Photographic flashgun

Claim 1

A PHOTOGRAPHIC FLASHGUN ADAPTED TO BE DETACHABLY MOUNTED ON A CAMERA, SAID FLASHGUN COMPRISING A GENERALLY RECTANGULAR HOUSING, A BRACKET ATTACHED TO THE BASE OF SAID HOUSING FOR RELEASABLY MOUNTING SAID FLASHGUN ON SAID CAMERA, MEANS PROVIDING A FLATTENED CORNER OF SAID HOUSING REMOTE FROM SAID BASE THEREBY TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE COMPACTNESS OF SAID FLASHGUN AND PROVIDE A FIRST PLANAR BEARING SURFACE, A CIRCULAR APERTURE FORMED IN SAID SURFACE, A CONCAVE REFLECTOR, MEANS PROVIDING A FLATTENED AREA OF SAID REFLECTOR FORMING A SECOND PLANAR BEARING SURFACE, A CIRCULAR APERTURE FORMED IN SAID SECOND SURFACE, TUBULAR MEANS COMPRISING A FLASHLAMP SOCKET HAVING A FLANGED UPPER PORTION AND A SMALLER DEPENDING PORTION JOINING TOGETHER SAID FIRST AND SECOND BEARING SURFACES, SAID DEPENDING PORTION OF SAID TUBULAR MEANS BEING SLIDABLY INSERTED THROUGH BOTH SAID SURFACE APERTURES AND SAID FLATTENED REFLECTOR AREA BEING ROTATABLE THEREON, THE LOWER EXTREMITY OF SAID TUBULAR MEANS EXTENDING WITHIN SAID HOUSING, SPRING MEANS DIVERGINGLY BEARING AGAINST AN INNER SURFACE OF SAID HOUSING AND SAID LOWER EXTREMITY OF SAID TUBULAR MEANS SO AS TO DRAW SAID FLANGED PORTION FIRMLY AGAINST THE INNER SURFACE OF SAID REFLECTOR, DETENT MEANS EMBODIED PARTLY IN MEANS OF SAID REFLECTOR AND PARTLY IN SAID FLANGED PORTION OF SAID TUBULAR MEANS FOR PROVIDING GIVEN ROTATIONAL POSITIONS OF SAID REFLECTOR, MEANS FOR MANUALLY EJECTING AN EXPENDED FLASHLAMP FROM SAID SOCKET, AND MEANS WITHIN SAID HOUSING FOR MOUNTING A BATTERY AND PROVIDING THEREBY ENERGIZATION OF SAID FLASHLAMP, RESPONSIVE TO THE CLOSING OF ELECTRICAL CONTACTS OF SAID CAMERA, SAID MOUNTING BRACKET BEING COMPOSED OF A FIRST RECTANGULAR PLATE SECTION ATTACHED TO SUPPORTING MEANS WITHIN THE BASE OF SAID HOUSING, A SECOND SMALLER PLATE SECTION HAVING A FLARED EXTREMITY AND A SLOT FORMED THEREIN ATTACHED TO SAID FIRST SECTION IN UNDERLYING SPACED RELATION THERETO AND ALSO HAVING A DOWNWARDLY PROJECTING FIXED FLANGE AT A TRANSVERSE EXTREMITY FOR ENGAGING AN EXTERNAL PORTION OF SAID CAMERA, A LEVER ELEMENT PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON SAID FIRST SECTION ADJACENT TO ONE CORNER THEREOF SO AS TO EXTEND SUBSTANTIALLY ACROSS THE SURFACE OF SAID SECTION AND HAVING FLANGE MEANS BEARING AGAINST SAID FIRST AND SECOND SECTIONS FOR SLIDABLY ENGAGING THE FACING SURFACES THEREOF; A FLANGE AT AN EXTREMITY OF SAID LEVER PROJECTING DOWNWARDLY THROUGH SAID SLOT, SPRING MEANS MOUNTED BETWEEN SAID SECTIONS AND DIVERGINGLY BIASED SO AS TO BEAR, RESPECTIVELY, AGAINST FIXED MEANS INTERPOSED BETWEEN SAID SECTIONS AND A BEARING SURFACE OF SAID LEVER SO AS TO MOVE SAID DOWNWARDLY PROJECTING FLANGE OF THE LATTER INTO CONTACT WITH AN EDGE OF SAID SLOT, AND HANDLE MEANS AT AN EXTREMITY OF SAID LEVER OPPOSITE TO SAID FIRST-NAMED EXTREMITY THEREOF FOR MANUALLY ACTUATING SAID LEVER, SAID LEVER, WHEN ROTATED IN A DIRECTION AGAINST THE BIAS OF SAID SPRING, CAUSING SAID DOWNWARDLY PROJECTING FLANGE TO MOVE AWAY FROM CONTACT WITH SAID EDGE OF SAID SLOT INTO CONTACT WITH AN OPPOSITE EDGE THEREOF, THEREBY ALSO MOVING SAID DOWNWARDLY PROJECTING FLANGE IN A DIRECTION AWAY FROM SAID FIXED FLANGE AND ENABLING THE MOUNTING OF SAID BRACKET ON SAID CAMERA.