JP2001209993A - Cassette loading device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate the taking-out operation of a small cassette by increasing the discharging amount of the small cassette with respect to the cassette loading device of a front loading type using two kinds, large and small, of tape cassettes. SOLUTION: This cassette loading device of a front loading type using two kinds, large and small, of cassettes is constructed in such a manner that plural rollers 13 and 14 each different in outer diameters are provided on one side of the cassette insertion port of a cassette holder 3 for a small cassette, and by rotating the rollers 13 and 14 by the specified operation of the cassette holder 3 having a small cassette 1 loaded thereon during small cassette ejection, the discharging amount of the small cassette 1 is increased.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cassette mounting apparatus such as a so-called front-loading video tape recorder, which allows a tape cassette to be inserted into and removed from a cassette insertion opening in front of a front panel. A cassette mounting device capable of selectively mounting a small cassette (hereinafter referred to as a small cassette) and a small tape cassette (hereinafter referred to as a small cassette). The present invention relates to a cassette mounting device that facilitates taking out the small cassette by increasing the amount of the small cassette.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There has been proposed a compatible type front loading type cassette mounting apparatus in which two types of tape cassettes having different sizes can be mounted on a cassette holder from one cassette insertion opening. In such a cassette mounting device, it is necessary to mount the large and small cassettes on the front surface in order to mount the loading member for pulling out the magnetic tape from the tape cassette into the mouse, and mount the cassette on the recording / reproducing device. As a reason,
If the front positions of the large and small cassettes are different from each other, it becomes difficult to load the magnetic tape into the recording / reproducing apparatus according to a predetermined tape path. That is, when the magnetic tape is pulled out from the two types of tape cassettes, if the front surfaces of the large and small cassettes are different, the pull-out positions of the magnetic tapes are different accordingly, and it is necessary to move the loading member to the respective magnetic tape positions. Because. However, since there is a difference in the depth of the large and small cassettes, there is a problem that it is difficult to take out the small cassette at the time of ejection.

[0003] To solve this problem, the following solutions have been proposed. A first cassette holder for mounting a large cassette, and a second cassette holder for mounting a small cassette to be horizontally moved in the insertion direction from a standby position to a predetermined position with respect to the cassette holder; A cassette housing mechanism (Japanese Patent Application No. 10-98510) in which relative movement between cassette holders is performed by two racks and a gear interposed therebetween. A roller is provided on the cassette presser, and the roller is driven in the cassette discharge direction at the time of ejecting the cassette, thereby ensuring the discharge amount of the small cassette (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-221856).

[0004]

However, each of the above methods has the following problems. That is, the first
According to the solution of (1), the discharge amount of the small cassette from the insertion port is determined by the movement amount of the second cassette holder. Therefore, if the amount of movement of the second cassette holder is increased in order to increase the discharge amount of the small cassette, the second cassette holder will protrude from the insertion slot, so that the size of the second cassette holder is reduced. Must be smaller. However, in this case, the area for mounting the small cassette cannot be ensured, so there is a limit to increasing the amount of movement of the second cassette holder and increasing the discharge amount of the small cassette. According to the second solution,
Since the roller also serves as the cassette presser, the roller is in contact with the cassette upper surface regardless of the size of the cassette,
Since the rollers always rotate in the ejecting direction of the cassette by the ejecting operation, the large cassette is ejected largely from the cassette insertion opening, and the posture at the end of the ejecting becomes unstable.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and is directed to a front loading type cassette mounting apparatus using two types of cassettes, large and small, in which a cassette insertion opening of a cassette holder 3 for a small cassette is inserted. A plurality of rollers 13 and 14 having different outer diameters are provided on a cassette bottom support member 6 provided on one side, and when the small cassette is ejected, the rollers 13 and 14 are replaced with the cassette on which the small cassette 1 is mounted. This problem has been solved by providing a cassette mounting device 20 that increases the discharge amount of the small cassette 1 by rotating the holder 3 by a predetermined operation.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a state when a small cassette is inserted in the cassette mounting apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the same when a small cassette is ejected, and FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG. FIG. 4 is a side view of FIG.

