JP3703264B2 - Film unit with lens - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a lens-fitted photo film unit provided with a strobe device.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A lens-fitted photo film unit is sold in a state in which a cartridge film is previously loaded in a unit body incorporating a simple photographing mechanism, and is widely used because it is inexpensive and easy to use. Some of the lens-fitted photo units have a built-in strobe device in the unit body in order to enable photographing at night or indoors.
[0003]
The unit main body has a main body base in which a cartridge chamber for storing a cartridge and a film chamber for storing a film roll are integrally formed, an exposure unit provided on the front surface of the main body base and having a photographing lens and a shutter mechanism, From the back surface of the main body base, it is composed of a rear cover that tightly closes the cartridge chamber and the film chamber containing the cartridge and the film roll, and a front cover that is integrally formed with a release button so as to cover the exposure unit. .
[0004]
The lens-fitted photo film unit is submitted as it is to the developer after use. At the lab, the exposed photographic film is taken out from the unit body and processed for development and printing, but the unit body itself after use is not returned to the user, but is collected by the manufacturer and the unit body is collected for each part. Disassembled. Since most of the parts are resin molded products, if they are severely damaged and cannot be reused as they are, they are crushed and melted and used again as raw materials as resin pellets.
[0005]
The strobe device and the exposure unit can be reused as they are if there is no abnormality after the function inspection. Since the main body base and the rear cover are parts that are in direct contact with the photographic film, it is desirable to avoid reuse as they are after disassembly. This is because, if these parts are slightly damaged, there is a risk that the film emulsion surface or the base surface may have a leak or scratch, which may have an irreparable effect on the quality of the photographic image. For this reason, the rear cover is only reused as a raw material after crushing and melting.
[0006]
However, recently, a third party, mainly a developer who is not the manufacturer of the lens-fitted photo film unit, took out the photo film from the lens-fitted photo film unit for which development and printing were requested by the photographer. There is a circumstance that a large number of products that are sold with a new photographic film cartridge loaded using the unit itself are on the market. In particular, those equipped with a strobe device have high added value, and the selling price can be set higher than those without a strobe, so many are on the market.
[0007]
Without proper quality inspection of each part of the unit body to be reused, if the unit body is reused without function guarantee, there is a possibility that a strobe flash failure may occur due to insufficient capacity of the battery for strobe power supply, or newly installed There is a possibility that the photographic film may be deteriorated in quality such as damage to the photographic film, or that the photographing may not be performed properly due to a malfunction due to deterioration of the photographing mechanism. In this way, by re-loading and selling photographic film cartridges without performing necessary quality inspections, adverse effects such as reducing the reliability of the lens-fitted photo film unit for general users have arisen. Yes.
[0008]
For these measures, letters and marks representing the manufacturer and sales company names are integrally formed on the surface of the front cover and rear cover by injection molding, or a part of the unit body (for example, the base of the main unit and the rear cover) We take measures to make decomposition difficult by welding with sound waves.
[0009]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, since the letters and marks formed integrally by injection molding can be deleted by scraping or filling, and ultrasonic welding can only be performed partially, refilling cannot be completely prevented.
[0010]
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and relates to a lens-fitted photo film unit that prevents the unit body from being reused illegally.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, characters and marks representing names of manufacturers and sales companies are integrally formed on the surface of the protector. In the second aspect of the invention, the characters and marks are formed by a collection of minute protrusions or depressions integrally formed on the surface of the protector. In the invention of claim 3, the characters and marks are formed by grooves or protrusions integrally formed on the surface of the protector.
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 5, the lens-fitted photo film unit 2 is composed of a unit main body 3 mainly composed of a plastic molded product and a label 4 which is wrapped around and covered in a belt shape around the central portion. The unit body 3 is configured by incorporating a shutter mechanism, a film winding mechanism, a strobe device, and the like, and clawing a front cover 3a and a rear cover 3b on the front and back of the base of the body housing the film cartridge. A release button 6 is provided on the upper surface of the unit main body 3, and a finder objective window 7, a strobe light emitting unit 8, a strobe charging start button 9, a photographing lens 10, and the like are provided on the front surface. Further, on the back surface of the unit main body 3, a winding knob 11 that is rotated when the winding is performed is provided.
[0013]
In FIG. 2 showing a cross-sectional view of the vicinity of the strobe light emitting unit 8, the strobe device includes a circuit board 19 in which a main capacitor, a transformer, and the like are incorporated, and a control circuit for charging or discharging is formed, and is fixed to the circuit board 19. The strobe light emitting unit 8 is configured. The strobe light emitting unit 8 includes a strobe discharge tube 20 for emitting strobe light, a reflector 21 and a transparent protector 22, and is housed integrally in a housing 23.
[0014]
The reflector 21 covers the back side of the strobe discharge tube 20 and is formed in a U shape so as to reflect the light emitted from the strobe discharge tube 20 toward the front. The protector 22 is incorporated in front of the opening of the reflector 21 so as to cover the front surface of the strobe discharge tube 20. The surface of the protector 22 is exposed to the outside of the unit body 3 as a strobe light emitting surface 24, and is formed as a smooth surface by mirror finishing. A plurality of cylindrical lenses 25 are integrally formed on the back surface of the protector 22 so that strobe light can be efficiently diffused and collected forward.
