JP2001332055A - Disk cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To smoothly and exactly perform opening and closing operation of a pair of shutter members, and to reduce a space as much as possible by pressing a pair of shutter members mutually to enhance dust-proofing characteristic and airtightness between the pair of shutter members. SOLUTION: A disk cartridge is provided with the cartridge casing 12 in which a disk housing chamber 16 is formed in an upper shell 13 and an middle shell 14 by superposing the upper shell 13, the middle shell 14, and a lower shell 15, and the middle shell 14 is supported freely rotatably by the upper shell 13 and the lower shell 15, an optical disk 11 housed freely rotatably in the disk housing chamber 16, a pair of shutter members 18a and 18b mounted in the middle shell 14 movable each other to the plane direction on the same plane, and a shutter opening and closing mechanism which makes airtight opening parts 25 and 42 which are provided in the cartridge casing 12 and expose some parts of the optical disk 11 seal by displacing the pair of shutter members 18a and 18b to bring into contact with each end surface on the basis of the rotation of the middle shell 14.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a disk cartridge in which a disk-shaped recording medium such as an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, and a magnetic disk is rotatably stored in a disk storage chamber of a cartridge housing. A pair of shutter members are opened and closed by rotating the shell while forming a disk storage chamber between the shell and the opening and closing of the opening, and a part of the disk-shaped recording medium is exposed from the opening at the time of opening. The present invention relates to a disk cartridge described in FIG.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a disk cartridge in which a disk-shaped recording medium capable of recording and / or reproducing information such as audio, video or computer data is rotatably stored in a cartridge housing, for example, A configuration as shown in FIG. 27 is known. This disk cartridge 1 is a disk cartridge incorporating a write-once magneto-optical disk 4 on which a user can record and write information such as computer data later, and has an external shape as shown in FIG. .

The disk cartridge 1 includes a cartridge housing 2 composed of a pair of upper shell 2a and lower shell 2b, and a magneto-optical disk 4 rotatably stored in a disk storage chamber 3 of the cartridge housing 2. Etc. are provided. The upper and lower surfaces of the cartridge housing 2 are provided with upper and lower openings 5 extending from the center toward one side. The opening 5 can be opened and closed by a shutter member 6 slidable along one side thereof. Reference numeral 6a denotes a pressing member for preventing the leading end of the shutter member 6 from coming off.

At the center of the magneto-optical disk 4, there is provided a center hub 7 formed of metal in a disk shape. The center hub 7 is arranged at a position corresponding to the inner end of the opening 5, that is, substantially at the center of the cartridge housing 2. A turntable provided on the main body side of the information recording / reproducing apparatus is attached to the center hub 7,
The magneto-optical disk 4 is fixed by the chucking by the turntable and has a predetermined speed (for example, constant linear speed).
Is driven to rotate. At this time, the recording or reproduction of the information signal with respect to the magneto-optical disk 4 is performed by the function of the magneto-optical pickup device in which the head is inserted into the opening 5.

[0005]

However, in the conventional disk cartridge having such a structure, the shutter member 6 for opening and closing the opening 5 is formed to have a U-shaped cross section. 6 is fitted to one side of the cartridge housing 2 and the shutter member 6 is slid along the one side to open and close the opening 5. For this reason, a large gap is formed between the cartridge housing 2 and the shutter member 6, and there is a problem that intrusion of minute dust and dirt cannot be prevented.

[0006] In recent years, in the trend of increasing the capacity and recording density of optical discs, the pitch of recording patterns and the linear density have been increasing. In an optical disk or a magneto-optical disk, there is a case where a reading or writing beam is shielded by dust or dust entering a recording surface, or normal information cannot be read or written due to damage to an information recording surface. Therefore, in the conventional disk cartridge, as shown in FIG. 27, the shutter member 6 formed in a substantially U-shaped cross section is slidably mounted on one side of the cartridge housing 2 and moved along the one side. The opening 5 is opened and closed to protect the information recording surface of an optical disk or the like.

However, due to the further increase in capacity and recording density, the degree of influence on the reading and writing of data has been increased even for minute dust and dust, which had little effect in the past. However, the shutter member cannot prevent the entry of minute-sized dust and dirt. In this case, if minute dust entering the cartridge housing 2 adheres to the information recording surface of the magneto-optical disk 4, the information recording surface is damaged by the dust and normal information cannot be read or written. there were.

In the conventional disk cartridge 1 described above, the shutter member 6 is located at a place where the user can easily touch it, so that the user slides the shutter member 6 to open the opening 5 by mistake. There was a fear. Moreover, since the shutter member 6 moves linearly along one side of the cartridge housing 2, the cartridge housing 2
There was also a problem that the surface area of the steel cannot be reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such a problem of the conventional disk cartridge, and has a structure in which a middle shell is rotatable and a pair of shutter members are opened and closed based on the rotation of the middle shell. By making the end faces abut each other, the opening and closing operation of the pair of shutter members can be performed smoothly and reliably, and the gap between the pair of shutter members is pressed as small as possible. In addition, it is an object of the present invention to solve the above-described conventional problems by improving dustproofness and airtightness between a pair of shutter members.

[0010]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and the like and to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention relates to claim 1 of the present application.
In the disk cartridge described above, a disk storage chamber is formed in the upper shell and the middle shell or in the middle shell and the lower shell by overlapping the upper shell, the middle shell and the lower shell, and the middle shell is formed by the upper shell and the lower shell. A rotatably supported cartridge housing and a disk-shaped recording medium rotatably stored in a disk storage chamber are rotatably mounted on a middle shell so as to be movable in the same plane on the same plane. An opening provided in the cartridge housing and exposing a part of the disk-shaped recording medium by moving the pair of shutter members based on the rotation of the middle shell and bringing the end surfaces into contact with each other; A shutter opening / closing mechanism for sealing the unit is provided.

