Trail Camera Mount With Curved Guide and Ball-Socket Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing camera mounts for wildlife observation are limited by the angle of the supporting structure, are complex, costly, and conspicuous, restricting the camera's orientation and making them difficult to assemble and disassemble.
Innovation Solution
A camera mount with a base member and camera support featuring a curved guide surface and a spring mechanism, along with a ball-and-socket system with a minority spherical surface, allowing for multiple orientations and easy assembly/disassembly, while being compact and less conspicuous.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a traditional camera mount is used, then the camera can be secured to the supporting structure, but the mount restricts the camera's orientation and is limited by the angle of the supporting structure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a ball-and-socket joint mechanism where a spherical ball rotates within a socket to enable the camera support to achieve multiple orientations and angles relative to the supporting structure. This spherical geometry allows the camera to be positioned at various angles without being restricted by the supporting structure's orientation, directly resolving the technical contradiction between adaptability and device complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a complex camera mount is used to provide multiple orientations, then the camera's versatility is improved, but the mount becomes more difficult to assemble and disassemble
Solution Approach 1:
The camera mount is divided into distinct modular components including a base member, camera support, ball, and socket. This segmentation allows each component to be independently manufactured and assembled, simplifying the overall assembly and disassembly process while maintaining the ball-and-socket mechanism's versatility for multiple camera orientations.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a compact camera mount is used to hug the profile of the tree, then the mount becomes less conspicuous to wildlife, but the mount's structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The ball is nested within the socket, creating a compact configuration that allows the camera mount to closely follow the profile of the supporting structure such as a tree. This nesting arrangement reduces the overall thickness and bulk of the mount, making it less conspicuous to wildlife while the internal ball-and-socket mechanism maintains structural functionality.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables securement of cameras to various angles and orientations without restricting the supporting structure's angle, facilitating easy assembly and disassembly, and reducing the mount's thickness to blend with the environment, making it less noticeable to wildlife.
Implementation Method 1
a spring resiliently biasing the guide abutting surface against the curved guide surface to releasably retain the camera support at one of a plurality of different positions along the curved guide surface
Implementation Method 2
the ball or the portion of the ball rotates within the socket to allow a camera support to be positioned at a selected one of a plurality of available positions and orientations
Data Source
AI summary
A camera mount may include a base member having a rear face to face a support structure and a front face, the front face a curved guide surface, a camera support having a rear face facing the front face of the base member, the rear face of the camera support comprising a guide abutting surface and a retainer resiliently biasing the guide abutting surface against the curved guide surface to releasably retain the camera support at one of a plurality of different positions along the curved guide surface and at one of a plurality of different available orientations relative to the support structure.