Panhead With Quick Release Shoe

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention pertains to the field of panheads of the type used to support photograhic or other imaging equipment on tripods or the like, and more particularly relate to an improved panhead of the type having a releasable shoe which is attached to a camera or the like to allow quick mounting or release of the one shoe and camera to the panhead.

2. State of the Prior Art

It is known to provide a panhead with a detachable base on which a camera or the like may be secured so as to be quickly and easily detachable from the panhead, as is for example disclosed in Japanese Patent Office Bulletin No. 133294, 1985. The panhead disclosed in the aforementioned official bulletin includes a panning head mounted on a base so as to allow for tilting movement of the head about at least one axis relative to the base. A rectangular receptacle is defined in the top of the panning head which is closed on three sides and open along a fourth side. A shoe element which is attachable to the underside of a photographic camera or other equipment to be supported on the panhead fits into the panhead receptacle and can be secured therein by means of a pivotable shoe locking lever mounted on the open side of the receptacle and by means of which the shoe may be selectively secured or released, thereby allowing for quick attachment or release of the camera or the like to the panhead.

A serious shortcoming of this prior art panhead resides in the possibility of accidental release of the locking lever in which case the shoe is free to drop from the panning head together with whatever equipment is carried on the shoe, raising the possibility not only of costly damage to the equipment but also of bodily injury to persons in the immediate vicinity.

One attempt at overcoming this difficulty is described in Japanese Patent Office Bulletin No. 40952, 1985 wherein a spring loaded locking lever is pivoted on the panhead and prevents accidental release of the shoe from the panhead. However, this locking system requires additional component parts and complicates construction and assembly of the panhead, increasing its cost and complicating operation of the panhead.

A continuing need therefore exists for a panhead with a quick release shoe in which the apparatus supported on the shoe cannot fall off even if the shoe release lever is accidentally released.

The invention is an improved panhead of the type including a shoe carrier tray mounted for movement about one or more axes relative to a panhead base, a shoe attachable to a device such as a camera, and a shoe locking lever movable between a locked position and a release position for releasably locking the shoe to the tray. The improvement comprises retaining portions integral with the carrier tray for holding the shoe against separation from the tray by force of gravity alone notwithstanding tilting of said tray about any tilt axis with the shoe locking lever in the release position. The integral shoe retaining elements are configured however to allow deliberate manual removal of the shoe from the panhead tray while the locking lever is in its release position. A shoe receiving receptacle is defined in the tray between three tray walls, including an end wall and two side walls arranged in a U configuration and open on a fourth side. The shoe locking lever is pivoted to the tray on the open side of the receptacle and even in its release position cooperates with the integral shoe retaining elements to keep the shoe from falling out of the receptacle unless deliberately removed.

The shoe retaining portions of the tray include a pair of retaining flanges projecting from the side walls into the receptacle. A pair of lateral flanges integral to the shoe fit under the tray's retaining flanges which hold down the shoe on the side of the end wall of the receptacle. The retaining flanges on the tray have slanted undersurfaces overlying the shoe's lateral flanges which allow a limited twisting of the shoe out of the receptacle, but also keep the shoe from twisting completely out of the receptacle when lifted at the opposite, open end of the tray. As a result extraction of the shoe from the tray receptacle requires a combination of twisting and pulling motions which cannot occur by force of gravity alone regardless of the degree of tilt of the panhead. The necessary twisting and pulling motions are in opposite directions so that for any possible tilt of the panhead only one of these motions can result from gravitational force which therefore cannot alone separate the shoe from the tray.

The integral retaining elements may further include a slanted inner surface on the end wall opposite the locking lever, the inner surface defining an undercut in the end wall for receiving a slanted edge of the shoe.

The locking lever is spring loaded towards its locked position and a detent pin means spring is loaded towards a lever stopping position for detaining the lever in the release position, the detent pin being urged away from the lever stopping position upon placement of the shoe in the receptacle thereby to cause the locking lever to snap to its shoe locking position under the aforementioned spring loading.

These and other features of the present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description in light of the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view partly in section of the improved panhead;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the quick release shoe separated from the shoe carrier tray of the panhead.

The improved panhead 10 of this invention has a carrier tray 41 in which a receptacle 12 is defined between three tray walls including an end wall 14 intermediate two parallel side walls 15, and having a bottom surface 16. A coupling shoe 31 on which devices such as a camera, etc., can be removably secured, fits closely between the tray walls in the receptacle 12 and a locking lever 21 located on the fourth, open side of the receptacle 12 opposite the end wall 14. The locking lever 21 is pivotable between a shoe locking position (shown in FIG. 1) and a shoe releasing position (shown in FIG. 2). A pair of shoe retaining flanges 17 project horizontally into the receptacle 12, one flange from each side wall 15 adjacently to the end wall 14 and spaced upwardly from the bottom 16. The flanges 17 cooperate with laterally projecting shoe flanges 34 on the shoe 31 so as to guide and restrict the movement of the shoe 31 into and out of the receptacle 12 along a particular path.

