Summary of the Invention
The invention provides a compact microfiche reader with the components readily accessible for service and adjustment. The housing includes an upper housing portion or hood which includes a projection screen and a projection light and lens module which is easily removed from the hood after removing the screen. A fan can also be supported on the light module chassis. Location of the projection lamp above the projection plane prevents overheating of the microfiche and enables use of various size hoods and screens on a common base. The projection lens and focus adjustment are located beneath the projection plane defined by the upper surface of the lower housing and are contained in a pull-out drawer for ease in assembly, service and replacement. The projection lens slidingly interfits in a lens carrier or holder which is spring biased upwardly for engagement with the bottom glass of the fiche carrier. The lens carrier is thus in constant contact with the fiche carrier to maintain good focus. The protection lens is merely dropped in the carrier and easily lifted from the carrier for replacement. Inasmuch as the projection lens carrier rides on the bottom glass of the fiche carrier, there is no problem of movement of a double fiche carrier with two independently pivoted upper glass plates past the lens because of the gap between the upper plates as with the prior art readers having a projection lens which rides on the upper glasses of the fiche carrier.
The invention also includes a microfiche carrier which is easily removed from the reader without tools and which affords guided movement about first and second transverse axes to facilitate proper orientation of the microfiche with the projection screen. The carrier includes a pair of transparent plates with the carrier frame connected to slides which are movable on a shaft. The shaft is provided with pinion gears which are in mesh with spaced toothed racks supported in the hood. Movement of the plates with the slide along the shaft provides movement of the plates laterally about a first axis parallel with the screen, and movement of the shaft fore and aft causes movement of the pinions along the racks and guided movement of the carrier along a second axis perpendicular to the first axis. A spring loaded bushing on the gear axis bears agaonst the gear rack to positively locate the gear axis and facilitate removal of the fiche carrier.
Further objects, advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following disclosure.
Description of the Drawings
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a microfiche reader in accordance with the invention.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the projection light and fan assembly with the housing in section.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the reader shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of a portion of FIG. 3 showing the microfiche carrier assembly in a closed position.
FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the microfiche carrier in an open position.
FIG. 6 is a sectional view along line 6--6 of FIG. 4.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a reader base and a perspective view of interchangeable hoods for the common base.
FIG. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of the screen hood and a modified embodiment of the illumination module.
FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the projection lens shown in FIG. 5.
FIG. 10 is a plan view of a dual fiche carrier.
FIG. 11 is a sectional view along line 11--11 of FIG. 10.
FIG. 12 is an enlarged view along line 12--12 of FIG. 10.
FIG. 13 is an enlarged view of a fiche carrier gear and rack with the spring compressed during removal of the gear from the rack. FIG. 14 is a plan view of a dual projection lens module in accordance with the invention.
FIG. 15 is a bottom view of the dual lens module shown in FIG. 14.
FIG. 16 is a fragmentary sectional view of the lens module shown in FIGS. 14, 15.
FIG. 17 is a sectional view along line 17--17 of FIG. 16.
Description of Preferred Embodiment
Although the disclosure hereof is detailed and exact to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, the physical embodiments herein disclosed merely exemplify the invention which may be embodied in other specific structure. The scope of the invention is defined in the claims appended hereto.
In the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a microfiche reader 10 which includes a housing generally designated 12 which includes an upper housing portion 14 which includes a top wall 16, opposed spaced side walls 18, 20, rear wall 22, front wall 24, and lower wall 26. The housing 12 also includes a lower housing portion or base 28, with side walls 30, 32 upper wall portion 36, and forward wall portions 38. The lower wall portion 26 is spaced from the wall portion 36 to provide a work area 37 for the microfiche carrier 40 subsequently described in detail.
