JPH10160094A - Pan head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To maintain clamping force even if a pushing piece or the like is worn in a pan head involving a quick shoe which is attachable and detachable easily. SOLUTION: A quick shoe 15 is fitted into a shoe fitting hole 35 formed onto a pan head 14. A clamping mechanism 40 is formed onto the pan head 14. The clamping mechanism 40 is provided with a shaft 42, a clamping lever 44, a pushing piece 45, and an adjusting member 47. The clamping lever 44 is fitted at the end part of the shaft 42. The pushing piece 45 involves a pressure surface 60 which faces the outer periphery surface of the quick shoe 15. If the clamping lever 44 is turned in a lock position direction, the quick shoe 15 is restrained by the pressure surface 60, and if the clamping lever 44 is turned in a release position direction, the pressure surface 60 stops restraining the quick shoe 15. If the adjusting member 47 is turned in a prescribed direction by loosening a set screw 75, the pushing piece 45 moves toward the adjusting member 47.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a head mounted on a tripod head for supporting a camera, a telescope, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is known a camera platform having a quick shoe detachable from the camera platform, such as a camera tripod platform described in Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 300002484. This product forms a recess large enough to fit the quick shoe in the camera base, and fixes the quick shoe to the camera base by rotating the lock handle having a threaded part, when the lock handle is rotated in the opposite direction. The quick shoe is released from being fixed. This prior art does not operate the lock handle with one touch when fixing or releasing the fixing of the quick shoe, so that the operability is poor.

On the other hand, there has also been proposed a pan head incorporating a push piece for fixing the quick shoe and operating the push piece between the lock position and the release position by the cam surface of the clamp lever. When the clamp lever is set to the lock position, the push piece presses the outer periphery of the quick shoe to restrain the quick shoe, and when the clamp lever is rotated to the release position, the quick piece The shoe is configured to be released. In this device, operability is good because it is only necessary to rotate the clamp lever to either the lock position or the release position with one touch.

[0004]

However, in the camera platform having the above-described clamp lever, since the movement stroke of the push piece when the clamp lever is rotated from the release position to the lock position is constant, the push piece and the clamp If the cam surface of the lever is worn, the clamping force tends to decrease,
Quick shoe may be loosened. In particular, when the clamp lever is in the release position, such as a disk-shaped quick shoe, which can rotate when the clamp lever is in the release position, if the push piece is worn even a little, the quick shoe will move even if the clamp lever is set to the lock position. The support of the camera and the like becomes unstable.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a pan head having a quick shoe which can be attached and detached with a single touch, such that the clamping force can be restored even if the push piece or the like is worn.

[0006]

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pan head having a shoe mounting hole with an open upper surface, and a quick shoe detachably mounted in the shoe mounting hole. A push surface provided on one side of the support wall inside the head and having a pressing surface in contact with an outer peripheral portion of the quick shoe and held so as to be movable in a direction of moving toward and away from the quick shoe. A bridge, a shaft that penetrates the support wall along the moving direction of the pushing piece, and is rotatably attached to one end of the shaft over a lock position and a release position, and pushes the push member when in the lock position. A clamp lever having a cam surface for pressing the piece against the outer periphery of the quick shoe and releasing the pressing on the quick shoe when in the release position; An operating portion having a nut portion screwed to a screw portion formed on the shaft and located on the opposite side of the push piece with the support wall interposed therebetween, and capable of rotating from the outside of the pan head; An adjusting member. In addition, it is preferable to provide fixing means for suppressing unnecessary rotation of the adjusting member.

In the camera platform of the present invention, when the pressing surface of the push piece or the cam surface of the clamp lever is worn, the position of the pressing surface relatively moves away from the outer peripheral surface of the quick shoe, so that the clamping force decreases. . In this case, the shaft is screwed by rotating the adjusting member in a predetermined direction, and the clamp lever and the push piece are moved in the direction of the support wall. By doing so, the pressing surface of the pressing piece returns to the position at the time of new product, and the clamping force on the quick shoe is restored.

