US3370876A

US3370876A - Photographic camera with a rear wall locking assembly

Info

Publication number: US3370876A
Authority: US
Inventors: Beutnagel Gerhard; Weidner Herbert
Original assignee: Voigtlander AG
Current assignee: Voigtlander AG
Priority date: 1964-09-12
Filing date: 1965-08-20
Publication date: 1968-02-27
Anticipated expiration: 1985-02-27
Also published as: DE1186734B; GB1115325A

Description

6 G. BEUTNAGEL ETAL 3,370,876

PHOTOGRAPHIC CAMERA WITH A REAR WALL LOCKING ASSEMBLY Filed Aug. 20, 1965 F/G. E

f I NIH.

United States Patent 3,370,876 PHOTOGRAPHIC CAMERA WITH A REAR WALL LOCKING ASSEMBLY Gerhard Beutnagel, Wendhausen, and Herbert Weidner, Voikmarode, Germany, assignors to Voigtlander A.G. Filed Aug. 20, 1965, Ser. No. 481,160

Claims priority, application Germany, Sept. 12, 1964,

V 26,768 5 Claims. (Cl. 292-67) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A device, such as a photographic device, which must be opened and closed from time to time. The device includes a housing member and a door member which has a closed position engaging and closing the housing member to prevent access to the interior thereof. This door member also has with respect to the housing member an open position where the door member is at least partly spaced from the housing member to give access to the interior thereof. A stationary lock element is fixedly carried by one of these members and a movable lock element is carried by the other of the above members and has a locking position engaging the stationary lock element so as to lock the door in its closed position. A spring engages the movable lock element to yieldably maintain the latter in its locking position engaging the stationary lock element so as to maintain the door member closed. A guide means is carried by the member which carries the movable lock element to guide the latter for movement in opposition to the spring away from the stationary element so as to release the door member for movement to its open position, and this guide means compels the movable element to carry out, in sequence, two distinctly different angular and linear movements placing the movable element in a position spaced from the stationary element to release the door only when the movable element has almost reached the end of the second of the above movements. A pair of stops are provided with one of these stops engaging the movable lock element when it is in its locking position, and when it carried out the first of its different movements the movable lock elements is moved away from this latter stop toward the other stop. This other stop limits the movement of the movable lock element while it carries out the first of the pair of ditferent movements, and while the movable lock element engages the other of the stops it is still in its locking relationship with respect to the stationary lock element and must be moved along the latter stop while carrying out the second of the movements to release the door.

This invention relates to devices, such as photographic devices, which must be opened and closed from time to time.

Such devices conventionally include a housing having a door, formed, for example, by the rear wall of the housing, which engages the housing in a closed position of the door to prevent access to the interior of the housing and which is at least partly spaced from the housing in an open position of the door so as to give access to the interior of the housing. With devices of this type it is of course conventional to provide a lock structure between the housing and the door for releasably maintaining the door in this position closing the housing.

When the device is a photographic device such as a camera, it is important to prevent accidental opening of the door since such accidental opening may result in undesirable exposure of film. Therefore, it is known to situate the lock structure of such devices at relatively inaccessible protected locations to which the operator ice cannot have accidental access so that the lock structure cannot be accidentally actuated. Also, it is known to provide devices which have a pair of independently operable locks both of which must be simultaneously placed in release positions in opposition to spring forces, for example, in order to open the door. Of course, these known structures are relatively complex and inconvenient both because of the inaccessibility thereof, purposely provided for safety reasons or because of the relatively large number of parts, also provided for safety purposes.

It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide for a device of the above type a lock structure which is far simpler than conventional lock structure and which is not located at a relatively inaccessible area of the device, at the same time providing a very high degree of safety against unintentional unlocking of the door, such as by accidental engagement of the lock actuating element.

In particular it is an object of the invention to provide a lock structure which compels the operator to displace a movable lock element sequentially through at least two distinctly different movements before the lock structure releases a door for movement to its open position.

Also, it is an object of the invention to provide a lock structure which is exceedingly compact so that it occupies only a relatively small amount of space.

In addition, it is an object of the invention to provide a lock structure which is very easy to manipulate in a manner which does not require the operator to memorize in advance a particular type of operation or series of operations which must be carried out in order for proper manipulation of the lock.

