Apparatus for viewing wide-angle stereoscopic pictures

Claim 1

A WIDE ANGLE STEREOSCOPIC VIEWING DEVICE COMPRISING: AN ENCLOSED HOLLOW CASING; TWO POSITIVE WIDE ANGLE OCULARS, SUPPORTED BY SAID CASING HAVING RELATIVELY SHORT FOCAL LENGTHS AND HAVING THEIR AXES SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL AND SPACED BY THE NORMAL SPACING OF A VIEWER''S EYES AND HAVING DIAMETERS GREATER THAN APPROXIMATELY 20 MILLIMETERS IN THE DIMENSIONS PERPENDICULAR TO THEIR AXES AND PARALLEL TO A LINE JOINING A VIEWER''S EYES; A SINGLE COMPOSITE PICTURE SUPPORTED AT THE FOCAL PLANE OF SAID OCULARS IN A POSITION TO BE VIEWED THROUGH SAID OCULARS, SAID PICTURE CONSISTING OF RESPECTIVE RIGHT AND LEFT EYE VIEWS THAT ARE OVERLAPPED IN A CENTRAL PORTION OF THE COMPOSITE PICTURE, THE CENTRAL OVERLAPPED PORTIONS OF THE RESPECTIVE VIEWS ARE MADE UP OF A MULTIPLICITY OF VERTICAL STRIP IMAGES THAT ARE INTERLACED SO THAT ADJACENT STRIPS ARE RESPECTIVELY STRIP IMAGES OF THE RIGHT AND LEFT EYE VIEW; MEANS COACTING WITH SAID PICTURE TO SEPARATE THE STRIP IMAGES IN THE CENTRAL PORTION OF SAID PICTURE INTO THE RESPECTIVE RIGHT AND LEFT EYE VIEWS AS SEEN THROUGH SAID OCULARS, WHEREBY THE OVERLAPPING OF THE VIEWS ONLY IN THE CENTRAL PORTION OF THE COMPOSITE PICTURE ELIMINATESSTHE VIEWING OF A DIVIDING LINE BETWEEN THE LEFT AND RIGHT EYE VIEWS.