[0008] The pushing piece, the shaft, the clamp lever, the adjusting member and the like constitute a clamp mechanism. In addition to the clamp mechanism, it is preferable to provide a retaining mechanism for preventing the quick shoe from being accidentally dropped from the camera platform head when the clamp lever is at the release position.

When a disk-shaped quick shoe is fitted into a circular shoe mounting hole, the quick shoe can be rotated 360 ° by setting the clamp lever to the release position. Then, by returning the clamp lever to the lock position when facing the desired direction, the quick shoe can be fixed in the desired direction.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A head 10 shown in FIG. 7 has a base member 11 fixed to the upper end of a tripod, a body 12 provided on the upper surface side of the base member 11, and a ball joint 13
A head head 14 is connected to the body 12 via the head, and a quick shoe 15 attached to the head head 14 is provided.

The quick shoe 15 has a disk-shaped shoe body 20. A well-known camera screw 21 for fixing a camera, a telescope, or the like is provided at the center of the shoe body 20. A non-slip plate 22 made of rubber, cork, or the like is mounted on the upper surface of the shoe body 20. An outer peripheral groove 23 (shown in FIG. 1) that is continuous in the circumferential direction is formed in the outer peripheral portion of the shoe body 20.

The body 12 is rotatable about a vertical axis with respect to the base member 11. When the locking knob 25 is rotated clockwise (tightening direction), the body 12 is fixed to the base member 11, and The body 12 is configured to be able to turn when the knob 25 is rotated counterclockwise (in a loosening direction).

The ball joint 13 has a head head 14
Is provided with a ball 30 fixed by bolts 29 (FIG. 1) on the lower surface side. The ball 30 is fitted in a socket member 31 built in the body 12, and the head 14 can change the inclination in all directions within a range in which the ball 30 can rotate with respect to the body 12. The ball 30 is fixed to the body 12 when the locking knob 32 is turned clockwise (tightening direction), and the ball 30 is free when the knob 32 is turned counterclockwise (loosening direction). Have been. An auxiliary knob 33 is provided at a position on the opposite side of the knob 32 of the body 12, and the frictional force of the ball 30 with respect to the socket member 31 can be adjusted by changing the tightening force of the auxiliary knob 33. .

The camera platform head 14 is an integrally molded product of a synthetic resin or a light alloy. The platform head 14 is formed with a bottomed shoe mounting hole 35 having an open upper surface. The shoe mounting hole 35 is substantially circular when viewed from above the camera platform head 14, and the quick shoe 15 fitted in the shoe mounting hole 35 rotates around the axis centered on the camera screw 21 of the camera platform head 14. It can rotate. The inner diameter of the shoe mounting hole 35 is a dimension that allows the quick shoe 15 to be taken in and out.

A clamp mechanism 40 for fixing and releasing the quick shoe 15 is provided on the side of the camera platform head 14.
Is provided. As shown in FIG.
Is a shaft 42 having a male screw portion 41 on one end side, a clamp lever 44 provided rotatably about a pin 43 on the other end side of the shaft 42, a pushing piece 45, a coil spring 46, and a shaft 42. An adjusting member 47 and the like that are screwed into the screw portion 41 are provided.

As shown in FIG. 2, a support wall 50 is provided inside the pan head 14. The support wall 50 is formed with a through hole 51 penetrating in the lateral direction, and the shaft 42 is inserted through the through hole 51. Support wall 50
A first recess 55 is formed on the right side of the support wall 50, and a second recess 56 is formed on the left side of the support wall 50. An opening 57 facing the shoe mounting hole 35 is formed in the first recess 55.

The push piece 45 is accommodated in the first recess 55. The push piece 45 has a through hole 5 through which the shaft 42 passes.
8 are formed. The push piece 45 is held movably in the axial direction of the shaft 42. The side of the push piece 45,
That is, a tapered pressing surface 60 is formed at a portion exposed from the opening 57 to the shoe mounting hole 35 side. The pressing surface 60 has a shape in which the thickness width W of the push piece 45 gradually decreases toward the support wall 50.
When the pressing surface 60 moves in the direction of 0, the pressing surface 60 bites between the outer peripheral surface 15a of the quick shoe 15 and the side wall 61 of the first concave portion 55 like a "wedge".
The quick shoe 15 is firmly fixed.

