JPS58152231A - Camera capable of using dissimilar battery - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the selective use of dissimilar kinds of batteries with the same camera, by engaging battery cases of every battery kind by means of the same mechanical and electrical engaging parts of the camera body and mounting same to the camera body. CONSTITUTION:A battery case 2 containing 4 pieces of batteries 3 therein is mounted to one side part of a camera body by means of a hook 22 in the end part and a locking mechanism 23 at the other end. Then, two members 24a, 24b of conductive plates connected to the positive and negative terminals of the batteries in the connecting part 21 on the inside surface of the case 2 contact electrically the two contacts provided in the opposed positions on the camera body, by which the voltage of the batteries 3 is applied to the electronic circuits in the camera. The case 2 differs in shape according to the kinds of the batteries to be contained therein. The selection of batteries of either SUM-3 or SUM-4 is accomplished with switches SW1, SW2 according to the presence or absence of a pressing piece 25, and the selection of either ordinary type or Ni-Cd type batteries is accomplished with a switch SW3, whereby the selective use of the dissimilar batteries is made possible.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a camera in which a battery case for each different type of battery is attached to and detached from the camera body so that various types of batteries can be used.

In recent years, the computerization of cameras has been remarkable, and for example, operations that were previously performed manually, such as automatic Fujide adjustment, automatic film winding, rewinding, and automatic focus adjustment, can now be performed all at once using the driving force of a motor. W14!1, which was previously done by human eyes, is now automatically done using electronic circuit control. A battery is used as a power source for such an ilLg & driving device control circuit.

Batteries have also been widely used as strobe lights since before then.

Batteries used in cameras are large-capacity cylinders such as AA and AAA batteries, which are used for the movement of motors that generate driving force and for strobe lights! There are M'#IL batteries and small-capacity button ML batteries such as mercury batteries used for child control. Conventionally, these two types of batteries were stored in one camera because of their respective uses. It was customary.

Recently, however, it has become possible to use one type of large-capacity cylindrical battery for drive and control purposes, and it is thought that the use of cylindrical batteries in cameras will become more popular in the future.

When thinking about cylindrical batteries, in most cameras that are currently in widespread use, the size of the battery used is specified for each camera, and the shape of the battery compartment in the camera body also depends on that size. are made together. Therefore, batteries with the same rated voltage but different sizes cannot be used. However, depending on the user and the usage conditions of the camera, there may be cases where it is better to only have to worry about replacing the battery even if the battery weight increases a little, or it may be better to reduce the battery weight and improve portability rather than having to worry about replacing the battery. In such cases, it may be useful to be able to use batteries of other sizes. That is, if the former is desired, a large capacity battery may be used, and if the latter is desired, a small capacity battery may be used. In addition, nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd), which has recently been widely used in small electrical devices as a rechargeable battery in place of ordinary batteries (manganese batteries), is also used.
) There may be cases where you want to use batteries, or you may want to use nickel-cadmium batteries with different capacities, just like with the normal batteries mentioned above.

The present invention takes into consideration the above-mentioned points, and provides a camera body with a mechanical retaining portion and an electrical retaining portion with respect to the battery case. The battery case is provided with a mechanical retaining portion and an electrical retaining portion that can be respectively engaged with the mechanical engaging portion and the electrical engaging portion of the camera body regardless of the battery type. In this way, by attaching the battery case for each battery to the camera body by engaging them with the same mechanical engagement part and electrical engagement part of the camera body, it is possible to attach the battery case for each battery to the camera body according to the purpose. You can use all batteries separately.

The present invention will be explained below based on the drawings.

Figure 1 shows the battery case in its prone position, separated from the camera body.

1 is a camera body, and a battery case 2 can be attached to one side 1a of the body 1 (the left hand side when facing the front of the camera in the figure).

A connecting portion 11 that is electrically connected to a connecting portion 21 provided in a battery case 2, which will be described later, is provided at the upper front of the @ portion 1a of the camera body 1. As shown enlarged in FIGS. 3 and 4, the connecting portion 11 has two electrical contacts 11b and 1 inside a recess 11m formed in the side portion 1j of the camera body 1.
1C, and these contacts 11b and llc are connected to an electronic circuit built into the camera body 1. Also, a battery case 2 is placed on the front side of the side 1m of the camera body 1.
An engagement groove 12 is provided which engages with a hook 22 formed on the side edge of.

On the other hand, the battery case 2 is made of resin, and as shown enlarged in FIGS. 5 and 6, it is formed into a box shape so that four batteries 3 can be stored inside, and one side edge is formed with a hook 22 that engages with the engagement groove 12 formed on the front side of the side 1m of the camera body 1, and a lock mechanism 23 that fixes the battery case 2 to the camera body 1 is formed on the other side edge. is formed. ! FIG. 5 shows a battery case for a AAA-sized Kameike battery, and FIG. 6 shows a battery case for an AA-sized battery, and the two illustrated battery cases have different closing mechanisms. The battery case 2 has a connection part 21 for extracting voltage from the battery 3 housed inside.
Or is provided. As shown in FIG. 2, the connecting portion 21 includes two conductive plate members 24a connected to the positive and negative electrodes of the battery, respectively, along the surface of a resin protrusion 21a integrally molded with the 6C1 case.

