Automatic exposure control system

Claim 1

IN A CAMERA HAVING A PICTURE-TAKING APERTURE AND A PHOTORESPONSIVE ELEMENT ILLUMINATABLE BY SCENE LIGHT, AN EXPOSURE REGULATING MEANS COMPRISING: MASKING MEANS NORMALLY BIASED TO A FIRST POSITION AND MOVABLE THROUGH A RANGE OF POSITIONS FOR VARYING THE AMOUNT OF LIGHT ENTERING SAID PICTURE-TAKING APERTURE AND FOR VARYING THE ILLUMINATION OF SAID PHOTORESPONSIVE ELEMENT; A COIL WOUND ABOUT AN AXIS IN A RELATIVELY FLAT MANNER WHICH THE INSIDE DIAMETER OF THE COIL IS MUCH LARGE THAN ITS AXIAL DIMENSION, SAID COIL BEING SUPPORTED ONLY BY SAID MASKING MEANS AND MOVABLE THEREWITH; AMPLIFYING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID PHOTORESPONSIVE ELEMENT FOR ENERGIZING SAID COIL AS A FUNCTION OF THE ILLUMINATION OF SAID PHOTORESPONSIVE ELEMENT; AND MAGNET MEANS MOUNTED ADJACENT SAID COIL AND ORIENTED SO THAT ITS MAGNETIC FIELD INDUCES SAID COIL TO MOVE PERPENDICULARLY TO ITS AXIS WHENEVER SAID COIL IS ENERGIZED BY SAID AMPLIFYING MEANS; SAID COIL BEING SO MOVED WHENEVER ITS ENERGIZATION IS SUFFICIENT TO OVERCOME THE BIAS APPLIED TO SAID MASKING MEANS TO POSITION SAID MASKING MEANS AS A FUNCTION OF THE INTENSITY OF SAID SCENE LIGHT.