JP3287885B2 - Underwater case - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an underwater case for housing a photographing device such as a video camera for photographing underwater.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An underwater case of this type includes a case made of a synthetic resin for housing a camera such as a video camera, and a handle portion to which the case is attached. Then, the case is vertically divided along the longitudinal direction to form a pair of half cabinets on both sides, a pedestal is formed on one of the half cabinets, and the pedestal is screwed into a camera platform connection screw hole of the camera. A fixing screw is attached, a hinge portion is provided at a lower portion of the half cabinet, and the half cabinet is connected to be openable and closable.

The operation of the camera housed inside is performed by connecting a switch group provided on the case to a corresponding operation button of the camera by a code, and operating the switch outside the case.

Further, an underwater case for attaching an operation button to a handle portion and operating the operation button to drive a camera housed therein is filed in Japanese Patent Application No. 3-109900 as a prior application by the same applicant. The specific configuration is as described in the specification and the drawings.

In the underwater case of the prior application, an operation button is attached to a handle portion. An infrared LED illuminated by the operation button is provided on the handle, and a transparent window is formed in the case at a position facing the LED. The camera housed inside is operated by an infrared signal through the transparent window.

[0006]

However, the underwater case in the above-mentioned conventional example has a lower portion of the half cabinet connected by a hinge portion and a buckle attached to the upper portion. As for the waterproof packing, the hinge side is always pressed first, and the pressing force gradually moves from the hinge side to the buckle side, so the pressing force against the waterproof packing becomes uneven, The degree of deformation differs between the hinge part side and the buckle side, resulting in distortion and water leakage.

Further, when the camera is mounted on the half cabinet, it is necessary to operate the fixing screw to mount the camera. This is not only inferior in workability, but also because the fixing screw protrudes outside. In addition to the problem of maintaining the waterproofness, the operation buttons are attached to the case, so that the camera work underwater is troublesome.

Further, in the above-mentioned prior application, an operation button is provided on the handle portion. However, since the operation is performed by an infrared signal, not only power consumption is increased, but also the distance between the LED and the transparent window is increased. If foreign matter such as seaweed is interposed in the water, or if the water is temporarily muddy, the signal transmission may be interrupted, preventing accurate operation.

Therefore, in the prior art, water leakage is prevented by deformation of the waterproof packing, simplicity of workability and maintenance of waterproofness when attaching and detaching the camera to and from the underwater case, and easy camera work in water. There is a problem that must be solved.

In the prior invention, the camera work is excellent in operability, but has a problem that must be solved in order to eliminate power consumption and signal transmission failure due to infrared signals.

[0011]

The present invention has the following configuration as specific means for solving the problems of the prior art and the prior application. (1) An underwater case comprising a front lid and a body provided with a rear lid for accommodating an imaging device, wherein the front lid has a lens window provided on the front surface and one of the operation parts required for operating the camera. A pair of left and right handles having either a hook member or a hook pin fixed to the inside and rotated by a gripping portion and an illumination light attaching portion, and are disposed at a lower central portion on the back side of the front lid. A camera mounting pedestal protrudingly mounted on the back side of the front lid is provided, and the body has a rear lid having a viewing window airtightly mounted on the back,
A hook member fixed to both sides and a hook member fixed to the pin and rotating by a gripping portion; and the pair of left and right rotating hook members or the hook pin of the front lid are connected to the hook pins on the both side surfaces of the body or The rotating hook member is engaged with the rotating hook member, and in this state, the pair of gripping portions are rotated in the direction of the front cover, thereby engaging with the hook pin or the rotating hook member and rotating the hook member. The underwater case is guided by the hook pin, and the front lid and the body are airtightly united. (2) The underwater case according to (1), wherein a waterproof socket for external connection for outputting a video signal from the imaging device is provided on the front lid. (3) One of the pair of left and right handles
Has a start / stop operation button and a zoom operation button, enabling camera operation with one hand
The underwater case according to (1) . (4) One of the pair of left and right handles
The underwater case according to place the operation button for operating the illumination light, made it possible to perform the illumination light one-handed operation (1).

[0012]

[Function] Since the camera is mounted on the camera mounting base provided on the front lid, the mounting work is easy, and the body of the front lid can be combined simply by engaging the hook member provided on the handle with the hook pin. In addition, since the action of crushing the packing at the time of the combination becomes uniform, the packing is not distorted or damaged.

