JP2001195863A - Tape cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the riding accident of a tape cassette within a cassette holder. SOLUTION: This tape cassette has the tape cassette which is formed with an aperture for insertion of a tape drawing-out member on the device side at its front, a tape which is spread in the aperture by tape guides disposed on both sides of the aperture, a cap which is freely turnably supported at the tape cassette and a cap locking member which is supported and locks the cap in a close position by engaging with the cap. The cap locking member comprises a supporting pin part which is freely turnably supported at the tape cassette, a locking pawl part which locks the cap covering the tape and an abutment part on which a cap unlocking member disposed at the device abuts when the tape cassette is mounted at the device. The abutment part is arranged within an insertion area into which the cap unlocking member disposed at the device is inserted. The locking pawl part is arranged outside an insertion area into which the cap unlocking member is inserted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a lid lock mechanism for a tape cassette used in a magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus such as a video tape recorder and various other information processing apparatuses.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the increase in density of magnetic recording,
Video tape recorders (VTRs) and tape cassettes are becoming smaller. as a result,
Also in the lid locking mechanism of the tape cassette, the lid locking member operates in the lateral direction of the tape cassette.
It has been changed to a configuration that operates in the vertical direction as disclosed in US Pat.

Here, a conventional tape cassette lid locking mechanism structure will be described with reference to the drawings disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-141827. FIG. 6 is an assembled perspective view of a conventional tape cassette, and FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the conventional tape cassette.

As shown in FIG. 6, a cassette body constituting the tape cassette 10 has an upper half 2 made of synthetic resin.
And the lower half 3. The upper half 2 and the lower half 3 are combined in a vertical direction to form an integral housing. Further, a pair of reels, which will be described later, around which the tape 4 is wound are housed in the cassette body. An opening 5 for inserting a tape pull-out member on the VTR side is provided on the front surface of the tape cassette 10. A pair of tape guides 6 formed integrally with the lower half 3 on both sides of the lower half 3 side of the opening 5.
The tape 4 is guided by a tape guide 6 and is stretched along the opening 5. When the tape 4 is closed, the tape 4 is covered by a flip-up front lid 7 and a rear lid 8 inside.

[0005] As shown in FIG. 7, the front lid 7 has a pair of reels 9.
A front surface portion 7a covering the front surface of the tape 4 wound around the opening portion 5 and extending over the opening portion 5, and an upper surface portion 7b covering the upper surface of the tape 4, have a substantially U-shape. The side plate 7c of the front lid 7 is provided with a pair of fulcrum pins 7d.
Are inserted into a pair of cutouts 11 provided on both front side walls of the lower half 2, and the front cover 7 is rotatable about a fulcrum pin 7d. A coil spring 12 is mounted on one side of the fulcrum pin 7d of the front cover 7, and constantly biases the front cover 7 in the closing direction. A pair of brackets 13 having a distance substantially equal to the width of the opening 6 is provided on the inner surface of the front cover 7, and a pin hole 14 is formed in the bracket 13.

The rear lid 8 is provided with a tape 4 stretched over the opening 5.
And an upper lid 8b that covers the upper surface of the opening 2. Then, the back cover 8a of the back cover 8
A pair of support pins 15 are provided at substantially both ends of the central portion of the support member. The back cover portion 8a of the rear cover 8 has a substantially rectangular shape with the pair of support pins 15 as centers. This pair of support pins 1
5 is inserted into the pin hole 14 of the bracket portion 13 and
Is rotatable about a pair of support pins 15. A pair of protrusions 16 are formed below the support pins 15, and the protrusions 16 are provided with a pair of guide pins 17.

A pair of tape guides 6 provided on the lower half 3 guide and support the tape 4 stretched over the opening 5. A notch 18 is provided in the lower end surface of the front surface 7a of the front lid 7 located near the tape guide 6.