FIG. 2 shows a projection lamp and fan assembly 42 which is contained interiorly of the wall 24 and between the side walls 18 and 20. The projection light 44 provides a horizontal light beam indicated by ray 46 (FIG. 1), which passes through a first condenser lens 48 and which is reflected downwardly by a mirror 50. A fan 52 (FIG. 2) can be employed to facilitate dissipation of heat. The fan 52 draws air through a louvered vent 56 to cool the bulb. The air is exhausted through a vent in the rear (not shown). The fan 52, mirror 50, condenser lens 48 and light 44 are attached to a chassis 54 which can readily be removed from the upper housing portion by removal of the projection screen 55. A second condenser lens 57 is located beneath the mirror 50 (FIG. 3).
The surface 58 (FIG. 3) of the lower housing portion 28 provides a support for the microfiche carrier assembly 40 which is slideably supported on the surface 58. The projection lens 60 is carried in a recess 62 in a slide or drawer 64 which is supported for movement in the lower housing assembly between an advanced position as shown in full lines in FIGS. 1 and 3 and the dotted line withdrawn position shown in FIG. 1. A spring 65 (FIG. 9) supports the weight of the projection lens 60 and urges the lens carrier 83 into contact with the microfiche carrier assembly 40. The spring 65 maintains the lens carrier 83 in continual contact with the lower glass 86 (FIG. 5) of the fiche carrier and thus, the lens remains in constant focus as the fiche carrier glides over the lens carrier 83. The lens housing 81 is sized to smoothly fit in the bore 87 of the lens carrier 83. The lens housing 81 can easily be dropped into the carrier. A shoulder 91 and the projection 78 keeps the lens housing from dropping from the carrier 83. The lens housing 81 can be removed for changing lenses merely by pushing up on the housing 81 from beneath the carrier 83.
A mirror 66 beneath the projection lens 60 deflects the light in a path diagrammatically shown by ray 68 to a mirror 70 supported by a lower housing wall 71 which deflects the light to a mirror 72 in the upper housing which displays the image on the projection screen 55.
The focus control for adjusting the vertical position of the projection lens 60 is in the form of a shaft 76 which has a non-concentric projection 78 engaged in an annular groove 80 in the projection lens housing 81. The shaft 76 extends through an opening 77 in the carrier 83 to afford engagement with groove 80. Rotation of the knob 80 moves the projection 78 in an arc which raises and lowers the projection lens 60.
The carrier assembly 40 is best shown in FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6 and includes a frame 85, an upper transparent plate 84 and a lower transparent plate 86 supported by the frame 85. Means are provided for separating the upper plate from the lower plate upon withdrawal of the carrier assembly. In the disclosed construction the means is in the form of a fulcrum 88 in the form of two projections on the side members 87 of frame 85. The side members 87 are connected to a bracket 89 having spaced upstanding tabs 90 which have apertures 91 (FIG. 6) which are slideably supported on shaft 92 to provide guided movement of the lower and upper plates 84 and 86 in a direction laterally and parallel with the projection screen.
Fixed to the shaft 92 are two pinion gears 94 (FIGS. 4 and 6) which are in mesh with opposed toothed racks 96 fixed to the upper housing portion. Movement of the transparent plates 84, 86 fore and aft is guided by the shaft and gears 94, 96. The guided movement afforded by the slides and gears maintains the microfiche image in a squared relationship with respect to the projection screen 55.
To open or separate the upper plate 84 from the lower plate 86 shown in FIG. 5 for insertion or removal of the fiche, arm means 98 are pivotally supported at 100 to the upper housing portion and biased upwardly by torsion springs 102. The arm means 98 include a roller 104 which is displaced downwardly into engagement with the plate 84 by the bracket 89 which engages the roller 104 when the carrier assembly 40 is retracted outwardly to engage the roller 104. As the roller 104 and arms 98 are depressed, the upper plate 84 is displaced about the fulcrum 88 to separate the plates for removal and insertion of the microfiche.
The carrier 40 can be provided with an indicator or stylus 108 which cooperates with an index panel on the surface 58 to facilitate location of the desired image. Interchangeable index cards thus can be used which have a grid which corresponds to the format of the microfiche being used.