First, two types of tape cassettes, large and small, are selectively inserted into the cassette holder, and when a predetermined recording / reproduction is completed, the amount of protrusion of the two cassettes from the cassette holder reaching the standby position from the cassette insertion port is determined. Almost identical, that is,
As an example of a method of making the front surface the same, a first cassette holder for mounting a large cassette in a cassette mounting device, a first cassette holder slidably mounted on the first cassette holder, and a first cassette holder in a standby position The cassette mounting device is provided with a second cassette holder which moves forward of the cassette and mounts a small cassette, and the relative movement between the two cassette holders is performed by two racks and a gear interposed therebetween, so that a large and small size at the time of ejection can be obtained. The present applicant has already filed a patent application as Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 10-98510, in which the protrusion amounts of the two types of tape cassettes can be adjusted.

Referring to FIG. 5, the contents of the cassette mounting device of the above-mentioned application, particularly, the cassette holder locking mechanism 10 provided with the first and second cassette holders 2 and 3 will be schematically described with reference to FIG. explain. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the cassette holder locking mechanism 10. The cassette holder locking mechanism 10 locks the first and second cassette holders 2 and 3 which are waiting at the standby position to insert a large cassette 30 and a small cassette 1 described later on the side plate 12, and The lock mechanism 10 releases the lock to the side plate 12 in accordance with the insertion operation of the large and small cassettes. In this embodiment, the cassette holder locking mechanism 10 is provided on the left side plate 12 in the drawing. However, it is of course possible to provide it on the right side.

Thus, the cassette holder locking mechanism 1
By providing 0 on the left and right side plate sides, when a large or small tape cassette or the like is obliquely inserted into the first or second cassette holder 2 or 3, one of the cassette holders provided on the left and right side plate sides can be used. Since the lock mechanism 10 cannot be unlocked, oblique insertion of the large and small cassettes into the first and second cassette holders 2 and 3 can be prevented, and accordingly, the first and second cassette holders 2 and 2 can be prevented. 3 can also be prevented from moving horizontally.

In FIG. 5, a locking portion 12f is formed on the front side (cassette insertion side) of the side plate 12 so as to protrude inward. In addition,
The locking portion 12f is not formed so as to be cut and raised, but may be configured to be fixed thereto as a hook member (not shown). Also, the second cassette holder 3
The rotating shaft 19 is attached to the back surface of the L-shaped bent piece 3c formed at the left end of
Is fixed downward, and the locking lever 4 is rotatable around the rotation shaft 19 while being urged toward the locking portion 12f (clockwise in the drawing) of the side plate 12 by the tension spring 17. Is provided. At this time, the tension spring 17 is locked between the locking lever 4 and the rear surface of the left convex upper surface 3b of the second cassette holder 3. 3d is a rack.

The locking lever 4 has a locking claw 7 which is locked to a locking portion 12f of the side plate 12 at one end side via a rotating shaft 19 and is formed to project toward the locking portion 12f. I have. Further, the locking lever 4 raises the other end side via the rotating shaft 19 from the back surface of the L-shaped bent piece 3c of the second cassette holder 3 to above the left bottom surface 2a of the first cassette holder 2, A slide member 8 to be described later is provided in the vicinity of the raised portion.
The pressed part 4b which comes in contact with and separates from the pressed part 8b is further formed.
The small tape cassette abutting portion 4a having a "U" shape is formed so as to face forward in the cassette insertion direction of the concave portion 3a of the second cassette holder 3 by being connected at the same height as the pressed portion 4b.

Two guide pins 91 and 92 are fixed on the left convex surface 3b of the second cassette holder 3 in a straight line extending in the depth direction.
The slide member 8 is inserted into the elongated hole 5 of the slide member 8 so that the slide member 8 is moved in the depth direction (directions of arrows X1 and X2).
Is slidably provided. The slide member 8 is
A pressing portion 8b for pressing the pressed portion 4b of the locking lever 4 is formed at the front, and a large cassette contact portion 8a with which the front surface of a large cassette (not shown) abuts is formed by bending upward and backward. .

When a large cassette 30, which will be described later, is inserted along with the first cassette holder 2, when the front surface of the large cassette contacts the large cassette contact portion 8a of the slide member 8, the slide member 8 moves in the direction of arrow X2. Then, the large cassette contact portion 8a is configured to contact the stopper piece 2a1 provided on the back of the bottom surface 2a of the first cassette holder 2.