[0015]
In FIG. 1 showing a front view of the protector 22, the protector 22 is integrally formed with a strobe light emitting surface 24 with a letter 26 (in this case, “F”) representing the manufacturer or sales company name. This character 26 is formed of an aggregate of minute dots integrally formed on the strobe light emitting surface 24. This dot is made of a minute embossed protrusion 27 and is integrally provided on the strobe light emitting surface 24 when the protector 22 is injection molded.
[0016]
If the interval between the protrusions 27 is widened, it is possible to minimize the diffusion of the strobe light when passing through the protrusion 27 part and prevent the guide number from deteriorating. If the interval is narrow, the opposite is true. Therefore, if a diameter of one protrusion 27 is a and an average center distance between adjacent protrusions 27 is d, about 2a <d <10a is appropriate.
[0017]
When using the lens-equipped film unit 2 with the built-in strobe device, first, the charging start button 9 is pressed to charge the main capacitor, and then the winding knob 11 is rotated to wind the film, and a desired subject is selected. When the release button 6 is pressed in the viewfinder, the subject is irradiated with strobe light from the strobe light emitting unit 8, and photographing is performed.
[0018]
Shooting is repeated in this manner, and when all the films are stored in the cartridge, the shooting ends. The film unit with lens 2 for which photography has been completed is submitted as it is to the development laboratory. At the developing station, the label 4 is broken and the bottom cover 26 is opened, and the cartridge containing the film is taken out.
[0019]
In this unit main body 3, a letter 26 (in this case “F”) representing the manufacturer or sales company name is integrally formed on the strobe light emitting surface 24 of the protector 22 exposed to the outside of the unit main body 3, which is easily noticeable. Therefore, it could not be reused as it was. Therefore, it can be considered that the character 26 is deleted and the unit body 3 is used as it is, and a new film cartridge is loaded and loaded and sold.
[0020]
However, if the characters 26 are cut or buried, the strobe light emitting surface 24 of the protector 22 is damaged and proper strobe light cannot be emitted, resulting in loss of commercial value. Thus, when the strobe light emitting surface 24 is processed and the unit main body 3 is to be reused, the function of the protector 22 is impaired. Therefore, there is no possibility that the unit main body 3 is used as it is and a new photo film cartridge loaded is sold.
[0021]
3 and 4 show another embodiment. Since the parts other than the protector 30 are the same as those described above, the same reference numerals are given. A character 32 (in this case, “F”) representing the name of the manufacturer or sales company is formed by a groove 33 formed integrally with the strobe light emitting surface 31 on the surface of the protector 30. The groove 33 is provided integrally with the strobe light emitting surface 31 when the protector 30 is injection molded.
[0022]
The groove 33 includes a smooth and wide bottom surface 33a and a slope 33b that is inclined in the direction of removing the molding die. Since the groove 33 is formed to have a large width with the width of the bottom surface 33a wide, the diffusion effect by the inclined surface 33b when the strobe light parallel to the optical axis of the cylindrical lens 34 passes through the protector 30 is reduced. It can be dispersed as compared with the case of forming with a width. The deeper the groove 33 is, the easier it is to recognize the character 32, but it is easier to receive the diffusion effect by the slope 33b. When the depth from the strobe light emitting surface 31 to the bottom surface 33a is β and the total thickness of the protector 30 is t, 0.01t <β <0.1t is appropriate.
[0023]
Further, as shown in the drawing, a part of the boundary line of the character 32 (the boundary line between the bottom surface 33 a and the slope 33 b) (in this case, below the two horizontal lines of “F”) When matched in parallel with the boundary line, it is effective to suppress the diffusion effect by the inclined surface 33b. In this case, when the thickness of the line is d, about 0.1 <(d / β) <0.5 is appropriate.
[0024]
In the above embodiment, the character representing the name of the seller or the manufacturer is formed by a collection of minute protrusions and grooves, but the minute holes that form the characters are assembled on the strobe light emitting surface of the protector. The body and the protrusion may be integrally formed. In addition, a mark representing the name of the seller or the manufacturer may be formed with a minute projection, a collection of holes, a groove or a ridge instead of characters.
[0025]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the lens-fitted photo film unit of the present invention, a character or mark representing the manufacturer or sales company name is integrally formed on the surface of the protector, and the character or mark is reused to reuse the unit body. Since the protector is damaged when processing is attempted to reduce it, it is possible to prevent re-sale due to unauthorized refilling of the unit body.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a front view of a protector.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the vicinity of a strobe light emitting unit.
FIG. 3 is a front view of another protector.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the vicinity of another strobe light emitting unit.
FIG. 5 is an external perspective view of a lens-fitted photo film unit.
[Explanation of symbols]
2 Film unit with lens 3 Unit body 8 Strobe light emitting unit 20 Strobe discharge tube 22 Protector 24 Strobe light emitting surface 26 Character 27 Projection

Claims (3)

A flash unit that emits strobe light during flash photography and a transparent body that covers the front of the strobe discharge tube and diffuses the strobe light forward efficiently. In a film unit with a lens equipped with a protector,
A film unit with a stroboscopic lens, wherein characters and marks representing the manufacturer and sales company names are integrally formed on the surface of the protector. 2. A film unit with a lens according to claim 1, wherein the characters and marks are formed by an assembly of minute protrusions or depressions integrally formed on the surface of the protector. 2. The lens-fitted photo film unit according to claim 1, wherein the letters and marks are formed by grooves and protrusions integrally formed on the surface of the protector.

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