The upper housing portion 14 can be separable from the lower housing portion 28 along line 106 so that various size upper housings and projection screens can be assembled on the same base.
As a result of the location of the illumination module in the hood 14 with a vertical light path toward the fiche carrier, and the location of the projection lens in the base 28 with a relatively long light path in the base, different size hoods and screens can be used with the same illumination module and base without changing any lenses or changing the angle of any mirrors. The only change in the optical components when changing hoods is a change in the size and angle of mirror 72. FIG. 7 shows two screen hoods 110 and 112. Screen hood 110 for example, could have an 8 .times. 11 inch screen and hood 112, a 10 .times. 15 inch screen. The base 28 can receive either of these two hoods and other hood sizes such as 8 .times. 13; 10 .times. 11; 10 .times. 13; and 10 .times. 18, all conventional size screens in the trade without changing any of the components of the base and using the same illumination module. Referring to FIG. 3, for both hoods 110 and 112, the mirrors 66 and 70 remain the same and at the same angle. In the hoods 110 and 112, the angle of the mirror 72 changes, the distance from mirror 72 to mirror 70 is changed. The size of the mirrors 72 for the two hoods 110 and 112 also is different. Prior art readers which have interchangeable hoods for a common base, require different projection lenses and changes in mirror angles and light paths to accommodate differing screen sizes.
FIG. 8 shows a modified embodiment of the illumination module in which a bulb 120 is mounted on a bracket 122 carried by a hinged cover 124. In FIG. 8 the hinged cover is shown in an open position to provide ready access for replacement of the bulb. The cover 124 can be secured in a closed position generally parallel with and flush with top wall 126 of the illumination module housing 129 by screws 128 which are threaded into a flange 130. When the cover 124 is closed the housing 129 is light tight.
FIG. 10 shows a dual fiche carrier 140 with two upper transparent glasses 142 and 144 which are each supported on a common lower transparent glass 146 which spans both glasses 142, 144. Each of the glass plates 142, 144 are fulcrumed to the lower plate 146 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, for a single fiche carrier assembly.
The overall arrangement with the illumination module or light source in the hood and projection lens in the base is particularly advantageous when using a dual fiche carrier 140 inasmuch as there is no difficulty in shifting the dual fiche carrier from one side to the other, which problem is experienced by prior art readers in which the projection lens bears against the upper flats or glass plates. In view of the fact that the upper plates are independent there is generally a protrusion or rib, such as 148, which engages or bumps against the projection lens when moving the carrier from the left to right. As shown in FIG. 11, the projection lens carrier 83 bears against the undersurface glass plate 146 rather than the upper plates 142, 148 and thus, there is no interference caused by engagement of a rib 148 or the edges of the upper plates 142, 144 during movement from left to right of the fiche carrier as with prior art devices.
FIGS. 10, 12 and 13 also show a modified embodiment of the fiche carrier guidance assembly. FIG. 12 shows the gear rack 150 which is located on the inside edge 151 of the opening 152 in a generally rectangular frame 154. Two frames 154 are connected to the hood 156. The gears 160, 162 (FIG. 10) are fixed to a shaft 164. A bushing or sleeve 166 (FIGS. 10, 13) is provided with a counter-bore 168 which receives a spring 170 which bears against the end 172 of the shaft 164 and against the base 174 of the sleeve 166. The other of the shaft 164 is provided with a shoulder or washer 178 which bears against the side surface 180 of the gear rack frame 154. The surface 182 of the sleeve 166 bears against the side surface 180 of the other gear rack frame 154 to maintain the gears in positive positioning in mesh with the gear racks 150. To remove the fiche carrier 140 from the hood, the spring 170 is manually compressed as shown in FIG. 13 to free the gear 162 from its rack. The fiche carrier then is shifted at an angle for removal.
The FIGS. 14, 15 and 16 show a dual projection lens assembly which can contain two different projection lenses 190 and 192 of different magnifications. The lenses are easily switched into the operative position by a selector lever 194.
