JP7843665B2 - Camera device - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to a camera device, and more particularly to a camera device equipped with a light-emitting function that uses a discharge from a discharge tube as a light source.

Camera flashes that utilize discharge from a discharge tube as a light source have been known for some time (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Generally, such flashes require not only a circuit to supply charge to both electrodes of the discharge tube, but also a trigger electrode to trigger the discharge in the discharge tube. This results in a complex circuit configuration and a tendency for the structure to become large.

Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-107565

This invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art, and aims to provide a camera device that can realize a light-emitting function using a discharge tube with a simple and compact configuration.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a camera device is provided that can realize a light-emitting function using a discharge tube with a simple and compact configuration. This camera device comprises a circuit board having contacts connected to a trigger element, a discharge tube capable of discharge, a housing for the discharge tube, and a conductive reflector attached to the housing. The housing is attached to the circuit board. The reflector has a reflective portion arranged to surround the discharge tube and a contact portion that elastically contacts the contacts on the circuit board while being biased toward them.

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a camera device in one embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2A is a schematic front view showing the circuit board and light-emitting section of the camera device shown in Figure 1. Figure 2B is a plan view of the circuit board and light-emitting section shown in Figure 2A. Figure 2C is a rear view of the circuit board and light-emitting section shown in Figure 2A. Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view of the circuit board, light-emitting unit, and flash cover of the camera device shown in Figure 1. Figure 4 is a perspective view of the housing for the light-emitting unit shown in Figure 2A. Figure 5A is a front view of the reflector of the light-emitting section shown in Figure 2A. Figure 5B is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A in Figure 5A. Figure 6 is a partial cross-sectional view of the camera device shown in Figure 1.

The embodiments of the camera device according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to Figures 1 to 6. In Figures 1 to 6, identical or corresponding components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant descriptions are omitted. Furthermore, in Figures 1 to 6, the scale and dimensions of some components may be exaggerated, and some components may be omitted. In the following description, unless otherwise specified, terms such as "first" and "second" are used solely to distinguish components from one another and do not indicate a specific rank or order.

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a camera device 1 in one embodiment of the present invention. The camera device 1 in this embodiment is, for example, a camera (instant camera) that uses photographic film that is automatically developed after shooting. However, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to cameras other than such instant cameras. As shown in Figure 1, the camera device 1 comprises a front cover 2, a rear cover 3 mounted behind the front cover 2, a top cover 4 sandwiched between the front cover 2 and the rear cover 3, and a lens barrel 8 housed inside the cylindrical portion 2A of the front cover 2. A viewfinder window 5 is formed in the front cover 2, and a flash cover 6 is positioned adjacent to this viewfinder window 5.

Furthermore, a shutter release button 7 is located on the -Z direction side of the viewfinder window 5. The top cover 4 has an ejection slit 4A extending in the X direction, through which the developed photographic film is ejected after shooting. Also, the lens barrel 8 in this embodiment is configured to extend in the Z direction. A circuit board 10, described later, is housed in the internal space formed between the front cover 2 and the rear cover 3.

Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C are schematic front, top, and rear views, respectively, of the circuit board 10 and the light-emitting unit 20 attached to the circuit board 10. Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view of the circuit board 10, the light-emitting unit 20, and the flash cover 6. In this embodiment, for convenience, the +Z direction in Figure 3 is referred to as "front" or "forward," and the -Z direction is referred to as "rear" or "backward."

As shown in Figures 2A to 2C and Figure 3, a trigger coil 12, acting as a trigger element, is connected to pattern wiring (not shown) within the circuit board 10 on the rear surface 10A of the circuit board 10. This pattern wiring connected to the trigger coil 12 includes a contact 14 (see Figure 3) formed on the front surface 10B of the circuit board 10.

