Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/01/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On January 16, 2001, Klaus Dieter Schaefer and Walter Bletz, both of Braunfels, Germany, were granted a patent for "Manually operable flashlight unit" which was assigned to Leica Camera AG. The patent seems to be directed to the manner of communication between the flash and the camera. The points of novelty seem to be a "bidirectional information exchange contact" on the flash and a mated contact and chassis ground on the camera. If a camera does not have this (say SF-20 on M6 Classic?) then the flash operates as a manual unit. If the mating contacts are present, (say SF-20 on M6 TTL?) then the unit and camera exchange information. In any event, I will read the patent more closely this weekend and report more next week. The history of Leica Camera and patents in recent years is not that terrific. From 1996 to the present, excluding design patents, they have only 7. Other divisions of Leica did better; Leica as a whole received 144 patents, including design patents (the latter being for industrial design, such as the shape of the R8). The Leica Camera utility patents: 6,175,695 Manually operable flashlight unit 6,101,046 Cylindrical mount for optical components of a variable-power objective 6,067,194 Image stabilizing instrument 5,907,727 Device for exposure metering 5,907,138 Multi-step pushbutton switch for electronic devices 5,845,163 Device for securing the image position for multiple exposure of film 5,630,254 Suspension lug and locking element for a carrying strap During the same period, Nikon was granted 2,242 patents, Canon 9,269, Konica 801, Minolta 1,380, and Fuji Photo 2,720. On the other hand, Hasselblad brought up the rear with 4 utility and 4 design patents. For Canon, that represents an average of 7 patents granted PER DAY, based on the patent office being open about 250 days a year (5 days per week x 52 weeks - 10 holidays). Seven patents per day? That is a staggering number. Only IBM has more on average (NEC is also in that elite group). If anyone would like a copy of the pdf file, let me know. The text can be read (and images viewed with AlternaTIFF plug-in) at http://164.195.100.11/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1='6175695'.WKU.&OS=PN/6175695&RS=PN/6175695 Regards. Robert Rose