In the disk cartridge according to a second aspect of the present invention, the shutter opening / closing mechanism is provided in a pair of shutter members and a pair of guide grooves provided in one of the cartridge housing and the other, and is slidable in the guide grooves. And a pair of shutter members to move the guide groove along the operation convex portion based on the rotation of the middle shell to open and close the pair of shutter members. It is characterized by doing.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, when the pair of shutter members are closed, the pair of guide grooves apply spring force to the pair of operation projections so that the pair of shutter members are flat. An elastic piece for biasing in the direction is provided.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the disk cartridge, the pair of shutter members is formed by a combination of a pair of substantially semicircular plate members. A guide groove is provided on one side of the string side of each shutter member, and a pivot provided on the other side of the string side is rotatably supported by the middle shell. It is characterized by:

With the above-described structure, the disk cartridge according to the first aspect of the present invention provides a disk cartridge including a cartridge housing having a disk storage chamber, a disk-shaped recording medium, and a pair of shutter members. By providing a shutter opening / closing mechanism for moving the pair of shutter members based on the rotation of the middle shell and bringing the end surfaces into contact with each other, the middle shell is rotated to securely and firmly contact the pair of shutter members. Can be done. Therefore, the gap between the pair of shutter members and the cartridge housing can be reduced to make it difficult for minute dust, dust, and the like to enter the disk storage chamber, and the dust prevention effect of the cartridge housing can be enhanced. Further, the thickness is thin and the space efficiency is excellent, and the size and thickness of the entire disc cartridge can be reduced.

In the disk cartridge according to the second aspect of the present invention, the pair of shutter members are smoothly and reliably rotated by moving the pair of operation protrusions along the pair of guide grooves based on the rotation of the middle shell. Can work.

In the disk cartridge according to the third aspect of the present invention, since the shutter opening / closing mechanism presses the pair of shutter members together, the two shutter members can be brought into close contact with each other, and the dustproof effect of the cartridge housing can be enhanced. it can.

In the disk cartridge according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the pair of shutter members is formed by a combination of a pair of substantially semicircular plate members, and the pair of shutter members are symmetrically arranged with the opening therebetween. Thus, the opening and closing operation of the opening can be performed smoothly and reliably by ensuring the operation of the pair of shutter members, and the size and thickness of the entire disc cartridge can be reduced.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 to 26 show an embodiment of the disk cartridge of the present invention. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the first embodiment of the disc cartridge viewed from the lower shell side, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the shutter closed state also viewed from the lower shell side, and FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the upper shell, FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the middle shell, FIG. 6 is a plan view of the lower shell, FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the middle shell and a pair of shutter members in an open state, and FIG. 7
9 is a perspective view of the closed state of the pair of shutter members, FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the open state of the lower shell and the pair of shutter members, FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the closed state of the pair of shutter members of FIG. 9, and FIG. FIG. 10 is a plan view, and FIG. 12 is an explanatory view in which a central portion is sectioned.

FIGS. 13 to 19 are explanatory diagrams showing the relationship between the amount of rotation of the middle shell and the open / closed state of the pair of shutter members, respectively. FIGS. 20A to 20C are diagrams showing the relationship between the rotation of the middle shell and the elevating operation, respectively. FIGS. 21A and 21B show the close contact of the shutter member based on the elevating operation by the rotation of the middle shell.
FIG. 22 is an exploded perspective view of the second embodiment of the disk cartridge viewed from the lower shell side, FIG. 23 is a perspective view of the shutter closed state also viewed from the lower shell side, and FIG. FIG. 25 is an explanatory block diagram showing an embodiment of a circuit configuration of an information disk recording / reproducing apparatus which can use the disk cartridge of the present invention. FIG. 25 is a perspective view showing a state before inserting the disk cartridge of the present invention into the disk recording / reproducing apparatus. FIG. 26 is a perspective view showing a state where the disk cartridge is being inserted into the disk recording / reproducing apparatus.

A disk cartridge 10 shown as a first embodiment is a read-only disk in which various information signals such as a music signal as audio information, a video signal as video information and a music signal are recorded in advance as a disk-shaped recording medium. Type, or a recordable optical disk 11 in which information signals such as audio information and video information can be recorded only once (write-once type) or recordable repeatedly (rewriteable type). is there. However, the disk-shaped recording medium is not limited to this, and it is formed in the same manner as a magnetic disk in which a magnetic thin film layer is formed on the surface of a thin disk to store information according to the magnetization state at a specific position. A magneto-optical disk or other storage medium in which information is written or read using an optical head and a magnetic head on a magnetic thin film layer can be applied.

This disk cartridge 10 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 3, a pair of upper shell 13 and middle shell 14 are provided.
And a lower shell 15, a cartridge housing 12 formed by stacking them, an optical disk 11 rotatably stored in a disk storage chamber 16 formed in the cartridge housing 12, a middle shell 14 and a lower shell Fifteen
Are provided with a pair of shutter members 18a and 18b for opening and closing the openings 25 and 42 formed in the shutter. When the disc cartridge 10 is used with the optical disc 11 being horizontal, the upper shell 13 is usually arranged on the upper side, but in FIG. 1, the upper shell 13 is turned upside down for convenience of explanation. It is written with the shell 13 facing down.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the upper shell 13 is formed of a thin dish-shaped member having a substantially square shape with an arcuate front side. At the center of the lower surface of the upper shell 13 (the surface that appears as the front surface in FIG. 1), a middle shell 1 is provided.
A circular upper concave portion 19a into which a substantially upper half in the thickness direction of 4 is rotatably fitted is provided. This upper recess 1
By providing 9a, on the outer peripheral edge of the upper shell 13,
Front edge 13a, left and right side edges 13b, 13c, and rear edge 1
3d is provided. The front edge 1 of the upper shell 13
The positioning recesses 21 a and 2 for positioning with the lower shell 15 are provided substantially in the center of the rear edge 3 d and the rear edge 13 d.
1b is provided.

On the outer peripheral edge of the upper concave portion 19a of the upper shell 13, arc-shaped cam grooves 22 continuous at a predetermined length in the circumferential direction are provided at three locations at equal intervals. By providing the cam grooves 22 at three places, the lift-up portions 23 having a predetermined length are provided at three places between the adjacent cam grooves 22 and 22.
(A hatched portion in a lattice pattern in FIG. 4) is provided. In these three cam grooves 22, the middle shell 1 is provided.
The cam portion 46 provided on the fourth member 4 is slidably fitted.

The lower shell 15 overlaps the lower surface of the upper shell 13. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, the outer shape of the lower shell 15 is substantially the same as that of the upper shell 13, and is formed of a thin dish-shaped member having a substantially quadrangular shape with an arcuate front side. At the center of the plane of the lower shell 15 (the surface hidden as the back surface in FIG. 1), a circular lower concave portion 19b into which a substantially lower half in the thickness direction of the middle shell 14 is rotatably fitted. Is provided. By providing the lower concave portion 19b, the lower shell 15
The front edge 15a and the left and right side edges 15b, 1
5c and a trailing edge 15d are provided. At the approximate center of the front edge 15a and the rear edge 15d of the lower shell 15,
Positioning projections 24a and 24b for performing alignment with the upper shell 13 are provided.