Primarily, with the structure of the invention the device, which includes a housing member and a door member movable between closed and open positions relative to the housing member, has a stationary lock element carried by one of these members and a movable lock element carried by the other of these members, and the movable lock element engages the stationary lock element to retain the door member in its closed position, a spring means acting on the movable element to yieldably maintain the latter in its position holding the door member in its closed position. According to the invention a guide means guides the movable lock element for movement away from the stationary lock element to release the door for movement to its open position, and this guide means of the invention compels the movable lock element to carry out in sequence two distinctly different movements, with the guide means placing the movable lock element in its position releasing the door only when the movable lock element has almost completed the second of the two movements.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which form part of the application and in which:

FIG. 1 is a partly broken away, partly sectional plan view showing the structure of the invention as applied to a camera with the locking structure shown in FIG. 1 in its locking position;

FIG. 2 shows the structure of FIG. 1 in a different position which the parts take when a movable lock element has almost reached its release position.

Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated therein a camera housing 1 which is shown in the drawings as it appears when looking toward one end of the camera housing. The front wall of the camera housing carries an objective 2 which is fragmentarily illustrated and which forms no part of the present invention. The housing 1 carries a door 3 movable between the closed position illustrated in the drawings and an open position, this door 3 preventing access of the operator and light to the interior of the housing when the door 3 is in its closed position while giving access to the interior of the housing when the door 3 is displaced away from the housing 1 to an open position. This door 3, at its end distant from that which is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 may be hingedly connected to the housing 1 so as to be turnable relative thereto between the illustrated closed position and an open position.

The lock means of the invention is carried in part by the door member 3 and in part by the housing member 1 for releasably holding the door member 3 in its closed position, and this lock structure is situated in a space which is defined between a part of the housing 1 and a wall 4 which is fixed to the housing 1. Thus, the housing 1 is in part covered by the wall 4 which extends beyond a shoulder 12 of the housing 1 so as to define with the latter a space in which the lock structure is accommodated. The door 3 has at its end which is visible in the drawing an edge portion which projects into the space or gap between the housing 1 and the wall 4 which is fixed thereto, and in the illustrated example, the door 3 carries a stationary lock element 5 in the form of a member of suitably hook-shaped configuration. In the closed position of the door this stationary element 5 is engaged by a lever 6 of a movable lock element 7 in the form of a suitable lever capable of being manipulated by the operator in the manner described below. A guide means guides the movable lock element 7 for movement toward and away from its locking position engaging the stationary element 5, and in accordance with the invention the guide means guides the element 7 so as to compel it to move in sequence through two distinctly different movements before the elements can reach a position releasing the element 5 so as to release the door 3 for movement to its open position. This guide means includes a portion of the lever 7 which is formed with the elongated slot 8 and a stationary pin 9 carried by the housing 1 and extending through the slot 8 to form a pin-and-slot connection therewith. As a result of this construction the lever 7 can turn as well as move linearly with respect to the pin 9. Thus, in the illustrated example angular and linear movements are the two distinctly different movements which the guide means of the invention compels the movable element 7 to carry out. A spring means 10 yieldably maintains the movable lock element 7 in its position engaging the stationary lock element 5 to maintain the door in its closed position, and in the illustrated example this spring means 10 is in the form of a suitable wire spring coiled about a stationary pin carried by the housing 1 and having a free end engaging the lug 6 so as to urge the lever 7 on the one hand toward the left, as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2 and on the other hand in a clockwise direction about the pin 9, as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2, Thus, the spring means 10 yieldably holds the movable lock element 7 in its position shown in FIG. 1 where the lever 7 engages the shoulder 12 which forms a stop limiting the clockwise turning of the lever 7 by the spring 10. The lever 7 has a free end 11 which is suitably knurled so that the operator can easily grasp the end 11 of lever 7 for manipulating the latter.

When the parts are in the position shown in FIG. 1 a means of the invention cooperates with the lever 7 to prevent linear movement thereof compelling the operator to turn the lever 7 in the direction of the arrow 15 before it is possible to provide any linear movement of the lever 7. Thus, the left end of the slot 8 cannot be advanced toward the pin 9, which engages the right end of the slot 8, as viewed in the drawings, until after the lever 7 hasbeen turned by the operator through a given angular distance from its position shown in FIG. 1. This means which prevents linear movement of the lever 7 when it has the position of FIG. 1 includes portions of the housing 1 and lever 7 one of which is formed with a cutout and the other of which projects into this cutout. In the illustrated example it is the lever 7 which is formed with the cutout 14 and it is the housing 1 which carries a projection 13 projecting from its shoulder 12 into the cutout 14 so as to prevent movement of the lever 7 to the right, as viewed in FIG. 1.

