JPH0226312B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a disc case of a type that is attached to a disc playback device together with a disc when playing a disc stored therein.

[Prior art]

Conventionally, similar disk cases of this type include floppy disk cases (cartridges) used in various office automation equipment, but these cases usually do not leave the disk bare or in the center of the disk. It is constructed of hard plastic so that it is enclosed with the hub attached and is always handled together with the disk. That is, in these cases, the disk and the case are essentially inseparable, and cannot be used as a general-purpose disk case that is constructed completely independently of the disk.

By the way, in the field of digital audio, which has seen remarkable progress in recent years, compact discs that use a specific signal recording and playback method are being provided.
Conventional compact disc players have adopted a format in which the disc is used by being attached to the equipment in a naked state, and there has not yet been one in which the disc is used by being housed in a disc case.

This is due to the fact that sufficient consideration has been given to the above-mentioned conventional disk usage format, and a disk case with a configuration suitable for this type of usage has not been provided.

One of the reasons for this is that when the disk is attached to the device together with the disk case, the internal disk cannot be properly fixed to the turntable on the device side.
This is also because it is difficult to realize a structure that allows these to rotate freely relative to the disk case without any trouble by using only the disk case side.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to provide a general-purpose disk case that can be used for all types of disks, including compact disks, and that can be used by attaching each replaceably stored disk to a device. It is in.

[Structure of the invention]

The present invention comprises an openable and closable case in which a disc can be exchanged and stored, and a sub-turntable disposed within the case, and a main turntable of a device for playing discs is placed in the case. An insertion hole for inserting a table is formed, and the sub-turntable is arranged in the insertion hole so as to be rotatable and prevented from falling, and the sub-turntable is placed on the inner surface of the case with a disk inside the case. The present invention is characterized in that it has a disc holding portion that holds the disc when inserted, and that the outer surface of the case can be connected to the main turntable.

In one aspect of the invention, a clamping plate that clamps the disc in cooperation with the sub-turntable is disposed within the case. Further, a thrust spring is disposed within the case to apply a clamping force acting on the clamping plate to clamp the disc between the clamping plate and the sub-turntable. Furthermore, a steel ball that rotatably supports a sub-turntable, a clamping plate, and a thrust spring is disposed within the case.

〔Example〕

This embodiment is an example in which the present invention is applied to a compact disk case.

1 to 6 are diagrams showing the configuration of a disk case A according to the present invention, and FIGS.
The figure shows an example of a device B (compact disc player) that plays a disc stored in a disc case A.

First, the configuration of the disk case A shown in FIGS. 1 to 6 will be explained. The disk case A stores a disk (compact disk) 31, and connects an upper case 32 and a lower case 33 so that they can be opened and closed. However, a member for rotatably supporting the disk 31 is arranged inside the disk. The upper case 32 has front and rear walls 35, 36 and left and right side walls 3 on the lower surface of the periphery of the rectangular top plate 34.
7 and 38, and further a hole 39 is formed in the center of the top plate portion 34. In this case, the rear wall section 36 has a longitudinal width wider than the other wall sections, and a downward protrusion dimension that is slightly larger than the other wall sections. Details of the portion of the top plate portion 34 where the holes 39 are formed are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. As shown in these figures, the lower surface of the portion of the top plate portion 34 where the hole 39 is formed bulges downward, and the hole 39
A hole 39a that opens upward, and a hole 39a that opens upward.
It consists of a hole 39b having a slightly smaller diameter and a hole 39c having a slightly smaller diameter than the hole 39b and penetrating in the vertical direction. In addition, in the following explanation,
The part where the hole 39b is formed is attached to the mounting wall 4.
3. The portion in which the hole 39c is formed is referred to as an engagement wall portion 44. Furthermore, connecting holes 45 are formed on both left and right side surfaces of the rear wall portion 36, and the front wall portion 36 has connection holes 45, respectively.
Engagement holes 4 are provided on each side of the side wall portions 37 and 38 near 5.
6 is formed.

