Abstract: A front component of a varifocal camera objective, axially shiftable for focusing purposes, is provided with a lens mount held by an axially extending guide rod which is slidably received in an inner annular flange and an end wall of a lens barrel. The lens mount has a pin projecting through an axial guide slot in the lens barrel into a camming groove in a surrounding milled setting ring. A rearward extension of the guide rod, nonrotatable but axially slidable with reference thereto against the force of a tension spring, is provided with male threads engaged by a drive nut held captive in the end wall, the nut being provided with outer gear teeth meshing with a pinion which is driven by a reversible electric motor via a slipping clutch.

Abstract: An optical objective, usable for reproduction as well as for photographic and cinematographic purposes, consists of five components--two on the object side and three on the image side of a diaphragm space--constituted by a total of seven meniscus-shaped lenses all of whose surfaces are concave toward the diaphragm space, the first object-side component and the middle image-side component being negatively refracting doublets. The objective is bodily movable for focusing purposes and its two object-side components are correlatedly axially shiftable to minimize aberrations over a wide range of magnification ratios.

Abstract: A front component of a varifocal camera objective, axially shiftable for focusing purposes, is provided with a lens mount held by an axially extending guide rod which is slidably received in an inner annular flange and an end wall of a lens barrel. The guide rod has a rear extremity provided with male threads engaged by a drive nut held captive in the end wall, the nut being provided with outer gear teeth meshing on the one hand with a pinion, driven by a reversible electric motor via a slipping clutch, and on the other hand with a toothed wheel on the shaft of a milled setting wheel which projects fron the camera housing. An ancillary rod, parallel to the driven guide rod but shorter than the latter, slides only in the annular flange and has its rear end gripped by a bracing ring also engaging the driven guide rod to form a cage.

Abstract: An objective of a photographic or cinematographic camera has an adjustable four-component front lens group and a fixed rear lens group. Axial displacement of the movable second and third components of the front group establishes a normal varifocal range in which the overall focal length varies between a minimum value f.sub.min and a maximum value f.sub.max having a ratio of 1:6. In the presence of a front attachment with a negatively refracting additional lens member, further shifting of the two movable components establishes an extended wide-angle range with focal lengths smaller than f.sub.min ; similarly, in the presence of a front attachment with a positively refracting additional lens member the two movable components are shiftable to establish an extended telephoto range with focal lengths greater than f.sub.max. Between the normal and wide-angle ranges the third component is also shiftable, without attachment, to focus in a macro range.

Abstract: A varifocal objective with a front component, axially shiftable for focusing purposes, and with a second and third component, axially displaceable by camming grooves in a control sleeve for changing the focal length, is provided with a coupling ring centered on the objective axis which is axially entrained by the lens mount of the front component. During normal operation, the coupling ring is indexed in a disengagement position. When the front component is in its infinity position and the control sleeve has cammed the second and third components into their wide-angle position, the coupling ring is manually rotatable into an engagement position in which it links the lens mount of the first component with that of the third component for joint axial shifting into a macro range by the focusing drive; such shifting is facilitated by an axial slot in the control sleeve preventing rotation of the latter in that range.

Abstract: The correlated positions of two axially shiftable components of a varifocal objective, i.e., a variator and a compensator, throughout a zoom range are stored in a memory from which they can be read out to control respective drives during a zooming operation. The readout rate is determined by a speed selector which sets a frequency for the pulsing of a control unit that scans successive memory addresses. The memory may also contain data for focusing control, either through axial adjustment of a front component of the objective or through modification of the positional correlation of the two shiftable components, as well as for an adjustment of a diaphragm with changes in the overall focal length.

Abstract: A piston in a valve cylinder has an inlet port connected to a source of high-pressure fluid, opening onto a peripheral recess of its piston between two piston heads of like diameter, and an outlet port leading to a load, this outlet port being adjustably throttled by an edge of one of these piston heads bounding the recess. The piston is electromagnetically displaceable by the core of a solenoid, acting upon one of its ends, against the load pressure prevailing in the outlet port which communicates with an axial bore in the opposite piston end, this bore being closed by an axially slidable plug backstopped by an element fixed to the cylinder.

Abstract: A camming sleeve for the adjustment of the shiftable components of a varifocal objective is fixed to a surrounding coaxial control ring having a slot traversed by a knob which is rigid with a slider received in a recess between the control ring and the sleeve. The slider, which is indexable in two different axial positions, has a toothed edge engageable in one of these positions with a toothed face of a coupling ring, permanently connected via a step-down transmission with a reversible drive motor, which in the other slider position is freely rotatable on the camming sleeve so that the latter can be manually displaced by means of a handle rigid therewith.

Abstract: A photographic or cinematographic objective, bodily displaceable between an object plane and an image plane, has a lens mount slidably supported on a base which may be inclined at an acute angle to the generally horizontal optical axis. Two setting rings, one for adjusting the magnification ratio and the other for controlling a diaphragm, are mechanically connected by a spring-loaded linkage with a pair of cam-follower rollers bearing upon respective edges of two camming strips secured to the base whereby the two rings are counterrotated upon a movement of the objective mount in either direction. The roller-engaging strip edges advantageously are so oriented, in the case of a sloping base, as to oppose the spring force upon a downward movement of the lens mount so as to exert a braking action.

