JPH0441327B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a film cassette used, for example, in an endoscope camera.

A film cassette for an endoscope is comprised of a film supply section and a film winding section with a bridge in between. A spool for winding the film is rotatably housed in the film winding portion of the film cassette, and an engaging claw integral with the spool is exposed on the top surface of the film cassette. On the other hand, an endoscope camera has an opening/closing lid pivotally attached to the back side of the camera body, and the film cassette is loaded into a cassette storage chamber within the camera body by opening the opening/closing lid.

In this case, since the film cassette is loaded into the cassette storage chamber by sliding it from the back of the camera body in the direction of the optical axis, it is necessary to avoid interference between the film winding shaft on the camera side and the film cassette during loading. The film winding shaft is movable up and down, and when a film cassette is loaded, the film winding shaft is retracted upward, and after loading, it is lowered and engaged with an engaging claw of the film cassette.

However, making the film winding shaft movable up and down increases the height of the camera body by the stroke thereof, and also has the disadvantage of requiring a plurality of mechanisms. Furthermore, when taking out the film cassette from the camera after photographing, it is necessary to remove the film cassette while retracting the film winding shaft upward, which makes it troublesome to attach and remove the film cassette.

This invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its object is to engage a spool constituting a film winding section with a film winding member and a film winding shaft of a camera provided on the upper surface of the film winding member. It is an object of the present invention to provide a film cassette which is formed from an engaging member, which allows the film cassette to be easily attached to and removed from the camera, and which allows the camera to be made smaller.

The present invention will be described below based on an embodiment shown in the drawings. 1 and 2 show a film cassette for an endoscope, and 1 is a cassette body. The cassette main body 1 is comprised of a film supply section 3 and a film winding section 4 with a bridge 2 in between. An unexposed film 5 of, for example, 8 mm or 16 mm is housed in the film supply section 3 in a wound state, and one end of the film is connected to a spool 20 (described later) of the film winding section 4.

FIG. 3 shows an endoscope camera, and 6 is the camera body. A cassette storage chamber 7 into which the cassette main body 1 is loaded is provided within the camera body 6. This cassette storage chamber 7 has a claw portion 8a.
A film winding shaft 8 is provided, which is slightly recessed from the upper surface 7a of the cassette storage chamber 7. An opening/closing lid 9 for opening and closing the opening 7b of the cassette storage chamber 7 is pivotally mounted on the back side of the camera body 6.

The opening/closing lid 9 is opened and the cassette body 1 is slid from the rear of the camera body 6 in the direction of its optical axis to be loaded into the cassette storage chamber 7.

Next, the cassette main body 1 will be described in detail based on FIG. 4. 10 is a lower case, and 11 is an upper case. The lower case 10 includes a first cylindrical portion 12 forming the film supply section 3 and a second cylindrical section 13 forming the film winding section 4.
is integrally molded with the bridge 2.
The case 11 also includes a lid body 1 for closing the upper surface openings of the first and second cylindrical parts 12 and 13.
4 and 15 are provided. Further, an opening 16 is provided at the bottom of the second cylindrical portion 13, and an opening 17 is also provided in the lid 15, concentrically facing the opening 16. A spool 18 is rotatably fitted between the openings 16 and 17. This spool 18 is composed of a film winding member 19 and an engaging member 20.
The film winding member 19 is divided into a lower cylindrical body 21 and an upper cylindrical body 22.
A fitting portion 23 that rotatably fits into the opening 16 is integrally protruded from the lower end of the fitting portion 16 . Furthermore, a fitting portion 24 that rotatably fits into the opening 17 is integrally provided at the upper end of the upper cylinder 22 in a protruding manner. Furthermore, this lower cylindrical body 21 and the upper cylindrical body 22
are integrally connected to each other via a flange portion 25, and constitute the film winding member 19. A film storage chamber 26 is formed around the outer periphery of the film winding member 19 and is shielded from light from the outside.

Further, the engaging member 20 is housed within the upper cylindrical body 22 of the film winding member 19.
This engaging member 20 is formed of an engaging claw portion 28 having a flange portion 27 at the lower portion, and a biasing spring 29 interposed between the flange portion 27 and the flange portion 25. The engaging claw portion 28 has a hemispherical upper surface, and is formed by carving an engaging groove 28a on the hemispherical surface, and the restoring force of the biasing spring 29 causes the lid to close. 15 and is biased in the direction of protruding upward. Further, the flange portion 27 has a shape that does not rotate relative to the upper cylinder body 22.