The lower case 33 has left and right side walls 48 and 49 formed on the upper surface of the left and right edges of a rectangular bottom plate 47, and an insertion hole 50 for a turntable of the device in the center of the bottom plate 47. Introduction hole 51
It is formed by forming. In this case, the side wall 4
The rear end portions of 8 and 49 protrude rearward by a predetermined distance from the rear end surface of the bottom plate portion 47 . Here, the dimensions between the left and right side walls 48 and 49 are such that the upper case 32 can be accommodated as shown in FIG.
The lengths of 8 and 49 in the front-rear direction are equal to the length of the upper case 32 in the front-rear direction. The insertion hole 50 of the bottom plate part 47 is inserted into the bottom plate part 47 as shown in FIGS.
It consists of a tapered portion 50a whose diameter gradually decreases from the top surface downward, and a same-diameter portion 50b of a very small length that continues from this tapered portion. Furthermore, support shafts 52 projecting inward are formed on the inner surfaces of the rear ends of the side walls 48 and 49, respectively, and engagement protrusions 53 are formed on the inner surfaces of the front ends.

The upper case 32 and the lower case 33 are arranged such that the upper case 32 is located within the left and right side walls 48 and 49 of the lower case 33, and the left and right support shafts 52 of the lower case 33 are connected to the left and right support shafts 52 of the upper case 32. Connection hole 45
The cases 32 and 33 are connected to each other by being engaged with each other, and these cases 32 and 33 can be opened and closed about the support shaft 52 as the center of rotation. Here, case 32,
33, the internal space of the upper case 32 is closed by the bottom plate portion 47 of the lower case 33, as shown in FIG. Further, at this time, the engagement protrusion 53 of the lower case 33 engages with the engagement hole 46 of the upper case 32, so that these cases 32 and 33 will not be opened inadvertently.

A clamping plate 55, which is one member for clamping the disk 31, is attached to the upper case 32. The clamping plate 55 is formed into a disk shape, and as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the center portion of the main wall portion 55a has an engaging portion 5 that bulges downward.
6. The peripheral edge of the main wall portion 55a is formed with an annular protruding wall portion 57 that protrudes upward and an annular clamping wall portion 58 that protrudes downward.
A protruding portion 59 is formed on the upper surface of the central portion (the central portion of the entire clamping plate 55), and an engaging wall portion 60 that protrudes outward in the radial direction of the clamping plate 55 is formed on the outer periphery of the protruding wall portion 57. is formed, and the outer peripheral portion of the lower surface of the engaging portion 56 is a tapered surface 61. This clamping plate 55 connects its engagement wall 60 to the upper case 32.
When the hole 3 is engaged with the upper surface of the engagement wall portion 44 of the
9 is disposed within the hole 39c.

A thrust spring 65 is attached to the upper surface of the clamping plate 55. The thrust spring 65 is made of a plate made of spring steel and formed into a cross shape.
The tip of each protrusion 66 is slightly bent downward and a hole 67 is formed in the center. This thrust spring 65 has a protrusion 66
is attached to the upper surface of the main wall portion 55a of the clamping plate 55 by engaging the tip end thereof with the inner surface of the protruding wall portion 57.

A steel ball 68 is placed in the hole 67 of the thrust spring 65, and the steel ball 68 is pressed downward by a thrust receiving plate 69 fixed to the upper case 32. In this case, a short cylindrical holding recess 70 is formed on the lower surface of the receiving plate 69, and the lower surface of this holding recess 70 is chamfered in a tapered shape. The steel ball 68 is held within this holding recess 70. Further, the receiving plate 69 is a circular plate body, and is inserted into the hole 39a of the hole 39 of the upper case 32, and its peripheral edge is attached to the upper case 39 by adhesive means.
It is fixed to 2.