By engaging the projections 24a and 24b of the lower shell 15 with the recesses 21a and 21b of the upper shell 13 respectively, the upper and lower shells 13 and 15 are aligned with each other and overlap in a predetermined state. Upper and lower recesses 19a, 19b formed in the upper and lower shells 13, 15
The middle shell 14 is rotatably housed in a circular space portion made of. An opening 25 extending in the front-rear direction is provided at the center of the lower shell 15. The opening 25 is for allowing the turntable of the disk rotation drive mechanism and the optical head of the optical pickup device to face the optical disk 11, and is set to have a size that allows them to freely enter and exit.

That is, the opening 25 of the lower shell 15 has a table opening 25a set at the center where the turntable is taken in and out, and a head opening extending on both sides in the front-rear direction of the table opening 25a. And an opening 25b. The shape of the opening 25 is, for example, one on both sides of the table opening 25a in the head opening 25b.
It has been conceived to enable a total of two optical heads to be taken in and out simultaneously. On the inner surfaces at both ends in the front-rear direction of the head opening 25b, shielding portions 2 for closing gaps between shutter members 18a and 18b described later are provided.
6a and 26b are provided respectively. Further, a pair of operation convex portions 27a and 27b are provided in the lower concave portion 19b so as to be symmetric about the table opening 25a.

The upper and lower concave portions 19a formed by the upper shell 13 and the lower shell 15 having the above-described structure are provided.
The middle shell 14 is housed in the middle shell 19b.
The upper shell 13 forms a disk storage chamber 16 having a circular space. This disk storage room 1
6, an optical disk 11 is accommodated with a predetermined gap in the radially outward direction and the thickness direction. The optical disk 11 is formed of a thin disk-shaped recording member having a center hole 11a at the center.

On one surface of the central portion of the optical disk 11,
A center hub 28 is fixed by a fixing means such as an adhesive so as to cover the center hole 11a. This center hub 2
Numeral 8 is formed of a magnetic material such as an iron plate which is attracted by a magnet. A turntable of a disk rotation driving device built in the disk recording / reproducing device is fitted to the center hub 28 through a center hole 11a.
The center hub 28 is attracted by the magnetic force of the magnet provided on the turntable. Thus, the optical disk 11 is chucked on the turntable and integrated in the rotation direction, and is rotated at a predetermined speed (for example, a constant linear speed) by driving a spindle motor to which the turntable is attached.

On one surface of the optical disk 11, an information recording area 29 in which information can be recorded in which an optical head of an optical pickup device built in the disk recording / reproducing apparatus is opposed.
a and a non-recording area 29b where information cannot be recorded. The non-recording area 29b includes an inner non-recording area 29b provided with a predetermined width outside the center hub 23 inside the optical disc 11, and an outer non-recording area 29b provided with a predetermined width on the outer peripheral edge of the optical disc 11. . The information recording area 29a is located between the inner and outer non-recording areas 29b.
Is provided. As a material of the substrate of the optical disk 11, for example, a synthetic resin such as polycarbonate (PC) or polyolefin is suitable, but it is needless to say that other synthetic resins can be used. Various materials such as a glass material and an aluminum alloy used as a recording medium can be used.

An opening window 30 for exposing a part of the outer peripheral surface of the middle shell 14 is provided substantially at the center of one of the side edges 13b and 15b of the upper and lower shells 13 and 15. The opening window 30 is formed by an upper cutout portion 30 a provided at a joint portion of the upper shell 13 and a lower cutout portion 30 b provided at a joint portion of the lower shell 15. Furthermore,
A guide groove 31 extending in the front-rear direction along the joint surface is provided on one side edge portion 13b, 15b of the upper and lower shells 13, 15.
Is provided. The guide groove 31 is provided for the purpose of preventing erroneous insertion when the disk cartridge 10 is mounted on the disk recording / reproducing apparatus. An opening window 30 communicates with the guide groove 31.

Further, at the front corner of one of the side edges 13b, 15b of the upper and lower shells 13, 15, there is provided a lock storage portion 33 in which the lock member 32 is rotatably stored.
The lock storage portion 33 communicates with the recessed portions 19a and 19b, and communicates with the guide groove 31 through an opening 34 provided in one of the side edges 13b and 15b. Further, a support shaft 35 for rotatably supporting the lock member 32 is provided in the lock storage portion 33 of the upper shell 13 so as to protrude toward the lower shell 15 side.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 13, the lock member 32 is formed by a lever-like member rotatably fitted to a support shaft 35 and capable of swinging in a plane direction. . A stopper 36 having a plurality of teeth is provided at one end in the longitudinal direction of the lock member 32, and an input unit 37 is provided at the other end in the longitudinal direction. Further, the lock member 32 is integrally provided with a spring piece 38 protruding in the same direction so as to face the stopper portion 36.

The locking member 32 having such a configuration
Is fitted to the support shaft 35 with the stopper portion 36 facing the concave portions 19a and 19b, and the spring piece 38 is
a, 15a. The stopper portion 36 is urged toward the concave portions 19a and 19b by the spring force of the spring piece 38, and at the same time, the input portion 37 penetrates through the opening hole 34 from the inside and protrudes into the guide groove 31.

The upper shell 13 and the lower shell 15 as described above
The middle shell 14 rotatably fitted into the upper and lower recessed portions 19a and 19b has a configuration as shown in FIGS. The middle shell 14 has a flat portion 40 made of a thin disk-shaped plate, and a ring portion 41 provided continuously on the outer peripheral edge of the flat portion 40. Middle shell 14
Is a pair of semicircular pieces 4 formed in a substantially semicircular shape.
The opening 42 is formed by providing a gap between the chord sides of the two semicircular pieces 40a, 40a. The opening 42 has the same shape and size as the opening 25 of the lower shell 15.

That is, similarly to the opening 25, the opening 42 is
A table opening 42a which is set at the center of the plane portion 40 and through which the turntable is inserted and removed, and a head opening which is set on both diametrical sides of the table opening 42a and faces one optical head at a time. 42b, 42b
And A support edge 40b that supports the inner non-recording area 29b of the optical disc 11 from below in a free state is provided on the inner peripheral edge of the flat portion 40 surrounding the periphery of the table opening 42a.