A pair of rear cover guide walls 19 are provided behind the pair of tape guides 6 and on both side surfaces of the opening 5. A rear cover guide wall 20 is also provided on the upper half 2 facing the rear cover guide wall 19, and a rear cover guide groove is formed by combining the upper and lower halves. A pair of guide pins 17 formed on protrusions 16 provided on both left and right ends of the rear cover 8 are slidably inserted into the rear cover guide grooves.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of the lid lock, and FIG. 9 is a sectional view of a main part of the lid lock. In FIG. 8, a slit 21 is provided on a side wall of the lower half 3, and a lid lock member 22 is attached in the slit 21. This lid locking member 22 is a locking claw portion 22a which engages with a projection 23 mounted inside the side plate 7c of the front lid 7.
And an abutting portion 22b which abuts on a lid unlocking member described later.
And the fulcrum pin portion 22c are integrally formed of synthetic resin. The lock claw portion 22a of the lid lock member 22 is located almost directly above the contact portion 22b, and the lock claw portion 22a
And the contact portion 22b are both arranged in the slit 21. The fulcrum pin 22c is inserted into a bearing 24 provided on the lower half 3, and is configured to be rotatable in the front-rear direction. As shown in FIG. 9, the lid lock member 22 urges the lid lock member 22 forward by pressing a rear portion of the lid lock member 22 with one end of a leaf spring 25. As a result, the projection 23 of the front lid 7 and the lock claw 22a of the lid lock member 22 are configured to be locked when the front lid 7 is closed.

The tape cassette 10 constructed as described above
The operation will be described below. When the tape cassette 10 is inserted into a VTR (not shown), a lid unlocking member 26 of a cassette holder (not shown) arranged on the VTR side is provided on the front face 7a of the front lid 7 as shown in FIG. The cover lock member 22 enters through the notch portion 18 and contacts the contact portion 22b of the cover lock member 22 so that the cover lock member 22
5 moves in the direction A against the locking claws 22a of the lid locking member 22 and the projections 2 provided inside the side plate 7c of the front lid 7.
3, the front lid 7 is unlocked.

Thereafter, when the tape cassette 10 is moved in the direction B shown in FIG. 10, the side plate 7c of the front cover 7 is pushed up by the cover open pin 27 arranged on the VTR side. Therefore, the front lid 7 turns upward against the coil spring 12.
At this time, the rear lid 8 connected to the front lid 7 is guided by the rear lid guide groove and is opened. On the other hand, the lid closing operation is performed in a completely opposite manner to the above-described operation.

The tape cassette 10 is positioned in the front-rear direction at a position where the lid lock member 22 is pressed by the lid lock release member 26 and hits the cassette wall 28 as shown in FIG.

[0013]

As shown in the drawing, a cassette holder 29 into which a normal tape cassette 10 is inserted is shown.
The frontage dimension Y1 is larger than the thickness Y2 of the tape cassette 10 so that the tape cassette 10 can be easily inserted. Therefore, when the tape cassette 10 is inserted in a posture inclined obliquely upward, the contact portion 22b of the lid lock member 22 rides over the lid lock release member 26, and as shown in FIG. Contact part 22b of lock member 22
Between the tape cassette 10 and the cassette wall 28.
However, there was a serious drawback that it was not possible to take out.

In order to prevent the contact portion 22b of the lid lock member 22 from climbing over the lid lock release member 26, the height of the lid lock release member 26 may be made higher than the current state. It is difficult to increase the height of the lid unlocking member 26 due to the positional relationship between the cover unlocking member 26 and the open state.

The detailed reason will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of the lid lock portion, and FIG. 11 shows a state where the tape cassette 10 is positioned in the front-rear direction. As shown in FIG. 8, the shape of the lid lock member 22 is a lock claw portion 22 a that engages with the projection 23 attached to the inside of the side plate 7 c of the front lid 7, and a contact portion 22 b that contacts the lid lock release member 26. And the fulcrum pin portion 22c are integrally formed of synthetic resin, the lock claw portion 22a is located almost directly above the contact portion 22b, and both the lock claw portion 22a and the contact portion 22b are formed of the lower half 3. It is arranged in a slit 21 provided on the side wall.

When the tape cassette 10 is positioned in the front-rear direction using the lid lock member 22, the lid lock release member 26 is locked by the lock claw portion of the lid lock member 22, as shown in FIG. This means that the lid lock release member 26 is located almost directly below the position 22a, and it is difficult to make the lid unlocking member 26 higher than the current state in the case of the above-described configuration.