Further, since the stored camera can be operated by the handle portion through a predetermined cord, there is no operation error and the camera work underwater is facilitated.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the underwater case of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes the entire underwater case. The entire body has a substantially rectangular tube shape, and a waterproof case for housing the imaging device is disposed between a pair of left and right handles. And a rear lid 4.

A lens window 5 is formed on the front side of the front cover 3, and an underwater microphone 6 is mounted. A pair of handles 7 and 8 are mounted on both sides. A waterproof socket unit 9 for external connection for outputting a video signal from the photographing device is provided. Reference numeral 10 denotes a mounting portion for the illumination light.

A camera mounting pedestal 11 is mounted on the rear side of the front cover 3 so as to protrude to the rear side so as to be located at the lower central portion on the rear side and inside the opening. The camera mounting base 11 is provided with a positioning projection 12, a fixing screw 13 such as a tripod screw, and a pin jack 14 with a plurality of cords. These pin jacks are, for example, for remote control, video, microphone, and the like, and are connected to respective corresponding operation buttons described later via predetermined wiring.

The handles 7 and 8 are integrally attached to the front lid 3 in a fixed state, and are formed with the grip portions 7a and 8a of each handle bent downward, and the inner side of each handle. The hook member 15
16 is rotatably mounted via an appropriate pin 17. Each of the hook members 15 and 16 is
The rotation operation is arbitrarily given by 5a and 16a.

The handle 7 is provided with a start / stop operation button 18 near the position where the index finger is located when the grip 7a is gripped, and at a position where it can be operated with the thumb and near the bending position of the grip 7a. A zoom operation button 19 is provided on the upper surface.

Further, the handle 7 is provided with another operation button group 20. This button group, for example,
It may be an operation button 20a for operating the illumination light or a connector 20b for connecting the illumination light.
In addition, 10a and 10b are mounting portions of the illumination light.

As shown in FIG. 3, the body 2 and the rear lid 4
In order to prevent the connection portion from leaking water in the covered state, for example, it is better to integrally connect them with an adhesive or the like with packing or the like interposed. And hook pins 2 on both sides of body 2
The rear cover 4 has a viewing window 23 formed thereon.

When the video camera 30 is stored and used in the underwater case 1 having the above-described configuration, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the video camera 30 is fixed to the camera mounting base 11 by a fixing screw 13. The pin jacks 14 are respectively mounted on predetermined socket portions provided on the camera side.

By fixing in this manner, the lens portion of the video camera comes to a position corresponding to the lens window 5, and the operation of the video camera can be externally controlled by the respective operation buttons provided on the handle portion. Can be operated.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, when the body 2 to which the rear cover 4 is attached is fitted so as to be fitted to the front cover 3, the video camera 30 is mounted on the camera mounting base 11.
Together with the body 2. Needless to say, an appropriate packing 24 is used in a fitting portion between the front lid 3 and the body 2.

As described above, the pair of left and right hook members 15 and 16 of the front lid 3 are connected to the hook pins 21 and 22 on both side surfaces of the body 2.
By rotating the pair of grips 15a, 16a in the direction of the front cover 3 in this state, the hook pins 21, 2
The hook members 15 and 16 respectively engaged with the front cover 3 are guided by the hook pins 21 and 22, and the packing 24 provided on the front cover 3 is crushed by the end of the body 2 so that the front cover 3 and the body And 2 can be combined in a stable airtight state.

The body 2 is united with the front lid 3,
Since the fixing screw 13 for fixing the video camera 30 is accommodated in the body 2, there is no need to take measures against water leakage at this portion. Then, the viewfinder of the stored video camera 30 comes to a position corresponding to the viewing window 23 of the rear cover 4.

Underwater case 1 containing video camera 30
Can be photographed in the water while looking through the viewfinder through the viewing window 23. For example, when it is desired to see the photographing condition on the boat, an external cable is connected to the waterproof socket section 9 via a predetermined pin jack or the like. This allows the video of the video camera to be viewed on the ship as it is, and the video can also be recorded.
Therefore, even if there is an accident in the underwater case or if you forget to take a picture, you can follow it on board.