24b are arranged in parallel and spaced apart, and the tips of the protruding pieces 215
It is designed to wrap around the tip of 1. Conductive plate member 24m,
24b has elasticity, and the portion that wraps around the tip of the protruding piece 21a is flexible.

Next, in order to attach the battery case to the camera body, for example, attach the hook 22 of the battery case 2 shown in FIG. 11, the battery case 2 is rotated in the direction shown by arrow A around the locking portion $12. When the battery case 2 is moved simultaneously and the battery case 2 is in close contact with the side 1m of the camera body 1, when the battery case 2 is pushed strongly against the camera body 1, the lock claw 2
3. The battery case 2 or the camera body IK is locked in cooperation with the lock Ia mechanism (not shown) provided on the back side of the hook 111m of the camera body I. At this time, the connection part 21 of the battery case 2 enters the recess I1M of the connection 11111 formed in the camera body 1, and the conductive plate part @24m.

24b is the contact point 11 of the connection part 11 due to the spring action.
b, in electrical contact with llc. In this way, battery case 2
is attached to the camera body 1, and the voltage of the battery 3 housed in the battery case 2 is applied to the electronic circuit built in the camera body 1 via the cable connection part 21.11.

Insert the battery case for the AA batteries shown in Figure 6 into the camera body 1.
The procedure for installing it is the same as described above. for that,
The position and structure of the connection part 21 provided in the battery case 2 are the same as the connection part 2 of the battery case for AA batteries shown in FIG.
The position and structure are exactly the same as No. 1.

By the way, in many cameras using negative batteries, the battery voltage is usually checked in order to know the lifespan of the battery, and when the battery voltage falls below a predetermined value, a warning lamp is displayed to notify the user.

Is it desirable to be able to check the battery voltage even in a camera that can be used with interchangeable batteries of different capacities like the present invention?
It is desirable to change the warning level depending on the battery capacity.

Therefore, switching of the battery voltage check level of the camera according to the present invention will be explained next.

Figures 7 and 8 show battery voltage check level switching circuits; Figure 1E7 is an identified resistance type, and Figure 8 is a variable resistance type. In Figure 7, 4 is a battery, and 5 is a battery 4. A detection device consisting of an IC, etc. that detects the voltage level of

S%v2 uses AA batteries and AAA batteries! ! Mvt battery changeover switch, 8w3 is a changeover switch between normal battery (manganese battery) and nickel cadmium battery s fLl.

) t2. ) ts is a resistor with an appropriate resistance value. #I8
In the figure, 4 is a battery, 5 is a voltage level detection unit,
59v3 is a changeover switch between a normal battery and a nickel-cadmium battery, similar to the switch shown in Fig. 7, ■Ro
is a variable resistance.

Referring again to Figure 6, the AA battery case 2 iC illustrated here differs from the nest 4 battery case shown in Figure 5 in that a part of the protruding piece 21J1 is protruded next to the connection part 21. A pressing piece 25 is formed in this way. On the other hand, the camera body! Immediately next to the concave portion 11m of the first convex 11, as shown in Figure @3, there is a check level switch that is biased in one direction by the spring 13 and can reciprocate in the direction of the arrow while being guided by the guide bins 14a and 14b. Lever 1
5 is provided. A brush 16 made of an elastic conductive plate is fixed to the lower surface of this switching lever 15, and the tip 16 of the brush 16! is in pressure contact with a printed resistance plate 17 placed below it. Leads @18 are connected to one end of the printed resistance plate 17 and the brush 16, respectively, one of which is connected to the positive electrode of the battery 4, and the other to the input terminal of the detection unit 5.

On the other hand, as shown in Figure 9, a switch 30 for switching between a normal battery and a nickel-cadmium battery is provided immediately next to the viewfinder 19 provided on the back of the camera body l.

Next, referring to FIG. 8, a description will be given of checking the battery voltage level when changing the type of battery.

The switch 3 in the circuit shown in FIG. 8 corresponds to the switch 30 shown in FIG. Therefore, if the battery is used or a normal battery, if the switch 30 is set to the side that is not indicated as N1-Cd, the switch sw3 in Figure 8 will be connected to the contact; conversely, if a nickel-cadmium battery is used, the switch 30 to the Ni-Cd display, switch SW3 is connected to connection g. 11 When using a normal battery, the switch sw3 is connected to the contact point as described above. Therefore, when using a single JRJ11 battery, the battery case shown in Fig. 5 is used, and the battery case 2 is attached to the camera body 1, and the connection part 21 of the battery case 2 and the connection part 11 of the camera body 1 are connected electrically. Even if the voltage check switching lever 15 shown in Figure 3 does not operate, the resistance value of the printed resistance plate 17, which is determined by the position of the brush 16, reaches its maximum value. In other words, the resistance value of the variable resistor VRo in FIG. 8 is the maximum value, and the terminal voltage of the battery 4 is
The voltage drops partially at 0 and is applied to the voltage level detection unit 5 via the switch 3. On the other hand, when using AA batteries, [use the battery case shown in Figure 6,
The connection part 21 of the battery case 2 is connected to the connection part 11 of the camera body 1.
As shown in FIG. 3, the suppression plate 25 (see FIG. 6) provided on the battery case 2 moves the voltage check switching lever 15 at point P in the direction of the arrow against the spring 13. In order to push it, the switching lever 15 is operated. As a result, the brush 16 also slides on the printed resistance plate 17, and the printed resistance plate 17 is placed at the position of the brush 16, which is determined by the position where the switching lever 15 stops.
The resistance value of is calculated. The resistance value at this time is smaller than the resistance value when using a 411M AA battery. Therefore, the terminal voltage of the battery 4 input to the voltage level detection unit 5 via the switch sw3 at this time is lower than that when using a 4M battery. growing. This is because the voltage drop across the variable resistor ■Ro is smaller than in the case of AA 4311 batteries.