A gear portion 43 having a large number of teeth over a predetermined range in the circumferential direction is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the ring portion 41 of the middle shell 14. This gear portion 43 corresponds to FIG.
As shown in (1), when the cartridge housing 12 is assembled, the opening 42 of the middle shell 14 is set to the position facing the opening window 30 with the opening 42 of the middle shell 14 aligned with the opening 25 of the lower shell 15. The range of the gear portion 43 is set to be an angle range slightly larger than the rotation angle of the middle shell 14. That is, as shown in FIGS.
When the pair of shutter members 18a and 18b in which the opening 42 is tilted to the maximum with respect to the shutter member 18a and 18b is completely closed, one end in the circumferential direction of the gear portion 43 is exposed to the opening window 30. When the pair of shutter members 18a and 18b in which the middle shell 14 rotates a predetermined angle and the opening 42 overlaps the opening 25 is completely opened, the other end of the gear 43 in the circumferential direction is opened. The window 30 is exposed.

Outside the one end of the gear portion 43 of the middle shell 14, a stopper portion 44 for limiting the amount of rotation of the middle shell 14 is provided so as to protrude outward in the radial direction. Since the gear portion 43 and the stopper portion 44 protrude outward from the outer peripheral surface of the ring portion 41, the corresponding portions of the upper shell 13 and the lower upper shell 15 avoid contact with the stopper portion 44 and the like. Relief grooves 45a and 45b are provided respectively to allow the passage. Further, at one end face of the ring portion 41, an arc-shaped cam portion 46 (see FIG.
Are shown by a number of points).
These cam portions 46 are engaged with the three cam grooves 22 of the upper shell 13 in a state where the middle shell 14 is assembled to the upper shell 13. By rotating the middle shell 14 by a predetermined angle, each cam portion 46 rides on each of the three lift-up portions 23.

On the other end surface of the ring portion 41 of the middle shell 14, two arc-shaped ridges 47 projecting from the opposite side to the cam portion 46 are provided. These ridges 4
Reference numerals 7 and 47 limit the movement of the pair of shutter members 18a and 18b outward in the radial direction. In order to avoid contact with these ridges 47, 47, as shown in FIG.
Escape grooves 48 extending in the circumferential direction are provided.
Further, a pair of support holes 49, 49 for rotatably supporting the pair of shutter members 18a, 18b in the plane direction are provided in the plane portion 40 of the middle shell 14. The pair of support holes 49, 49 are set one by one so as to be point-symmetric with respect to one edge portion of the head openings 42b, 42b around the table opening 42a.

The shutter mechanism 18 attached to the middle shell 14 through the pair of support holes 49, 49 is a pair of shutter members 18 having the same shape and size.
a, 18b. The pair of shutter members 18a and 18b have shapes and structures as shown in FIGS. That is, the pair of shutter members 18
a and 18b are formed by a thin plate having a substantially semicircular shape. At substantially the center of the chord side of each of the shutter members 18a and 18b, a step 50 having a predetermined length in a direction perpendicular to the chord line is provided. A side joint 50a and a concave side joint 50b are formed.

Further, the joints 50a, 50b of the shutter members 18a, 18b are provided with eaves 51, 51 projecting like eaves in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the chords extend. Thus, in the pair of shutter members 18a and 18b, the end surfaces of the convex-side joint 50a and the concave-side joint 5
0b are opposed to each other, and the eave portion 51a of the convex joint portion 50a overlaps with the eave portion 51b of the concave joint portion 50b. The shaft mounting portion 50, which is the end of the shutter members 18a and 18b on the chord side side on the convex side joining portion 50a side.
Each of the shafts c is provided with a shaft portion 52 protruding toward the eaves portion 51 side.

By fitting the shaft portion 52 into the support hole 49 of the flat portion 40, each of the shutter members 18a, 18b
Are rotatably attached to the middle shell 14, respectively.
At this time, the pair of shutter members 18a and 18b are attached with their chord sides facing each other. as a result,
As shown in FIG. 7, a pair of shutter members 18a, 18b
When the shutter members 18a and 18b are rotated so as to separate from each other, the shutter members 18a and 18b are placed so as to be hidden on the semicircular piece 40a. On the other hand, a pair of shutter members 18a,
18b are pivoted inwardly so that their joints 50
By bringing the shutter members 18a and 50b into contact with each other, a substantially circular shield portion is formed at the center of the opening 42 by the pair of shutter members 18a and 18b as shown in FIG.

Further, the shutter members 18a and 18b are provided with the shutter members 18a and 18b
Are provided with opening and closing grooves 53 for opening and closing, respectively. Each opening / closing groove 53 is formed so as to extend in the radial direction about the shaft portion 52 of the shutter members 18a and 18b provided with the opening / closing groove 53. The operation protrusions 27a and 27b of the lower shell 15 are slidably engaged with the opening / closing groove 53. Further, an elastic piece 54 formed by making a cut in the periphery is provided at an outer end of each opening / closing groove 53,
A concave portion 53a for allowing the operation convex portions 27a and 27b to escape is provided. A closing piece 55 for closing a gap formed by the movement of the shaft portion 52 when the shutter is closed is provided on the arc side of the shutter members 18a and 18b.

The upper shell 1 having the above configuration
3, middle shell 14, lower shell 15, and shutter member 18
Examples of the material of a and 18b include ABS resin (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene resin) and HIPS
Synthetic resins such as (high impact polystyrene) are suitable.
However, it is needless to say that other synthetic resins can be used, and aluminum alloys, stainless steels, and other metal materials can also be used.

The above-described middle shell 14 and the operation protrusions 27a,
A shutter opening / closing mechanism is constituted by the rack 27b, the rack bar 70 and the like. The support hole 49 and the shaft 52 form a rotary connection, and the operation protrusions 27a and 27b and the opening / closing groove 53 form a movable connection. still,
Although not shown, the disk cartridge 10 is provided with an erroneous erasure prevention mechanism for preventing erroneous erasure of information recorded on a recording medium such as an optical disk, for example, at the rear corner or the like of the cartridge housing 12. Can also.
Such an erroneous erasure prevention mechanism can be constituted by, for example, an operation window opened on the back surface of the cartridge housing 12 and an erroneous erasure prevention piece that is mounted to open and close the operation window.

