EP1153391A1

EP1153391A1 - Recording and/or reproducing device having a chassis with a high torsional resistance

Info

Publication number: EP1153391A1
Application number: EP00971349A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Henricus Ruyten; Herbert Peller; Harald BÜRBAUMER
Original assignee: Hewlett Packard Ltd; Jabil Circuit Cayman LP; Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV
Current assignee: Hewlett Packard Ltd; Jabil Circuit Cayman LP
Priority date: 1999-10-25
Filing date: 2000-10-06
Publication date: 2001-11-14
Also published as: JP2003513400A; WO2001031653A1; CN1327594A

Abstract

A chassis (9) for a recording and/or reproducing device has one main wall (10) and four additional walls (11, 12, 13, 14) which are fixedly connected to the main wall (10), a first additional wall (11) and preferably the two additional walls (12, 13) adjoining the first additional wall (11) are fixedly connected to one another in the area of a respective border zone (16, 17), and the first additional wall (11) and the additional walls (12, 13) adjoining the first additional wall (11) are, in addition, fixedly connected to one another with the aid of an auxiliary wall (30) in a connecting zone (28, 29) situated at a distance from the main wall (10), as a result of which a chassis (9) having a high torsional resistance is obtained.

Description

Recording and/or reproducing device having a chassis with a high torsional resistance

The invention relates to a recording and/or reproducing device having a chassis to which various mechanical components of the device are connected.

The invention further relates to a chassis for a recording and/or reproducing device, to which chassis various mechanical components of the device can be connected.

Such a recording and/or reproducing device and such a chassis are commercially available in various versions and are consequently known.

In the present context reference may be made to, for example, the patent document US 5,161,239 A, which discloses a recording and/or reproducing apparatus and a chassis for this apparatus, which chassis is substantially plate-shaped. Such a plate-shaped chassis has the problem that such a plate-shape chassis inherently has a comparatively low torsional resistance, which basically results in a substantial risk of warping. For this reason, such a plate-shaped chassis should be made of a comparatively thick material, for example aluminum, and, in addition, should also have reinforcement elements such as reinforcement ribs in order to obtain an adequate torsional stability. However, such a chassis is comparatively heavy and comparatively expensive.

It is also known to provide a chassis for a recording and/or reproducing device, which chassis has a main wall, with additional walls which project from the main wall and which are connected to each other. In this respect, reference may be made to, for example, the patent document US 5,659,441 A. Said patent document states that the chassis disclosed in said patent document is made of a plastic and therefore does not have a particularly high rigidity and, consequently, neither has a particularly high torsional resistance but in said patent document it is also pointed out that the chassis disclosed therein is made of a glass fiber reinforced plastic, which means, in other words, that with a suitable proportion of glass fibers, i.e. with a substantial amount glass fiber reinforcement, it is also possible to realize a comparatively rigid chassis. Nevertheless, it is to be borne in mind that even in the case of a substantial amount of glass fiber reinforcement a chassis known from the patent document US 5,659,441 cannot provide an adequate rigidity and an adequate torsional resistance for certain uses, but for many uses this is absolutely necessary, for example for so-called data streamers, i.e. magnetic-tape recording and reproducing devices by means of which data can be stored on a magnetic tape in a plurality of longitudinal tracks. Such recording and/or reproducing devices, which are also used as plug-in units for personal computers and other data processing machines, in particular require a very high rigidity and a very high torsional resistance for the chassis used therein.

It is an object of the invention to improve a recording and/or reproducing device of the type defined in the first paragraph and a chassis of the type defined in the second paragraph in a simple manner at only low additional cost and to provide an improved recording and/or reproducing device and an improved chassis, which chassis has a particularly high torsional resistance so as to preclude warping of the chassis.

To achieve the afore-mentioned object a recording and/or reproducing device in accordance with the invention has the characteristic features as defined in the characterizing part of Claim 1.

Furthermore, to achieve the afore-mentioned object, a chassis in accordance with the invention has the characteristic features as defined in the characterizing part of Claim 6. By the provision of the characteristic features in accordance with the invention it is achieved in a simple manner at only minimal additional cost that in an area of at least one border zone and in a connecting zone which is situated at a distance from the main wall of the chassis a perfectly rigid corner of the mounting compartment is realized with the aid of the auxiliary wall, which owing to the fixed connections between the main wall and the four additional walls and the auxiliary wall results in all the further corners of the mounting compartment being also perfectly rigid, as a result of which a perfectly rigid configuration of the compartment and, consequently, a construction with a particularly high torsional resistance is obtained with a device in accordance with the invention and with a chassis in accordance with the invention. This particularly high torsional resistance precludes warping of the chassis and, particularly, of the main wall of the chassis, as a result of which it is guaranteed that the various mechanical components mounted on or to be mounted on the chassis and mainly on the main wall cannot perform any undesired movements relative to one another during operation, which is an important in order to achieve that always a correct recording and/or reproducing process is obtained. It has proved to be very advantageous when, in addition, the characteristic features as defined in claim 2 and claim 7, respectively, are provided in a recording and/or reproducing device in accordance with the invention and in a chassis in accordance with the invention. In this way, a particularly high torsional resistance can be realized. In this respect, it has further proved to be very advantageous when, in addition, the characteristic features as defined in claim 5 and claim 10, respectively, are provided, because this is even more beneficial in order to achieve a particularly high torsional resistance.