Therefore, when the operator engages the end 11 of the lever 7 to unlock the door 3, the operator must move the end 11 in the direction of the arrow 15, since no other movement is possible. Moreover, this movement must continue until the lever 7 at least approximately reaches the position shown in FIG. 2 where the projecting portion 13 of the housing 1 is situated beyond the cutout 14 of the lever 7, and at this time the lever 7 engages a stationary pin 16 carried by the housing 1 and forming a second stop limiting the movement of the lever 7 away from the first stop which is formed by the shoulder 12. At this time, as

shown in FIG. 2, the lug 6 still engages the stationary lock element 5', so that the door 3 is still maintained in its closed position. When the parts have reached the position shown in FIG. 2, it is essential for the operator to advance the lever 7 in the direction of the arrow 17 shown inFIG. 2, so as to displace the left end of the slot 8 toward the pin 9, before it is possible for the lug 6 to move away from the stationary lock element 5 for releasing the door 3. It is only just before the left end of the slot 8 reaches the pin 9, in opposition to the spring 10, that the lugs 6 will have reached a position displaced from the stationary lock element 5 so as to release the door 3.

Of course, with the door 3 in its open position the operator will release the element 7 which will be returned by the spring 10 to the position illustrated in FIG. 1. Then when the operator displaces the door 3 back to its closed position, the inclined edge 18 of the stationary lock element 5 will engage and ride along the left edge of the lug 6, as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2, compelling the element 7 first to turn in the direction of the arrow 15 and then to be displaced in the direction of the arrow 17 before the element 7 snaps at its lug 6 behind the stationary lock element 5 whereupon the spring 10 will return the lever 7 to its position shown in FIG. 1.

It is therefore apparent that with the particular embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in order to unlock the door 3 the operator must first turn the lever 7 and then displace it linearly, and the guide means of the invention which compels the movable lock element to carry out in sequence these two distinctly different movements provides a perfectly safe locking structure which will not release the door 3 even if it should happen that the end 11 of the member 7 is accidentally engaged and moved. There is practically no chance that any unintentional or accidental movement of the lever 7 will first turn it in the direction of the arrow 15 and then displace it linearly in the direction of the arrow 17,'so that the locking structure of theinvention is highly reliable while at the same time being quite simple and compact.

Of course, it is emphasized that the basic idea of compelling the movable lock element to carry out the two distinctly different movements in sequence can be embodied in different structures. For example, .the lever 7 may be provided with a slot of angular configuration having a pair of legs which extend in different directions compelling the operator first to move one leg of the slot relative to the pin and then to move the other leg of the slot relative to the pin before the movable lock element reaches its release position, and in this way also it is possible to provide two distinctly different movements which the operator must carry out in sequence before the door will be released. It is also possible to provide a structure where the pin of the pin-and-slot connection is flattened at one side while the slot is of circular configuration at one end and has projecting from this endof circular configuration an elongated narrow portion which must have a predetermined angular position relative to the pin where the flattened side thereof will slide along one edge of the slot before the lever can be linearly moved relative to the pin, so that with such a construction also the lever must be turned from one end position relative to the pin through a given angle before the slot has reached the required angular position which will permit linear movement of the lever relative to the pin.

While variations of this general type are indeed possible in carrying out the invention, the particular structure shown in the drawings and described above is preferred because it is quite simple and inexpensive while at the same time being highly compact and very reliable an operation.

What is claimed is:

1. In a device, such as a photographic device, which must be opened and closed from time to time, a housing member, a door member having a closed position engaging and closing said housing member to prevent access to the interior thereof, said door member also having with respect to said housing member an open position where said door member is at least partly spaced from said housing member to give access to the interior thereof, a stationary lock element fixedly carried by one of said members and a movable lock element carried by the other of said members and having a locking position engaging said stationary lock element for locking said door in the said closed position thereof, spring means engaging said movable lock element for yieldably maintaining the latter in its locking position engaging said stationary lock element to maintain said door member in said closed position thereof, guide means carried by said other member and guiding said movable lock element for movement in opposition to said spring means away from said stationary element to release said door member for movement to said open position thereof, said guide means compelling said movable element to carry out in sequence two distinctly different angular and linear movements and placing said movable element in a position spaced from said stationary element to release said door only when said movable element has almost reached the end of the second of said movements in opposition to said spring means and a pair of stops one of which is on said housing member and engages said movable lock element to determine its locking position and the other of which is situated in the path of movement of said movable lock element away from said one stop while said movable lock element carries out the first of said movements, said other stop determining the end of said first movement and said movable and stationary lock elements still being in locking relationship with respect to each other when said movable lock element engages said other stop, and said movable lock element carrying out the second of said movements while engaging said other stop.