The light-emitting unit 20 comprises a discharge tube 22 capable of discharge, such as a xenon tube, a housing 30 for housing the discharge tube 22, and a conductive reflector 40 attached to the housing 30. For example, the reflector 40 is made of stainless steel, which has high light reflectivity. This light-emitting unit 20 is positioned behind the flash cover 6 formed on the front cover 2, so that the light generated by the discharge in the discharge tube 22 is emitted as flash light through the flash cover 6 to the front of the camera device 1. For ease of understanding, the wiring connected to both ends (both poles) of the discharge tube 22 is omitted from the illustration.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the housing section 30. As shown in Figure 4, the housing section 30 has a rectangular parallelepiped frame 31 with a housing space S for housing the discharge tube 22 and reflector 40 formed on its interior, a fixing section 33 extending from the frame 31 in the +X direction with an insertion hole 32, bent pieces 34 formed on both sides of the frame 31 in the Y direction, and two hook sections 35 formed on the rear surface of the frame 31. The hook sections 35 are designed to engage with the rear surface 10A of the circuit board 10 through elongated holes 16 (see Figure 3) formed in the circuit board 10 (see Figure 2C). Fixing screws 24 (see Figure 3) are inserted through the insertion holes 32 of the fixing section 33, and these fixing screws 24 are screwed into screw holes 18 (see Figure 3) formed in the circuit board 10, thereby fixing the housing section 30 to the circuit board 10.

Both ends of the discharge tube 22 are located on the -Z direction side of the bent piece 34, and this bent piece 34 is configured to elastically press both ends of the discharge tube 22 in the -Z direction. Thus, in this embodiment, the bent piece 34 of the housing 30 functions as a biasing part that elastically biases the discharge tube 22 toward the circuit board 10.

Figure 5A is a front view of the reflector 40, and Figure 5B is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A in Figure 5A. As shown in Figures 5A and 5B, the reflector 40 has a reflective portion 41 positioned in the housing space S of the housing portion 30, and a leaf spring-shaped contact piece 42 (contact portion) extending from the edge of the reflective portion 41. Holes 43 are formed on both sides of the reflective portion 41 in the Y direction to allow the discharge tube 22 to pass through. The reflective portion 41 also has a curved surface that surrounds the discharge tube 22, and two support portions 44 are formed on this curved surface to support the discharge tube 22 from the -Z direction side.

The contact piece 42 is configured to be elastically deformable in the Z direction. Furthermore, the tip of the contact piece 42 is bent to form a contact portion 42A. This contact portion 42A is configured to make electrical and physical contact with the contact 14 (see Figure 3) formed on the front surface 10B of the circuit board 10.

In this configuration, the bent piece 34 of the housing section 30 biases the discharge tube 22 toward the -Z direction, i.e., toward the circuit board 10. The discharge tube 22, biased toward the circuit board 10 by the bent piece 34 of the housing section 30, presses the support portion 44 of the reflector 40 toward the circuit board 10. This fixes the reflector 40 to the housing section 30.

Because materials like stainless steel are difficult to solder, if the reflector 40 is made of stainless steel as described above, it is difficult to connect the wires directly to the reflector 40. Therefore, in order to use the reflector 40 as the trigger electrode of the discharge tube 22, it is conceivable to solder the wires to another component, such as a conductive plate, and then connect the reflector and the trigger coil 12 by bringing this conductive plate into contact with the reflector 40. However, this method complicates the circuit configuration because it requires connecting the wires to the reflector 40 via a separately prepared conductive plate, and it also increases the size of the light-emitting section 20 because space must be secured for the conductive plate.

In this regard, the reflector 40 of this embodiment has a contact piece 42 that elastically contacts the contact 14 provided on the circuit board 10, so the reflector 40 can be connected to the trigger coil 12 via this contact piece 42. Therefore, as described above, the reflector 40 can be used as a trigger electrode without the need for additional members such as conductive plates. As a result, the number and space required for the light-emitting function of the discharge tube 22 can be reduced, making it possible to achieve a compact camera device 1 with a simple configuration.

Furthermore, as in this embodiment, the contact piece 42 of the reflector 40 can be formed integrally with the reflector 41 by extending the contact piece 42 from the edge of the reflector 41 in a leaf spring shape. Here, the contact portion (contact piece 42) of the reflector 40 that elastically contacts the contact 14 provided on the circuit board 10 is not limited to the leaf spring shape shown, but may take any form. For example, the contact portion may extend from the rear surface of the reflector 41 toward the contact 14 on the circuit board 10.

