JPH0614166B2 - Built-in flash popup mechanism - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a built-in flash pop-up mechanism.

“Prior art and its problems” In general, single-lens reflex cameras target objects from very close objects to objects at infinity, and switch to a lens with an optimum focal length according to the type of object and the distance to the object. To be done. The interchangeable lens has a long lens barrel depending on the focal length. In addition, due to the improved performance of zoom lenses in recent years,
In place of the conventional fixed-focal-length interchangeable lenses, an increasing number of zoom lenses regularly use wide-angle to telephoto lenses. This zoom lens barrel length is determined by the longest focal length, and the barrel length does not become so short even when zooming to the short focus side.

Therefore, when the built-in flash device is integrated with the single-lens reflex camera, it is important to prevent the built-in flash light from being blocked by the lens barrel.

From such a background, the applicant has already provided a storage room in the upper front part of the penta house housing of the finder optical system, and the storage room can be moved to the projecting position at the time of light emission and the storage position in the storage room. Various types of built-in flash provided with a casing having a flash light emitter have been proposed (Japanese Patent Application No. 60-26123, Japanese Patent Application No. 60-271373, Japanese Patent Application No. 61-14482).
Etc.).

[Object of the Invention] The present invention is a built-in flash whose structure is different from those of the above-mentioned applications, and the structure is simple and the operation is reliable, and it is easy to position the flash itself higher and forward in the light emitting position. The purpose is to get a popup mechanism.

[Summary of the Invention] The present invention has been completed upon the conclusion that a rotation mechanism based on a four-bar rotary chain is suitable as a pop-up mechanism for this type of built-in flash. That is, the present invention relates to a camera provided with a viewfinder optical system having a pentaprism on the upper part of a pentahouse, a casing provided with a flash light emitting device, and a storage chamber provided above the front part of the pentaprism for housing this casing. And a moving mechanism for movably holding the casing at a storage position in the storage chamber and a projecting position in the upper front of the storage chamber, wherein the moving mechanism has one end of the storage chamber. A pair of front and rear pivot levers pivotally attached to the side surface and the other end pivotally attached to the side surface of the casing do not intersect each other, and the pair of pivot levers raise the casing from the storage position. And moving forward to move to the projecting position, and descending and retracting from the projecting position to move to the storage position. This mechanism is very simple and has the effects of having a small number of parts, good assembling, reliable operation, etc. Moreover, it is easy to achieve the requirement that the flash be high and forward in the protruding position.

"Examples of the Invention" The present invention will be described below with reference to illustrated examples. 1 and 2 show an embodiment of the built-in flash pop-up mechanism of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the main part shown in the retracted position of the flash and FIG. 3 and 4 show an example of the locking mechanism.

A penta-house casing 12 is provided above the single-lens reflex camera body 10, and a penta prism 14 is housed in the penta-house casing 12. A storage chamber 16 for housing the built-in flash casing 20 is provided in front of the upper part of the penta-house 12. The upper portion of the storage chamber 16 is opened for the entrance and exit of the casing 20, and a recess 16a for storing the pentaprism 14 is formed in the center of the bottom surface of the storage chamber 16, as is apparent from FIG. The link storage chamber 16b is provided on both sides of the recess bottom surface 16a.
Are formed.

When the casing 20 is in the storage position in which it is stored in the storage chamber 16, the casing 20 closes the upper part of the storage chamber 16 and forms a top plate 22 that forms an external appearance together with the penta house casing 12, and the storage chamber 1.
6 has a bottom plate 23 corresponding to the concave portion 16a and side plates 24 (only one is shown) located on both sides of the top plate 22 and the bottom plate 23. The top plate 22, the bottom plate 23 and the side plates 24 are provided.
A xenon tube (light emitter) 28 and a reflecting mirror 30 are housed in a light emitting chamber 25 surrounded by. A condenser lens 26 closes the front of the light emitting chamber 25.

