JP2003196945A - Single reel type magnetic tape cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent damage of a recorded signal by preventing a tap edge of a projecting part of a magnetic tape from receiving external force to bend even if winding disturbance in which a part of the magnetic tape projects itself more than the other winding layer and to guide the magnetic tape in movement in the state in which the position of the magnetic tape is properly adjusted with respect to a guide pin on a tape driving side in a single reel type tape cartridge in which a leading pin is connected to a magnetic tape through a leader tape. <P>SOLUTION: The width of the leader tape 16 is slightly smaller than the facing interval between upper and lower flanges of a reel 2 and is set larger than the width of a magnetic tape 3 in dimension. The leader tape 16 responds to a matter that the upper and lower flanges receive external force to deform and prevents the magnetic tape 3 from being bent. The leader tape 16 comprises a wider first tape part 20 and a narrower second tape part 21. Both edges of the leader tape between the both tape parts 20 and 21 continue through respectively inclined position correcting parts 24. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a single reel type magnetic tape cartridge in which a leading piece for pulling out a tape is provided at a tape feeding end. The leading piece here is connected to the magnetic tape via a leader tape.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A magnetic tape cartridge of this type is provided with a connecting tool for connecting a capturing body on the side of a tape drive at the feeding start end of the tape. For example, JP 2001-2
In the 56756 publication, a leading piece is fixed to an end portion of a leader tape. The leading piece is composed of a metal pin and latching arms provided at the upper and lower ends of the metal pin in a U-shaped frame, and is connected to a magnetic tape via a leader tape wound around and fixed to the metal pin. . The leader tape is made of a relatively hard plastic sheet such as polyethylene terephthalate or polybutylene terephthalate, and its width is set to the same value as the width of the magnetic tape, and it rotates relative to the metal pin. It is connected so that it can be done. In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-2322826, the leading piece is formed of a linear shaft-shaped metal pin,
A leader tape wrapped around the shaft portion is inseparably held and fixed by a buffer body having a C-shaped cross section and a clip.

[0003]

Although not limited to the single-reel type magnetic tape cartridge, the opposing distance between the upper and lower flanges of the reel is set to a value obtained by adding a marginal clearance dimension to the width dimension of the magnetic tape. Yes, it often causes winding disorder. In particular, when the magnetic tape is rewound on the reel, since the rotation speed of the reel is high, the winding is apt to be disturbed due to a very slight inclination of the reel, variations in tape tension, and the like. The winding disorder includes a step winding state in which the tape winding layer is concentrically stepped in the vertical direction, and a locally protruding state in which only a part of the tape protrudes from other winding layers. In the latter case, since the projecting portion is formed of the magnetic tape of one layer or several layers, it is easily deformed when an external force is applied. For example, when a drop impact is received, the tape edge is bent and the recording signal is easily destroyed. In particular, when a thinner magnetic tape is used for increasing the signal recording capacity and the signal recording time, the tape edge is easily damaged.

As described above, the opposing distance between the upper and lower flanges of the reel is set slightly larger than the width of the magnetic tape, and the width of the leader tape matches the width of the magnetic tape. . Moreover, because the metal pin of the lead piece and the leader tape are connected so that they can rotate relative to each other, when the lead piece is captured and connected by the capture body on the tape drive side and pulled out from the case, the leader tape is The guide pin on the side may be moved and guided while being displaced from the original traveling position to either the upper or lower side. If the leader tape is displaced in this way, the magnetic tape that is continuous with the leader tape will also be moved and guided in the same misaligned state.
It interferes with the signal read / write operation by the magnetic head.

An object of the present invention is to prevent the tape edge of the protruding portion from bending due to an external force even if a small portion of the tape causes winding disorder such that it protrudes more than other winding layers. An object of the present invention is to provide a single-reel type tape cartridge which eliminates breakage and is therefore highly reliable. An object of the present invention is to guide a magnetic tape pulled out of the main body case with proper positioning with respect to a guide pin on the tape drive side, so that a signal read / write operation by a magnetic head can always be performed in a stable state. It is to provide a reel-type tape cartridge.