Based on the above structure, the clamping plate 55 cannot be removed from the hole 39. This clamping plate 55 is
It is always urged downward by the thrust spring 65, and in a normal state, the engagement wall 60 is in engagement with the upper surface of the engagement wall 44 of the upper case 32, as shown in FIG. Further, when the disk case A is loaded into the device as described later, the clamping plate 55 is pushed relatively upward by the turntable 103 as shown in FIG. It moves upward while being sandwiched between it and the table 73, and the engagement wall portion 60 is placed in a state separated from the engagement wall portion 44. In this state, the clamping plate 55 is attached to the thrust spring 65.
Both can rotate around the steel ball 68 that abuts the lower surface of the holding recess 70 of the receiving plate 69.

Further, a sub-turntable 73 is arranged within the insertion hole 50 of the lower case 33. The sub-turntable 73 is a disc-shaped member on which the disc 31 is mounted, and is inserted into the insertion hole 50 of the lower case 33.
It also serves as a lid for closing. The diameter of the main wall 73a of the sub-turntable 73 is approximately the same as the diameter of the main wall 55a of the clamping plate 55. The main wall 73a has an annular disk mounting wall 74 formed at the center of its upper surface that projects upward, a clamping wall 75 that projects upward at the periphery of its upper surface, and a clamping wall 75 that extends downward from its lower surface. An annular groove 77 having a tapered surface 76 whose diameter increases is formed. The lower portion of the outer peripheral surface of the main wall portion 73a is a tapered surface 78 whose diameter decreases downward. The outer diameter of the disk mounting wall portion 74 is such that it can be inserted into the center hole of the disk 31 without wobbling, and the inner surface is such that the tapered surface 61 of the engaging portion 56 of the clamping plate 55 can be loosely fitted. It has a tapered surface 79. This disk mounting wall portion 74 is connected to the clamping wall portion 75.
Together, they constitute a disk holding section. The sub-turntable 73 having such a shape is normally inserted into the hole 50 of the lower case 33 in a state where it is prevented from falling by engaging the tapered surface 78 with the tapered surface 50a as shown in FIG. It is located.

Next, the configuration of the device B shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 will be described. In the figures, reference numeral 100 is an exterior case of the device, and a chassis 101 is disposed inside this exterior case 100. A motor 102 is fixed to the chassis 101.
A turntable 103 is fixed to the rotating shaft of No. 2. The turntable 103 is formed into a disk shape, and the sub-turntable 73 of the disk case A is mounted on the top surface of the turntable 103 as shown in FIG.
An annular protrusion 105 is formed having a tapered surface 104 that can engage with a groove 76 formed on the lower surface. Further, on the upper surface of the chassis 101, the disk case A is inserted from the outside of the outer case 100 into the inside.
On the other hand, a tray 106 for transferring from the inside to the outside is supported, and a clamper 107 for urging the disk case A transferred inside the outer case 100 onto the turntable 103 is provided. The tray 106 has a disk mounting portion 108 on its upper surface, and the outer case 1 shown in solid line in FIG.
It is possible to move in the directions of arrows A and B between the position where it is housed in the case 100 and the position where it is pulled out through an opening formed in the exterior case 100, which is indicated by a two-dot chain line in the figure. Clamper 107
is the disk case A as shown by the solid line in Figure 8.
It is designed to be able to rotate in directions of arrows C and D about a fulcrum 110 between a position where it is fixed to the turntable 103 and a raised position shown by a two-dot chain line in the figure.

The above tray 106 and clamper 107 are
It is configured to move between the above two positions in synchronization with each other by a drive mechanism (not shown). Further, the tray 106 includes a disk mounting section 10.
8 is normally raised by a predetermined dimension.
A lifting mechanism (not shown) is provided that lowers the turntable 103 onto the turntable 103 only when the turntable 103 is moved above the turntable 103. Furthermore, an optical head 111 is attached to the chassis 101 for reading signals recorded on the disk.

Note that the instructions for operating the equipment such as the operation of the tray 106, the clamper 107, and the play operation are as follows:
This is done by operating an operation button (not shown).

Next, a method of handling the above-mentioned disk case A and a method of reproducing the disks stored in the disk case A will be explained.