2. In a device as recited in claim 1, said movable lock element being in the form of a lever and said guide means including a portion of said lever formed with an elongated slot and said guide means including a pin fixed to said other member and extending into said slot for providing pin-and-slot guiding of said lever permitting both angular and linear movements thereof, said spring means maintaining said lever in said locking position engaging said one member with one end of said slot engaging said pin, and one of said members carrying said one of said stop which engages said lever to determine an angular end position thereof when said one end of said slot engages said pin and said lever is in its locking position, said lever and one of said members respectively having a pair of portions one of which is formed with a cutout and the other of which projects into said cutout for preventing linear movement of said lever in a direction displacing the other end of said slot toward said pin as long as said lever engages said one stop, said lever when turned in opposition to said spring means displacing said lever away from said one stop displacing said portions away from each other to a position where they no longer prevent the linear movement of said lever displacing said other end of said slot towards said pin when said lever has been turned in opposition to said spring means through a given angle into engagement with said other stop, the second of said movements being linear movement of said lever displacing the other end of said slot towards said pm.

3. In a device, such as a photographic device, which must be opened and closed from time to time, a housing member and a door member having a closed position engaging and closing said housing member to prevent access to the interior thereof, said door member having an open position at least partly spaced from said housing member to give access to the interior thereof, an elongated locking lever, pin-and-slot means connecting said lever to one of said members for linear and angular movement relative thereto, a stationary lock member carried by the other of said members and engaged by said lock lever when said door member is in said closed position thereof for maintaining said door member in said closed position, spring means acting on said lever for yieldably maintaining the latter in said position engaging said stationary lock member to maintain said door member inrsaid closed position thereof, a first stop carried by one of said members and engaged by said lever when the latter is maintained by said spring means in said position holding said door member in said closed position, means engaging said lever to compel the latter to turn away from said stop in opposition to said spring means before said lever can be linearly displaced to a position releasing the said door member, and a second stop situated in the path of movement of said lever away from said first stop to determine the end of the angular movement of said lever, said lever being linearly displaced after it engages said second stop and still having its locking relationship with respect to said stationary lock member at the end of said angular movement when said lever initially engages said second stop.

4. In a camera, a camera housing, a door having a closed position engaging said housing for closing the latter and preventing access to the interior thereof, said door having an open position at least partly spaced from said housing to give access to the interior thereof, a stationary lock member carriedby said door, a movable lock lever carried by said housing, pin-and-slot means carried by said housing and guiding said lever for linear and angular movement relative to said housing, said lever cooperating with said stationary lock member for maintaining said door in said closed position, spring means carried by said housing and engaging said lever for maintaining the latter in engagement with said stationary lock member for yieldably retaining said door in said closed position, a first stop carried by said housing and engaged by said lever when the latter is maintained by said spring means in said position holding said door in said closed position thereof, and said lever and housing respectively having portions one of which is formed with a cutout and the other of which projects into said cutout for preventing linear movement of said lever until after the latter has been turned away from said stop through a given angular distance in opposition to said spring means, and a second stop situated in the path of movement of said lever away from said first stop and engaged by said lever after it turns through said given angular distance, whereupon said lever may then be moved linearly in opposition to said spring means to a position releasing said door for movement to its open position.

5. In a device, such as a photographic device, which must be opened and closed from time to time, a housing and a door operatively connected thereto for movement between a closed position closing the housing and an open position opening the housing, a stationary lock element carried by said door, and a movable lock element carried by said housing and engaging said stationary lock element for maintaining said door in said closed position thereof, spring means engaging said movable lock element maintaining the latter in its position engaging said stationary lock element to maintain said door in said closed position, said movable lock element being in the form of a lever formed with an elongated slot and having a pair of opposed side edges one of which is formed with a cutout, said housing carrying a pin and having a projection situated in said cutout to prevent linear movement of said lever, so that said lever' must first be turned to displace said cutout beyond said projection before said lever can be linearly displaced. to be placed in a position releasing said door, and said housing carrying a pin engaging the side edge of said lever opposed to that which is formed with said cutout for guiding said lever for movement after said lever has been turned through an angle sufiicient to displace said cutout beyond said projection, and said housing having a shoulder which eninto engagement with the latter pin, whereby said shoulder determines the initial position of said lever.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Kanaly 2921 14 Weel 292-67 Egbert 292145 Underwood. Moseley 292114 Anderson 29267 X Duttine 70-70 X Swanson 70-70 MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner.

EDWARD C. ALLEN, Examiner. gages said lever before it 1s moved through said angle 15 I R. MOSES Assistant Examiner-