In this way, by changing the battery terminal voltage input to the voltage level detection unit 5 between AA size batteries and AAA size batteries, it is possible to check the level commensurate with the capacity.

In the check level switching circuit shown in FIG. 7, the switch sw3 is switched by the switch 30 shown in FIG. can be switched to The switches swl and swg can be switched depending on the presence or absence of a suppressor piece 25 provided near the connection part 21 of the battery case 2, and when a 4m AA battery case is used, they are connected to the contact C, When a case is used, the connection is made to the contact point d by the action of a suppressing piece provided near the connection part.

In the above embodiment, in order to switch between a regular battery and a nickel-cadmium battery, a protrusion is formed on the battery case in addition to the manual selection switch 30 described above. It is also possible to turn on a switch formed in the above. Further, the shape of the suppressing piece provided on the battery case shown in FIG. 6 may be made into a step shape, and the circuit may be switched in accordance with the type of battery, rated voltage, etc. at each step.

FIG. 10 shows another embodiment of the camera according to the present invention, which differs from the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 only in the method of attaching the battery case 2 to the camera body 1. That is, in this embodiment, the wire number bearings 31 and 32 are attached to the top and bottom of the front face of the side part 11 of the camera body 1, and the wire number shafts 26 and 27 are provided at the upper and lower ends of one edge of the battery case 2. to attach the battery case 2 to the camera body 1.
Inspect the tastes 26 and 27 of the camera body l and the bearings 31 and 32.
Once fitted, the case 2 is rotated about the hinge in the direction of arrow B, and when it is attached to the camera body 1, it is firmly pressed and locked to the camera body 1 by a locking mechanism (not shown). The structure of the battery case 2 in this embodiment 2 is the same as that shown in FIGS. 85 and 6.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the camera according to the present invention with the battery case removed, Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the connection part of the battery case, and Figs. The connection part and check level switching mechanism are shown, and the third
84 is a plan view, FIG. 84 is a side view, FIGS. 5 and 6 are plan views of different battery cases, FIGS. 7 and 8 are different embodiments of battery pressure check level switching circuits, is a diagram showing the arrangement of the switch that changes the battery type, 1st θ
The figure is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the camera according to the present invention with one case removed. 1...Camera body, la...am of the main body. 2...Battery case, 3.4...Battery, 5...Voltage level detection unit. 11.21... Connection portion, 11a... Recessed portion, 11b,
IIC...electrical contact, 12...engaging groove, 13...
Spring, 14a, 14b...Guide bin, 15...Check level switching lever, 16...Brush, 161.
...Brush tip, 17...Printed resistance plate, 18...
Lead wire, 19...Finder, 21m...Resin protrusion, 22...Hook, 23...Lock mechanism, 24
ae24b... Conductive plate member, 25... Suppression piece, 26
．． 27... Hinge, 30... Selector switch, 31.3
2...Ajiko bearing. Patent Applicant Konishiroku Photo Industry Co., Ltd. Representative Patent Attorney Hiroo Tsuguri No. 11 No. 2-3 No. 4■ 11b 11c Fig. 7 Fig. 81! I Ko No. 9-

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] (1) A camera body having a mechanical engagement part and an electrical engagement part with the battery case, and two different batteries each having a battery accommodating part and capable of ytI theory in the camera body. The battery case includes a mechanical retaining part and an electrical retaining part that can engage with the mechanical retaining part and the electrical retaining part of the camera body regardless of the type of battery. A camera capable of using different types of batteries, characterized by having a joint part. (21) The camera body and the electrical holding part of the battery case have a positive terminal and a negative terminal, and the positive terminal and the negative terminal of the electrical holding part of the battery case support the battery at both ends in the longitudinal direction. The camera according to claim 1, characterized in that the camera is provided on one side of the support wall. (3) The positive terminal and the negative terminal of the electrical retaining portion of the camera body and the battery case are close to each other. (4) The camera body is provided with a mechanically engaging portion of the battery case or one side edge of the battery case to protect the camera body. The first retaining part rotatably engages with the joint part, and the retaining part of the housing 2 engages with a part of the camera body at the other side edge of the battery case. The camera according to any one of claims 1 to 3. (5) Claims 1 to 4, wherein the camera body has a built-in film winding motor.
Camera 0 described in any of the sections