First, to explain how to handle the disk case A, the disk 31 is stored in the upper case 32 and the lower case 33.
These cases 32 and 33 are rotated about the support shaft 52 and expanded by gripping them separately. And, it is arranged in the insertion hole 50 of the lower case 33. The disk 31 is mounted on the upper surface of the sub-turntable 73. That is, the disk mounting wall portion 74 of the sub-turntable 73 is relatively inserted into the center hole of the disk 31. And case 3
2 and 33 are rotated about the support shaft 52 to close these cases 32 and 33 as shown in FIG. Here, the cases 32 and 33 are locked in a closed state by the engagement between the engagement protrusion 53 of the case 33 and the engagement hole 46 of the case 32.

The disk 31 stored in the disk case A as described above is attached to the disk mounting wall 74 of the sub-turntable 73 as shown in FIG. It is held between the holding plate 55 and the holding wall 58 . That is, since the clamping plate 55 attached to the upper case 32 is pressed downward by the thrust spring 65, its clamping wall 58 presses the disc against the clamping wall 75 of the sub-turntable 73, thereby pushing the disc against the clamping wall 75 of the sub-turntable 73. Then, the tapered surface 78 of the sub-turntable 73 is pressed against the tapered portion 50a of the lower case 33, and cooperates with the sub-turntable 73 to clamp the disk 31 at that position. In this case, when the holding plate 55 presses the disk 31 downward, the engaging portion 56 is loosely fitted into the inside of the disk mounting wall portion 74 of the sub-turntable 73. Here, the outer circumferential surface of the engaging portion 56 and the inner surface of the disk mounting wall portion 74 are tapered surfaces 61 and 7, respectively.
9, even if the centers of the clamping plate 55 and the sub-turntable 73 are misaligned, the tapered surfaces 61 and 79 guide each other and the clamping plate 55
Centering between the sub-turntable 73 and the sub-turntable 73 is performed.

As described above, each part of the disk case A that houses the disk 31 covers substantially the entire outside of the disk 31, so that the disk 31 can be protected from external forces, temperature, dust, etc. At this time, in particular, the sub-turntable 73 is inserted into the insertion hole 5 of the lower case 33.
0 to ensure the above protection. Furthermore, since the disc 31 is held between the holding plate 55 and the sub-turntable 73,
The disk 31 can be held without wobbling.

In addition, in order to take out the disk 31 from the disk case A in which the disk 31 is stored as described above, the upper case 32 and the lower case 3 are removed in the reverse order.
3 and then remove the disc 31 from the sub-turntable 73.

Next, a method for reproducing the disc 31 will be explained. First, operate the tray drawer operation button of device B to move the tray 106 in the direction of arrow A to expose the disk mounting portion 108 of this tray 106 to the outside of the outer case 100. Place the disk case A containing the disk 31 as described above. Then, operate the tray storage operation button to move the tray 106 to arrow B.
direction so that the disk case A reaches above the turntable 103.

Here, the clamper 107 rotates in the direction of arrow C from the position shown by the two-dot chain line in conjunction with the movement of the tray 106, and when the movement of the tray 106 stops and the disk case A is positioned above the turntable 103. Then press this disk case A onto the turntable 103.

At this time, the disk case A is positioned so that the center of the insertion hole 50 of the lower case 33 coincides with the center of the turntable 103, as shown in FIG. 5, and is pressed downward by the clamper 107. As a result, the turntable 103 is relatively inserted into the insertion hole 50. At this time, turntable 10
3 is in contact with the lower surface of the sub-turntable 73 that closes the insertion hole 50, and the thrust spring 65
The sub-turntable 73, disk 31, and clamping plate 55 are relatively raised by a certain amount against the urging force of. When the turntable 103 contacts the sub-turntable 73, the turntable 103
The annular protrusion 105 of the sub-turntable 73 engages with the groove 77 of the sub-turntable 73, and at this time, the tapered surface 104 guides the tapered surface 76, so that the turntable 1
Centering of the sub-turntable 73 with respect to 03,
That is, centering of the disk 31 is performed. Thus, disk case A is sub turntable 73.
is held between the clamper 107 and the turntable 103 in a state where it is in contact with the turntable 103. In this state, the engagement wall portion 60 of the clamping plate 55 and the sub-turntable 7
The tapered surfaces 78 of No. 3 are located a predetermined distance above the engagement wall portion 44 of the upper case 32 and the tapered portion 50a of the lower case 33, respectively. Further, the clamping plate 55 and the sub-turntable 73 clamp the disk with a strong force because the urging force of the thrust spring 65 is increased.

