Note: my drawings were not made in a mono-spaced font, and may not
work on your screen without some changes.
On Mar 11, 2009, at 20:36 , John Sessoms wrote:
Annular packing made of a resilient material == rubber 'O'-ring.
It's actually referring to the rubberized skirt (very small, but
there) like on the DA* lens series that snugs up against the lens
mount, which in this current configuration is actually a molded edge
on a flat rubber washer that is pinched underneath the lens's metal
mount ring.
i.e.: e__ | __e where | is the optical axis
"Annular" means it's a circle; a ring ... it's shaped like a donut.
The way I read the description, the patent application is for a lens
mount that has two concentric mounting bayonets, an inner and an
outer, with some kind of rubber 'O'-ring in between.
One type of camera would fit the inner bayonet and another camera
would fit the outer bayonet.
When the lens is mounted on the camera that takes the inner bayonet,
the rubber donut in between the two bayonets keeps the outer one
from scratching the front of the camera.
No. The two camera body mounts only differ in the diameter of the
camera mount ring outer dimension, like on the front of the camera
body. i.e.:
camera
_____| | | |______
|______| mount throat |_______| Which is referred to as
the body-side mount ring in the patent claims.
|<--------- this diameter ------------->|
Apparently, it comes in several different sizes, so:
The claim refers to two different body-side rings, packing ring
compatible, and packing ring incompatible. The object of the patent is
to make (future) lenses with packing rings and lenses without (current
unspecified, but probably KAF lenses) work on existing camera bodies,
future camera bodies not compatible with packing rings, and future
cameras that are compatible with packing rings.
That's all, except the future packing-compatible bodies will have "a
ring shaped metal biasing member fixed to the rear end surface of the
body-side mount ring" meaning a metal ring with two or more
protruding leaves to provide a spring bias to the mounted lens. i.e.:
Too hard to draw, but think of a flat ring washer the size of the
inside plane of the K mount flanges that has had two or more small
sections of the outer perimeter punch cut and bent to an inward curve
so the lens's bayonet flange mount is pushed inward to the camera body
(held against the camera-side mount flange with mild pressure)
stabilizing the optical axis. AND packing incompatible bodies can
be modified by removing the body-side mount, cutting a rounded
indentation on the lens packing edge so the packing compatible
lenses' so the packing compatible ring will be bowed out and a seal
made.:
camera
_____| | | |______
|______| mount throat |______/- <---- like this
and adding the ring shaped metal biasing member to the flanges.
Simple - see?
Confused? Print out the drawings and the text, and go through the
patent step by step, like I did. Keep in mind. The last sentences of
the claim are: "Obvious changes may be made in the specific
embodiments of the present invention described herein, such
modifications being within the spirit and scope of the invention
claimed. It is indicated that all matter contained herein is
illustrative and does not limit the scope of the present invention."
Which tells me nothing specific, but I find it strange that they
describe essentially a K-mount (3 flange bayonet 120° apart) yet the
"ring-shaped biasing member" which would press against those flanges
is drawn with two spring-like projections. The current K-mount has
three similar springs that biases the three flanges of the lens. But I
"think" they are individual items, not part of a ring, and are pressed
into slots around the mount body, and (if I see correctly) backed up
by a spring loaded ball bearing. _____
_____/ O `
&
Joseph McAllister
Lots of gear, not much time
http://gallery.me.com/jomac
http://web.me.com/jomac/show.me/Blog/Blog.html
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