On the outer surfaces of both side plates 24 of the casing 20, a first rotating lever 32 is provided via a shaft 34 located rearward of the center of the xenon tube 28, and a second rotating lever 32 is provided via a shaft 40 at the lower rear end of the casing.
Rotating levers 38 are pivotally attached to each other. The other end of the first turning lever 32 is pivotally attached to the shaft 36 at the upper front of the side wall of the storage chamber 16, and the other end of the second turning lever 38 is pivotally connected to the shaft 42 at the lower rear thereof. A pop-up mechanism (moving mechanism) of the casing 20 is configured by a four-node rotation chain including the first and second turning levers 32 and 38, the storage chamber 16 and the casing 20. The left and right first and second turning levers 32 and 38 are respectively arranged in the storage chamber 1.
6 are housed in the left and right link housing chambers 16b, and the left and right first rotating levers 32 are connected by a connecting arm 33. The connecting arm 33 is effective for surely operating the left and right four-bar rotary chains simultaneously. The shaft 42 is located on the upper side surface of the pentaprism 14. First rotation lever 3
2 has an L shape in each link storage chamber 16b, and the shaft 36 is located at the bent portion.

Then, when the casing 20 is in the storage position, the first rotating lever 32 is oriented in a substantially horizontal direction, and the second rotating lever 3
Reference numeral 8 is inclined forward and downward to hold the diffusion lens 26, that is, the casing 20 in a downward state. Also casing 2
At the protruding position of 0, the second rotating lever 38 is oriented in a substantially vertical direction, and the first rotating lever 32 is rotated to a position close to the vertical position to secure the height of the casing 20 when protruding. .

A torsion spring 52 is fitted on the shaft 42 of the second turning lever 38, and one leg portion 52a thereof engages with the projection 38a of the second turning lever 38 to move the second turning lever 38 to the counterclockwise direction in the figure. The casing 20 is biased in the direction in which the casing 20 projects from the storage chamber 16.

The end of the shaft 42 is shown in FIG.
Is inserted through the side wall 18a and the support wall 18b inside thereof, and the locking lever 50 is loosely fitted on the shaft 42 between the both walls 18a, 18b so that it can move in the axial direction of the shaft 42. There is. The other leg portion 52b of the torsion spring 52 is locked to the projection 50b at one end of the locking lever 50 so that the locking lever 50 is always urged to rotate clockwise in the drawing. This clockwise turning end has a protrusion 50b.
Is regulated at a position where it comes into contact with the inner wall of the storage chamber 16.

The torsion spring 52 also has a function as a compression spring and elastically presses the locking lever 50 against the side wall 18a of the storage chamber 16, but the locking lever 50 and the shaft 42 are loosely fitted to each other. Therefore, the locking lever 50 can move or rotate in the axial direction against the axial biasing force of the torsion spring 52.

The locking surface at the tip of the locking lever 50 is formed with a wedge surface 50a that bulges below the arc (centered by the dashed line in FIG. 3) about the shaft 42. The wedge surface 50a can be constituted by, for example, an arc surface having a center below the shaft 52. And this wedge surface 5
0a is a locking surface 32a of the first rotating lever 32 when the casing 20 is in the storage position where the casing 20 is stored in the storage chamber 16.
It comes into frictional contact with the first rotation lever 32 and blocks the counterclockwise rotation of the first rotation lever 32. The relationship between the wedge surface 50a and the locking surface 32a is that when the second rotation lever 32 is rotated downward, the contact pressure between the wedge surface 50a and the edge 32b of the locking surface 32a increases, and the frictional force is increased. There is a relationship of becoming larger. Therefore, the second turning lever 3 is driven by the turning bias of the torsion spring 52.
The counterclockwise rotation of 8 is blocked to hold the casing 20 in the storage position.

To release the engagement between the locking lever 50 and the first rotation lever 32,
This is done by a push button 54 that penetrates the side wall 18a of the storage chamber 16. This push button 54 is used for the penta-house 1
It is interlocked with an operation unit (not shown) that is projected from the outside to the outside. The tip of the push button 54 faces the locking lever 50, and when pushed, the locking lever 50 is twisted by the torsion spring 5.
It is arranged to move inwardly against the urging force of 2 to release the engagement between the wedge surface 50a and the locking surface 32a.

Two sets of switch members 49 are provided at both ends of the bottom of the storage chamber 16 and each of which includes an operating rod 44 having a projection 46 projecting into the storage chamber 16 at its tip and a contact 48. The switch member 49 serves as a switch of the flash light emitting circuit, and when the casing 20 is in the storage position, the projection 46 is pushed by the second rotating lever 38, and the operating rod 4 is pushed.
4 is opened away from the contact 48. On the other hand, when the casing 20 is in the projecting position, the second rotating lever 38 separates from the protrusion 46, the operating rod 44 contacts the contact 48 and is closed, and preparation for light emission of the built-in flash starts. Two sets of the switch members 49 are provided in order to make the switching operation more reliable.

