shutter button 18, a generally rectangular opening 200 for the film advancing knob 20, and a small rectangular opening 520 arranged to be aligned with a frame counter window 52 of a film cartridge 30 (see Figs. 4 and 5), which cartridge is well known per se in the art. After applying an ornamental surface pattern and necessary instructions, the blank 60 is folded into the form of an openended box to form the external film casing 12.

Referring now to Figs. 3 and 4, the internal film casing 10, with its open back, has a film chamber 28 for receiving the film cartridge 30 containing, for example, a 110 size roll film therein.

The film chamber 28 comprises compartments partly surrounded by curved partition walls 70 and 72 on opposite sides of an exposure chamber 32 which will be described in detail later, each compartment being adapted to reeive a cylindrical film chamber of the cartridge 30 to be loaded in the internal film casing 10.

As is shown in detail in Fig. 5, the 110 size film cartridge 30 comprises a cylindrical film supply chamber 60, a cylindrical film take up chamber 64, and a bridge 62 connecting the chambers 60 and 64 and defining a film supporting plane 63 therebetween for supporting the film in a flat condition between the film supply chamber 60 and the film take up chamber 64. The bridge 62 is a rectangular box-like chamber defined by upper and lower walls 62A and 62B. The cylindrical chambers 60 and 64 are adapted to fit closely against the exposure chamber 32.

Behind the taking lens 14 is the generally rectangular exposure chamber 32, of which the rear periphery 38 lies in the focal plane of the taking lens 14. When the film cartridge 30 is loaded into the internal film casing 10 in such as way as to insert the upper and lower walls 62A and 62B of the bridge 62 of the film cartridge 30 into grooves 32A formed between the exposure chamber 32 and the top and bottom inner walls of the casing, the rear periphery 38 of the exposure chamber 32 fits with the inside walls of the bridge 62 of the film cartridge and is brought into close contact with the film supported by the film supporting plane 63 of the bridge G2.The film cartridge 30 is, as is well known, provided with a gear at the bottom of a film wind-up spool (not shown) which is brought into mesh with a gear 34 provided at the bottom of the internal film casing 10 and formed integrally with the film advancing knob 20, when the film cartridge 30 is placed in position in the casing 10. Consequently, the film in the film cartridge 30 can be advanced by rotating the film advancing knob 20 one frame every exposure.

After the loading of the film cartridge 30, a pressure plate 36 made of thin sheet metal is attached to the internal film casing 10 in such a way as to resiliently press the bridge 62 of the film cartridge 30 against the rear periphery 38 of the exposure chamber 32 at a predetermined constant pressure, so as to form a labyrinth seal between the bridge 62 and the exposure chamber 32, thereby completely isolating the film from ambient light in spite of the casing 10 being open at the back, and also keeping the film flat.

For attaching the pressure plate 36 to the casing 10, the pressure plate is provided with two lugs 40 protruding a certain distance from its upper edge and a lug 42 at the centre of its lower edge. On both sides of the pressure plate 36 are portions 36A which are bent slightly inwards.

On the other hand, the internal film casing 10 is formed with grooves 46 and a recess 48 in its back face. The pressure plate 36 thus formed is attached to the internal film casing 10 with the upper lugs 40 inserted in the grooves 46 and the lower lug 42 fitted in the recess 48. The lower lug 2 is furthermore fastened to the casing 10 by a set screw 50 screwed into a threaded bore 52. Due to the action of the pressure plate 36, the film cartridge 30 is resiliently pressed by the bent side portions 36A of the pressure plate so as to hold the bridge 62 of the film cartridge 30 in close contact with the rear periphery 38 of the exposure chamber 32, thereby keeping the inside of the exposure chamber 32 light-tight so as to completely isolate the film from ambient light, as well as maintaining the film flat in the focal plain of the taking lens 14.The pressure plate 36 is formed with an opening 54 arranged to align with the frame counter window 52 formed in the bridge 62 of the film cartridge 30, and is also formed with upper and lower openings 56, extending laterally, for allowing the insertion of a tool such as a screwdriver to break out the pressure plate in order to remove the film cartridge 30 in a processing laboratory. To break out the pressure plate 36, either the upper lugs 40 are bent by being wrenched, or the set screw 50 is drawn out by breaking the threads of the bore 52.

Because the internal film casing 10 is made of a plastics material the threads of the bore 52 can easily be broken by wrenching the pressure plate 36 with a screwdriver.

