The present invention relates to a removable foot for a tripod and, more particularly, to a mechanism to aid in tightening and to resist loosening of a threaded connection between a foot and a leg of a tripod.
Tripods are used for both still and motion photography to provide stability and prevent unintended movement of the camera. A tripod reduces camera movement to enable the sharpest image and is especially useful when using a telephoto lens or longer exposure time because any camera movement while the shutter is open will blur the image. A tripod also aids in framing an image or in capturing multiple images of the same scene, for example when bracketing an exposure. A tripod enables controlled movement of the camera when panning, facilitating tracking a moving subject with a motion video camera or capturing multiple stills for a panoramic image.
Removable feet can increase the utility of a tripod by enabling use of specialized feet for particular surfaces and conditions. However, removable feet are commonly attached to a tripod's legs by screw threads which can be difficult to tighten and may loosen making the tripod unstable and increasing the likelihood that a foot will be lost. What is desired, therefore, is a removable tripod foot that is easy to install and resists loosening.
Referring in detail to the drawings where similar parts are identified by like reference numerals, and, more particularly to
Tripod feet 40 provide the interface between the legs of the tripod and the surface on which the tripod will be supported. The tripod feet commonly have a curved lower surface 42 which is often covered with rubber or plastic to resist sliding on a floor or other supporting surface. While the feet may be permanently affixed to the legs of the tripod, the feet are often removable enabling more specialized feet to be substituted when desired. Referring
Referring to also
The removable feet 50, 70 for use with the tripod 20 include a resilient element 94 at the interface between the foot and the ferrule 84 secured to the end of the tripod's leg 28. As illustrated in
To compress the resilient element and bring the leg engaging surface into contact with the foot engaging surface, an aperture(s) 74 which extends substantially normal to the longitudinal axis of the threaded element in the foot is provided in the body of the foot. A tool, such as a rod, an Allen wrench 100 or the shank of a screw driver can be inserted into the aperture providing the necessary leverage to fully tighten the threaded connection.
The resilient element at the interfacing surfaces of a removable foot and a tripod leg and a cross-axis aperture facilitates installation of the foot and resists loosening of the threaded connection.
The detailed description, above, sets forth numerous specific details to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well known methods, procedures, components, and circuitry have not been described in detail to avoid obscuring the present invention.
All the references cited herein are incorporated by reference.
The terms and expressions that have been employed in the foregoing specification are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention, in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, it being recognized that the scope of the invention is defined and limited only by the claims that follow.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/106,681 filed Nov. 30, 2020 which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/849,783, filed Apr. 15, 2020, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,883,653, issued Jan. 5, 2021, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/594,840, filed Oct. 7, 2019, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,663,107, issued May 26, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/436,395, filed Jun. 10, 2019, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,473,261, issued Nov. 12, 2019, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/294,137, filed Mar. 6, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,359,147, issued Jul. 23, 2019, which application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/101,848, filed Aug. 13, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,267,452, issued Apr. 23, 2019, which application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/782,167, filed Oct. 12, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,054,256, issued Aug. 21, 2018, which application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/605,511, filed May 25, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,816,662, issued Nov. 14, 2017, which application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/293,764, filed Oct. 14, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,689,525, issued Jun. 27, 2017, which application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/366,080, filed Feb. 3, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,494,276, issued Nov. 15, 2016, which application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional App. No. 61/489,179, filed May 23, 2011.
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