Patent Application
20080315058
The present invention relates generally to an adjustable telescopic support and, more particularly but not exclusively, to a device for supporting video and photographic equipment.
In the construction of supports for photographic equipment, such as monopods or tripods having telescopic legs, it is desired that the legs (and/or the central column of the support) should be telescopically adjustable without offering substantial resistance in the lengthening direction but should be subject to automatic locking, which can be released manually, in the opposite direction, that is to say, that of contraction. In practice, it would be desirable for the operator to be able to position the tripod with minimum force, even with one hand, and for the legs to lock automatically under the load they support.
A support of that type is known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,448 which is commonly owned by the assignee of the subject application.
The support described in that document is provided with a locking device which comprises a beaker-like formation fitted to one of the tubular elements, with a tapered seat in which are engaged two limbs projecting from a contractible collar capable of being clamped on the other tubular element in order to be locked thereon in a loading direction and to be unlocked in the opposite direction.
That device achieves the desired result of automatic locking of the telescopic elements in the loading direction but does have some disadvantages. A first disadvantage is caused by the decidedly large space requirement of the device which, especially in a photographic tripod, is hardly consistent with the requirements of compactness typical of the sector. A second disadvantage is caused by the complicated nature of the system for manually unlocking the device when it is desired to contract the telescopic rod to which it is fitted.
The technical problem underlying the present invention is that of providing an adjustable telescopic support which is designed structurally and functionally to enable all of the disadvantages discussed with reference to the mentioned art to be overcome.
In the context of this problem, an important object of the invention is to provide a support, the locking device of which is suitable for being fitted on tubular elements produced from various materials. Another object of the invention is to provide a support which can be readily operated with one hand.
The identified problem is solved and these and other objects are achieved with an adjustable telescopic support according to the present invention. The support of the present invention has at least two tubular elements slidable telescopically one inside the other. A device locks the elements in an adjustable position and includes a seat at one end of the external tubular element, a contractible collar which is mounted in the seat, surrounds the internal tubular element and is axially mobile in the seat between an operative position in which the collar is clamped on the internal tubular element and placed in the seat, locking the tubular elements axially relative to each other, and a non-operative position in which the tubular elements are telescopically slidable with respect to each other. A clamp is provided between the collar and the seat for contracting the collar as a function of a movement thereof in the seat, the clamp including respective tapered profiles on the collar and/or on the seat which are such as to contract the collar in order to lock the tubular elements with respect to each other by the effect of an axial movement of the collar into the operative position in the seat. The support also has an actuator active between the collar and the external tubular element in order to move the collar axially in the seat between the operative and non-operative positions. The actuator includes a spring which is active between the collar, by interposition of a collar-carrying member, and the external tubular element in order to urge the collar towards the operative position of placement in the seat and a cam profile between the collar-carrying member and the external tubular element capable of moving the collar axially with respect to the seat between the operative and non-operative positions.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, but are not restrictive, of the invention.
The features and advantages of the invention will emerge more clearly from the detailed description of some preferred embodiments thereof which are illustrated by way of non-limiting example with reference to the appended drawings in which:
It is emphasized that, according to common practice, the various features of the drawing are not to scale. On the contrary, the dimensions of the various features are arbitrarily expanded or reduced for clarity.
In
The support comprises a first and a second tubular element 2, 3 which are internal and external, respectively, and which can be slid telescopically one inside the other.
The tubular elements 2, 3 are guided one inside the other and can be locked in any relative position by a locking device 5 fitted between them.
The locking device 5 comprises a first sleeve 6 fitted and locked by a portion 7 thereof on one end of the external tubular element 3 and having, on its inside, a frustoconical seat 8 on which a covering 9 is fitted and held in a suitable recess. A shoulder 10 abutted by the corresponding end of the tubular element 3 is formed between the seat 8 and the portion 7. The seat 8 is thus fitted on the tubular element 3 and may be produced, together with the sleeve 6, with a material which is the same as or different from the material of the tubular element 3.
On its outer surface, the sleeve 6 has an annular enlarged portion 11 on which a series of cam profiles 12 are formed, each having a ramp 13 terminated by a portion 14 which extends circumferentially.