It has proved to be very advantageous when, in addition, the characteristic features as defined in claim 3 and claim 8, respectively, are provided in a recording and or reproducing device in accordance with the invention and in a chassis in accordance with the invention. Such a construction has the advantage of a great simplicity and, at the same time, a high mechanical stability as well as a simple producibility.

In a recording and/or reproducing device in accordance with the invention as described in the preceding paragraph the auxiliary wall may extend transversely to the first additional wall in a direction towards the mounting compartment. However, it has proved to be particularly advantageous when the characteristic features as defined in claim 4 and claim 9 are provided. This construction has the advantage that the auxiliary wall does not form an obstruction when components are mounted inside the mounting compartment of the chassis. It is to be noted that the auxiliary wall which projects transversely from the first additional wall advantageously extends parallel to the main wall. However, alternatively the auxiliary wall may be inclined with respect to the main wall.

The afore-mentioned aspects as well as further aspects of the invention will become apparent from the embodiments described hereinafter by way of example and will be elucidated with reference to these embodiments.

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the drawings, which show three embodiments given by way of example but to which the invention is not limited. Fig. 1 is a highly diagrammatic oblique plan view which shows a recording and reproducing device in accordance with an embodiment of the invention having a chassis in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is an oblique plan view of the chassis in accordance with the first embodiment of the invention in a non-assembled condition. Fig. 3 shows diagrammatically a detail of the chassis shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 shows, similarly to Fig. 3, a detail of a chassis in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 5 shows, similarly to Figs. 3 and 4, a detail of a chassis in accordance with a third embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 1 shows a recording and reproducing device 1 constructed as a so-called plug-in unit. The recording and reproducing device 1 is a so-called data streamer. The recording and reproducing device 1 has a housing 2 comprising a bottom wall 3, a front wall 4, a rear wall 5 as well as a first side wall 6 and a second side wall 7. The walls 3 to 7 are fixedly connected to one another. The housing 2 does not have an upper wall. The front wall 4 of the housing 2 is formed with a slot 8 through which a magnetic-tape cassette can be introduced into the interior of the recording and reproducing device 1 and an introduced magnetic-tape cassette can be removed from the recording and reproducing device 1.

The recording and reproducing device 1 accommodates a chassis 9 whose constructional details are shown in Fig. 2. The chassis 9 serves and is configured for holding or carrying various mechanical components of the recording and reproducing device 1. Fig. 2 shows only a few of these components, which are mainly locating pins and bearing spindles. The construction of the chassis 9 will be described in detail hereinafter.

The chassis 9 comprises a main wall 10 and four additional walls which are fixedly connected to the main wall 10 and which project from the main wall 10, namely a first additional wall 11, a second additional wall 12, a third additional wall 13 and a fourth additional wall 14. In relation to the slot 8 the fourth additional wall 14 forms an additional front wall, the first additional wall 11 forms an additional rear wall, the second additional wall 12 forms an additional left-hand wall and the third additional wall 13 forms a right-hand wall. The main wall 10 and the fourth additional walls 11, 12, 13 and 14 bound a mounting compartment 15 for mounting components of the recording and reproducing device 1.

For the chassis 9 the main wall 10 and the four additional walls 11, 12, 13 and 14 are configured in such a manner that each time two additional walls adjoin one another along an elongate border zone which extends transversely to the main wall 10. The first additional wall 11 and the second additional wall 12 adjoin one another in a border zone 16. The first additional wall 11 and the third additional wall 13 adjoin one another in a second border zone 17. The fourth additional wall 14 and the second additional wall 12 adjoin one another in a third border zone 18. The fourth additional wall 14 and the third additional wall 13 adjoin one another in a fourth border zone 19. The four elongate border zones 16, 17, 18 and 19 extend perpendicularly to the main wall 10 in the chassis 9. In an alternative construction the four elongate border zones may be inclined with respect to the main wall 10. Advantageously, the first additional wall 11 and each of the two additional walls which adjoin the first additional wall 11, i.e. the second additional wall 12 and the third additional wall 13, are fixedly connected to one another at the location of a border zone, i.e. at the location of the first border zone 16 and at the location of the second border zone 17. For this purpose, the first additional wall 11 has two projections 20 in the area of the first border zone 16 and each of the two projections 20 is passed through an opening 21 in the second additional wall 12 and, after it has been passed through, it is deformed at the location of its free end in order to form a riveted joint. Likewise, two projections 22 have been provided in the area of the second border zone 17, which projections each cooperate with an opening 23 formed in the third additional wall 13 and is also deformed at the location of its free end in order to form a riveted joint.