A camera or the like is mounted on the panhead 10 by first removing the shoe 31 from the panhead 10 by lifting the shoe on the side adjacent the locking lever 21 and then withdrawing the shoe flanges 34 along an upwardly rising plane away from the retaining flanges 17. The camera or other device is then attached to the shoe 31 while the latter is separated from the panhead 10. The shoe 31 is then reinserted into the receptacle 12 in the panhead 10 by reversing the aforementioned shoe removal sequence.

The panhead 10 includes a base 22 with a threaded vertical hole in the center of its underside into which is received the pan screw of a tripod (not illustrated), to fix the base 22 to the tripod. A panning stand 23 turns freely in a horizontal plane about a vertical axis centered on the aforementioned pan screw. A set screw 24 is threaded into the stand 23 and may be tightened against the base 22 for locking the stand 23 against rotation on the base 22, or may be released to allow free relative movement of the stand 23. A tilting stand 25 is supported on a horizontal tilt axis (not illustrated) on the upper end of the panning stand 23, and can be swiveled back and forth through a vertical tilt arc. A set screw 6 is threaded in the tilting stand 25 on the right side of the tilting stand in FIG. 1 and may be tightened against the panning stand 23 so as to lock the tilting stand 25 against movement relative to the panning stand 23. On the left side of the tilting stand 25 in FIG. 1 there is a holder 27 for a tubular handle 28 which extends generally perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. The handle 28 can be detached from the holder 27 and may be inserted into the holder 27 either from the front or the rear.

A shoe carrier tray 41 is fixed by screws (not shown) to the upper end of the tilting stand 25, and defines the shoe receptacle 12 which is open on the left side in FIG. 1. As earlier described the shoe receiving receptacle 12 is defined between two side walls 15 and an end wall 14. The inner surface 14a of the end wall 14 has a reverse taper and slants inwardly into the wall 14 (outwardly from the receptacle 12) in a downward direction, defining an undercut in the end wall 14. A pair of flanges 17 are located one at each intersection of the end wall 14 with each of the side walls 15. The flanges 17 are located at the upper edge of the side walls 15, spaced from the tray floor 16, and project horizontally into the receptacle 12. The locking lever 21 is pivoted to the tray 41 about a vertical axis defined by pivot screw 42. The locking lever 21 includes a semicircular cam portion 43 and an actuating handle 44. The cam portion 43 has a flat side surface 43a which faces into the receptacle 12 in the release position of the lever 21, and an arcuate camming edge 43b which engages one side 31a of the shoe so as to positively urge the opposite side 31a of the shoe into the undercut of the end wall 14 and against the slanted wall surface 14a. The camming edge is slanted in an inverted frustoconical manner, diminishing in radius in a downward direction along the screw 42 so as to mate against the opposite slant of the shoe edge 31a. This slanted camming surface 43b extends circumferentially from approximately the actuating lever 44 to the flat side surface 43a. The radial distance from the vertical axle 42 to the slanted surface 43b increases in a circumferential direction from the flat side surface 43a toward the lever 44, i.e., the circular camming edge surface 43b is mounted eccentrically to the vertical pivot 42 so as to urge the camming edge 43b against the shoe 31 when the lever 44 is pivoted clockwise in FIG. 2 to its shoe locking position. The locking lever 44 is normally urged clockwise in FIG. 2 towards its locking position by biasing spring 45, seen in FIG. 1. A detent pin 47 is movable up and down in a hole 46 in the tray bottom 16 and is biased upwardly by an underlying spring 28. The detent pin is located so that it is free to protrude above the tray floor 16 when the locking lever 21 is in the release position of FIG. 2 and thus holds the lever in its release position against the bias of spring 45. The detent pin 47 is however depressed into its hole under the shoe 31 when the shoe is inserted into the receptacle 12, allowing the lever to snap to a shoe locking position where the camming edge 43b engages the shoe edge 31a sufficiently to retain the shoe in place. The lever 44 can then be made manually further pivoted clockwise for positive camming engagement against the shoe 31.

