This invention relates to a hand-held support for a sighting means and in particular for a sighting means which forms part of an optical apparatus or which is alligned with an optical apparatus additionally supported on the hand-held support.

Hand-held supports for optical apparatuses which include a sighting means are known which aim to reduce the level of fatigue felt by the user of the apparatus when the user holds the apparatus at eye level for long periods of time. One such support is described in UK Patent No 2,173.016 and comprises mounting means on which the optical apparatus is supported, two arms that extend downwards from the mounting means each arm having a handle at the end of the arm distant from the mounting means and a neck strap the ends of which are connected to respective handles. In use a user holds the handles at waist level and the entire weight of the apparatus is taken by the neck strap. Such supports also aim to improve the steadiness with which the optical apparatus can be held at eye level.

Although such supports do improve the steadiness to some extent, they are not generally steady enough to replace a tripod in situations where it is necessary to focus the optical apparatus accurately on a single spot for a relatively long period of time, for example, when a long exposure time is required to take a photograph. Also they are generally not ideally suited to situations where it is desirable to pan the optical apparatus accurately across a field of view in order to keep a moving object at the same position within its sights.

The present invention seeks to overcome at least some of the aforementioned disadvantages by providing a hand-held support for a sighting means that can be successfully used to hold a sighting means at eye level for a long period of time with increased steadiness.

According to the present invention there is provided a hand-held support for a sighting means with an eyepiece, comprising a mounting means upon which the sighting means is rigidly supported, a p'air of handles which extend from the mounting means in a predominantly downwards direction, restraining means extending rearwardly from the mounting means and adapted in use to extend around the upper part of a user's body to restrain the mounting means against forward motion in such a manner that when forwards and upwards pressure is applied to the handles by the user's hands to lift the sighting means to eye level the support pivots about the point or region of contact between the user and the restraining means to urge the eyepiece of the sighting means against the user's eye.

In the present invention by employing a hand-held support in which there are three points of support (the two handles and the restraining means) between the hand-held support and the user and where the points of support are arranged in a triangle which is substantially symmetrical about the users head, the stability with which the sighting means can be held can be increased substantially.

Preferably there are one or more articulations between the restraining means and the mounting means arranged so that when forwards and upwards pressure is applied to the handles by the user's hands to lift the sighting means to eye level the mounting means pivots about the one or more articulations as well as the point or region of contact between the user and the restraining means to urge the eyepiece against the user's eye.

The one or more articulations allows the support to be positioned so that in use the downwardly extending handles are in a position which gives the user the option of resting his/her upper arms against his/her body. Therefore the support according to the present invention can be held rigidly with respect to the user because the upper arms can be braced against the user's body and the lower arms can to a certain extent be braced against the handles because of the restraining means. This

arrangement also transfers much of the weight of the support and the sighting means to the user's body away from the arms, thus reducing fatigue. A further advantage of the present invention is that it is easily portable because the restraining means can allow the support to hang against the user's chest or to be tucked under one of the user's arms when it is not in use.

Preferably the restraining means comprises a flexible neck strap and the articulations are formed by the attachment of the two ends of the neck strap to the mounting means so that the mounting means is pivotable about an axis which goes through the points of attachment between the said two ends and the mounting means. More preferably the neck strap is adjustable so that the length of the neck strap can be altered to fit each user, ie. so that the eyepiece of the sighting means will come to rest over the user's eye when the support is in a stable position that feels comfortable to the user.

The sighting means may be part of an optical apparatus, for example, the sighting means of a camera or a video camera and so the optical apparatus is mounted on the mounting means. Alternatively the hand-held support may have an optical apparatus mounted on the mounting means in addition to a sighting means, with the optical axes of the optical apparatus and the sighting means substantially alligned. The sighting means may have one eyepiece or two eyepieces, ie. one for each eye.

Preferably the sighting means and if appropriate the optical apparatus are operated by controls located on at least one of the handles so that the user can maintain a stable grip on the sighting means and/or apparatus whilst operating it.

Preferably the eye-piece of the sighting means has a surround which is resilient in the direction of the line of sight so that the position of the eye can be adjusted to the required eye relief by the pressure exerted by the user's eye socket against the surround when the handles

are pushed forwards by the user. This is advantageous because it provides a comfortable fit between the eyepiece and the user at the position where the user sees the optimum field of view. More preferably the surround is made from a cylinder of an elastically deformable material configured as a concertina.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a front view of a first embodiment of the hand-held support according to the present invention on which a sighting means is mounted.

Figure 2 is a side-view of a user holding a sighting means mounted on a support similar to the one shown in Figure 1 at eye level.

Figure 3 s a front view of a second embodiment of a hand-held support according to the present invention on which a camera is mounted.

The hand-held support shown in Figures 1 and 2 comprises a platform 2 and a pair of handles 4 which extend vertically downwards from opposite ends of the platform 2. The length of the platform 2 is such that the handles 4 are a shoulder width apart. A sighting means 6 is mounted securely on the platform 2. The sighting means 6 could be replaced by other types of optical apparatuses which incorporate eyepieces, for example, cameras, video cameras, telescopes, binoculars or thermal imagers. Control buttons 8 for operating the sighting means 6 are located on the handles 4. The eye-piece 10 of the sighting means 6 has a surround made of a concertina of an elastically deformable material which is resilient in the direction of the line of sight of the sighting means 6 but does not tend to droop. An eye pad 11 which is designed to fit comfortably over a user's eye is located at the end of the eye-piece 10 distant from the sighting means 6. The ends of an adjustable strap 12 are attached to opposite ends of the platform 2 with pins 14 so that the support is pivotable about an axis 16 when it is in use. The length of the strap 12

can be adjusted, for example, by using the buckle 13 (see Figure 3)-

In use, the hand-held support is lifted up to eye level from a position where it rests against the user's chest by the user pushing the handles away from him/herself in a forwards and upwards direction (as indicated by the arrow 18) with the neck strap 12 being tight around his/her neck. The platform 2 and thus the whole support pivots about the back of the user's neck (arrow 24) and the horizontal axis 16 (arrow 26) and the eyepad 11 moves towards the user's eye. As the support continues to pivot until the eyepad 11 comes to rest over the user's eye and the surround of the eyepiece 10 deforms until the user's eye is located at the required eye relief. The user holds the support in this position while using the sighting means 6.

Referring now to Figure 3. the hand-held support shown therein has a sighting means 6 and a camera 22 rigidly mounted side-by-side with their optical axes alligned. The eye-piece of 10 the sighting means 6 extends from the sighting means upwards at a small angle to the horizontal. In. use the support shown in Figure 3 acts in the same way as the support shown in Figure 1.