TODAY’S PATENT – CAMERA

The inventors Shigenori Goto, Tatsuo Saito, Shiro Hashimoto jointly invented the camera which was granted patent on 11^th February 1997 by the USPTO bearing the patent grant number. US5603067A, which was later assigned to Fujinon Corporation for commercial use.

The current invention is of a camera that is a type that uses the 120mm film or the 220mm sized film, with the height of a pressure plate on a back lid changing depending on the type of film used. In the camera body, a reflection-type photosensor detects the state of the back lid’s lock mechanism. When the back lid is locked, the second reflective plate reflects light from the photosensor. A reflecting position in which the light from the photosensor impinges on different reflective portions depending on the pressure plate’s height. Because the reflectivity’s of these reflective portions differ from the height of the pressure plate, the type of film used, which can be determined by analyzing the output from the photosensor that receives the reflected light from the second reflective plate.