Abstract: A varifocal camera objective, having a rotatable control ring for adjustment to a desired focal length in a zoom range and to a closeup position in a macro range, is provided with a pair of independently settable stop members for selectively limiting the adjustability to less than the entire zoom range and for optionally excluding the macro range. The stop members coact with edges of a stepped recess in a rim of the control ring and are each indexable in an advanced and in a retracted position.

Abstract: An iris diaphragm of a reflex camera, spring-biased into a wide-open position, is settable to a preselectable stop position via a linkage including a cam follower on an integral extension of a resilient swing ring oscillatable about an off-axial fulcrum. The cam follower coacts with a cam disk which is manually rotated against the force of a restoring spring during a windup operation and, upon subsequent release, displaces the cam follower and the swing ring which entrains the setting ring of the diaphragm through a yieldable coupling to the selected stop position and restores it to the wide-open position in the course of a revolution. During windup, a beveled flank on the high dwell of the cam disk axially displaces the extension of the swing ring which is thereby made ineffectual and prevented from reducing the diaphragm aperture.

Abstract: An iris diaphragm of a reflex camera, spring-biased into a wide-open position, is settable to a preselectable stop position via a linkage including a cam follower on a swing ring oscillatable about an off-axial fulcrum. The cam follower coacts with a cam disk which is manually rotated against the force of a restoring spring during a windup operation and, upon subsequent release, displaces the cam follower and the swing ring which entrains the setting ring of the diaphragm through a yieldable coupling to the selected stop position and restores it to the wide-open position in the course of a revolution. During windup, a beveled flank on the high dwell of the cam disk oscillates the swing ring and entrains the setting ring for another brief but ineffectual reduction in the diaphragm aperture.

Abstract: A varifocal objective with a four-component front lens group, including axially shiftable second and third components, is provided with a focusing mechanism for the joint displacement of these second and third components as well as a further lens member relatively to the axially fixed first component, that further lens member being either the fourth component of the front lens group or part of an otherwise fixed rear lens group. In the case of an afocal front lens group the last three components thereof are displaced in unison by the focusing mechanism. The lens shifts can be co-ordinated by electric servomotors under the control of stored data.

Abstract: Iris leaves for optical components such as diaphragms or shutters are injection-molded, together with integral pivot pins, of thermoplastic resin which is given a mat appearance by a roughening of the mold-cavity surfaces. In the case of a composite leaf consisting of two legs articulated to each other, each leg is a curved foil whose cross-section tapers from its convex to its concave edge to facilitate relative swinging of the legs. The mold cavities are duplicated in confronting surfaces of coacting mold halves and open into deeper sprue channels whose junctions with the cavities are formed by converging slots in shearing bolts that are guided in transverse bores encroaching upon the convex cavity edges, a displacement of these shearing bolts by a distance greater than the foil thickness severing the molded leaves from the runners before the mold is opened.

Abstract: Iris leaves for optical components such as diaphragms or shutters are injection-molded, together with integral pivot pins, of thermoplastic resin which is given a mat appearance by a roughening of the mold-cavity surfaces. In the case of a composite leaf consisting of two legs articulated to each other, each leg is a curved foil whose cross-section tapers from its convex to its concave edge to facilitate relative swinging of the legs. The mold cavities are duplicated in confronting surfaces of coacting mold halves and open into deeper sprue channels whose junctions with the cavities are formed by converging slots in shearing bolts that are guided in transverse bores encroaching upon the convex cavity edges, a displacement of these shearing bolts by a distance greater than the foil thickness severing the molded leaves from the runners before the mold is opened.

Abstract: A varifocal objective with two independently movable components is adjustable by a reversible master motor positively coupled with a screw drive for one component and with a movable part of a position sensor which emits pulses of varying density during displacement of that component for the stepping of a reversible slave motor driving the other component according to a predetermined positional relationship. The position sensor may comprise a movable scanner, e.g. a slotted disk, coacting with a fixed carrier of optically readable markings such as a glass rod; alternatively, it may include a movable signal carrier such as a perforated tape coacting with a stationary reader. If the second component is to move bidirectionally upon unidirectional displacement of the first one, the carrier is provided with a supplemental track coacting with a separate pick-up head to control a reversing switch in the operating circuit of the slave motor.

Abstract: To shift the movable lenses of a verifocal objective, or to adjust the leaves of an iris diaphragm, a flat or cylindrically curved control element is formed with camming grooves coacting with projections on the controlled members. The control element is a deformable foil, e.g. of sheet metal, in which the camming grooves are formed by deep-drawing. The foil rests against a backing element with which it is positively connected by a tongue-and-groove coupling or the like and which entrains the control element upon being rotated about their common axis by an external force.