The connections between the main wall 10 and the second additional wall 12 and the third additional wall 13 are also made by means of five projections 24 and five corresponding openings 25 in the second additional wall 12 and by means of five further projections 26 and five corresponding openings 27 in the third additional wall 13. It is to be noted that the first additional wall 11 is integral with the main wall

10. The first additional wall 11 is formed with the aid of a bending operation, in which the first additional wall 11 is bent with respect to the main wall 10. Likewise, the fourth additional wall 14 is integral with the main wall 10. The fourth additional wall 14 is also made with the aid of a bending operation. In the present case, there are no fixed connections between the fourth additional wall and the second additional wall as well as the third additional wall in the areas of the third border zone 18 and the fourth border zone 19. However, there may also be fixed connections in the third border zone and in the fourth border zone.

Advantageously, the first additional wall 11 and the second additional wall 12 as well as the third additional wall 13 of the chassis 9 are, in addition, each fixedly connected to each other in a respective connecting zone 28 or 29 with the aid of an auxiliary wall 30. In the present case, the first additional wall 11 is fixedly connected to an auxiliary wall 30 which extends transversely to the first additional wall 11, which auxiliary wall 30, in the present case, is integral with the first additional wall 11, is formed with the aid of a bending operation and projects perpendicularly to the first additional wall 11 and, consequently, extend parallel to the main wall 10. The auxiliary wall 30 is fixedly connected to the two additional wall which adjoin the first additional wall 11, i.e. to the second additional wall 12 and to the third additional wall 13. These fixed connections are made in a similar way by means of a projection 31 and an opening 32, which cooperates with the projection 31, and by means of a further projection 33 and a further opening 34, which cooperates with the further projection 33. The two projections 31 and 33 are likewise deformed at the locations of their free ends so as to form riveted joints.

As is apparent from Fig. 2, the auxiliary wall 30 projects transversely from the first additional wall 11 in a direction away from the mounting compartment 15 and the second additional wall 12 as well as the third additional wall 13 each have a respective wall portion 35 or 36 which extends in a direction away from the mounting compartment 15 and in which wall portion 35 or 36 the respective opening 32 or 34 is formed and to which wall portion 35 or 36 the auxiliary wall 30 is fixedly connected via the respective projections 31 and 33.

As a result of the provision of the auxiliary wall 30, which is connected to the second additional wall 12 and the third additional wall 13 via the two wall portions 35 and 36 and which is also fixedly connected to the first additional wall 11, with which it is integral, it is achieved in a simple manner, on account of the fact that the first additional wall 11 and the second additional wall 12 as well as the third additional wall 13 are fixedly connected to the main wall 10, that in total four perfectly rigid corners are obtained in the area of the first border zone 16 and the second border zone 17, as a result of which the whole chassis configuration has a very high rigidity and consequently has a high resistance to undesired warping of the main wall 10 of the chassis 9. Fig. 3 diagrammatically shows a detail of the chassis 9 in the area of the second border zone 17. The purpose of this representation is to simplify the description of two other embodiments of the chassis 9 shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

For the chassis 9 shown in Fig. 4 the difference with respect to the chassis 9 shown in Fig. 3 is that in the chassis 9 shown in Fig. 4 the auxiliary wall 30 does not project perpendicularly from the first auxiliary wall 11 but at an angle which deviates from a right angle. Thus, the auxiliary wall 30 extends at an acute angle with respect to the main wall 10. On account of the orientation of the auxiliary wall 30 the wall portion 36 of the third additional wall 13, which portion extends away from the mounting compartment 15, also has a wedge-shaped part 37. In the chassis 9 shown in Fig. 5 there is no auxiliary wall which projects transversely from the first additional wall 11 but there has been provided an auxiliary wall 38, which auxiliary wall 38 fixedly interconnects an end surface 39 of the first auxiliary wall 11 and an end surface 40 of the third additional wall 13, which two end surfaces 39 and 40 are remote from the main wall 10 and each form a connecting zone 39 and 40. In the present case, the auxiliary wall 40 is strip-shaped. However, the auxiliary wall 40 may alternatively have a triangular shape or the shape of a sector of a circle. The auxiliary wall 40 adjoins the second border zone 17. It is advantageous to provide such an auxiliary wall 40 also in the area of the facing first border zone, but this is not shown in Fig. 5. The invention is not limited to the chassis described hereinbefore. In another chassis the desired result can also be achieved without a fourth additional wall, in which case only three additional walls are fixedly connected to a main wall. Another chassis may have a fourth additional wall which extends approximately equally far away from the main wall as the second additional wall and the third additional wall, and this fourth additional wall may be fixedly connected to at least the second additional wall or the third additional wall by at least one auxiliary wall.