The disk cartridge 10 having the above-described configuration can be easily assembled, for example, as follows. As shown in FIG. 1, the assembling operation of the disk cartridge 10 is performed with the upper shell 13 disposed below. First, the optical disk 11 is placed in the upper concave portion 19a of the upper shell 13. At this time, the optical disk 11 is inserted into the upper concave portion 19a with the center hub 28 facing down. Next, the opening side of the middle shell 14 is fitted into the upper concave portion 19a so as to cover the optical disk 11. Thereby, the optical disk 11 is rotatably stored in the disk storage chamber 16 formed by the middle shell 14 and the upper shell 13. At this time, the direction in which the opening 42 of the middle shell 14 extends is made to match the front-back direction of the upper shell 13, and one end of the gear portion 43 faces the opening window 30.

Next, the shutter mechanism 18 is assembled to the middle shell 14. This is because a pair of shutter members 18a, 18
The string sides of b are opposed to each other, and in this state, the shaft portions 52 are fitted into the support holes 49 of the flat portion 40, respectively. Then, the shutter members 18a and 18b are separated from each other so as to overlap the respective semicircular pieces 40a of the middle shell 14. At the same time, or before and after, the lock storage unit 33
The lock member 32 is attached to the support shaft 35 of the above. On this occasion,
The spring piece 38 of the lock member 32 is connected to the front edge 1 of the upper shell 13.
The input portion 37 is made to protrude from the opening hole 34 into the guide groove 31 by the spring force of the spring piece 38.

Next, the middle shell 1 including the shutter mechanism 18
The lower shell 15 is put on the upper shell 4, and the lower shell 15 is overlaid on the upper shell 13. At this time, the positioning protrusions 24a, 24b of the lower shell 15 are fitted into the positioning recesses 21a, 21b of the upper shell 13 as well. This allows
The lower shell 15 is automatically positioned with respect to the upper shell 13. At this time, by disposing the pair of shutter members 18a and 18b at the positions described above, the lower shell 15
, A pair of operation convex portions 27a provided in the lower concave portion 19b,
27b can be opposed to the pair of opening / closing grooves 53, respectively. Therefore, the pair of operation protrusions 27a and 27b can be engaged with the pair of opening / closing grooves 53 simply by overlapping the lower shell 15 with the upper shell 13 without worrying about the position of the pair of opening / closing grooves 53.

Thereafter, the lower shell 15 is fastened and fixed to the upper shell 13 using a plurality of fixing screws. Thereby, the assembling work of the disk cartridge 10 is completed.
In this case, the joining surface of the upper shell 13 and the lower shell 15 may be directly joined by using, for example, an adhesive without using fixing means made of another member such as a fixing screw. Thus, according to the disk cartridge 10 of the present embodiment, the number of components used is small,
Moreover, the assembling work can be performed extremely easily.

In this case, a pair of shutter members 18a, 1
8b are provided with eaves portions 51a, 51b each having a thickness of about half at the joining portions 50a, 50b,
These eaves 51a, 51b are connected to the other joints 50a, 5b.
0b. Therefore, since the entirety of the joints 50a and 50b is appropriately overlapped, a labyrinth effect is generated, and the joints 50a and 50b are formed.
It was possible to obtain a structure in which dust and the like hardly enter over the entire length of Ob. Moreover, when the joints 50a, 50b are pressed inward, the external force applied to the joints 50a, 50b is received by the eaves 51a, 51b located inside. Therefore, the engagement between the joints 50a and 50b can be made stronger by the eaves 51a and 51b, and the deformation of the shutter member can be prevented, and the intrusion of dust and dust can be more reliably prevented. Can be.

Before the disk cartridge 10 having the above configuration is mounted on the disk recording / reproducing apparatus, the disk cartridge 10 is in a state as shown in FIG. In other words, the pair of shutter members 18a and 18b of the shutter mechanism 18 have their own weight and the frictional force generated between the lower shell 15 and the middle shell 14 and the like, so that the opening 25 of the lower shell 15 and the opening of the middle shell 14 are formed. 42 is completely closed. Further, the three cam portions 46 of the middle shell 14 are
3 is in a state of jumping out of the three cam grooves 22 and riding on the lift-up portion 23. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 21A, the pair of shutter members 18a and 18b are sandwiched between the upper shell 13 and the middle shell 14 from both sides.

Further, as shown in FIG. 13 and the like, the stopper portion 36 is engaged with the gear portion 43 of the middle shell 14 by the spring force of the spring piece 38 of the lock member 32. for that reason,
The pair of shutter members 18 a and 18 b are in a state where they are double locked by the holding mechanism by the elevating operation of the cam and the lock mechanism of the lock member 32. Therefore, the closed state of the openings 25 and 42 by the shutter mechanism 18 can be reliably held, and the shutter mechanism 18 can be reliably prevented from being accidentally opened due to vibration or the like.

The disk cartridge 1 in such a state
25 and 26, the lock state of the lock member 32 is released by a shutter opening / closing mechanism provided in the disk recording / reproducing device 60. Thereafter, the shutter mechanism 18 is opened by the shutter opening / closing mechanism, and the openings 25 and 42 are opened. This shutter mechanism 1
The opening / closing operation of 8 will be described later in detail.

Next, the disk recording / reproducing apparatus 60 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 25 and 26, the disc recording / reproducing apparatus 60 includes an outer case 61 formed of a hollow housing, a recording / reproducing apparatus main body 62 housed in the outer case 61, and the like. I have. Outer case 61
Closes the case body 63 opened at the upper surface and the front surface, the case lid 64 detachably attached to the upper part so as to close the upper surface of the case body 63, and the front surfaces of the case body 63 and the case lid 64. And a front panel 65 detachably attached to the front as described above.

At four places of the case body 63, there are provided legs 63a projecting downward. These legs 63a
The disk recording / reproducing device 60 is supported by this, and is mounted at an appropriate position. The front panel 65 is made of a horizontally long plate-like member, and a horizontally long cartridge doorway 66 is provided at an upper portion thereof. Cartridge entrance 66
Are formed in a size substantially equal to the size of the front side of the disk cartridge 10. The cartridge entrance 66 is normally closed by an opening / closing door 67 arranged inside.

The door 67 is connected to the disk cartridge 1.
Press at the front of 0 and insert it to a predetermined position as shown in FIG. Thus, the disc cartridge 10 is automatically loaded by the loading mechanism (not shown). Then, the disk cartridge 10 transported by the loading mechanism is positioned and fixed at a predetermined position in the disk recording / reproducing device 60. At the same time or before or after this, the shutter mechanism 18 is operated by the shutter opening / closing mechanism provided in the disk recording / reproducing device 60, and the openings 25 and 42 are opened.