Furthermore, since the cable connected from the outside has an external power supply, the video can be viewed and recorded with little consumption of the power supply mounted on the video camera.

[0028]

As described above, the underwater case according to the present invention has a front window having a lens window on the front surface and a pair of left and right handles attached to the front cover, and is attached to the lower central portion on the rear side of the front cover. A camera mounting base, a body having hook pins on both sides, and a rear lid having a viewing window airtightly attached to the back of the body, a hook member provided inside a pair of handles, and the hook member is provided. Is engaged with the hook pin of the torso so that the torso is airtightly combined with the front lid, which not only facilitates the work of attaching the camera to be stored, but also hooks the front lid and the torso together. It can be performed with one touch only by operating the members, and has various excellent effects such as not distorting or damaging the packing for stopping water.

Further, by arranging operation buttons for operating the camera on the handle portion, not only can the camera work freely when photographing underwater, but also it is directly connected to the camera in which the operation buttons are stored. This provides an excellent effect that an accurate operation can be performed without being affected by surrounding conditions.

Further, by providing the front cover with a waterproof socket for external connection to which an external cable can be connected, an external cable can be arbitrarily connected so that an image captured underwater can be simultaneously viewed on an offshore ship. Not only can it be recorded, but also its video can be recorded, so that even if a trouble occurs in the underwater case or if you forget to take a picture, it has an excellent effect that you can follow it on the ship.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an underwater case according to the present invention as viewed from the front side.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the front lid of the underwater case as viewed from the rear side.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a body and a rear lid of the underwater case as viewed from the rear side.

FIG. 4 is a rear perspective view of the underwater case with a camera attached to a front lid.

FIG. 5 is a rear side perspective view showing a state in which a body provided with a rear lid is combined with a front lid of the underwater case.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Underwater case 2 Body part 3 Front cover 4 Rear cover 5 Lens window 6 Microphone 7, 8 Handle 7a, 8a Grip part 9 Waterproof socket part for external connection 10 Light mounting part 10a, 10b Light mounting part 11 Camera mounting base 12 Positioning projection 13 Fixing screw 14 Pin jack with cord 15, 16 Hook member 15a, 16a Gripping portion 17 Pin 18 Start / stop operation button 19 Zoom operation button 20 Operation button group 20a Light operation button 20b Light connection connector 21, 22 Hook Pin 23 Viewing Window 24 Packing 30 Video Camera

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Masateru Yamaguchi 3-2-20 Sachimachi, Kawaguchi-shi, Saitama Prefecture C & C Products Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-53-107820 (JP, A) JP-A-51-213631 (JP, A) JP-A-4-8071 (JP, A) JP-A-62-176839 (JP, U) JP-A-52-163426 (JP, U) JP-A-48-35782 (JP, Y1)

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. An underwater case comprising a front lid for housing an imaging device and a body having a rear lid, wherein the front lid has a lens window provided on a front surface, and one of which is required for camera operation. A pair of left and right handles having an operating portion and a pin member fixed to the inside and having either a hook member or a hook pin which is rotated by a grip portion and an illumination light attaching portion, and is disposed at a lower central portion on the back side of the front lid. And a camera mounting pedestal protrudingly mounted on the rear side of the front lid.The body has a rear lid having a viewing window airtightly mounted on the rear side, and hook pins or pins fixed to both sides. A hook member that is rotated by a grip portion; and the pair of left and right rotating hook members or the hook pins of the front lid are hook pins on the both sides of the body portion or the rotating hook portion. In this state, by rotating the pair of gripping portions in the front lid direction, the hook member or the rotating hook member is engaged, and the rotating hook member is attached to the hook pin. An underwater case, wherein the underwater case is guided and airtightly combines the front lid and the body. 2. The underwater case according to claim 1, wherein a waterproof socket for external connection for outputting a video signal from the imaging device is provided on the front lid. 3. The one of the pair of left and right handles described above.
The underwater case according to claim 1 , wherein a start / stop operation button and a zoom operation button are arranged on the handle so that the camera can be operated with one hand. 4. One of the pair of left and right handles
The bundle, arranged operation buttons for operating the illumination light, made it possible to perform the illumination light one-handed operation according
Item 2. An underwater case according to item 1 .