GB2142314A

GB2142314A - Magnetic tape cassette

Info

Publication number: GB2142314A
Application number: GB08413866A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Hidehisa Hashimoto
Original assignee: TDK Corp
Current assignee: TDK Corp
Priority date: 1983-06-15
Filing date: 1984-05-31
Publication date: 1985-01-16
Also published as: CA1216937A; JPS60775U; NL8401861A; KR850000983U; KR890002051Y1; AU558996B2; DE3422113A1; AU2899984A; GB8413866D0

Abstract

A magnetic tape cassette comprises a transparent housing made of an upper half 1 and a lower half 2 and a pair of rotating hubs 4, 5 for magnetic tape 6. The upper half has a letter A indicative of the A side and a strip of label 7 both of a first colour, with the feed hub as viewed through the upper half in the first colour, and the lower half (Figure 2 not shown) has a letter B indicative of the B side and a strip of label 8 provided longitudinally, both of a second colour, with the feed hub as viewed through the lower half in the same second colour. This construction permits easy identification of the A and B sides as well as the feed or take up hub. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Magnetic tape cassette This invention relates to a construction of a magnetic tape cassette.

Magnetic tape cassettes usually have two working sides A and B. When setting a cassette in place within a cassette recorder, the user does so with either side, A or B; out. In this way the track A or B of the magnetic tape is selectively used in recording or reproduction.

The A and B sides are identified as they are marked with letters A and B, respectively.

Nevertheless, when the two hubs carry different amounts of the magnetic tape wound thereon, it is difficult by a glance to tell which is the takeup or feed hub. With a cassette whose two sides are marked with letters only, one can hardly identify the side he is recording or playing back, for example, where the illumination is inadequate. He also finds it difficult to see which side of the cassette, as set in the recorder, is in use.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a magnetic tape cassette whose A and B sides are easily distinguishable from each other and which also permits ready identification of either the feed or takeup hub in the cassette housing from the outside.

The magnetic tape cassette according to the invention is characterised in that transparent upper and lower housing halves are mated together at surrounding walls so that the interior is visible from the outside, and each said half is lined with a transparent lubricant sheet and is provided with a mark of letter A or B in colour assigned to, and indicative of, the A or B side and also provided with a strip of label extending centrally and longitudinally of the cassette on a part where the both hubs wound with the tape are visible from the outside, the feed hub visible through each housing half being coloured in the same colour as the letter and label on the particular half.

The construction that characterises the present invention permits immediate identification of the A or B side by a glance at the letter A or B and the label indicating either side, even in dimly lit places. The two sides can also be easily distinguished from each other while the cassette is set in the recorder.

Since the hub visible on a given side and having the same colour as the label on the particular housing half is always the feed hub, the user can simply realize which side, A or B, should now come to the front for recording or playback. He can judge it in connection with the amount of tape left wound on the particular hub visible from the outside.Thus, the present invention achieves excellent functional effects through an intimate combination of its four features; that is (1) the upper and lower housing halves and their associated lubricant sheets are all transparent, (2) the letters A and B on the A and B sides are differently coloured, (3) the labels on the two sides are provided longitudinally of the cassette, on the central parts where the hubs are thoroughly visible from the outside and are coloured, respectively, in the same colours as the letters A and B, and (4) the feed hubs too are of the same colours as the associated letters and labels on the A and B sides.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which: Fig. 1 is a top view of the upper housing half of the magnetic tape cassette of the invention; Fig. 2 is a bottom view; Fig. 3 is a front view; and Fig. 4 is a front view of a hub.

Referring now to the drawings, Fig. 1 is a top view of a magnetic tape cassette embodying the invention, showing the upper half of the cassette, Fig. 2 is a bottom view showing the lower half, and Fig. 3 is a front view of the cassette. This cassette comprises a housing made of an upper half 1 and a lower half 2, both of transparent material, each lined with a transparent lubricant sheet (not shown), with surrounding walls of the two halves mated and securely fastened together by screws 3, a pair of tape hubs 4, 5 accommodated in the housing, and a length of magnetic tape 6 wound on the both hubs to run from one hub to the other and back while being exposed through windows 7 and the like for contact with the magnetic recording head, capstan rollers, pinch rollers and so forth of the recorder.