Thereafter, the turntable 68a of the disk rotation driving device 68 and the optical head 69a of the optical pickup device 69 enter the opened openings 25 and 42. Then, the turntable 68a is engaged with the center hole 11a of the optical disk 11, and the center hub 28 is attracted and held by a magnet built in the turntable 68a. At the same time or before and after this, the optical head 6
9a approaches the information recording area 29a of the optical disk 11 to a predetermined position. Thereby, the disk recording / reproducing device 60
The recording and reproduction operation of the information signal with respect to the optical disk 11 by the above can be performed.

The recording / reproducing apparatus main body 62 of the disc recording / reproducing apparatus 60 is provided with, for example, components as shown in FIG. That is, the recording / reproducing apparatus main body 62
Has three control devices, a system controller S1, a memory controller S5, and a drive controller D1. The system controller S1 and the memory controller S5 are directly connected, and a read-only storage device (ROM) S2 and a read / write storage device (RAM) S3 are connected to the connection lines. Further, the memory controller S5 includes the memory S4 and the MPEG.
2 (existing TV broadcasts corresponding to 3M-40Mbps, H
An encoder S6 and a decoder S7 for a moving picture compression method applied to a DTV, a wideband ISDN, and the like are connected. Further, a control panel S8 and a remote control receiving unit S9 are connected to the system controller S1.

The drive controller D1 has an EC
A CD4 is connected, and a storage device (ROM) D2 and a storage device (RAM) D3, a servo circuit D6, and an address decoder D7 are connected to the connection lines. Further, a recording error determination circuit D8 for determining an error during recording is connected to the drive controller D1. The drive controller D1 is connected to the system controller S1 via a command interface. The ECCD 4 is connected to a memory controller S5 via a data interface, and is also connected to a modulation / demodulation circuit D5. The modulation / demodulation circuit D5 is connected to the optical head 69a of the optical pickup device 69.

The servo circuit D6 is connected to a spindle motor 68, which is a disk rotation driving device, an optical pickup device 69, and a recording error judgment circuit D8. Further, the optical pickup device 69 is connected to the address decoder D7, and the address decoder D7
Is also connected to the recording error determination circuit D8.

When the disc cartridge 10 is inserted through the cartridge entrance 66 of the disc recording / reproducing apparatus 60 having such a configuration, as shown in FIG. 13, a specific example of a shutter opening / closing mechanism built in the disc recording / reproducing apparatus 60 is shown. The rack bar 70 shown in FIG.
0 enters a guide groove 31 provided on one side surface.
Thus, the input portion 37 of the lock member 32 protruding into the guide groove 31 is pushed into the lock storage portion 33 by the pressing force of the rack bar 70 against the urging force of the spring piece 38. Further, as the rack bar 70 relatively advances, the front end of the gear portion 70 a meshes with the gear portion 43 of the middle shell 14.

The gear portion 43 is the gear portion 7 of the rack bar 70.
As shown in FIGS. 13 to 19, the middle shell 14 is rotated in accordance with the amount of movement of the rack bar 70 by meshing with the rack 0. 13 and 14 show the gear portion 7 of the rack bar 70.
0a indicates a state before the gear portion 43 of the middle shell 14 is engaged. In this state, the pair of shutter members 1
8a, 18b convex side joint 50a and concave side joint 50b
Are in contact with each other. At this time, the opening 42 of the middle shell 14 is
, The openings 25, 4
Only the overlapping central portion of the two is opened, but the opening is closed by a pair of shutter members 18a and 18b. Accordingly, there is no possibility that dust and the like enter the disk storage chamber 16 from the overlapping portion of the openings 25 and 42.

Further, at a portion where the opening 25 and the opening 42 approach each other at an acute angle, a pair of shutter members 18a, 1
The shaft mounting portion 50c of FIG. 8b is interposed, and the shaft mounting portion 50c is located inside one of the shielding portions 26b to eliminate the gap. A closing piece 55 is interposed inside the other shielding part 26a, and the closing piece 55 is located inside the other shielding part 26a to eliminate the gap. Further, the open / close grooves 53 provided in the pair of shutter members 18a and 18b are closed by the lower shell 15, respectively. Therefore, all gaps from the opening 25 of the lower shell 15 to the opening 42 of the middle shell 14 are completely closed by the pair of shutter members 18a, 18b. There is no possibility that dust or the like will enter the disk storage chamber 16.

From this state, the disk cartridge 10
The rack bar 70 enters the guide groove 31 in response to the insertion operation of the gears 70a and the gear portion 70a and the gear portion 4 of the middle shell 14.
When the meshing with No. 3 is started, the middle shell 14 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. In this case, in an initial state in which the middle shell 14 starts rotating, as shown in FIG. 20C and FIG. 21A, the cam portion 46 rides on the lift-up portion 23, and a pair of shutter members is formed between the cam portion 46 and the upper shell 13. Since the middle shells 18a and 18b are sandwiched, a relatively large force is required for the rotation of the middle shell 14. 20B and 21B, the cam portion 46 passes through the lift-up portion 23 and moves into the cam groove 22 as shown in FIGS. 20B and 21B. When it enters, the frictional force of the cam portion 46 disappears. Therefore, the rotation operation of the middle shell 14 thereafter can be performed extremely lightly and smoothly.

At this time, a pair of shutter members 18a, 1
8b are similarly rotated by the rotation of the middle shell 14, while the operation protrusions 27a and 27b of the lower shell 15 are slidably engaged with the open / close groove 53 provided on the other end side. Have been. The pair of operation convex portions 27a, 27b
Is provided on the lower shell 15, and this operation convex portion 27
a and 27b do not move. On the other hand, the opening and closing groove 5
Reference numeral 3 denotes a direction S connecting the shaft portion 52 and the operation protrusion 27b (or 27a) so that the shaft 52 and the operation protrusions 27a, 27b can move relative to the operation protrusions 27a, 27b following the rotation of the shutter members 18a, 18b. Has been extended.

Therefore, the operation projection 27b (or 27a) moves in the opening / closing groove 53 toward the shaft 52 in accordance with the amount of rotation of the shutter members 18a, 18b. As a result, in each of the shutter members 18a and 18b, the shaft portion 52 moves toward the corresponding operation convex portion 27b (or 27a). As a result, as shown in FIG. 19, the respective shutter members 18a, 18a are moved from the state of FIG. 15 through the states of FIG. 16, FIG. 17, and FIG.
b moves onto the corresponding semicircular piece 40a of the middle shell 14. As a result, the shutter members 18a and 18b overlap the semicircular piece 40a, and the upper and lower openings 25 and 42 are completely opened as shown in FIG. Therefore, a part of the optical disk 11 stored in the disk storage chamber 16 is exposed by the openings 25 and 42.