[0006]

A single-reel type magnetic tape cartridge of the present invention is a leading piece 1 which is captured by a capturing body H on the tape drive side at a feeding end of a magnetic tape 3.
5 is provided, and the leading piece 15 and the magnetic tape 3 are connected via the leader tape 16. The vertical width of the leader tape 16 is 9
It is characterized in that the size is set to be slightly smaller than the facing interval of 10 and larger than the vertical width of the magnetic tape 3.

Specifically, the leader tape 16 has a wide first tape portion 20 occupying most of it, and a narrow second tape portion 21 provided between the first tape portion 20 and the leading piece 15. Including the upper and lower edges of the first tape portion 20 and the second tape portion.
The upper and lower edges of the tape portion 21 are continuous via the inclined position correcting portion 23. The winding angle of the leader tape 16 around the reel 2 is 360 degrees or more.

[0008]

The vertical width of the leader tape 16 according to the present invention is slightly smaller than the facing distance between the upper and lower flanges 9 and 10 of the reel 2, but is set larger than the vertical width of the magnetic tape 3 so that it drops. Impacted the upper and lower flanges 9.1
Even when 0 is about to be deformed, its deformation force can be received by the leader tape 16 as shown in FIG. 6, and the deformation of the upper and lower flanges 9 and 10 can be prevented, or the amount of deformation can be suppressed.

The leader tape 16 is composed of a wide first tape portion 20 occupying most of the leader tape 16 and a narrow second tape portion 21 provided between the first tape portion 20 and the leading piece 15. However, if the upper and lower edges of both tape portions 20 and 21 are continuous through the position correcting portion 23 that is inclined, the second tape portion 21 moves above and below the original traveling position with respect to the guide pin P on the tape drive side. Even if there is a case where the transition guide is made in a state of being displaced to any one, as shown in FIG. 7, the position correcting portion 23 contacts one of the upper and lower guide flanges 33 of the guide pin P, and
The tape portion 20 is corrected and moved to an appropriate running center position. That is, the magnetic tape 3 that is pulled out of the main body case 1 and continues to the first tape portion 20 is transitionally guided while being properly positioned with respect to the guide pin P.

If the winding angle of the leader tape 16 with respect to the reel 2 is set to 360 degrees or more, the reel 2
When the upper and lower flanges 9 and 10 of the upper and lower flanges are to be deformed, the upper and lower flanges 9.1 and 1
0 can be accepted and leader tape 16
The larger the number of winding layers, the stronger the receiving force of the leader tape 16 can be.

[0011]

1 to 7 show an embodiment of a single reel type tape cartridge according to the present invention. 1 and 2, the tape cartridge includes upper and lower cases 1a and 1b.
1 has a rectangular box-shaped main body case 1 formed by joining together a lid and a magnetic tape 3 on one reel 2 arranged inside the main body case 1.
Is involved. A tape outlet 4 is opened on the front surface of the main body case 1, and this door 5 is pivotally supported.
You can open and close with. The door 5 is biased to move freely by a spring, and is locked and held by a lock mechanism (not shown) at the closed position. The gear teeth provided on the lower flange of the reel 2 are engaged with the two opposite inner corners of the main body case 1,
Reel locks 6 and 7 are provided to lock and hold the reel 2 when it is not in use so that it cannot rotate freely. A switch piece 8 for preventing erroneous erasure is provided on one side of the case back wall.

The reel 2 is composed of an upper flange 9 integrally provided with a hub and a lower flange 10 welded and fixed to the lower surface of the hub. A spring 11 provided between the inner bottom of the hub and the upper case 1a makes the reel 2 face downward. By pushing down and urging, the movement when not in use is regulated. At the time of use, the reel 2 is pushed up against the biasing force of the spring 11, and the spring 1 at this time is operated.
In order to reduce the frictional force with respect to 1, the bearing 12 is mounted on the hub, and the plug 1 fitted in the inner ring
3, the lower end of the spring 11 is received.

