Lens-fitted photographic film package

Claim 2

A lens-fitted photographic film package comprising a light-tight film case with a taking lens fitted thereto, a separate empty light-tight film cartridge having a spool therein rotatable about an axis of rotation, said film cartridge being enclosed in said light-tight film case on one side of said lens, an unexposed rolled film with its one end retained on said spool in said film cartridge, said unexposed rolled film being disposed on the other side of said taking lens with its outermost turn in contact with said film case, said light-tight film case comprising a main case section which has a film cartridge receiving chamber with an opening at its bottom for removably receiving said film cartridge and a rolled film receiving chamber for receiving said rolled film, a rear and bottom case section which is securely fixed to a rear side and said bottom of said main case section and cannot be disassembled therefrom and which closes said chambers, and a third member carried only by a bottom portion of said rear and bottom case section and sealing said opening at the bottom of said film cartridge receiving chamber, said third member being disposed only on said one said of said lens in alignment with said axis and openable to expose said opening of said film cartridge receiving chamber so as to allow said film cartridge to be removed, said film package being devoid of means for advancing a film rolled on a said cartridge from said one side of said lens into a rolled configuration on said other side of said lens.

Claim 3

A lens-fitted photographic film package as defined in claim 1, wherein said third member is formed with a portion which is adapted to be engaged with a portion formed on a lower end surrounding said bottom opening of said film cartridge receiving chamber to form a labyrinth seal.

Claim 4

A lens-fitted photographic film package as defined in claim 1, wherein said third member is a flexible hinged member.

Claim 5

A lens-fitted photographic film package as defined in claim 1, wherein said third member is a cap.

Claim 6

A lens-fitted photographic film package as defined in claim 1, wherein said third member is coupled to the light-tight film case by a tongue and groove connection.

Claim 7

A lens-fitted photographic film package comprising a light-tight film case with a taking lens fitted thereto, a separate empty light-tight film cartridge having a spool therein rotatable about an axis of rotation, said film cartridge being enclosed in said light-tight film case on one side of said lens, an unexposed rolled film with its one end retained on said spool in said film cartridge, said unexposed rolled film being disposed on the other side of said taking lens with its outermost turn in contact with said film case, said light-tight film case comprising a main case section which has a film cartridge receiving chamber with an opening at its bottom for removably receiving said film cartridge and a rolled film receiving chamber for receiving said rolled film, a rear and bottom case section which is securely fixed to a rear side and said bottom of said main case section and cannot be disassembled therefrom and which closes said chambers, and a third member carried only by a bottom portion of said rear and bottom case section and sealing said opening at the bottom of said film cartridge receiving chamber, said third member being disposed only on said one side of said lens in alignment with said axis and openable to expose said opening of said film cartridge receiving chamber so as to allow said film cartridge to be removed, and a film passage between said film cartridge receiving chamber and said rolled film receiving chamber formed by parts of said main and rear case sections, said film passage being not exposed until said light-tight film case is destroyed.

Claim 8

A lens-fitted photographic film package comprising a light-tight film case with a taking lens fitted thereto, a separate empty light-tight film cartridge having a spool therein rotatable about an axis of rotation, said film cartridge being enclosed in said light-tight film case on one side of said lens, an unexposed rolled film with its one end retained on said spool in said film cartridge, said unexposed rolled film being disposed on the other side of said taking lens with its outermost turn in contact with said film case, said light-tight film case comprising a main case section which has a film cartridge receiving chamber with an opening at its bottom for removably receiving said film cartridge and a rolled film receiving chamber for receiving said rolled film, a rear and bottom case section which is securely fixed to a rear side and said bottom of said main case section and cannot be disassembled therefrom and which closes said chambers, and a third member carried only by a bottom portion of said rear and bottom case section and sealing said opening at the bottom of said film cartridge receiving chamber, said third member being disposed only on said one side of said lens in alignment with said axis and openable to expose said opening of said film cartridge receiving chamber so as to allow said film cartridge to be removed, and a film passage between said film cartridge receiving chamber and said rolled film receiving chamber formed by parts of said main and rear case sections, said film passage being not exposed until said light-tight film case is destroyed.

Claim 9

A lens-fitted photographic film package as defined in claim 6, wherein said third member is formed with a portion which is adapted to be engaged with a portion formed on a lower end surrounding said bottom opening of said film cartridge receiving chamber to form a labyrinth seal.

Claim 10

A lens-fitted photographic film package as defined in claim 6, wherein said third member is a flexible hinged member.

Claim 11

A lens-fitted photographic film package as defined in claim 6, wherein said third member is a cap.

Claim 12

A lens-fitted photographic film package as defined in claim 6, wherein said third member is coupled to the light-tight film case by a tongue and groove connection.

Claim 13

A lens-fitted photographic film package comprising a light-tight film case with a taking lens fitted thereto, a separate empty film cartridge having a spool therein rotatable about an axis of rotation, said film cartridge being enclosed in said light-tight film case on one side of said lens, an unexposed rolled film with its one end retained on said spool in said film cartridge, said unexposed rolled film being disposed on the other side of said taking lens from said cartridge, said light-tight film case having a film cartridge receiving chamber with an opening at its bottom for removably receiving said film cartridge, means for rotating said spool thereby to roll said film about said spool within said cartridge frame by frame as said film is exposed through said lens, and a sheet of light-shielding material closing said opening and weakly adhesively bonded to said light-tight film case about and only in the immediate vicinity of said opening, whereby after said film has been exposed and wound into said cartridge, said sheet can be pulled off from said light-tight film case against the action of its weakly adhesive bonding thereby to permit removal of the film cartridge with exposed film therein from the light-tight film case.

Claim 14

A lens-fitted photographic film package comprising a light-tight film case with a taking lens fitted thereto, a separate empty film cartridge having a spool therein rotatable about an axis of rotation, said film cartridge being enclosed in said light-tight film case on one side of said lens, an unexposed rolled film with its one end retained on said spool in said film cartridge, said unexposed rolled film being disposed on the other side of said taking lens from said cartridge, said light-tight film case having a film cartridge receiving chamber with an opening at its bottom for removably receiving said film cartridge, means for rotating said spool thereby to roll said film about said spool within said cartridge frame by frame as said film is exposed through said lens, and a sheet of light-shielding material closing said opening and weakly adhesively bonded to said light-tight film case about and only in the immediate vicinity of said opening, whereby after said film has been exposed and wound into said cartridge, said sheet can be pulled off from said light-tight film case against the action of its weakly adhesive bonding thereby to permit removal of the film cartridge with exposed film therein from the light-tight film case.

Claim 15

A lens-fitted photographic film package as claimed in claim 11, wherein said sheet is a portion of a cover case that substantially completely encloses said light-tight film case, said sheet being detachably secured to the remainder of said cover case by perforations which can be severed to remove said sheet while leaving the remainder of the cover case on the light-tight film case.

Claim 16

A lens-fitted photographic film package as claimed in claim 11, wherein said sheet covers said light-tight film case only in the vicinity of said opening and has a pull tab for peeling said sheet off said light-tight film case.

Claim 17

A lens-fitted photographic film package comprising a light-tight film case with a taking lens fitted thereto, a separate empty light-tight film cartridge having a spool therein rotatable about an axis of rotation, said film cartridge being enclosed in said light-tight film case on one side of said lens, an unexposed rolled film with its one end retained on said spool in said film cartridge, said unexposed rolled film being disposed on the other side of said taking lens with its outermost turn in contact with said film case, said light-tight film case comprising a main case section which has a film cartridge receiving chamber with an opening at its bottom for removably receiving said film cartridge and a rolled film receiving chamber for receiving said rolled film, a rear case section which is securely fixed to the rear side of said main case section and cannot be disassembled therefrom, and a third member sealing said opening at the bottom of said film cartridge receiving chamber, said third member being disposed only on said one side of said lens in alignment with said axis and openable to expose said opening of said film cartridge receiving chamber so as to allow said film cartridge to be removed, said film package being devoid of means for advancing a film rolled on a said cartridge from said one side of said lens into a rolled configuration on said other side of said lens, wherein said third member is covered by an outer cover that covers also at least a portion of said light-tight film case.