As another method for increasing the height of the lid unlocking member 26, a method of moving the position of the lock claw portion 22a upward is conceivable. This will be described with reference to FIG. In order to stably and surely lock the lid, the rotation center a of the fulcrum pin 7d of the front lid 7 in the closed state shown in FIG.
, The rotation center b of the fulcrum pin 22 c of the lid lock member 22, the projection 23 of the front lid 7, and the lock claw 22 a of the lid lock member 22
The angle θ formed by the line segment ac and the line segment bc between the point of engagement c and the angle c becomes important, and it is not preferable that the angle θ increases. Preferably, it is 90 ° or less. This relationship will be described with reference to the model diagram of FIG. 14, a is the rotation center of the fulcrum pin 7d of the front lid 7, b is the rotation center of the fulcrum pin 22c of the lid lock member 22, and c1 is the current projection 23 of the front lid 7 and the lock claw of the lid lock member 22. 2
This is an engagement point (action point) with 2a. Assuming that the rotation force generated when the front lid 7 is rotated in the direction d (the direction in which the lid is opened) is e1, the engagement point (action point) c1 of the lock claw 22a of the lid lock member 22 is g1 (line segment). A rotating force having a magnitude of (e1 component force) generated on the orthogonal plane of f1 is generated. g1 is the magnitude of the force acting on the lid lock member 22 in the h direction (the direction in which the lock is released). Next, when the engagement point (action point) is moved upward, the engagement point (action point) c2 of the lock claw portion 22a of the lid lock member 22 has g2 (a component force of e1 generated on the orthogonal plane of the line segment f2). ) Is generated. g2 is the magnitude of the force acting on the lid lock member 22 in the h direction (the direction in which the lock is released).

As is apparent from FIG. 14, the lid locking member 2
2 exerts a greater force acting in the h direction (direction in which the lock is released) when the engagement point (action point) is moved upward, so that the height of the lid unlocking member 26 is increased. It is not preferable to move the position of the claw portion 22a upward.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems,
The purpose thereof is that when the tape cassette 10 is inserted in a posture inclined obliquely upward, the contact portion 2 of the lid lock member 22
An object of the present invention is to provide a tape cassette having a stable and reliable lid lock mechanism without the 2b getting over the lid lock release member 26.

[0020]

A tape cassette according to the present invention which solves the above-mentioned problems has a tape cassette having a front face formed with an opening for inserting a tape pull-out member on the apparatus side;
A tape stretched over the opening by tape guides provided on both sides of the opening, a lid rotatably supported by the tape cassette and covering the tape, and a lid supported by the tape cassette and engaged with the lid And a lid lock member for locking the lid at the closed position.The lid lock member includes a support pin portion rotatably supported by the tape cassette, a lock claw portion for locking the lid covering the tape, and a tape cassette. A lid lock release member provided to the device when attached to the device is configured with a contact portion that contacts, and the contact portion is arranged in an insertion area where the lid lock release member provided to the device is inserted, and The lock claw portion is disposed outside the insertion area into which the lid unlocking member is inserted.

[0021]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. (Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a lid lock portion according to the present invention. The same members as those in the related art shown in FIGS. 6 to 13 are denoted by the same reference numerals. The basic structure is the same as the conventional one. More specifically, FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the lid lock, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part of the lid lock.

In FIG. 1, a slit 21 is provided in a side wall of the lower half 3, and a lid lock member 30 is rotatably attached to a bearing portion 24 in the slit 21. The lid lock member 30 includes a lock claw portion 30a that engages with a concave portion 31 provided in the surface of the side plate 7c of the front lid 7, a contact portion 30b that contacts the lid lock release member 26, and a fulcrum pin portion 30c. It is integrally molded with synthetic resin. The width of the contact portion 30b of the lid lock member 30 is slightly smaller than the width of the slit 21 so that the inside of the slit 21 can be freely rotated. On the other hand, the width of the lock claw portion 30 a is slightly smaller than the thickness of the concave portion 31 provided in the surface of the side plate 7 c of the front lid 7, so that the lock claw portion 30 a rotates within the notch portion 32 provided in the slit 21. Has become. As shown in FIG. 2, the lid lock member 30 is biased forward by pressing the rear portion of the lid lock member 30 with one end of the leaf spring 25. As a result, the concave portion 31 of the front lid 7 and the lid locking member 3
Because the lock claw 30a of the front cover 7 is always engaged, the front cover 7 is locked in the closed state.

The operation of the tape cassette 1 configured as described above will be described below. When the tape cassette 1 is inserted into a VTR (not shown), as shown in FIG.
The lid unlocking member 26 of the cassette holder (not shown) arranged on the TR side enters through the notch 18 provided on the front surface 7 a of the front lid 7, and the contact part 3 of the lid locking member 30 enters.
0b, the lid locking member 30 moves in the direction A against the leaf spring 25, and the locking claw 30a of the lid locking member 30
Is disengaged from the recess 31 provided in the surface of the side plate 7c of the front cover 7, and the lock of the front cover 7 is released.