All the components of the dual lens assembly are mounted on a pull-out chassis or drawer 198 which interfits into the reader base 28 in the same manner as the single lens module shown in FIG. 1. The lenses 192 and 190 are mounted as described and shown in FIG. 9. Cylindrical metal blocks 200 have bores 202 which receive plastic lens carriers 204. The blocks 200 are fixed to a sub-chassis 206 which is pivotally connected to the deck 210 for rotation about a pivotal axis 212. The lever 194 is connected to the chassis 206 to afford movement of the lenses to the operative position in registry with the light source.
As shown in FIG. 14, the lense 192 is in position for use with the lens exposed through an opening 214 in the upper deck 210 of the chassis 206. The lever 194 extends through a slot 218 in the front 220 of the drawer for manual access by the user.
To focus the lenses, a focusing knob 230 is connected to a shaft 232 and is rotatably supported in openings in a bracket 234 for rotation about a fixed axis. The shaft 232 is provided with a gear 236 which is selectively engageable with gears 240, 242 (FIG. 15) secured to shafts 244, which are supported by brackets 250, 252 which are connected to and depend from the chassis 206. As shown in FIG. 15, gear 242 which controls the focus for lens 192 is in mesh with the gear 236 on the focus shaft 232. Movement of the selector lever 194 to the left of the FIG. 15 position will disengage the gear 242 and will engage gear 240. The edges 251, 253 of slot 218 constitute stops to limit movement of the selector lever 194 and thus the chassis to properly register the lenses with the light path.
The shafts 244 extend through apertures in the plastic lens carriers 204 and are provided with axially off-set projections 260 which engage an annular groove in the lens housings 81 to afford vertical movement of the lenses for focusing purposes. The lenses are spring biased upwardly as shown in FIGS. 3 and 9 to continual contact with the undersurface of the fiche.
Means are provided to lower the lens carriers 204 for the lens not in use so that only one lens carrier is contacting the fiche carrier 40 at one time so that the fiche carrier is easily shifted during use. In the disclosed construction the means includes a depending annular flange 264 which is connected to the chassis 206 and which has a notch 266 (FIG. 17) which engages the shafts 244. The springs 65 which bias the lens carriers 83 upwardly also bias the shafts 244 upwardly to ride on the edge 267 of the flange and cause the shafts 244 to snap into the notch 266 when the lens is in registry with the light path. When the selector lever 194 is moved cam surfaces 269 which define the edges of the notch, cam and displace the shaft from the notch to ride on the edge 267 with the lens carrier 83 displaced downwardly free of the fiche carrier 40. Slots 271 in the lens carriers 83 allow the shafts 244 to be shifted vertically.
The advantages of the microfiche reader construction disclosed herein are numerous. The location of the illumination module in the hood behind the screen facilitates the overall modularity afforded by various of the components. In addition, it forms the basis for an entire family of microfiche or microfilm readers using a common base with various size hoods and projection screens. This, of course, results in tremendous cost savings to the user of this equipment. Particularly, in view of the fact that common illumination modules and projection lens assemblies can be used for the various hood sizes. If the user wishes to go to a larger screen, he merely can purchase the larger hood size and use all other components which are contained in his initial reader. This modularity also affords easy access to the parts and removal for service.
Other important advantages of the invention include the fiche carrier floating on the lens to provide a flatness of field, less focus problems and in which the lens is always on the same glass in a dual lens carriage unit which is easily substituted for the single carrier unit. The use of illumination modules in hoods also enables use of a compact light path which reduces the overall size of the units for a particular size screen. Location of the illumination module in the hood also provides a substantial enclosure for heat dissipation which considerably prolongs lamp life as compared with the light source in the base. Film plane temperature problems are completely eliminated.
Other features of the invention include the drop-in-lens which are easily interchanged without tools, and without changes or adjusting condenser lenses.
A further advantage of the location of the projection lens beneath the film or fiche carrier, is to locate the focusing knob at a level close to the desk or supporting surface so that focusing can be done with the hand resting on the desk.
Various of the features of the invention are found in the following claims.