For easily removing the film cartridge 30 from the internal film casing 10, a side opening 58 is formed in a side wall of the casing to allow a tool such as a screwdriver to be inserted therethrough.

Although it can be difficult to remove a film cartridge from a casing because of the firm engagement between the gears of the film advancing knob and the film take-up spool of the film cartridge, nevertheless the removal of the film cartridge 30 from the casing 10 according to this embodiment may be effected very easily with the aid of a tool such as a screwdriver inserted through the side opening 58.

The internal film casing 10 with the film cartridge 30 pre-loaded therein is encased closely in the external film casing 12. As the internal film casing 10 is not seen by a user, its outer surfaces may be roughly finished. Therefore the internal film casing 10 can be produced at a low cost. As the operating members such as the shutter release button 18 and the film advancing knob 20 are so incorporated in the casing 10 as to be level with the outer surfaces of the casing, the casing 10 can be inserted into the external casing 12 without catching.

The internal film casing 10 is desirably made of the same material as the film cartridge 30. Practically, as the film cartridges 30 is made of thermoplastic material such as a styrene type plastics material, the internal film casing 10 in this embodiment is made of a polystyrene material. Due to the homogeneity of these materials, the film cartridge 30 and the internal film casing 10 are deformable in substantially the same way upon excessive heating, because they have the same thermal-expansion coefficient. Therefore, if the film package is left, for example, in the hot interior of a car for a long time, the film cartridge 30, if deformation actually occurs, can prove to be unusable as a result of the deformation of the internal film casing 10 which also occurs. Consequently, a user is stopped from using a deformed film cartridge 30 in which the film is warped.Furthermore, because they have the same thermal expansion coefficient, the exposure chamber 32 can be maintained lighttight even if the film cartridge 30 and the internal film casing 10 deform. Another advantageous feature of the use of styrene plastics material is that the film is prevented from being fogged by formalin gas produced if the camera is left unused for a long time.

The pressure plate 36 shown in Fig. 4 may be replaced by a press-in type pressure plate 80 as shown in Fig. 6, which has upper and lower legs 81 bent inwards at approximately a right angle, and bent side porticns 8OA on both sides thereof.

Each leg 81 has an end 82 folded back. The pressin type pressure plate 80 is made of a resilient material such as sheet metal or plastics sheet.

Therefore, the folded ends 82 and the bent side portions 80A are resiliently deformable. The pressin type pressure plate 80 is attached to the internal film casing 10 by inserting the folded ends 82 into spaces provided between the upper and lower edges of the casing 10 and the upper and the lower walls 62A and 62B of the bridge 62 of the film cartridge 30. Because of the resiliency of the folded ends 82, the pressure plate 80 is thereby firmly fixed to the casing 10, and urges the film cartridge 30 inwardly by means of its bent side portions 80A, thereby maintaining the exposure chamber light-tight. To permit removal of the film cartridge 30, the press-in type pressure plate 60 is pulled out either with a tool such as a screwdriver or by hand.

Reference is now made to Figs. 7 and 8 which show the film package of another embodiment of the invention, which is almost the same in construction as that described above and shown in Figs. 1 to 4, except for the provision of access openings and the absence of pressure plate 36. As shown in Fig. 7, access openings 74 are formed on both sides of the frustro-conical bore 22 in the front wall of the internal film casing 10, but no corresponding openings are provided in the front wall of the external film casing 12. As shown in Fig. 8, each access opening 74 communicates with the inside of the film chamber 28 through an opening 76 formed in the curved partition walls 70, 72 of the film chamber. The film cartridge 30 is loaded into the film chamber 28 in the same way as described in connection with the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 4.However, in this embodiment the film cartridge 30 is fixedly secured to the internal film casing 10 by adhesive bonding or heat welding the rear periphery 38 of the exposure chamber 32 to the inner side walls of the bridge 62 at 38A, so as to form a labyrinth seal between the exposure chamber 32 and the bridge 62 of the film cartridge 30, thereby completely isolating the film from ambient light in spite of the internal film casing 10 being open at the back, and at the same time keeping the film flat. However, it should be noted that the adhesive bonding or heat welding of the film cartridge 30 is effected in such a manner as to allow relatively easy separation of the cartridge from the internal casing 10.

The internal film casing 10 with the film cartridge 30 pre-loaded therein is inserted into the external film casing 12 in just the same way as described above, being packed closely therein.

Thus the film package of this embodiment has the same outward appearance as that of the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 4.