Furthermore, as shown in Figure 6, for example, a projection 50 extending in the -Z direction may be formed on the portion of the front cover 2 where the contact piece 42 of the reflector 40 is located, and this projection 50 may press the contact piece 42 of the reflector 40 against the contact 14 of the circuit board 10. This pressing by the projection 50 allows the contact piece 42 of the reflector 40 to contact the contact 14 of the circuit board 10 more reliably. Also, in this embodiment, the reflector 40 is pressed in the -Z direction via the discharge tube 22 by the bent piece 34 of the housing portion 30, but the reflector 40 may also be pressed in the -Z direction solely by such a projection 50 on the front cover 2.

The terms "front," "forward," "rear," "backward," and other terms indicating positional relationships used herein are used only to specify the relative relationships between elements in relation to the illustrated embodiments, and not to specify absolute positional relationships. Therefore, it should be noted that if the position or orientation of the device changes, the directions in which these terms are meant will also change accordingly.

As described above, according to one aspect of the present invention, a camera device is provided that can realize a light-emitting function using a discharge tube with a simple and compact configuration. Specifically, the camera device according to the present invention can employ the following configuration.

(Composition 1)
The camera device comprises a circuit board having contacts connected to a trigger element, a discharge tube capable of discharge, a housing for housing the discharge tube, and a conductive reflector attached to the housing. The housing is attached to the circuit board. The reflector has a reflective portion arranged to surround the discharge tube and a contact portion that elastically contacts the contacts on the circuit board while being biased toward them.

With this configuration, the conductive reflector is connected to the trigger element via a contact portion that elastically contacts a contact point on the circuit board. Therefore, the reflector can be used as a trigger electrode without the need for other components such as a conductive plate. Consequently, the number and space required for the light-emitting function of the discharge tube can be reduced, enabling a compact camera device with a simple configuration.

(Structure 2)
In the above configuration 1, the contact portion of the reflector may extend in a leaf spring shape from the edge of the reflective portion. Such a spring-shaped contact portion can be formed integrally with the reflective portion.

(Composition 3)
In the above configuration 1 or 2, the housing portion may have a biasing portion that elastically biases the discharge tube toward the circuit board. The reflecting portion of the reflector may also have a support portion that supports the discharge tube between the circuit board and the discharge tube. With such a configuration, the biasing portion of the housing portion biases the discharge tube toward the circuit board, and the discharge tube, biased toward the circuit board, presses the support portion of the reflector toward the circuit board, thereby fixing the reflector to the housing portion.

(Composition 4)
The camera device described above may further include a cover having a projection that presses the contact portion of the reflector toward the contact point on the circuit board. By pressing the contact portion of the reflector toward the projection of such a cover, the contact portion of the reflector can be made to contact the contact point on the circuit board more reliably.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and may be implemented in various different forms within the scope of its technical concept.

1 Camera device 2 Front cover 3 Rear cover 4 Top cover 6 Flash cover 10 Circuit board 12 Trigger coil 14 Contact 16 Slotted hole 18 Screw hole 20 Light-emitting part 22 Discharge tube 24 Fixing screw 30 Housing part 31 Frame 32 Through hole 33 Fixing part 34 Bent piece 35 Hook part 40 Reflector 41 Reflecting part 42 Contact piece (contact part)
42A Contact point 44 Support part 50 Projection S Housing space

Claims (4)

A circuit board having contacts connected to a trigger element,
A discharge tube capable of discharge,
A housing for housing the discharge tube, comprising a housing attached to the circuit board,
A conductive reflector attached to the aforementioned housing,
A reflecting section is arranged to surround the discharge tube,
A camera device comprising a reflector having a contact portion that elastically contacts the contacts of the circuit board while being biased toward the contacts of the circuit board. The camera device according to claim 1, wherein the contact portion of the reflector extends in a leaf spring shape from the edge of the reflective portion. The housing portion has a biasing portion that elastically biases the discharge tube toward the circuit board,
The reflective portion of the reflector has a support portion that supports the discharge tube between the circuit board and the discharge tube.
The camera device according to claim 1. The camera device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a cover having a projection that presses the contact portion of the reflector toward the contact of the circuit board.