Thereafter, the tape cassette 1 is moved to the position B shown in FIG.
When it is moved in the direction, the cover opening pin 27 arranged on the VTR side
Thereby, the side plate 7c of the front lid 7 is pushed up. Therefore, the front lid 7 turns upward against the coil spring 12. At this time, the rear lid 8 connected to the front lid 7 is guided by the rear lid guide groove and is opened. On the other hand, the lid closing operation is performed in a completely opposite manner to the above-described operation.

The tape cassette 1 is positioned in the front-rear direction at a position where the lid lock member 30 is pushed by the lid lock release member 26 and hits the cassette wall 28 as shown in FIG.

When the tape cassette 1 of the present invention constructed as described above is inserted in a posture inclined obliquely upward as shown in FIG.
The contact portion 30 of the lid lock member 30
b does not get over the lid unlocking member 26.

As described above, Embodiment 1 of the present invention
With this configuration, the contact portion 30b of the lid lock member 30 gets over the lid lock release member 26, and the lid lock release member 26 enters between the contact portion 30b of the lid lock member 30 and the cassette wall 28. A tape cassette having a lid lock mechanism that can prevent the tape cassette 1 from being unable to be taken out can be provided.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, the locking claw of the lid locking member is disposed outside the rotation surface of the contact portion where the lid unlocking member provided on the device contacts. Since the height of the provided lid unlocking member can be made sufficiently high, it is possible to prevent a problem that the contact portion of the lid locking member gets over the lid unlocking member.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a tape cassette which does not prevent the tape cassette from being removed from the cassette holder.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a lid lock section according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a lid lock unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an essential part cross-sectional view of a lid lock portion showing a lid lock release unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an essential part cross-sectional view showing a state where the tape cassette 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is positioned in the front-rear direction.

FIG. 5 is an essential part cross-sectional view showing a state where the tape cassette 1 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is tilted and inserted into the cassette holder.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state in which a lid of a conventional tape cassette 10 is opened.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional tape cassette 10.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional lid lock portion.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of a main part of a conventional lid lock unit.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a lid lock portion showing a conventional lid lock release unit.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view of a main part showing a state in which the conventional tape cassette 10 is positioned in the front-rear direction.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing a state in which the conventional tape cassette 10 is inserted into the cassette holder while being inclined.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a lid lock portion showing a state where the conventional tape cassette 10 cannot be taken out of the cassette holder.

FIG. 14 is a relationship diagram modeling the relationship between forces between a front lid and a lid lock member related to the lid lock.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Tape cassette (of the present invention) 2 Upper half 3 Lower half 4 Tape 5 Opening 6 Tape guide 7 Front lid 8 Rear lid 9 Reel 10 (Conventional) tape cassette 18 Notch 21 (of front lid) 21 Slit 22 ( Conventional (lid) lock member 22a (of the conventional lid lock member) Lock claw 22b (of the conventional lid lock member) Abutment portion 22c (of the conventional lid lock member) Support pin 23 (projection of front lid) 25 Plate Spring 26 Lid lock release member 27 Lid opening pin 28 Cassette wall 29 Cassette holder 30 Lid lock member 30a (of lid lock member of the present invention) Lock claw portion 30b (of lid lock member of the present invention) abuts Portion 30c Support pin 31 (of lid locking member of the present invention) 31 Recess 32 (of front lid) Notch (in slit)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A tape cassette (1) having an opening (5) for inserting a tape pull-out member on the apparatus side at a front surface, and a tape guide (6) provided on both sides of the opening (5).
Tape (4) stretched over said opening (5)
A lid (7, 8) rotatably supported by the tape cassette (1) and covering the tape (4); and a lid (7) supported by the tape cassette (1). A lid locking member (30) for engaging and locking the lid (7) in the closed position, wherein the lid locking member (30) is supported by the tape cassette (1) so as to be rotatable. Part (30c), a lock claw part (30a) for locking a lid (7) covering the tape (4), and a lid unlocking member provided on the apparatus when the tape cassette (1) is mounted on the apparatus. (26) is constituted by an abutting portion (30b), and the abutting portion (30b) is arranged in an insertion area into which a lid unlocking member (26) provided in the device is inserted, and The lock claw (30a) is connected to a lid unlocking member ( Tape cassette 6), characterized in that arranged outside the insertion area to be inserted.