As a result, as shown in FIG.
The turntable 68a and the optical head 69a can be inserted into the optical heads 5 and 42. So turntable 6
By moving the disk cartridge 8a or the like to the disk cartridge 10 side or moving the disk cartridge 10 to the turntable 68a side, the turntable 68a enters the central table opening 25a, and the optical head 69.
a enters the head openings 25b on both sides. As a result, the optical disk 11 is mounted on the turntable 68a and chucked, and the optical head 69a keeps a predetermined interval and the information recording area 2 of the optical disk 11 is held.
9a. As a result, it is possible for the disc recording / reproducing device 60 to reproduce or record an information signal in the information recording area 29a of the optical disc 11.

Then, the recording / reproducing apparatus main body 62 is operated, the optical disc 11 is rotated via the turntable 68a by driving the spindle motor 68, and the optical head 69a is driven by the optical pickup device 69.
, A laser beam is emitted from the device, an information signal recorded in advance in the information recording area 29a can be read, or a new information signal can be written in the information recording area 29a. Thereby, the reproduction or recording of the information signal by the recording / reproducing apparatus main body 62 is executed.

After the reproduction or recording of the information signal performed in this manner, for example, by operating a cartridge ejection button (not shown) provided in the disk recording / reproducing apparatus 60, the disk is loaded via the operation of the loading mechanism. The cartridge 10 is ejected from the disk recording / reproducing device 60. That is, when the disc cartridge 10 moves to the cartridge entrance 66 side by the discharging operation of the loading mechanism, the rack bar 70 relatively moves backward.

By the retreating operation of the rack bar 70, the middle shell 14 and the pair of shutter members 18a and 18b perform the operation opposite to the above-described operation at the time of insertion. That is, from the state in which the pair of shutter members 18a and 18b shown in FIG.
18b is rotated clockwise, and FIGS. 18, 17 and 16
Then, the state changes to the state shown in FIG. This FIG.
In the state shown in FIG. 15, the cam portion 46 of the middle shell 14 is in the cam groove 22, so that the middle shell 14 can be rotated with a small force F.

Next, when the middle shell 14 changes from the state shown in FIG. 15 to the state shown in FIG. 13, the cam portion 46 comes into contact with the lift-up portion 23 and then rides on the lift-up portion 23. Thereafter, the above-described frictional force is applied to the rotation of the middle shell 14. Immediately before reaching the closed state in FIG. 13, the operation convex portion 27 b (or 27 a) moves through the open / close groove 53 to the outermost portion, contacts the elastic piece 54 and presses it. Thereby, the operation convex portion 27b (or 27)
The spring force X is generated in the elastic piece 54 by the pressing force of a). The central step 50 is formed by the spring force X of the elastic piece 54.
Generates a pressing force Y acting on the other shutter member 18a (or 18b).

The pressing force Y is applied to the pair of shutter members 18.
a and 18b, the sealing force between the pair of shutter members 18a and 18b is further enhanced by the mutual pressing force Y. Therefore, the pair of shutter members 18a, 18
It is possible to more effectively prevent dust and the like from entering the disk storage chamber 16 by improving the dustproof property at the joint b.

Then, after the gear portion 70a of the rack bar 70 comes off the gear portion 43, the rack bar 70 is
, The input portion 37 of the lock member 32 is projected from the opening hole 34 into the guide groove 31. At the same time, the stopper portion 36 moves inward and meshes with the gear portion 43. As a result, the middle shell 14 is locked by the lock member 32, and its rotation is stopped. Then, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the entirety of the openings 25 and 42 is completely closed by the pair of shutter members 18a and 18b.

FIG. 22 and FIG. 23 show a second embodiment of the present invention. The disk cartridge 80 shown in this embodiment is of a one-head type in which an optical head is used for one disk recording / reproducing apparatus. As is clear from FIG. 22, the disk cartridge 80 is the disk cartridge 10 shown in FIG.
The only difference is that the lower shell 85 is provided. Therefore, the same portions as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

The opening 86 of the lower shell 85 is the same as the opening 25 of the lower shell 15 except that one head opening 25b is omitted, and the other shape and configuration are the same. By using the lower shell 85 for one head in place of the lower shell 15 for two heads, the disk cartridge 80 for one head can be easily manufactured, and the one-head and second-head disk cartridges 80 can be easily manufactured. Can respond. In addition, according to this embodiment, the manufacturing and assembly line can be shared, and it is possible to appropriately respond to the needs of customers.

As described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which an optical disk is used as an information recording medium has been described. The present invention can be applied to a magnetic disk such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk and other various disk-shaped recording media. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, an example in which the information recording / reproducing apparatus is applied to a disk recording / reproducing apparatus that is used for both recording and reproduction has been described. It is.

In the above embodiment, the opening 4 is formed in the middle shell 14 and the lower shell 15 of the cartridge housing 12.
Although the example in which the cartridges 2 and 25 are provided has been described, for example, an opening may be provided in the upper shell 13 so that the cartridge can be simultaneously accessed from above and below the cartridge housing 12.
Further, a disk storage chamber may be formed by the middle shell and the lower shell, a disk-shaped recording medium may be stored in the disk storage chamber, and an opening may be provided in the upper shell. Thus, the present invention can be variously modified without departing from the spirit thereof.

[0077]

As described above, claim 1 of the present application.
According to the disk cartridge described above, in a disk cartridge including a cartridge housing having a disk storage chamber, a disk-shaped recording medium, and a pair of shutter members, the pair of shutter members are moved based on the rotation of the middle shell to mutually move the shutter members. Since the shutter opening / closing mechanism for contacting the end surfaces of the shutter members is provided, the pair of shutter members can be securely and firmly contacted by rotating the middle shell. Therefore, the gap between the pair of shutter members and the cartridge housing can be reduced to make it difficult for minute dust, dust, and the like to enter the disk storage chamber, and the dust prevention effect of the cartridge housing can be enhanced. Further, it is possible to obtain an effect that the thickness is thin, the space efficiency is excellent, and the size and thickness of the entire disc cartridge can be reduced.

According to the disk cartridge described in claim 2 of the present application, the pair of operation protrusions are moved along the pair of guide grooves based on the rotation of the middle shell, so that the pair of shutter members can be smoothly and satisfactorily formed. The effect that the rotation operation can be surely performed is obtained.