A second sleeve 15 is fitted slidably on the first sleeve 6. The second sleeve 15 has, for each cam profile 12, a cam-follower appendage 16 projecting radially inwards and is acted on by a spring 17 which is active in the direction of arrow F in
The second sleeve 15 also has, on the side remote from the plug 19, a collar 20 which is resiliently contractible owing to the provision of notches 21 and which is fitted on the internal tubular element 2 to surround it completely. The collar 20 is secured in abutment against the second sleeve 15 by a bayonet coupling 21a. The latter has, on the outside, a frustoconical shell surface 22 which engages in the seat 8 of the first sleeve 6 with the interposition of the covering 9. The covering 9 preferably has a coefficient of friction which is lower, with respect to the surface of the collar 20, than the coefficient of friction between the internal surface of the collar 20 and the external surface of the tubular element 2, so that the collar 20 can be moved with respect to the seat 8 more readily than with respect to the tubular element 2. The covering 9 is fitted on the seat 8 in the form of a frustoconical ring composed of a sheet-form plastic material having a low coefficient of friction.
The second sleeve 15 can be rotated manually with respect to the first sleeve 6 in order to move the cam-follower appendages 16 between the circumferential portion 14, in which the collar 20 is locked with respect to the seat 8 in a non-operative position in which the tubular elements 2, 3 are free to slide with respect to each other, and the ramp 13, in which the collar 20 is urged by the spring 17 into an operative position in the seat 8 in order to lock the tubular elements 2, 3 with respect to each other. The spring 17, the cam profiles 12 and the cam-follower appendages 16 therefore constitute an actuator between the second sleeve 15 and the external tubular element 3 in order to move the collar 20, by the second sleeve 15, between the operative and non-operative positions identified above. It should be mentioned that, in that position, a load acting in the direction tending to insert the first tubular element 2 more deeply into the second tubular element 3 tends to drive the collar 20 further into the seat 8, increasing the resilient contraction of the collar 20 and the resulting locking force in respect of the tubular elements 2, 3. Conversely, an urging in the opposite direction tends to move the collar 20 axially with respect to the seat 8 in the direction of compression of the spring 17, thus freeing the relative sliding between the tubular elements 2, 3.
Referring now to
In this embodiment of support 30, the seat 31 for accommodating the contractible collar 32 is formed by flaring at the corresponding end of the external tubular element 3. It will be appreciated that the material of the seat 31 and the material of the external tubular element 3 are in that case identical.
The cam profile 12 in this case comprises a front cam 33 formed at the corresponding end of the external tubular element 3 by fitting an annular element 34 to the mouth of the seat 31. The annular element 34 is locked against rotation on the external tubular element 3 by the engagement of a tooth 35 in a corresponding recess 36. One (or more) projection(s) 37 from the second sleeve 38 is (are) provided as (a) cam-follower appendage(s).
In the embodiment of
With reference to
A sleeve 71 is fitted and secured to the external tubular element 3 in a manner completely analogous to the sleeve 6 of the first embodiment. Like the latter, the sleeve 71 has the seat 8, complete with the covering 9, and also the shoulder 10. Also completely the same except for structural details is the collar 20 which is terminated by a flange 71a abutted by a collar-carrying member in the form of an annular element 72 having two diametric appendages 73 projecting radially outwards and acting as cam-followers. The appendages 73 are accommodated in respective opposite openings 74 formed longitudinally in the sleeve 71. A tilting element 75 is pivoted about a transverse axis 80 by respective pins 76 in corresponding seats 77 formed in the sleeve 71 at the base of the openings 74. The collar 20 is moved in the seat 8 against the force of a spring 79 by cam profiles 81 with which the cam-follower appendages 73 cooperate and which are formed on the tilting element 75 that pivots about the transverse axis 80. The spring 79 tends to place the collar 20 in the seat 8 in an operative position of locking the tubular elements 2, 3 and it is held in a recess 82 of the sleeve 71 by a screw plug 83.
By pivoting the tilting element 75 about the axis 80, either the tubular elements 2, 3 are released, in order to adjust the relative extension thereof, when the cam profiles 81 act on the cam-follower appendages 73 in order to disengage the collar 20 from the seat 8, or they are locked, when the cam profiles 81 allow the spring 79 to place the collar 20 in the seat 8.
The invention thus solves the problem set and achieves numerous advantages over traditional supports. These include the compactness of the locking device between the tubular elements and the locking efficiency which is proportional to the load acting on the support. Another important advantage is the fact of being able to adapt the invention to supports whose telescopic tubular elements are constructed with various materials, which may or may not be suitable for undergoing flaring machining.
Although illustrated and described above with reference to certain specific embodiments, the present invention is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown. Rather, various modifications may be made in the details within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims and without departing from the spirit of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PD2005A000381 | Dec 2005 | IT | national |
This application is a U.S. national phase application of International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2006/011094 filed on Nov. 20, 2006.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2006/011094 | 11/20/2006 | WO | 00 | 6/24/2008 |