As is apparent from the above description, it is understood that the first cassette holder 2 and the second cassette holder 3 are linked to the locking lever 4 and the like and are formed with a step.

Here, the outline of the operation of the cassette holder locking mechanism 10 having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. First, an example in which the small cassette is mounted at the mounting position of the second cassette holder 3 will be described.

FIG. 5 shows the initial state.
The first and second cassette holders 2 and 3 are waiting for insertion of a large or small cassette before a device not shown. In this initial state, the cassette holder locking mechanism 10 rotates the locking lever 4 attached to the upper surface of the second cassette holder 3 clockwise about the rotary shaft 19 by the urging force of the tension spring 17. Since the locking claw 7 of the locking lever 4 is locked to the locking portion 12f of the side plate 12, the second cassette holder 3 is locked at the standby position. At this time, the first cassette holder 2 on which the second cassette holder 3 is mounted
Are locked at the standby position via the second cassette holder 3.

The convex upper surface 3b of the second cassette holder 3
The sliding member 8 attached to the
Since the pressed portion 4b of the locking lever 4 urged in the clockwise direction is in contact with the slide member 8b, the slide member 8 is guided by the guide pins 91 and 92 in the elongated hole 5 to move in the direction of the arrow X1. Has moved to the near side of

Here, when a small cassette 1 described later is inserted into the second cassette holder 3, the front surface of the small cassette 1 comes into contact with the small cassette contact portion 4a of the locking lever 4, and this small cassette contact portion 4a, the locking lever 4 rotates counterclockwise about the rotating shaft 19 against the biasing force of the tension spring 17, and the locking claw 7 of the locking lever 4 is moved to the side plate. The locking is released from the locking portion 12f of the twelve. Therefore, the second cassette holder 3 into which the small cassette 1 has been inserted is movable.

Thereafter, the second cassette holder 3 into which the small cassette 1 has been inserted is not shown from the standby position with respect to the first cassette holder 2 with the locking from the locking portion 12f of the side plate 12 being released. It slides horizontally to a predetermined position toward the rotating drum. As described above, when the second cassette holder 3 slides horizontally to a predetermined position, the guide pins 91 and 92 fixed to the second cassette holder 3 are moved to the second position.
The slide member 8 is moved in the direction of the arrow X2 in the elongated hole 5 integrally with the cassette holder 3. As described above, by providing the slide member 8 having the elongated hole 5 so as to be slidable on the second cassette holder 3, the second cassette holder 3 is horizontally moved to the predetermined position with respect to the first cassette holder 2. It is possible to slide.

Then, the second cassette holder 3 on which the small cassette 1 is placed is horizontally moved to a predetermined position, and thereafter, the first and second cassette holders 2 and 3 are integrally and slightly moved horizontally. Further, when the small cassette 1 is attached to a predetermined mouse position of the recording / reproducing apparatus by being vertically lowered,
The magnetic tape accommodated therein is loaded into a predetermined position by loading means (not shown), and predetermined recording and reproduction are performed there.

When the predetermined recording / reproduction on the magnetic tape is completed, the magnetic tape is unloaded and stored again in the small cassette 1, and the slide member 8 moves in the direction of arrow X1 by the reverse operation. With this movement, the locking lever 4 is rotated clockwise around the rotation shaft 19 by the urging force of the tension spring 17, and the small cassette contact portion 4a provided on one side thereof is also rotated clockwise. As a result, the second cassette holder 3 on which the small cassette 1 is placed is ejected to the initial position.

Next, when the large cassette 30 is inserted into the first cassette holder 2, the front surface of the large cassette 30 contacts the large cassette contact portion 8a of the slide member 8, and the slide member 8 moves in the direction of arrow X2. I do. As a result, the pressing portion 8b of the slide member 8 presses the pressed portion 4b of the locking lever 4, so that the locking lever 4 is counterclockwise about the rotating shaft 19 against the urging force of the tension spring 17. The locking claw 7 of the locking lever 4 is turned to the locking portion 1 of the side plate 12.
The lock is released from 2f. Therefore, the first cassette holder 2 into which the large cassette 30 has been inserted is movable.

