Title: Electric shutter means with battery checking circuit

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Abstract: An electric shutter means which comprises a voltage checking circuit connected to an exposure time control circuit including an electromagnet for controlling the time of closing shutter blades so that, when the voltage of a power source battery for said exposure time control circuit has dropped to be below a predetermined level, the passage of electricity to said electromagnet may be forcibly interrupted by said voltage checking circuit. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION a. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to electric shutter means, and more particularly to an electric circuit to be applied to an electric shutter arranged so that, when the power source voltage has dropped to be below a predetermined level, the exposure time may be mechanically controlled with a specific shutter speed. B. Description of the Prior Art A camera equipped with an electric shutter is generally provided with a voltage checking means. An electric shutter of a system wherein, when the voltage of a power source battery has dropped to be below a predetermined level and an electromagnet to control the time of closing shutter blades is no longer well energized, the exposure time will be automatically switched to be mechanically controlled with a specific shutter speed has been suggested, for example, by U.S. Pat. No. 3,777,646 and others. However, in the electric shutter of this system, the judgement of whether the exposure time is to be controlled by an electronic means or to be controlled by a mechanical means depends on whether the attraction of the electromagnet is sufficient or not, therefore the switching time is unstable and, as a result, there have been defects that, though the voltage checking means indicates that the power source voltage has dropped to be below a predetermined level, the exposure time will not be switched to be controlled by the mechanical means and that, though the voltage checking means indicates that the power source voltage is above the predetermined level, the exposure time will be controlled with a specific shutter speed by the mechanical means. This fact is likely to give an unnecessary confusion to the photographer and to lead the photographing to a failure. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, a primary object of the present invention is to provide an electric shutter means arranged so that, when a voltage checking means indicates that the voltage of a power source battery has dropped to be below a predetermined value, the exposure time may be positively switched to be controlled at a specific shutter speed by a mechanical means. Another object of the present invention is to provide an electric shutter means made so that a voltage checking means may accurately check the voltage of a power source battery as it is while being used. According to the present invention, the above mentioned objects can be attained by connecting a voltage checking circuit with an exposure time control circuit and pre-setting the check level of the voltage checking circuit so as to be somewhat higher than the voltage level of the limit at which an electromagnet can operate properly so that, when the voltage of a power source battery has come to be below the above mentioned check level, the passage of electricity to the above mentioned electromagnet may be forcibly interrupted by a signal issued from said voltage checking circuit .


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