Three dimensional camera having lenticular screen moving apparatus

Claim 1

A photographic camera for three dimension photography comprising: a housing having an opening to the interior for light rays; means for immovably locating photosensitive material in communication with the interior of the housing at a location during a time for exposure; optical means in said housing for projecting light rays, which are received through said opening from a scene to be photographed, along an optical path to said location, said path having a first position therealong extending transversely to the direction of the path from a first side to a second side of the path, the optical means comprising a lenticular screen extending across said path at a second position farther along said path from the first position and having, on one side, a plurality of elongated lenticular elements of width P which face in the direction from which the light rays are being projected and having an opposite side facing and positioned for contact with the surface of such located photosensitive material, the optical means being characterized in that it changes, by a predetermined distance Y, on such surface of the photosensitive material, the position of light rays which come from a substantially common point on such scene and which extend along said first and second sides of said path; means for blocking the received light rays at said first position; an aperture movable transversely across said path at said first position, from said first side to said second side, for exposing said light rays sequentially to the photosensitive material moving across said screen in a direction normal to the elongation of said lenticular elements; and means for so moving said aperture for a predetermined time for exposure, while simultaneously and synchronously moving said screen, substantially throughout said predetermined time for exposure, in substantially the same direction as the light rays sequentially expose said photosensitive material and over a distance substantially equal to the sum of P + Y to thereby expose a substantially continuous unreversed image of the scene on the photosensitive material; said means for locating comprising means for applying a substantially uniform pressure, over at least the portion of said photosensitive material for exposure, against said lenticular screen for maintaining uniform contact therebetween; said means for moving comprising means for moving said screen relative to said photosensitive material, initially prior to the exposure time, to thereby cause any deformations of the photosensitive material to be smoothed out prior to the exposure time.