When attaching and detaching the cassette body 1 of the film cassette constructed in this way to and from the camera body 6, first, the opening/closing lid 9 of the camera body 6 is opened.
to open. Then, the opening 7b of the camera body 6
When the cassette main body 1 is inserted into the cassette storage chamber 7, the engaging claw portion 28 of the engaging member 20 protruding from the upper surface of the cassette main body 1 is pushed in by the upper surface 7a of the cassette storage chamber 7. That is, the engaging claw portion 28 compresses the biasing spring 29 and pushes the upper cylinder 22
immersed within. Then, when the cassette main body 1 is further inserted into the cassette storage chamber 7, the engaging claw portion 28
is opposed to the film winding shaft 8, and the engaging claw portion 28 is projected upward by the restoring force of the biasing spring 29.
Therefore, the engaging claw portion 28 is connected to the film winding shaft 8.
The film winding shaft 8 is rotated by the film winding member 1 through the engaging member 20.
9, the film 5 in the film supply section 3 can be wound up by the film winding member 19.

In addition, when taking out the cassette body 1 from the camera body 6 after photographing is completed, first open the opening/closing lid 9 and pull out the cassette body 1 by grasping it with your fingers. 28 has a hemispherical upper surface, so that the engaging claw portion 28 compresses the biasing spring 29 and is retracted into the upper cylinder body 22. Therefore, the engagement between the engaging claw portion 28 and the claw portion 8a of the film winding shaft 8 is released, and the cassette body 1 can be taken out from the film storage chamber 7.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the engaging claw portion 28 that engages with the film winding shaft 8 is configured to be able to protrude and retract from the upper surface of the lid body 15, and is configured to always protrude upwardly by the biasing spring 29. However, in addition to the above configuration, as shown in FIG.
0 is pivotally mounted, and by operating the operating part 31 of this rotary lever 30 to make the presser part 32 at the other end face the engaging claw part 28, the engaging claw part 28 is moved against the biasing spring 2.
You can immerse yourself against the restoring force of 9, and
By retracting the presser portion 32 from the engaging claw portion 28, the engaging claw portion 28 can be made to protrude. Therefore, the cassette body 1 can be easily attached and detached by rotating the rotation lever 30 when attaching and detaching the cassette body 1 to and from the camera body 6.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and as shown in FIG. 6, an elastic deformable member 33 made of rubber or soft synthetic resin material is provided as an engaging member at the upper end of the film winding member 19. The elastic deformation member 33 may be elastically engaged with the claw portion 8a of the film winding shaft 8.

As described above, the present invention includes a film winding member including a spool constituting a film winding portion, and an upper part of the film winding member that projects upwardly from the upper surface of the cassette main body, so that the spool can be freely projected and retracted from the upper surface. Since the engaging member is provided with a hemispherical portion that elastically engages with the film winding shaft of the camera, the film winding shaft can be perpendicular to the film winding shaft without vertical movement when the film cassette is attached to or removed from the camera. It can be easily attached and detached by pushing in or pulling out. Therefore, the structure of the camera and film cassette can be simplified and the camera and film cassette can be made smaller.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a plan view of a film cassette;
FIG. 2 is a front view, FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway side view of an endoscope camera, FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional front view of a film cassette, and FIGS. 5 is a perspective view, and FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway front view, each showing a different embodiment. 1...Cassette body, 2...Bridge, 3...
Film supply section, 4...Film winding section, 8...
...Film winding shaft, 18...Spool, 19...
...Film winding member, 20...Engaging member, 28
...Engaging claw portion, 29...Biasing spring, 33...Elastic deformation member.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a film cassette in which a film supply section and a film winding section are formed with a bridge in between, the spool constituting the film winding section is connected to a film winding member and a film winding member. The cassette body is characterized by comprising an engaging member having a hemispherical surface projecting upwardly from the upper surface of the cassette main body, retractably protruding into the upper surface, and elastically engaging with the film winding shaft of the camera. film cassette. 2. Claim 1, characterized in that the engaging member comprises an engaging claw portion and a biasing spring that urges the engaging claw portion in a direction to protrude upward from the upper surface of the cassette body. film cassette. 3. The film cassette according to claim 1, wherein the engaging member is an elastically deformable member that is provided integrally with the film winding member and projects from the upper surface of the cassette body.