Fig. 1 shows the main or A side of the cassette, marked with a letter A on the upper left corner of the upper housing half 1, for example, in red. A strip of red label 7 is affixed to a part slightly below the longitudinal centre of the half. The red label 7 is provided in a location of the cassette where it is clearly visible through the peep window of the cassette tape recorder when the cassette is set in the machine. It is preferably provided longitudinally of the cassette, close to and along the hubs 4, 5 to make them all visible from the outside. Fig. 1 shows the A side at the start of recording or playback, with the hub 4 about to feed the tape and the hub 5 to take it up.

The hub 4 is red-coloured and the other hub 5 is coloured otherwise, for example, in blue.

On the B side shown in Fig. 2, the outer surface of the lower housing half 2 is marked with a letter B in blue as an identification.

Also, like the red label 7, an elongated blue label 8 of the same size is affixed to this side in register with the former on the opposite side.

The hubs 4, 5 are coloured, one in red and the other in blue (or in still other colours of a different combination). To this end the hubs may be solidly moulded, for example, of differently coloured plastics. Alternatively, as illustrated in Fig. 4, each hub may be moulded into two differently coloured pieces, that is, a white core 9 and a red or blue ring 10 surrounding the core. Such colour differentiation brings out in a sharp contrast the boundary between the magnetic tape and the hub, giving a strikingly clear indication of the tape end, whichever comes to a finish. If desired, a plurality of such radially inwardly projected lugs 11 which will serve as a simple indicator of hub rotation may be formed equidistantly on the inner periphery of the outer ring.The lugs will present a clearcut distinction between the hub at rest and that in motion, enabling the viewer to see at a glance whether the tape is moving properly or has run to the end. The numeral 12 designates a tape clamp.

With the construction described, the tape cassette of the invention has a letter A indicative of the A side marked on its upper housing half 1, along with a label 7, and a redcoloured feed hub 4, all combined to permit ready identification of the A side. Moreover, it requires only a glance at this side to tell how much of the tape is left on the feed hub 4.

For example, looking at the upper half 1 in the state of Fig. 1 where the tape is fully wound on the red feed hub 4 and the letter A and the label 7 are both red in colour, the user can at once realize that the cassette should be set, with the A side out, in the recorder. The same applies to the B side; the lower half 2 has a letter B that stands for the B side, a label 8, and a feed hub 4, all blue in colour. For example, when the magnetic tape is wound in the lower housing half 2 as shown in Fig. 2, a glance at it will instantly enable the viewer to identify that it is the B side because of the letter B, hub 5, and label 8, all in blue, and that no more recording or playback on that side is possible since the feed hub 5 is empty. In an alternative, the letters A and B may be printed or otherwise provided on the respective labels.

As described hereinbefore, the present invention provides a cassette which incorporates the aforementioned features (1) to (4) and hence permits immediate identification of the A or B side and ready observation of the tape condition inside.

Claims

1. A magnetic tape cassette comprising a housing made of an upper half and a lower half of clear plastics mated together, a pair of rotating hubs held inside the housing, and a length of magnetic tape wound on the hubs and moved from one hub to the other and back through openings formed on the front of the two halves, characterised in that the upper and lower halves are lined with a transparent lubricant sheet each on the inner side facing the tape, the outer side of the upper half has a letter A indicative of the A side provided on a part thereof and a strip of label affixed longitudinally of the housing to a central part thereof where the both hubs are visible from the outside, both said letter and label being of a specific first colour, with the feed hub as viewed through the upper half in the first colour, and the outer side of the lower half has a letter B indicative of the B side and a strip of label provided longitudinally and centrally of the lower half, both of a second colour, with the feed hub as viewed through the lower half in the same second colour.

2. A magnetic tape cassette as claimed in claim 1, in which said hubs are differently coloured to render their rotating conditions visible from the outside.

3. A magnetic tape cassette as claimed in claim 1, in which the outer periphery of each said hub is annularly coloured.

4. A magnetic tape cassette substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as shown in the accompanying drawing.