Aerial camera housing for high wing aircraft

Claim 1

An aerial housing for enclosing a camera that can be mounted on a wing strut of a high-wing monoplane which comprises: an elongated outer casing having a cross-section perpendicular to its length that has a periphery that is essentially ellipsoidal, an opening at one end, and an integral convex cap enclosing the other end; a sight glass assembly integrally attached to the bottom side of the outer casing; an elongated inner casing having essentially the same peripheral shape as the outer casing but being sufficiently less in circumference as to allow the inner casing to be slidably inserted into the open end of the outer casing to give an assembled housing in which a major part of the exterior face of the inner casing is contiguous with the interior face of the outer casing; a convex cap integrally attached to an end of the inner casing having essentially the same exterior shape and circumference at its junction with the inner casing as the open end of the outer casing thereby forming a recess into which the open end of the outer casing fits to give a flush exterior junction in the assembled housing; the inner casing further having an aperture on its bottom side in axial alignment with the sight glass assembly when the inner casing is inserted into the outer casing to give the assembled housing, and an opening in its top side to permit placement of the camera therein; means for holding the camera in the inner casing in a position such that its lens is facing and in axial alignment with the aperture, and its picture image plane is essentially parallel with the Longitudinal axis of the assembled housing; means for holding the inner casing and the outer casing together in the assembled housing configuration; means for adjustably mounting the outer casing to the wing strut of the monoplane to allow the longitudinal axis of the assembled housing to be aligned parallel with the axis of flight of the monoplane.