According to the disk cartridge of the third aspect of the present invention, since the shutter opening / closing mechanism is configured to press the pair of shutter members against each other, the shutter members can be brought into close contact with each other, and the dustproof effect of the cartridge housing can be obtained. Can be increased.

According to the disk cartridge of the fourth aspect of the present invention, the pair of shutter members is constituted by a combination of a pair of substantially semicircular plate members, and the pair of shutter members are symmetrically arranged with the opening therebetween. Configuration,
As a result, the opening and closing operation of the opening can be performed smoothly and reliably by ensuring the operation of the pair of shutter members, and the size and thickness of the entire disk cartridge can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a disk cartridge according to a first embodiment of the present invention, viewed from a lower surface side.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the disk cartridge shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from below, showing a state in which a shutter mechanism is closed and an opening is closed.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the disk cartridge shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from below, showing a state where an opening is opened by opening a shutter mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a lower surface of an upper shell of the disk cartridge shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the lower surface of the middle shell of the disk cartridge shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the upper surface of the lower shell of the disk cartridge shown in FIG. 1;

7 is a perspective view showing a state in which a pair of shutter members attached to the middle shell of the disk cartridge shown in FIG. 1 are opened to open an opening.

8 is a perspective view showing a state in which a pair of shutter members attached to the middle shell of the disk cartridge shown in FIG. 1 are closed and an opening is closed.

9 is a perspective view showing a state in which a shutter mechanism is arranged on a lower shell of the disk cartridge shown in FIG. 1, and a pair of shutter members is opened to open an opening.

10 is a perspective view showing a state in which a shutter mechanism is arranged on a lower shell of the disk cartridge shown in FIG. 1, and a pair of shutter members is closed to close an opening.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of FIG. 10 viewed from above.

FIG. 12 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a center portion of the disk cartridge shown in FIG. 1 and is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship with a turntable.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing an operational relationship between a cartridge housing of the disk cartridge shown in FIG. 1 and a shutter mechanism, and showing a state in which a pair of shutter members is closed and an opening is completely closed.

FIG. 14 is a plan view showing the appearance of FIG. 13 as viewed from the lower shell side.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the middle shell slightly rotates from the state of FIG. 13 and a pair of shutter members slightly open;

FIG. 16 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the middle shell is further rotated slightly from the state of FIG. 15 and the pair of shutter members is further opened slightly.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory view showing a state where the middle shell is further rotated from the state of FIG. 16 and the pair of shutter members is further opened.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory view showing a state where the middle shell is further rotated from the state of FIG. 17 and the pair of shutter members is further opened.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory view showing a state where the middle shell is further rotated from the state of FIG. 18 and the pair of shutter members are completely opened.

20A and 20B are diagrams for explaining the elevating operation of the middle shell with respect to the upper shell when opening and closing the disk cartridge shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 20A is an exploded perspective view; FIG. It is a perspective view at the time of a rise.

FIG. 21 is a view for explaining the lifting state of the middle shell when opening and closing the disk cartridge shown in FIG. 20;
Is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the cam portion of the middle shell rides on the lift-up portion of the upper shell, and FIG. B is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the cam portion of the middle shell enters the cam groove of the upper shell.

FIG. 22 is an exploded perspective view showing a second embodiment of the disk cartridge of the present invention, viewed from the lower surface side.

FIG. 23 is a perspective view of the disc cartridge shown in FIG. 22 as viewed from below, showing a state in which a shutter mechanism is closed and an opening is closed.

FIG. 24 is an explanatory block diagram showing one embodiment of a circuit configuration of a disk recording / reproducing apparatus using the disk cartridge of the present invention.

FIG. 25 is a perspective view showing a state before the disk cartridge shown in FIG. 1 is inserted into a disk recording / reproducing apparatus using the disk cartridge of the present invention.

26 is a perspective view showing a state in which the disk cartridge shown in FIG. 1 is inserted into a disk recording / reproducing apparatus using the disk cartridge of the present invention.

FIG. 27 is a perspective view showing a conventional disk cartridge.

[Explanation of symbols]

10, 80 disk cartridge, 11 optical disk (disk-shaped recording medium), 12 cartridge housing, 13 upper shell, 14 middle shell, 15, 8
5 lower shell, 16 disk storage room, 18a, 1
8b shutter member, 22 cam groove, 23 lift-up part, 25, 42 opening, 27a, 27b
Operation convex part, 30 opening window, 31 guide groove, 32
Lock member, 36 stopper part, 37 input part,
38 spring piece, 43 gear part, 46 cam part, 5
0 step, 50a, 50b joint, 51a, 51
b eaves section, 52 shaft section, 60 disk recording / reproducing device, 68 disk rotation drive device, 68a turntable, 69 optical pickup device, 69a
Optical head, 70 rack bar

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A disk storage chamber is formed in an upper shell and a middle shell or in a middle shell and a lower shell by overlapping an upper shell, a middle shell and a lower shell, and the middle shell is formed of the upper shell and the lower shell. A cartridge housing rotatably supported by the cartridge housing; and a disk-shaped recording medium rotatably housed in the disk housing chamber. A pair of shutter members attached thereto, the disk-shaped recording medium provided in the cartridge housing by moving the pair of shutter members based on the rotation of the middle shell and bringing the end surfaces into contact with each other. A disc opening / closing mechanism for closing an opening for exposing a part of the disc cartridge. 2. The shutter opening / closing mechanism comprises a pair of shutter members and a pair of guide grooves provided on one of the cartridge housing and a pair of guide grooves provided on the other and slidably engaged with the guide grooves. An operation convex portion, and by moving the guide groove along the operation convex portion based on the rotation of the middle shell, an operation of opening and closing the opening and closing portion is given to the pair of shutter members. 2. The disk cartridge according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The pair of guide grooves are provided with elasticity for applying a spring force to each of the pair of operation projections to bias the pair of shutter members in a plane direction when the pair of shutter members are closed. 3. The disk cartridge according to claim 2, wherein each piece is provided. 4. The pair of shutter members are formed of a combination of a pair of substantially semicircular plate members, and the pair of shutter members are symmetrically disposed on one surface side of the middle shell with the opening portion interposed therebetween. In each shutter member, the guide groove is provided on one side of the string side, and a pivot provided on the other side of the string side is rotatably supported by the middle shell. The disk cartridge according to claim 1, wherein