In this state, when performing predetermined recording / reproduction on the magnetic tape stored in the large cassette 30,
The first cassette holder 2 on which the large cassette 30 is placed
Is moved horizontally in the direction of the arrow X2, so that the first cassette holder 2 and the second cassette holder 3 are integrally and slightly moved in the same manner as described above, and then vertically lowered. When the magnetic tape is mounted at a predetermined mouse position of the recording / reproducing apparatus, the magnetic tape stored in the large cassette 30 is loaded at a predetermined position by a loading means (not shown), and a predetermined recording / reproduction is performed there. .

When the predetermined recording / reproduction on the magnetic tape is completed, the magnetic tape is unloaded and stored again in the large cassette 30, and the large cassette 30 in the first cassette holder 2 After being slightly integrated with the second cassette holder 3 and horizontally moved in the direction of the arrow X1 together with the locking lever 4 while being in contact with the large cassette abutting portion 8a of the slide member 8, by the urging force of the tension spring 17, Then, the first cassette holder 2 on which the large cassette 30 is placed is ejected to the initial position.

At the time of movement to the eject end, the second cassette holder 3 also moves in the direction of arrow X1 at the same time. By contacting one side of the insertion side, the first cassette holder 2 and the front end of the insertion side are configured to coincide with each other.

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Note that the same parts as those of the related art described below use the same reference numerals,
Detailed description is omitted. In FIG. 1 to FIG.
Is a cassette bottom support member provided on the cassette insertion port side of the second cassette holder 3, 11 is a shaft provided in a direction perpendicular to the small cassette 1 insertion direction of the cassette bottom support member 6, and 13 and 13 are , A plurality of first rollers 14, 14, which are rotatably mounted coaxially on the left and right on the shaft 11.
Reference numeral 4 denotes a plurality of second rollers which are rotatably mounted coaxially at a substantially central portion on the shaft 11. Reference numeral 15 denotes a cassette advance prevention fixed to the left side of the second cassette holder 3 in the small cassette 1 insertion direction. The member 16 is the second cassette holder 3
Is a lid release member fixed to the right side of the small cassette 1 in the insertion direction.

Here, the respective constituent members which are the main parts of the present invention will be described in detail. When the small cassette 1 shown in FIG. 1 is not mounted in the second cassette holder 3, the left and right first rollers 13 are in contact with the bottom surface of the second cassette holder 3. On the other hand, the second rollers 14, 14 are configured to slightly protrude from the upper surface of the second cassette holder 3 and to be lower than the upper surface of the first cassette holder 2. That is, the outer diameter of the second roller 14 is formed larger than the outer diameter of the first roller 13. Further, the plurality of first and second rollers 13, 13, 14,
Numeral 14 denotes a member whose surface has a high friction coefficient.

Next, the operation of inserting the small cassette 1 into the second cassette holder 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. When the small cassette 1 is inserted into the second cassette holder 3 from a predetermined width direction position, first, the bottom surface of the small cassette 1 contacts the plurality of rollers 14. When the small cassette 1 is further inserted into the recording / reproducing apparatus, the frictional force between the plurality of rollers 14 and 14 and the bottom surface of the small cassette 1 is applied to the plurality of rollers 13 and 13 rotatably mounted on the same axis as the rollers 14. Transmitted to the plurality of rollers 13, 13
And the frictional force generated on the bottom surface of the second cassette holder 3 moves the second cassette holder 3 toward the recording / reproducing apparatus.

However, the second cassette holder 3
The second cassette holder 3 and the roller 13 cannot be moved because they are fixed by a holder locking member (not shown).
Alternatively, the small cassette 1 moves forward in the second cassette holder 3 while sliding occurs between the small cassette 1 and the roller 14. When the small cassette 1 contacts the cassette advance prevention member 15 provided on the left side of the second cassette holder 3 and abuts the lid release member 16 provided on the right side of the second cassette holder 3, the advance is stopped, and the small cassette 1 is stopped. Is completed in the second cassette holder 3.

When the mounting of the small cassette 1 in the second cassette holder 3 is completed, the holder locking member (not shown) is pressed in the counterclockwise direction, whereby the lock on the second cassette holder 3 is released. Then, the second cassette holder 3 starts moving horizontally toward the recording / reproducing apparatus. At this time,
Due to the horizontal movement of the second cassette holder 3, the roller 13 tries to rotate toward the recording / reproducing apparatus. At the same time, the roller 14 also tries to rotate toward the recording / reproducing device.

