Speaking of Patents...
Apr 15, 2021 21:45:23 GMT
on Apr 15, 2021 21:45:23 GMT
Last Edit: Apr 15, 2021 21:50:14 GMT by lumiworx
I ran across this quite be accident, and there is something curious about it that doesn't quite fit, like a square peg in a round hole. Below is the notice page from the US Patent Office, and it documents a transfer of the underlying design patent for a cine camera.
It covers the transfer of a design patent on April 5th, 1960 for the physical design of a camera previously registered to Yoshimasa Ushiyama (Founder - and chairman of the current/1960 - Yashica Optical Co. LTD), and assigns it to Yashima Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, Japan. That name is better known as "Yashima Optical", and it started life as a division of Yashica, and was run by Yoshimasa Ushiyama's brother.
The odd part comes about with the production of the particular camera it shows, the dates it was transfered, along with the purpose for (or lack of) the transfer to Yashima. For the entirety of the company, Yashima produced one complete camera in the post-TLR period that I'm aware of - a 35mm SLR that was rebranded under a couple of different names. The Yashima Digital 750 (an AE programed, M42 film camera) apparently wasn't a success by any measure, so it's a rarity and usually higher priced. There's one up for sale at the moment for $700 USD under the Osanon label, with one of two of it's kit lenses. It is unique in a couple of areas, but it has it's drawbacks too.
The cine camera in the transfer seems to be the 1958 Yashica 8T-2 8mm Movie Camera, and that would mean that it was already 2 years into production before the noted transfer date. With the Digital 750 being the one and only Yashima branded camera to see the green light of production, a 2 year old 8mm Cine model design seems illogical... as there's certainly no need to transfer the patent for them to be it's manufacturer. A quick search shows one non-ebay auction that links to a Yashima 8mm camera listing, but the actual camera shown was the Yashica branded 8-T2 camera, and not a Yashima. There's no other search results to support the idea that one was ever made under anything other than the Yashica name.
The USPO notice is just a single set of limited facts, with no reasons or explanations on why the transfer occured, but it is another piece of a complex puzzle.
It covers the transfer of a design patent on April 5th, 1960 for the physical design of a camera previously registered to Yoshimasa Ushiyama (Founder - and chairman of the current/1960 - Yashica Optical Co. LTD), and assigns it to Yashima Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, Japan. That name is better known as "Yashima Optical", and it started life as a division of Yashica, and was run by Yoshimasa Ushiyama's brother.
The odd part comes about with the production of the particular camera it shows, the dates it was transfered, along with the purpose for (or lack of) the transfer to Yashima. For the entirety of the company, Yashima produced one complete camera in the post-TLR period that I'm aware of - a 35mm SLR that was rebranded under a couple of different names. The Yashima Digital 750 (an AE programed, M42 film camera) apparently wasn't a success by any measure, so it's a rarity and usually higher priced. There's one up for sale at the moment for $700 USD under the Osanon label, with one of two of it's kit lenses. It is unique in a couple of areas, but it has it's drawbacks too.
The cine camera in the transfer seems to be the 1958 Yashica 8T-2 8mm Movie Camera, and that would mean that it was already 2 years into production before the noted transfer date. With the Digital 750 being the one and only Yashima branded camera to see the green light of production, a 2 year old 8mm Cine model design seems illogical... as there's certainly no need to transfer the patent for them to be it's manufacturer. A quick search shows one non-ebay auction that links to a Yashima 8mm camera listing, but the actual camera shown was the Yashica branded 8-T2 camera, and not a Yashima. There's no other search results to support the idea that one was ever made under anything other than the Yashica name.
The USPO notice is just a single set of limited facts, with no reasons or explanations on why the transfer occured, but it is another piece of a complex puzzle.