After the completion of exposure of all of the frames of the film in the film cartridge 30, the film package is forwarded to a processing laboratory to develop the film and to make prints. At the laboratory, after removing the external film casing 12, the film cartridge 30 is thrust out by inserting a tool such as a screw-driver 77 into the internal film casing 10 through the access openings 74 and the openings 76. As previously described, since the adhesive bonding or heat welding of the cartridge 30 to the exposure chamber 32 is relatively weak, the film cartridge 30 can be easily separated from the internal film casing 10 by applying a thrust thereto with the aid of the screw-driver 77. The internal film casing 10 is now scrapped.

Figs. 9A,9B and 10 show a film package of still another embodiment of the present invention, in which a spring clamp 90 is employed as the supporting means in cooperation with an internal film casing substantially similar to the casing 10 of Fig.

7, which has the access openings 74 in the front wall thereof. The spring clamp 90 comprises a resiliently bendable part 91 which protrudes rearwardly like a tongue from the internal film casing 10, and an elongate leaf spring 92 provided with prop members 93 on both ends thereof. The leaf spring 92 is secured by means of set screws 94 to the tongue-like part 91, and is biased in such a way as to urge the prop members 93 forward into recesses 95. Each prop member 9 has, as shown in Fig. 9B, a top end with its front and rear surfaces 93A and 93B curved. The middle portion 93C of the front surface of each prop member 93 is flat and vettically straight.

When loading a film cartridge 30 of the kind shown in Fig. 5, the film cartridge 30 is pushed into the internal film casing 10 through the back opening. At this time, the bottom surface of the film cartridge 30 contacts and slides over the rear curved surfaces 93B of the prop members 93, thereby pushing down the tongue-like part 91.

At an extremity of the insertion movement of the film cartridge 30, the rear edge of the bottom surface of the film cartridge 30 rides over the rear curved surfaces 93B of the prop members 93, and the tongue-like part 91 springs up so as to push up the prop members 93. As a result, the prop members 93 are pushed back, by the operation of the curved front surfaces thereof, against the spring force of the leaf spring 92, thereby bringing the straight surfaces 93C thereof into engagement with the lower rear surface of the film cartridge 30 so as to resiliently press the bridge 62 of the film cartridge 30 against the rear periphery 38 of the exposure chamber 32 at a predetermined constant pressure, as is shown in Fig. 10, and thus to completely isolate the film from ambient light in spite of the inner film casing 10 being open at the back.

After the exposure of all of the frames of the film in the film cartridge 30, the film package is forwarded to a processing laboratory to develop the film and make prints therefrom; alternatively the film cartridge 30 may be removed and forwarded to the laboratory. In any event, the film cartridge 30 can be easily removed by using a tool such as a screw-driver, or fingers, inserted through the access openings 74. Then upon pushing the film cartridge 30 rearwardly from the front, the lower rear surface of the film cartridge pushes the prop members 93 to force the tongue-like part 91 downwardly, and rides over the tops of the prop members 93.

In this way, the film cartridge 30 is removed from the internal film casing 10.

The internal and external film casings of this embodiment can be re-used, either by the used film cartridge 30 being removed and a new film cartridge being loaded by the user himself, or if the internal film casing, preferably with the external film casing also, is returned to the user by the processing laboratory.

It will thus be seen that the present invention, at least in its preferred forms, provides a photographic film package with a taking lens, which is considerably simplified in shape; and whose manufacturing cost is comparable to that of usually available films; and which enables ready removal of a film housed therein; and which causes no film deformation even if the film package is left in high temperature conditions for a long time.

It is to be clearly understood that there are no particular features of the foregoing specification, or of any claims appended hereto, which are at present regarded as being essential to the performance of the present invention, and that any one or more of such features or combinations thereof may therefore be included in, added to, omitted from or deleted from any of such claims if and when amended during the prosecution of this application or in the filing or prosecution of any divisional application based thereon.

Claims (3)

CLAIMS:

1. A photographic film package having at least a taking lens and means for effecting an exposure, comprising; a box-like film casing with an open back which removably houses a film cartridge; at least one access opening in the front wall of said film casing for allowing access to said film cartridge therethrough; means defining an exposure chamber inside said film casing; and means supporting said film cartridge in said film casing so as to urge said film cartridge against said exposure chamber defining means whereby to maintain said exposure chamber light-tight.

2. A photographic film package as claimed in claim 1; further comprising an external film casing for enclosing said film casing therein, said external film casing being provided with openings for exposing said taking lens and said exposure effecting means.

3. A photographic film package as claimed in claim 2, wherein a said access opening is provided on each side of said taking lens.