As a modification of the embodiment of the chassis 9 as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, a modified chassis may be such that the two additional walls 12 and 13 are formed by means of a bending operation and are consequently integral with the main wall 10, the two additional walls 12 and 13 only being riveted to the additional wall 11 in the areas of the border zones 16 and 17, as a result of which a smaller number of riveted joints is required. Other combinations of integrally formed walls are also possible.

Finally, it is to be noted that instead of riveted joints it is also possible to provide welded joints or adhesive joints or combinations of these joints.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A recording and/or reproducing device (1) having a chassis (9) to which the various mechanical components of the device are connected, characterized in that the chassis (9) comprises a main wall (10) and at least three additional walls (11, 12, 13, 14) which are fixedly connected to the main wall (10) and which project from the main wall, and the main wall (10) and the at least three additional wall (11, 12, 13, 14) bound a mounting compartment (15) for mounting components, and each time two additional walls (11, 12, 13, 14) adjoin one another along an elongate border zone (16, 17, 18, 19) which extends transversely to the main wall (10), and a first additional wall (11) and at least one of the two additional walls (12, 13) which adjoin the first additional wall (11) are fixedly connected to one another in the area of a border zone

(16, 17) and are, in addition, fixedly connected to one another with the aid of at least one auxiliary wall (30;38) in a connecting zone (28, 29; 39, 40) situated at a distance from the main wall (10).

2. A recording and/or reproducing device (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the first additional wall (11) and each of the two additional walls (12, 13) which adjoin the first additional wall (11) are fixedly connected to one another in a respective border zone (16, 17) and are, in addition, fixedly connected to one another with the aid of at least one auxiliary wall (30; 38).

3. A recording and/or reproducing device (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the first additional wall (11) is fixedly connected to an auxiliary wall (30; 38) which extends transversely to the first additional wall (11), and this auxiliary wall (30; 38) is fixedly connected to at least one of the two additional walls (12, 13) which adjoin the first additional wall (11).

4. A recording and/or reproducing device (1) as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the auxiliary wall (30) projects transversely from the first additional wall (11) in a direction away from the mounting compartment (15), and at least one of the two additional walls (12, 13) which adjoins the first additional wall (11) has a wall portion (35, 36) which extends away from the mounting compartment (15) and to which the auxiliary wall (30) is fixedly connected.

5. A recording and/or reproducing device (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the chassis (9) has a fourth additional wall (14) which is fixedly connected to the main wall (10) and which projects from the main wall (10).

6. A chassis (9) for a recording and/or reproducing device (1), to which chassis (9) various mechanical components of the device can be connected, characterized in that the chassis (9) comprises a main wall (10) and at least three additional walls (11, 12, 13, 14) which are fixedly connected to the main wall (10) and which project from the main wall, and the main wall (10) and the at least three additional wall (11, 12, 13, 14) bound a mounting compartment (15) for mounting components, and each time two additional walls (11, 12, 13, 14) adjoin one another along an elongate border zone (16, 17, 18, 19) which extends transversely to the main wall (10), and a first additional wall (11) and at least one of the two additional walls (12, 13) which adjoin the first additional wall (11) are fixedly connected to one another in the area of a border zone (16, 17) and are, in addition, fixedly connected to one another with the aid of at least one auxiliary wall (30;38) in a connecting zone (28, 29; 39, 40) situated at a distance from the main wall (10).

7. A chassis (9) as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that the first additional wall (11) and each of the two additional walls (12, 13) which adjoin the first additional wall (11) are fixedly connected to one another in a respective border zone (16, 17) and are, in addition, fixedly connected to one another with the aid of at least one auxiliary wall (30; 38).

8. A chassis (9) as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that the first additional wall (11) is fixedly connected to an auxiliary wall (30; 38) which extends transversely to the first additional wall (11), and this auxiliary wall (30; 38) is fixedly connected to at least one of the two additional walls (12, 13) which adjoin the first additional wall (11).

9. A chassis (9) as claimed in claim 8, characterized in that the auxiliary wall (30) projects transversely from the first additional wall (11) in a direction away from the mounting compartment (15), and at least one of the two additional walls (12, 13) which adjoins the first additional wall (11) has a wall portion (35, 36) which extends away from the mounting compartment (15) and to which the auxiliary wall (30) is fixedly connected.

10. A chassis (9) as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that the chassis (9) has a fourth additional wall (14) which is fixedly connected to the main wall (10) and which projects from the main wall (10).