Film and cameras that are all in one, commonly referred to as single-use or one-time-use cameras, have become well known. The one-time-use camera is a simple point-and-shoot type comprising an opaque plastic main body part which supports a conventional film cartridge in a cartridge receiving chamber, an unexposed film roll prewound from the film cartridge onto a film take-up spool in a film supply chamber, a backframe opening between the cartridge receiving and film supply chambers for exposing successive frames of the filmstrip, a fixed-focus taking lens, a film metering mechanism with a rotatably supported metering sprocket that engages the filmstrip, a manually rotatable film winding thumbwheel rotatably engaged with a film spool inside the film cartridge, a single-blade shutter, a manually depressible shutter release button, a counter wheel rotatable to indicate the number of exposures remaining to be made on the filmstrip, a direct see-through viewfinder having front and rear viewfinder lenses, and in some models an electronic flash. A pair of opaque plastic front and rear cover parts house the main body part between them to complete the camera unit. The rear cover part connects to the main body part and/or to the front cover part to make the main body part light-tight. A decorative cardboard outer box or label at least partially covers the camera unit and has respective openings for the taking lens, etc.
After each picture is taken with the one-time-use camera, the photographer manually rotates the thumbwheel in a film winding direction to similarly rotate the film spool inside the film cartridge. This winds an exposed frame of the filmstrip into the film cartridge and moves a fresh frame of the filmstrip from the unexposed film roll to the backframe opening. The rewinding movement of the filmstrip the equivalent of slightly more than one frame width rotates the metering sprocket in engagement with the filmstrip to decrement the counter wheel to its next lower-numbered frame setting and to pivot a metering lever into engagement with the thumbwheel in order to prevent further manual rotation of the thumbwheel. Manually depressing the shutter release button to take another picture pivots the metering lever out of engagement with the thumbwheel to permit renewed rotation of the thumbwheel. When the maximum number of exposures available on the filmstrip have been made, and the filmstrip is completely wound into the film cartridge, the one-time-use camera is given to a photofinisher who tears the outer box off the camera unit, separates the rear cover part from the main body part, and removes the film cartridge with the exposed filmstrip from the cartridge receiving chamber. Then, he removes the exposed filmstrip from the film cartridge to develop the negatives and make prints for the customer. At least some of the used camera parts may be recycled, i.e. reused, to remanufacture the camera.
Recently the one-time-use camera has been adapted to be used with a film cartridge that has a light lock which is to be pivoted closed after a filmstrip exposed in the camera is completely wound into the film cartridge. The light lock must be pivoted closed to prevent ambient light from entering the film cartridge when the film cartridge is removed from the camera. The camera includes a closing device, such as disclosed in commonly assigned prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,629,750 issued May 13, 1997, which has a film sensing component that is spring-urged against the filmstrip as the filmstrip is wound into the film cartridge and a closing component in rotational engagement with the light lock. The film sensing component determines that the filmstrip exposed in the camera is completely wound into the film cartridge, and the closing component then closes the light lock.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds