BODY MOUNTED SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR PHOTO AND VIDEO CAMERA

SUPPORT CORPOREL POUR APPAREIL-PHOTO ET CAMERA

English Abstract

This is a front mounted camera support system which is wearing on the front
torso of a
user by two shoulder straps and one belly strap, wherein its harness is formed
by a fixing
chest plate and chest connection plate connects to a fixing belly plate and
belly
connection plate by a plurality of fasteners.
A camera holding arm pivots on the center chest position of the harness. It is
elevated by
a pivoted lever on one of the fasteners of the harness, whereby an attached
camera on
the camera holding arm is able to be held in a selective elevation for camera
shooting.
A belly side holding brace from the harness is used to hold additional camera
or
accessory firmly.
A chest side elongated prop from the harness is used to hold a flash, a light
or an
umbrella over the user's head securely for operation.

French Abstract

Support pour caméra porté devant qui tient sur l'avant du torse d'un utilisateur à l'aide de deux sangles d'épaule et d'une courroie de taille, dont le harnais est formé par une plaque de thorax de fixation et une plaque de raccord de thorax, qui se rattachent à une plaque de taille de fixation et à une plaque de raccord de taille à l'aide de plusieurs attaches. Un bras de retenue de caméra pivote en position du centre du thorax du harnais. Il est élevé par un levier-pivot sur une des attaches du harnais, où une caméra fixée au bras de retenue de caméra est en mesure d'être maintenue à une élévation choisie pour permettre de prendre des photos. Une pièce de retenue latérale à la taille, partant du harnais, est utilisée pour retenir fermement une caméra ou un accessoire supplémentaire. Un accessoire allongé latéral au niveau du thorax et partant du harnais est utilisé pour maintenir fermement un flash, une lumière ou un parapluie au-dessus de la tête de l'utilisateur en marche.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OR
PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A body mounted support system for photo and video cameras comprising:
a harness being formed by a chest plate attached to a chest connection plate,
a belly plate
attached to a belly connection plate, said chest connection plate being
attached to said belly
connection plate by a plurality of fasteners, two shoulder straps extending
between said chest
plate and said belly plate, and a belly strap attached to said belly plate;
a camera holding arm pivotable on a center chest position of said harness,
said camera holding
arm is capable of being elevated securely and instantly in selective
elevations by a pivot lever,
wherein said plurality of fasteners also individually act as a support surface
for holding said pivot
lever in a variety of elevations, wherein said pivot lever rests on one of
said plurality of fasteners
without being mechanically fixed thereto, whereby an attached camera on said
camera holding
arm is able to be held up quickly and steadily in a selective elevation for
camera operation.
1

Description

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DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Photography and cinematography are becoming popular today. People love to do
these
activities as a hobby or a professional career. However, most professional
cameras are
heavy and required to operate steadily. As a result, this leads to a fatigue
on their arms
and shoulders, and a shaking shooting as well.
To resolve this problem, some people came up with their support systems such
as:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,764,231131 to Cory Shubert, July 20, 2004
U.S. Pat. No. 5,294,947 to Paul B. Harrington, March 15, 1994
U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,149 to Robert E. Gottschalk, Felipe Navarro, November 3,
1981
U.S. Pat. No. 2,636,822 to K. B. Anderson, April 28, 1953
U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,763 to Dick Turchen, July 26, 1977
U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,308 to Dennis J. Dovey, July 2, 1985
U.S. Pat. No. 6,916,124 131 to John Correira, July 12, 2005
U.S. Pat. No. 5,612,756 to Gerald E. Kardach, March 18, 1997
U.S. Pat. No. 4,963,904 to Chun Mao Lee, October 16, 1990
U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,500 to Raymond Fournier, January 13, 1981
U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,788 to David F. Lingwall, December 17, 1991
Some of these support systems are designed for video camera use and a few of
them
can be used for photo camera. Those support systems are designed for use in
the front
of one side of the shoulder. It is very hard to operate a photo camera in such
support
systems. Many of these support systems require at least one hand holding the
support
system and the other hand operating the camera. This makes it difficult to
have a good
operation on the camera. And additional camera and accessories have not been
considerate in a practice use.
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In a real work practice, professional photographers are often carrying more
than one
camera and need to work in a critical condition. For example, those news
shooters are
often carrying a heavy telephoto zoom lens for distance shooting, a standard
zoom lens
for close shooting, and some of them are also carrying a very heavy super
telephoto lens
and a video camera for a complete shooting demand. They need to move
themselves
frequently in a limited space with all their equipment. They need to pull up
their heavy
camera instantly, and hold it up and wait for a best shot. They need to switch
cameras
quickly and safely. They need to work in outside under the sun or rain. In
such situation,
working is difficult and a good support system is in demanding.
The present invention (body mounted support system for photo and video camera)
allows a user to pull up a heavy camera instantly and steadily in front of him
in a
selective elevation for shooting and hold it up long time without camera
shaking. It allows
the user take control on his camera with both his hands. It allows the user
instantly and
securely lay down his camera in front of his belly and leaves space in front
of his chest
where he can hold up another camera for shooting. It allows the user carry
additional
cameras or accessories in his left belly side and right belly side securely.
It allows the
user hold up a flash, a light or an umbrella over his head securely for
operation.
This support system is coupled with three straps which are making it firmly
secured in
front of the user easily. With this support system, the user is able to go
around easily
while carrying all his equipment firmly and he is able to stand up or sit down
to get a
steady camera shooting easily.
Taking into consideration of the weight of camera and accessories, this
support system
should be built from light weight, substantially rigid materials such as
aluminum alloy,
plastic, glass fiber-reinforced polyester and etc. The straps should be made
of flexible
materials such as cotton, nylon and etc.
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IN THE DRAWINGS, WHICH FORM A PART OF THIS INVENTION,
Fig.1 is a perspective view of the support system, showing its components are
interconnecting from each others;
Fig.2 is a view of the upper portion of the harness of the support system;
Fig.3 is a view of the lower portion of the harness of the support system;
Fig.4 is a view of the three straps of the support system;
Fig.5 is a view of the center camera holding framework of the support system;
Fig.6 is a view of the belly side holding brace of the support system;
Fig.7 is a view of the chest side holding prop of the support system
Fig.8 is a detailed view of the components of Fig. 2.
Fig.9 is a detailed view of the components of Fig.3.
Fig.10 is a detailed view of the components of Fig.4.
Fig. 11 is a detailed view of the components of Fig.5.
Fig.12 is a bigger view of the belly side holding brace of Fig.6.
Fig. 13 is a detailed view of the components of Fig.7.
Fig. 14 is a view of a working example of the support system with camera and
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accessories showed in dash line.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Fig. 1 illustrates the assembled support system, showing its components
interconnected
proportionally from each others.
Fig. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 are the six main portions of the support system for easy
explain in the
following descriptions.
Fig. 8 illustrates the components of the upper portion of the harness of the
support
system. This portion comprises a chest plate 81, a chest connection plate 82,
two strap
holding bars 83, four screws 84 and four screws 85. The chest plate 81 is cut
into a
V-shaped like piece as seen in the drawing which is making it better adapt to
the user's
neck and arms when it is disposed in front of his chest. The upper end of the
chest
connection plate 82 is secured on the middle position of the chest plate 81 by
four
screws 84. The upper position 86 of the chest connection plate 82 is bent
inwardly about
25 degrees, which makes the attaching chest plate 81 adapt to a human's chest
shape.
Along the down side of the chest connection plate 82 has a plurality of holes
which are in
the same size and aligned equally from each others, which are used to connect
to a belly
connection plate 92 (Fig.9) and hold in position the belly side holding brace
(Fig. 12) and
the chest side holding plate 131 (Fig.13) by fasteners 96 (Fig.9). The strap
holding bars
83, each is used to secure the upper end of a shoulder strap 101 (Fig. 10) on
one side of
the chest plate 81 by two screws 85.
Fig. 9 illustrates the components of the lower portion of the harness of the
support
system. This portion comprises a belly plate 91, a belly connection plate 92,
two strap
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holding bars 93, four screws 94 and four screws 95. The belly plate 91 is bent
inwardly to
adapt to the user's belly shape, when it is disposed in front of his belly.
The lower end of
the belly connection plate 92 is secured on the middle position of the belly
plate 91 by
four screws 94. The belly connection plate 92 is bent inwardly in a desired
degree in
position 97 to adapt to a human's belly shape. Along the upper side of the
belly
connection plate 92 has a plurality of holes which are in the same size and
aligned
equally from each others, which are used to connect to the chest connection
plate 82
and hold in position the belly side holding brace (Fig. 12) and the chest side
holding plate
131 by fasteners 96. The fasteners 96 are sets of screws and knurled nuts.
These
knurled nuts are at the same time used to hold a pivoted lever 112 (Fig. 11)
in position
easily and securely. The strap holding bars 93, each is used to secure the
lower end of
the shoulder strap 101 diagonally on one side of the belly plate 91 by two
screws 95.
These strap holding bars 93 are also securing a belly strap 102 (Fig.10) on
the belly
plate 91.
Fig. 10 illustrates the components of the three straps. Two shoulder straps
101 and one
belly strap 102 are used to secure the support system in front of the user.
The shoulder
strap 101 is in two pieces and connected together by a buckle 103. The upper
end of the
shoulder strap 101 is secured on one side of the chest plate 81 by the strap
holding bar
83 and the lower end of the shoulder strap 101 is secured on the opposite side
of the
belly plate 91 by the strap holding bar 93 which means, when the support
system is
mounted in front of the user, these two shoulder straps have to be crossover
on the
user's back for a firmly mount. The buckle 103 is better placed in the lower
position of the
shoulder strap 101 for easy use. The length of the shoulder strap 101 is
adjustable by a
cramp 104. The belly strap 102 is secured in front of the belly plate 91 by
the strap
holding bars 93, and wraps on the users waist by a buckle 105. The length of
the belly
strap 102 is adjustable by a cramp 106.
Fig. 11 illustrates the components of the center camera holding framework,
which
comprises a camera holding arm 111, a pivoted lever 112, a junction blockl 13,
two
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screws 114, a hinge 115 and a pivot pin 116. The junction block 113 is secured
in front of
the chest plate 81 by two screws 114. The camera holding arm 111 is a U-shaped
channel which is pivoted on the junction block 113 by the hinge 115. The upper
end of
the pivoted lever 112 is pivoted in the position 117 of the camera holding arm
111 by the
pivot pin 116. The lower end of the pivoted lever 112 has a recess, which is
used to
make it easily and securely disposed on one of the fasteners 96, in effect to
hold the
camera holding arm 111 up in a selective elevation. Along the lower end of the
camera
holding arm 111 has some holes which are reserved to hold a camera 141
(Fig.14) on it
with a screw (not shown). As desired, the user can also attach a tilt head
(not shown) on
this side of the camera holding arm 111 for use.
When the user disposes the pivoted lever 112 on one of the fasteners 96, it
will elevate
the camera holding arm 111 up in a forward position, where an attached camera
141 on
the camera holding arm is facing forward in a selective elevation for camera
recording.
At anytime, the user can lay down the pivoted lever 112 perpendicularly, which
lets the
camera holding arm 111 and the attached camera 141 suspended perpendicularly
in
front of the user's belly position for a compact and hands free carrying.
Fig. 12 illustrates the belly side holding brace in a close view. The belly
side holding
brace is a flat rectangular piece. One end of the side holding brace has at
least two holes
which are used to solidly secure itself along the belly connection plate 92 by
the
fasteners 96. The other end of the side holding brace has some holes which are
reserved to hold additional equipment such as a camera, a battery or a monitor
by a
screw (not show), where keep these equipment firmly in the user's left or
right belly side.
As desired, the user can also attach a quick release head (not show) on this
end before
holding such equipment.
Fig. 13 illustrates the components of the chest side holding prop. The chest
side holding
prop comprises a chest side holding plate 131, a holding block 133, an
elongated
member 132, three screws 134, tow thumb screws 135 and a thumb screw 136. One
end
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of the chest side holding plate 131 has at least two holes which are used to
solidly
secure itself along the chest connection plate 82 by the fasteners 96. The
other end of
the chest side holding plate 131 is fixing the holding block 133 by the screws
134. The
holding block allows the elongated member 132 inserts into it and be locked in
position
by the thumb screws 135. Both end of the elongated member 132 have holes or
thread
holes which are reserved to hold additional equipment such as a camera, a
battery, a
light, a flash, a reflector or an umbrella by the thumb screw 136 below or
over the user's
head securely for operation.
Fig.14 is a representative drawing, illustrating the use of the present
support system 140
which holds a camera 141, a battery 142 and an umbrella 143 in dashed lines.
In practice, the user can attach more than one belly side holding brace Fig.6
and chest
side holding prop Fig.7, or not even attach them at all. For example, if the
user has only
one heavy camera, he can detach the belly side holding brace Fig-6 and the
chest side
holding prop Fig.7 for a more compact and lightweight practice; if he has to
carry two
cameras and one battery, he can attach two belly side holding braces Fig.6 on
the
support system, where he can carry all his equipment firmly for a easy work.
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Representative Drawing