The clamp lever 44 attached to the shaft 42 has a first cam surface 65 and a second cam surface 66 around the pin 43. When the clamp lever 44 is in the locked position shown in FIG. When set, the first cam surface 65
Abuts against the end face 67 of the push piece 45 and the clamp lever 44
Is set to the release position shown in FIG. 3 so that the second cam surface 66 faces the end surface 67 of the pushing piece 45. Distance L1 from pin 43 to first cam surface 65
Is greater than the distance L2 from the pin 43 to the second cam surface 66.

The adjustment member 47 is accommodated in the second recess 56. The adjusting member 47 includes a nut portion 70 and an operation portion 71 that covers the outer periphery of the nut portion 70, and a non-slip portion 72 having irregularities such as knurl grooves is formed on the outer periphery of the operation portion 71. The nut portion 70 is screwed into the screw portion 41 of the shaft 42, and the shaft 42 is pulled leftward in FIG. 2 when rotated clockwise (clockwise) by the operation portion 71. As shown in FIG. 5, a part of the operation unit 71 is exposed so that the operation unit 71 can be rotated from outside the camera platform head 14 using the finger f.

In the vicinity of the adjusting member 47, the adjusting member 4
A set screw 75 is provided which functions as a fixing means for preventing unnecessary rotation of 7. Set screw 75
Is opposed to the non-slip portion 72 of the adjusting member 47. When the set screw 75 is screwed into the screw hole 76, the tip of the set screw 75 engages with the non-slip portion 72, so that the adjusting member 47 Is configured to be fixed.

A coil spring 46 is provided between the pushing piece 45 and the support wall 50 in a compressed state. The coil spring 46 urges the push piece 45 toward the clamp lever 44.

A retaining mechanism 81 is accommodated in a concave portion 80 formed on the side surface of the camera platform head 14. The retaining mechanism 81 has a seesaw-type locking member 83 that can swing about a pin 82. The locking member 83 includes a locking portion 84 provided on the distal end side and an operating portion 85 provided on the proximal end side.
, A leaf spring portion 86 and the like, and are urged by the leaf spring portion 86 in a direction in which the locking portion 84 projects into the shoe mounting hole 35. Then, the operation unit 85 is moved to the arrow P in FIG.
When pushed in the direction, the locking member 83 rotates counterclockwise about the pin 82, so that the locking portion 84 retreats from the shoe mounting hole 35. Locking part 84
Is located at a position where it can enter the outer circumferential groove 23 of the quick shoe 15. On the upper surface of the locking portion 84, an inclined surface 84a whose height decreases toward the distal end is formed.

Next, the operation of the platform 10 having the above configuration will be described. When mounting the quick shoe 15 in the shoe mounting hole 35 of the camera platform head 14, the quick shoe 15 is inserted into the shoe mounting hole 35 from above. In this case, after the lower portion of the quick shoe 15 is in contact with the inclined surface 84 a of the locking portion 84, the locking portion 84 temporarily moves in the retracting direction, and then the locking portion 84 enters the outer circumferential groove 23 of the quick shoe 15. The quick shoe 15 is prevented from coming off.

When the clamp lever 44 is set to the lock position shown in FIG. 2, the first cam surface 65 pushes the push piece 45 to the left, and the push surface 60 moves the quick shoe 15 like a "wedge". To press the outer peripheral surface,
The quick shoe 15 is fixed. A device such as a camera is mounted on the upper surface of the quick shoe 15, and the device is fixed by a camera screw 21.

When the clamp lever 44 is rotated to the release position as shown in FIG. 3, the second cam surface 66 of the clamp lever 44 faces the push piece 45, so that the spring 46
The push piece 45 moves rightward in the figure due to the elasticity of, and the restraint of the quick shoe 15 by the pressing surface 60 is released. At this time, the locking portion 84 of the locking member 83 is
5 can be prevented from accidentally falling out of the shoe mounting hole 35, and the camera or the like can be prevented from falling off.

When the quick shoe 15 is to be detached from the camera platform head 14, the operation portion 8 of the locking member 83 is held while the clamp lever 44 is set at the release position as shown in FIG.
Press 5 with your finger. By doing so, the locking portion 84 retreats from the shoe mounting hole 35, so that the quick shoe 15 can be removed.