When the play button is operated after the disk 31 and disk case A are loaded into the device body B as described above, the motor 102 is started and the turntable 103 is rotated.
rotates together with the sub-turntable 73, the clamping plate 55, the thrust spring 65, and the steel ball 68, and the optical head 111 irradiates the disk 31 with a laser beam through the laser beam introduction hole 51, and detects the reflected light again. The signal recorded on the disc 31 is read and the disc 31 is reproduced.

As described above, according to the above-mentioned disk case A, when the disk 31 is inserted into the inside and loaded into the device B, the disk 31 is held by the sub-turntable 73 and the clamping plate 55, and these are held together as a whole. Turntable 103 in a rotatable state as
As a result, the disk 31 can be reliably fixed to the turntable 103 side, and rotation can be transmitted. Furthermore, since the rotational frictional resistance of the steel balls 68 against the upper case 32 is extremely small, each member holding the disk 31 can be rotated smoothly. Therefore,
The disc 31 can be played back smoothly.

In addition to the configuration of the above embodiment, if the laser introduction hole 51 of the lower case 33 is configured to be covered with a transparent plate, it is possible to more reliably prevent dust from entering the case. Can be done.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, since the sub-turntable that holds the disc is arranged in the case and the sub-turntable is connected to the turntable of the device, the sub-turntable can hold the disc. can be accurately fixed to the turntable side and configured to transmit rotational force.
Therefore, no matter what type of disk the target disk is, it is possible to easily realize a disk playback device in which the disk is loaded into the disk case without any processing required on the disk itself.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 6 are views showing the structure of a disk case A shown as an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the disk case A with its back side facing up, and FIG. is an exploded perspective view of disk case A, Figure 3 is a perspective view of disk case A with the back side of the upper case facing up, and Figure 4 is a main part of disk case A containing disks (Figure 1 - line Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of the main part (Fig. 1 - line view part) when the disk case containing the disk is loaded in the normal position of the device (playable position); Figure 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the laser beam introduction hole (viewed from the line in Figure 1) when the disk case is in the same state as Figure 5, and Figures 7 and 8 are when disk case A is loaded. FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of the main parts of the device B, and FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line of FIG. 7. A...Disk case, B...Equipment, 31...
Disk, 32... Upper case, 33... Lower case, 50... Insertion hole, 55... Holding plate, 65...
...Thrust spring, 68...Steel ball, 73...Sub turntable, 74...Disc mounting wall portion (disc holding portion), 75...Pinching wall portion (disc holding portion).

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. The present invention comprises an openable and closable case in which a disc is exchangeably stored, and a sub-turntable disposed within this case, and the case includes a main turntable of a device for playing discs. An insertion hole for inserting the table is formed, and the sub-turntable is placed in the insertion hole so as to be rotatable and prevented from falling off, and a disk is inserted into the case on the inner surface of the case. A disc case characterized in that it has a disc holding part for holding the disc, and the outer surface of the case is configured to be connectable to the main turntable. 2. The disc case according to claim 1, wherein a clamping plate is disposed within the case to clamp the disc in cooperation with the sub-turntable. 3. A patent characterized in that a thrust spring is disposed in the case and acts on the clamping plate to apply a clamping force to clamp the disc between the clamping plate and the sub-turntable. A disk case according to claim 2. 4. The disk case according to claim 3, wherein a steel ball is disposed within the case to rotatably support the sub-turntable, the clamping plate, and the thrust spring.