Claim 18

A lens-fitted photographic film package comprising a light-tight film case with a taking lens fitted thereto, a separate empty light-tight film cartridge having a spool therein rotatable about an axis of rotation, said film cartridge being enclosed in said light-tight film case on one side of said lens, an unexposed rolled film with its one end retained on said spool in said film cartridge, said unexposed rolled film being disposed on the other side of said taking lens with its outermost turn in contact with said film case, said light-tight film case comprising a main case section which has a film cartridge receiving chamber with an opening at its bottom for removably receiving said film cartridge and a rolled film receiving chamber for receiving said rolled film, a rear case section which is securely fixed to the rear side of said main case section and cannot be disassembled therefrom, and a third member sealing said opening at the bottom of said film cartridge receiving chamber, said third member being disposed only on said one side of said lens in alignment with said axis and openable to expose said opening of said film cartridge receiving chamber so as to allow said film cartridge to be removed, said film package being devoid of means for advancing a film rolled on a said cartridge from said one side of said lens into a rolled configuration on said other side of said lens, wherein said third member is covered by an outer cover that covers also at least a portion of said light-tight film case.

Claim 19

A lens-fitted photographic film package as defined in claim 14, wherein said outer cover has an openable portion defined by perforations which, when opened, exposes said third member.

Claim 20

A lens-fitted photographic film package comprising a light-tight film case with a taking lens fitted thereto, a separate empty light-tight film cartridge having a spool therein rotatable about an axis of rotation, said film cartridge being enclosed in said light-tight film case on one side of said lens, an unexposed rolled film with its one end retained on said spool in said film cartridge, said unexposed rolled film being disposed on the other side of said taking lens with its outermost turn in contact with said film case, said light-tight film case comprising a main case section which has a film cartridge receiving chamber with an opening at its bottom for removably receiving said film cartridge and a rolled film receiving chamber for receiving said rolled film, a rear case section which is securely fixed to the rear side of said main case section and cannot be disassembled therefrom, and a third member sealing said opening at the bottom of said film cartridge receiving chamber, said third member being disposed only on said one side of said lens in alignment with said axis and openable to expose said opening of said film cartridge receiving chamber so as to allow said film cartridge to be removed, and a film passage between said film cartridge receiving chamber and said rolled film receiving chamber formed by parts of said main and rear case sections, said film passage being not exposed until said light-tight film case is destroyed, wherein said third member is covered by an outer cover that covers also at least a portion of said light-tight film case.

Claim 21

A lens-fitted photographic film package comprising a light-tight film case with a taking lens fitted thereto, a separate empty light-tight film cartridge having a spool therein rotatable about an axis of rotation, said film cartridge being enclosed in said light-tight film case on one side of said lens, an unexposed rolled film with its one end retained on said spool in said film cartridge, said unexposed rolled film being disposed on the other side of said taking lens with its outermost turn in contact with said film case, said light-tight film case comprising a main case section which has a film cartridge receiving chamber with an opening at its bottom for removably receiving said film cartridge and a rolled film receiving chamber for receiving said rolled film, a rear case section which is securely fixed to the rear side of said main case section and cannot be disassembled therefrom, and a third member sealing said opening at the bottom of said film cartridge receiving chamber, said third member being disposed only on said one side of said lens in alignment with said axis and openable to expose said opening of said film cartridge receiving chamber so as to allow said film cartridge to be removed, and a film passage between said film cartridge receiving chamber and said rolled film receiving chamber formed by parts of said main and rear case sections, said film passage being not exposed until said light-tight film case is destroyed, wherein said third member is covered by an outer cover that covers also at least a portion of said light-tight film case.

Claim 22

A lens-fitted photographic film package as defined in claim 16, wherein said outer cover has an openable portion defined by perforations which, when opened, exposes said third member.