When the pressing surface 60 of the push piece 45 and the cam surface 65 of the clamp lever 44 are worn, even if the clamp lever 44 is set to the lock position shown in FIG. Will decrease. In this case, an operation is performed as described below to recover the clamping force.

First, the set screw 75 is rotated in a loosening direction using a tool such as a bar wrench or a screwdriver, and the tip of the set screw 75 is separated from the non-slip portion 72 of the adjusting member 47. In this case, the adjusting member 47 is in a rotatable state, so that the adjusting member 47 is rotated clockwise with a finger to rotate the shaft 4.
2 is pulled to the left in FIG. 3 by an appropriate amount. By doing so, the clamp lever 44 and the push piece 45 are displaced little by little to the left, so that the wear of the push piece 45 can be compensated for, and the clamping force when new can be recovered.

After adjusting the clamping force as described above, the set screw 75 is rotated again in the direction of being screwed into the screw hole 76, so that the tip of the set screw 75 is
The adjustment member 47 is fixed by being locked to the non-slip portion 72 of FIG. By doing so, the adjusting member 47 can be used during normal use.
Can be prevented from rotating unnecessarily.

As means for fixing the adjusting member 47,
Instead of the set screw 75, a push button type fixing member 90 as shown in FIG. 8 may be employed. This fixing member 9
Numeral 0 is housed in a hole 91 formed on the side surface of the camera platform head 14 and is movable in the left-right direction inside the hole 91.
The fixing member 90 is formed with a projection 92 that can be engaged with the non-slip portion 72 of the adjusting member 47. The elastic member 93 has a spring 93 accommodated in the hole 91. 47 is urged in the direction to be engaged. Only when the fixing member 90 is pushed in by the stroke S or more, the engagement between the protrusion 92 and the adjustment member 47 is released, so that the adjustment member 47 can be rotated.

The present invention is not limited to the free pan head using the ball joint 13 as in the above embodiment, but is a two-axis or three-axis having a general pan rotation axis and tilt rotation axis. Needless to say, it can be applied to any type of head.

[0032]

According to the present invention, it is possible to adjust the clamping force of the push piece with respect to the quick shoe in the platform having the quick shoe which is easy to attach and detach, and to maintain an appropriate clamping force even if the push piece is worn. can do.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a part of a camera platform according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state in which a clamp lever of the camera platform shown in FIG. 1 is set to a lock position in a partial cross section.

FIG. 3 is a plan view partially showing a state in which a clamp lever of the camera platform shown in FIG. 1 is set to a release position.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a part of the head.

FIG. 5 is a side view of a part of the head.

FIG. 6 is a bottom view of a part of the camera platform.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the entire camera platform.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a part of a camera platform showing a modification of the fixing means.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Head 14 ... Head 15 ... Quick shoe 35 ... Shoe mounting hole 40 ... Clamp mechanism 42 ... Shaft 44 ... Clamp lever 45 ... Push piece 47 ... Adjusting member 50 ... Support wall 60 ... Pressing surface 65 ... Cam surface 75 ... Set screw (fixing means) 81 ... Retaining mechanism 90 ... Fixing member

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A head with a shoe mounting hole having an open upper surface, a quick shoe detachable from the shoe mounting hole, and a head provided on one side of a support wall inside the head. A push piece having a pressing surface in contact with an outer peripheral portion of the quick shoe and movably held in a direction of coming and going with respect to the quick shoe; and penetrating the support wall along the moving direction of the push piece. A shaft, which is rotatably attached to one end of the shaft over a lock position and a release position, presses the push piece against an outer peripheral portion of the quick shoe when in the lock position, and quickens when in the release position. A clamp lever having a cam surface for releasing the pressing against the shoe; and a nut portion screwed into a screw portion formed on the shaft. And pan head, characterized by comprising a an adjustment member having a possible operation unit to rotate from the outside of the pan head head with located on the opposite side of the pressing piece across the support walls. 2. A head according to claim 1, wherein said head comprises a fixing means for suppressing rotation of said adjusting member.