In order to automatically capture and connect the magnetic tape 3 wound on the reel 2 by the capturing body H on the tape drive side, a leading piece 15 is provided at the feeding end of the magnetic tape 3, and the leading piece 15 and the magnetic tape 3 are provided. And are connected via a leader tape 16. In FIG. 1, the leading piece 15 is formed in a U-frame shape by a stainless steel pin 17 to which a leader tape 16 is connected, and a pair of hooking arms 18 provided at the upper and lower ends of the pin 17. The latch arm 18 is made of a laterally long plastic molded product, and the pin 17 is insert-fixed during molding. Upper and lower hanging arms 18
Has a groove 19 for receiving the hooking pin 31 of the capturing body H,
They are formed to face each other vertically.

In FIG. 4, the catching body H is formed by fixing a vertically long latching pin 31 to the end of the leader tape on the tape drive side, and by operating the latching pin 31 with a loading arm (not shown). The ball shafts 32 at the upper and lower ends are hooked and connected to the hooking arms 18 of the leading piece 15.

The leader tape 16 is formed of a hard plastic sheet having high elasticity such as polyethylene terephthalate or polybutylene terephthalate.
The first tape portion 20 and the first tape portion 2 which occupy most of them
Second tape portion 2 provided between 0 and the leading piece 15
1 and a third tape portion 22 provided between the first tape portion 20 and the magnetic tape 3.

In the leader tape 16, as shown in FIG. 4, a pair of upper and lower connecting pieces 23 provided at the end of the second tape portion 21 are wound around the pin 17 and inverted, and then the inverted portion is welded to the second tape portion 21. By doing so, it is connected to the pin 17. In this state where the connecting piece 23 is connected to the pin 17, the lower edge and the upper edge of the winding portion are positioned in the vertical direction by the step portion of the pin 17, as shown in FIG. It is possible to prevent the piece 23 and the pin 17 from moving up and down. In this connected state, the pin 17 can rotate relative to the leader tape 16.

As shown in FIG. 6, when a part of the magnetic tape 3 projects more than other winding layers and is in a locally projected state, the projecting portion 34 of the magnetic tape 3 is folded by the upper and lower flanges 9 and 10. In order to prevent bending deformation, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the vertical width B1 of the first tape portion 20 is slightly smaller than the facing distance between the upper and lower flanges 9 and 10 of the reel 2 (1.2
mm) Small, but larger than the vertical width of the magnetic tape 3. The vertical width B2 of the second tape portion 21 is set to be the same as the vertical width of the magnetic tape 3. Both tape parts 2
The upper and lower edges of 0.21 are the position correcting parts 24 which are respectively inclined.
And the upper and lower position correcting portions 24 are vertically symmetrical with respect to the width center of the leader tape 16. The overall length of the leader tape 16 is one turn or more around the outermost circumference of the magnetic tape 3 (around 360 to 600 degrees).
Set to the length to go around. The vertical width of the third tape portion 22 is set to the same width as the vertical width of the second tape portion 21 (magnetic tape 3), and the adjacent portion to the first tape portion 20 has the same slanted edge as the position correcting portion 24. It is continuous with.

In order to position and fix the leading piece 15 in the standby position when not in use, the main body case 1 is provided with an arm receiving portion 25 facing the tape outlet 4 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. A lock piece 26 is provided. The arm receiving portion 25 has low ribs projecting vertically from the upper and lower walls facing the tape outlet 4, and the ribs are bent in a hook shape along the outline of the hooking arm 18 on the inner surface side of the case. Form. The leading piece 15 in the unused state is received in a state where the hooking arm 18 thereof is in close contact with the upper and lower arm receiving portions 25, and is properly positioned and held. The lock piece 26 is urged by a spring 27 so as to swing into a locked posture, and a hook portion 28 provided at the tip of the lock arm has a pin 1.
The leading portion 15 is held in the positioning posture by engaging and holding the shaft portion of the middle portion of 7 in the vertical direction (see FIG. 3).

When the tape cartridge is loaded into the tape drive, the door 5 is opened and the tape outlet 4 is opened. At the same time, the pair of reel locks 6 and 7 that have prevented the idle rotation of the reel 2 and the lock piece 26 are unlocked. The reel 2 engages with a reel drive shaft that enters the case from the bottom surface side of the case. In this state, the capture tool H on the tape drive side enters into the tape pull-out port 4, and its latch pin 31 is latched and coupled to the groove 19 of the upper and lower latch arms 18, and the leading piece 15 is connected as shown in FIG. The magnetic magnetic tape 3 is pulled out via the, and wound around the reel on the tape drive side via some guide pins P.