Next, the operation of the pop-up mechanism having the above configuration will be described.

When the built-in flash is used, in the housed state of FIG. 1, the operation portion of the push button 54 is pressed to move the locking lever 50 in the axial direction of the shaft 42 to move the wedge surface 5.
The engagement between 0a and the locking surface 32a is released. Then, the turning biasing force of the torsion spring 52 causes the second turning lever 38 to turn counterclockwise, and the casing 20 linked to the second and first turning levers 38 and 32 moves upward and forward, The projection position shown in FIG. 4 is reached. At this protruding position, the second lever 38 separates from the protrusion 46 of the operating rod 44, and the operating rod 44 and the contact 4
8 and 8 are contacted with each other to be closed, and the flash device is ready to emit light.

When housing the built-in flash, the top plate 22 of the casing 20 is pressed with a finger. Then, casing 2
With 0, the first rotating lever 32 and the second rotating lever 38 are rotated in the clockwise direction, and are sunk into the storage chamber 16.
The edge 32b of the locking surface 32a of the first rotating lever 32 comes into contact with the wedge surface 50a of the locking lever 50 shortly before the casing 20 reaches the storage position, and the locking lever 5 moves.
Start pushing 0 and reach the wedge surface 5 before reaching the storage position.
Engage over the top of 0a. This wedge surface 50a
And frictional contact between the edge 32b of the locking surface 32a and
The counterclockwise rotation of the first rotation lever 32 is blocked. And if you continue to push down the casing 20,
The wedge surface 50a of the locking lever 50 increases the frictional engagement force with the edge 32b of the locking surface 32a, and locks the casing 20 at that position. Therefore, no gap is created between the top plate 22 and the storage chamber 16. Further, in this storage position, the second rotating lever 38 pushes the projection 46 of the operating rod 44, opens the operating rod 44 and the contact 48, and disconnects the flash light emitting circuit.

"Effects of the Invention" As is clear from the above description, the pop-up mechanism of the present invention can move the casing of the flash between the projecting position and the storage position by a simple link mechanism. Therefore, a pop-up mechanism that is easy to assemble, has a small number of parts, and operates reliably can be obtained. Also, because the flash at the protruding position is higher and easier to put forward,
Even when a long focus lens having a long lens barrel or a zoom lens having a long focus is used, the light emitted from the light emitting portion is not blocked by the lens barrel.

[Brief description of drawings]

The figure shows an embodiment of the pop-up mechanism of the present invention,
FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a main portion in a stored state, FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the same in a protruding state, FIGS. 3 and 4 are perspective views and cross-sectional views showing an example of a locking mechanism, and FIG. [Fig. 3] is a perspective view showing a back surface shape of a storage chamber. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Camera main body, 12 ... Penta house housing, 16 ... Storage room, 20 ... Casing, 26 ... Condensing lens, 28 ... Xenon tube (light emitter), 30 ... Reflecting mirror, 32 ... First rotation lever, 32a ... Locking surface, 34, 36, 40, 42 ... Shaft,
38 ... 2nd rotation lever, 50 ... Locking lever, 50a ... Wedge surface, 54 ... Push button.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A built-in flash provided in a camera body provided with a finder optical system having a pentaprism, the casing having a flash light emitter; provided above the front part of the pentaprism for housing the casing. A storage chamber; and a moving mechanism that movably holds the casing at a storage position in the storage chamber and a projecting position in the upper front of the storage chamber. It includes a pair of front and rear pivoting levers that are pivotally supported by the side surface of the storage chamber and the other end is pivotally supported by the side surface of the casing, and that do not intersect each other. Moving up and forward from the storage position to move to the projecting position, descending and retracting from the projecting position to move to the storage position, Built-in flash pop-up mechanism which is characterized. 2. A built-in flash pop-up mechanism according to claim 1, wherein a front side of the pair of pivot levers has a longer axial distance. 3. The built-in flash pop-up mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the front turning lever is substantially horizontal at a storage position and is substantially vertical at the protruding position. 4. The pair of rotating levers according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the pair of rotating levers are respectively arranged on left and right side surfaces of the casing, and further front left and right rotating levers are provided. Is a built-in pop-up mechanism that is integrally and rotatably connected by a connecting arm.