However, as described above, the roller 14
Is formed to be larger than that of the roller 13, so that the roller 14 moves longer in the circumferential direction during rotation than the roller 13. Therefore, the roller 14 tries to move the small cassette 1 toward the recording / reproducing apparatus with respect to the second cassette holder 3. However, the small cassette 1 is
Since the movement toward the recording / reproducing apparatus is restricted by the cassette advance prevention member 15 provided on the left side of the cassette holder 3, the slide between the second cassette holder 3 and the roller 13 or between the small cassette 1 and the roller 14 is prevented. , The small cassette 1 is pressed against the cassette advance prevention member 15.

When the second cassette holder 3 further moves horizontally and the roller 13 separates from the bottom surface of the second cassette holder 3, the force for pressing the small cassette 1 against the cassette advance prevention member 15 is released. At this time, the rollers 13 and 14
Simply rotates to the recording / reproducing apparatus side by the movement of the small cassette 1. Thereafter, the roller 14 separates from the bottom surface of the small cassette 1, and the second cassette holder 3 moves vertically after horizontal movement, whereby the small cassette 1 is mounted at a predetermined position of the recording / reproducing apparatus.

Next, the ejecting operation of the small cassette 1 will be described mainly with reference to FIGS. When predetermined recording on the small cassette 1 by the recording / reproducing device is completed, the second cassette holder 3 on which the small cassette 1 is mounted shifts from a vertical operation to a horizontal operation, and reaches the vicinity of the cassette insertion slot. The roller 14 comes into contact again, and the rollers 13 and 14 rotate toward the cassette insertion port.

Further, when the second cassette holder 3 moves in the direction of the cassette insertion opening, the bottom surface of the second cassette holder 3 comes into contact with the roller 13. Here, since the outer diameter of the roller 14 is larger than that of the roller 13 as described above,
Is greater than the horizontal movement distance of the second cassette holder 3. Therefore, the small cassette 1 is relatively moved on the second cassette holder 3 in the direction of the cassette insertion port by the roller 14, and is ejected more than when the cassette is inserted. Therefore, the operation of taking out the small cassette 1 becomes easy.

Next, the operation of inserting and ejecting the large cassette 30 will be described mainly with reference to FIGS. When the large cassette 30 is inserted, the bottom surface of the large cassette 30 comes into contact with the first cassette holder 2. As described above, since the roller 14 is mounted at a position lower than the upper surface of the first cassette holder 2, the roller 14 does not contact the bottom surface of the large cassette 30. The roller 13 and the roller 14 rotate in the same manner as when the small cassette 1 is inserted by the horizontal movement operation of the first cassette holder 2, but since the large cassette 30 and the roller 14 are not in contact, the movement of the roller 14 Has no effect. Therefore, when the large cassette 30 is ejected, unlike the small cassette 1, the large cassette 30 is not ejected in an unstable state larger than when the cassette is inserted.

[0036]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained by the configuration as described above. By increasing the discharge amount of the small cassette, the operation of taking out the small cassette becomes easy. Since the discharge amount of only the small cassette can be increased, the large cassette is not discharged in an unstable state when the large cassette is ejected. Since the rotation of the roller is performed by the operation of the cassette holder, the mechanism for rotating the roller is simple and the number of parts is small.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a state when a small cassette is inserted in a cassette mounting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state when a small cassette is ejected in the cassette mounting apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a cassette holder locking mechanism.

[Description of Signs] 1 Small cassette 2 First cassette holder 3 Second cassette holder 6 Cassette bottom support member 10 Cassette holder locking mechanism 11 Axis 13 First roller 14 Second roller 15 Cassette advance prevention member 16 Lid release member 20 Cassette mounting device 30 large cassette

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a front loading type cassette mounting apparatus using two kinds of cassettes, large and small, the outer diameter of a cassette bottom supporting member provided on one side of a cassette insertion opening of a small cassette holder is made different. A plurality of rollers are provided, and when ejecting the small cassette, the rollers are rotated by a predetermined operation of the cassette holder in which the cassette is mounted, so that the discharge amount of the small cassette is increased. Cassette mounting device.