The shoe 31 is a generally rectangular place insertable into the receptacle 12 of the tray 41 in FIG. 2. A screw 32 is freely rotatable through the shoe for tightening a camera to the top surface of the shoe 31. The screw head (not illustrated) of screw 32 is underneath the shoe 31. An alignment pin 33 on the shoe 31 serves to hold against rotation a camera mounted on the shoe. The shoe 31 has two sides 31a which are inclined surfaces sloping in frusto-pyramidal fashion upwardly and towards each other. The shoe is inserted in the receptacle 12 with the sides 31a oriented between the end wall 14 and lever 21 of the panhead tray 41 as shown in FIG. 1, the inclination of the shoe surfaces 31a mating with the inclined surfaces 14a and 43b of the end wall 14 and locking lever 21 respectively. The camming edge 43b of the locking lever 21 acts against one side 31a of the shoe to hold the opposite side 31a within the undercut defined between the inclined surface 14a and tray floor 16 when the locking lever 21 is rotated clockwise in FIG. 2 to a shoe locking position, thereby securing the shoe 31 to the panhead 10. The reverse tapered end surface 14a and the retaining flanges 17 cooperate with the slanted edge 31a and the lateral projections 34 on the shoe 31 to securely retain the shoe within the receptacle 12 on the panhead tray 41 even if the lever 21 is accidentally rotated towards its shoe releasing position illustrated in FIG. 2, and even if the panhead tray 41 is tilted by as much as 90 degrees to the horizontal about its horizontal tilt axis, i.e, where the tray bottom 16 becomes vertical to the ground.

Each retaining flange 17 has an under surface 18 which slants upwardly towards the open side of the receptacle 12, i.e., the side where the locking lever 21 is mounted, to allow only limited twisting of the shoe in the receptacle when the side 31a adjacent to the locking lever is lifted. The flanges 17 are configured to allow the side 31a of the shoe adjacent to the lever 21 to be lifted sufficiently as indicated by arrow A in FIG. 1 so as to clear the top of lever 21, and then to allow the shoe to be pulled away from the flanges 17 along the plane and direction of the shoe lateral flanges 34 indicated by arrow B in the same Figure. Both the initial twisting movement A and subsequent pulling movement B are required to extract the shoe 31 from the receptacle 12. These two required movements are in opposite directions to each other so that for any given tilt of the panhead, gravity acting along cannot cause the shoe to fall out of the receptacle 12. In the case where the tray 41 is tilted with the lever 44 up relative to the end wall 14, the edge 31a of the shoe 31 adjacent to the lever 21 will tend to lift away from the tray bottom 16 in a released condition of the locking lever 21 and steep inclination of the tray 41, but the shoe 31 will nevertheless be held within the receptacle 12 by the retaining flanges 17 overlying the lateral projections 34 of the shoe 31 after a limited lifting of the shoe from the tray bottom 16 on its elevated side. The shoe 31 will likewise be held within the panhead tray receptacle 12 if the panhead tray 41 is tilted in the opposite direction i.e. with the lever 21 down relative to the side 14 of the tray and with the lever 21 in its open position. This is because the edge 31a of the shoe 31 adjacent to the lever 21 will lie against side surface 43a of the locking lever 21 which will keep the shoe from sliding any substantial distance away from the surface 14a which together with the retaining flanges 17 will hold down the elevated side of the shoe 31 against the tray bottom 16 and thus keep the shoe 31 along with any equipment secured to the shoe from falling away form the panhead tray 41. Thus, irrespective of which side of the panhead tray 41 is inclined downwardly and regardless of the angle of inclination of the tray 41, the shoe 31 and any equipment attached thereto cannot separate from the panhead tray 41 by force of gravity alone regardless of the attitude of the tray 41 even with the locking lever 21 is open position. The flanges will also hold down the shoe with the locking lever released for tray tilting on either side wall 15.

Since the panhead tray 41 is formed integrally with the tray walls 14, 15 and retaining flanges 17, the parts count and complexity of the panhead is not increased, construction and assembly of the panhead remains simple, and production costs are kept low. Further, no additional moving parts or operating levers are added by the present invention as was the case in the referenced prior art Japanese Official Bulletin No. 46952, 1985, thus maximizing reliability and durability of the improved panhead. In addition, it will be understood that the shape of the panhead tray 41 can be modified various ways without departing from the present invention, in particular as by providing portions integral with the tray 41 for covering or protecting the lever 21 or otherwise reinforcing portions of the panhead tray 41.

While a particular embodiment of the invention has been shown and illustrated for purposes of clarity and example only, it must be understood that many changes, modifications and substitutions to the illustrated embodiment will become apparent to those possessed of ordinary skill in the art without thereby departing from the spirit and scope of the invention which is defined by the following claims.