In the non-use state, the second tape portion 21 may be moved and guided with respect to the guide pin P on the tape drive side while being displaced from the original running position to either the upper or lower direction. However, since the first tape portion 20 is set to have a size slightly smaller than the facing distance between the guide flanges 33 above and below the guide pin P, the leader tape 16
7 passes through the guide pin P, the position correcting portion 24 comes into contact with either the upper or lower guide flange 33 of the guide pin P to move the first tape portion 20 to an appropriate traveling center position as shown in FIG. Corrective move operation. Now, the first tape part 2
The magnetic tape 3 continuing to 0 is transitionally guided while being properly positioned with respect to the guide pin P. Therefore, the reading and writing of signals from and to the magnetic tape by the magnetic head (not shown) can always be performed in a stable state. When the writing or reading of data to or from the magnetic tape 3 is completed, the magnetic tape 3 is rewound on the reel 2, and the leading piece 15 is positioned and held in the standby state again by the arm receiving portion 25 and the lock piece 26.

In addition to the above-described embodiment, the leading piece 15 may have a structure other than that of the embodiment, that is, any structure can be used as long as it can be captured and connected by the capturing body on the tape drive side. For example, a structure may be adopted in which a leader tape is wound around the shaft portion of a linear shaft-shaped metal pin, and then a cushioning member having a C-shaped cross section and a clip are attached to the outer surface of the leader tape to embrace and fix it. The position correction unit 24 is
It can be formed with curved beveled edges.

[0022]

According to the tape cartridge of the present invention,
When the upper and lower flanges are about to deform due to a drop impact, the deformation force of the upper and lower flanges can be blocked by the leader tape, and the amount of deformation can be suppressed. Even if the tape is protruded from the winding layer and locally protruded, the upper and lower flanges prevent the protruding portion of the magnetic tape from being bent and deformed, and the reliability of the tape cartridge is improved.

Even if the second tape portion may be guided to the guide pin on the tape drive side while being shifted from the original running position to the upper or lower side, the position correcting portion may guide the position. The first tape portion is brought into contact with one of the upper and lower guide flanges of the pin to correct and move the first tape portion to the proper running center position. Therefore, the magnetic tape that is pulled out of the main body case and continues to the first tape portion is transitionally guided while being properly positioned with respect to the guide pin. As a result, the read / write operation of signals by the magnetic head is always performed in a stable state, and the reliability of the tape cartridge can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a state where a magnetic tape is partially pulled out.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the entire inside.

3 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a standby holding state of the leading piece.

FIG. 5 is a plan view with the leading piece pulled out.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing the protective action of the leader tape.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing the position correcting action of the leader tape.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 body case 2 reel 3 magnetic tape 9 reel top flange 10 reel bottom flange 15 Leading piece 16 leader tape 20 First tape part of leader tape 21 2nd tape part of leader tape 22 3rd tape part of leader tape 24 Position correction unit B1 Vertical width of the first tape part B2 Vertical width of the 2nd tape part

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Kenji Sano             Hitachi Ma, 1-88, Torora, Ibaraki City, Osaka Prefecture             Within Kucsel Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A leading piece to be caught by a catching body on the tape drive side is provided at a feeding end of the magnetic tape, and the leading piece and the magnetic tape are interposed via a leader tape made of a hard plastic sheet. A single-reel type magnetic tape cartridge connected to each other in such a manner that the vertical width of the leader tape is slightly smaller than the facing interval between the upper and lower flanges of the reel and is larger than the vertical width of the magnetic tape. A single-reel type magnetic tape cartridge characterized in that 2. The leader tape includes a wide first tape portion that occupies most of the leader tape, and a narrow second tape portion provided between the first tape portion and the leading piece. The single-reel type magnetic tape cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the upper and lower edges of the one tape portion and the upper and lower edges of the second tape portion are continuous with each other through inclined position correcting portions. 3. The single reel type magnetic tape cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a winding angle of the leader tape with respect to the reel is 360 degrees or more.