Components of digital reflex cameras are expensive and fragile, in particular lenses and mirrors inside the camera inner chamber located between the front standard lens and the rear pressure plate on the camera body hinge access door. Sensor surfaces inside such camera's chamber needs to be periodically cleaned. Usually, such cleaning is performed with the camera supported over ground, with the recess of the camera inner chamber facing downwardly so that dust that is removed be able to fall downwardly under gravity from the chamber recess. In such an environment, the camera lens chamber has dark corner areas that are difficult to see clearly because ambient light has limited access therein. Therefore, it is a current problem to properly clean the whole volume of the camera sensor chamber, while avoiding accidental damage to fragile components thereof. Moreover, due to the shifting demographic environment, another problem is that older users become frail and/or suffer from neuromuscular degenerative diseases such as Parkinson disease, and their dexterity will become compromised, thus increasing the hazards of accidentally damaging expensive fragile camera components during self-cleaning operations.
The invention relates to a cleaning apparatus for removing dust from lens surfaces inside a camera inner chamber, said cleaning apparatus comprising: a bulb blower device defining a nozzle having a main body with opposite inlet and outlet tip, said nozzle inlet diametrally larger than said nozzle main body and outlet tip so as to define a seat, a compressible resilient bulb member having an air intake port and an air outlet, and coupling means operating coupling said nozzle inlet to said bulb member outlet; and a retention member, defining a planar annular section, for fitting over a bayonet mount ring from the camera, frusto-conical cup means sized such that said nozzle outlet tip and main body are releasably engaged therethrough but said nozzle inlet seat releasably lockingly abuts thereagainst, and omnidirectional spring loaded connector means spacedly interconnecting said annular section to said cup means, enabling said cup means to move from a first position, at rest spacedly away from the plane of said retention member planar annular section, to a second position about said plane of retention member annular section; wherein said nozzle main body defines a length of such a size that said nozzle outlet tip is progressively movable towards and through and beyond and transversely across the plane of said retention member annular section against the bias of said spring loaded connector means, for enabling said nozzle outlet tip to access progressively further into the camera inner chamber yet sustaining progressively increasing spring back forces.
In one embodiment of the invention, said connector means forms a hemispherical shape spring-loaded elastomeric sheet forming a diametrally largest annular edge, said annular section integral to said sheet annular edge, and said cup means consisting of a selected one through bore from a plurality of through bores made on said elastomeric sheet, said elastomeric sheet partly collapsible under outwardly applied load but automatically returning to its hemispheric shape under bias of its said spring bias.
In an alternate embodiment, said connector means consists of a semi-flexible spring-loaded wire spiralling into an hemispherical shape open wire cone, said wire defining an elbowed inner end at a diametrally largest edge of said wire dome for releasable interlocking with the camera lens bayonet mount ring, said cup means integrally mounted to a diametrally smallest apex of said wire cone opposite said largest edge thereof. Said cup means could consist for example of one frusto-conical extension of said wire having two sections: a diametrally larger outer well and a diametrally smaller inner base. Said wire could be coated by a non-conductive soft plastic material sheath of a type enabling prevention of accidental wire short circuiting.
In still another embodiment of the invention, said connector means comprises: a rigid second ring, a number of support legs having one and another opposite ends and fixedly transversely connected at said one end to said second ring, anchor means for anchoring said second ring another end to said camera lens bayonet mount ring, and at least three spaced spring members having one and another opposite ends with said spring members one end anchored to peripherally spaced sections of said second ring and with said spring members radially inwardly projecting from said second ring, said cup means integral to and joining said spring members another ends. Said cup means could then consist of a conical bottomless cup defining a diametrally larger top mouth facing a plane intersecting said second ring and a diametrally smaller bottom mouth facing a plane intersecting said support leg another ends.
The invention also relates to a method of use of camera with a cleaning apparatus of a type as in claim 1, comprising the following steps:
In the annexed drawings:
In
As illustrated in
Wire 22 (122) is made from a compressible semi-flexible metallic wire, having spring-loaded memory shape properties. That is to say, hemispheric guard 20 can be deformed and partially collapsed by pushing frusto-conical top apex wire section 22B inwardly toward widest wire segment 22A, against the inherent spring-loaded bias of the hemispheric shape guard 20, but will resume its natural unbiased dome-shape upon release of said push load onto the frusto-conical apex wire section 22B. Guard deformation and partial guard collapse will occur either under an axial pushing load, orthogonal to the successive planes of the spiralling wires, or under a slight acute angular bias relative thereto. The top apex diametrally larger wire section 26 is sized and shaped to be freely engageable through mouth 28 by the rigid tubular body 120 of a nozzle 122 from a manually operated dust blower 110, such as the one disclosed in applicant's U.S. patent application published Aug. 18, 2011 under publication No 2011 019 7930. In this published application, a bulb cleaner is provided for removing dust from digital camera sensors. The cleaner comprises a compressible yet resilient manually actuatable bulb body 111 defining a deformable wall circumscribing an air enclosure. The bulb wall has an air outlet 216 enabling air outflow from the bulb air enclosure toward ambient air when the bulb is squeezed and becomes deformed. The bulb wall also has an air intake 214 enabling ambient air inflow into the bulb air enclosure. A releasable first one-way valve 204 mounted at the air intake, controls air inflow from ambient air towards the bulb enclosure. A releasable second one-way valve 124 mounted at a tubular nozzle inner end portion controls air outflow from the bulb air enclosure toward ambient air. Nozzle 120 is mounted at its inner end 126 to the bulb air outlet 216, and a nozzle nipple 125 is mounted at the nozzle outer end 123. The nozzle nipple 125 is sized and shaped to abut against wire seat 30, while a fraction of the nozzle main body 122 extends freely into the hollow of top diametrally larger wire section 26 of frusto-conical wire portion 22B of hemispheric guard 20. Nozzle 122 is positively prevented from going through frusto-conical wire section 22B, since nozzle nipple 125 abuts firmly against annular seat 30.
In use, bracket 32 is secured to camera ring 18, camera is turned upside down so that its lens chamber 14 face down (for dust outflow under gravity during cleaning), and nozzle 120 is engaged into top exposed wire cavity 28 of the sensor guard 20. By pushing the bulb body 111 toward the camera inner chamber 14, the hemispheric spiralling wire 20 is compressed wherein the spiralling wire spread or gap 40 (
In one embodiment, the metallic wire 22 (122), is coated by a soft plastic material, such coating for protecting the camera inner chamber components against accidental damage.
In the alternate embodiment of
In the last embodiment of the invention illustrated in
In one embodiment, the soft plastic coating material around wire 22 (122) is ABS.
The present application claims conventional priority of American provisional application No. 61/860,535 filed Jul. 31, 2013.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/CA2014/000550 | 7/7/2014 | WO | 00 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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61860535 | Jul 2013 | US |