JP2616548B2 - Tape cassette - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

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

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the increase in density of magnetic recording, tape cassettes and video tape recorders (hereinafter referred to as VTRs) have been developed.
Is becoming more compact. As a result, V
TRs are often used outdoors, such as for taking pictures of landscapes and people.

[0003] Among them, the tape cassette has been put into practical use as a two-sheet lid for covering the front and back surfaces of the tape, respectively, as a measure against dust and dust in consideration of outdoor use.

Hereinafter, the above-described conventional tape cassette will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, a tape (not shown) is stretched over the front surface of the tape cassette 40, and is always covered by a front cover 41 and a rear cover 42.

A pair of fulcrum pins 44 are provided on both left and right end surfaces 43 of the front lid 41.
Has been inserted. The front lid 41 is rotatable about a fulcrum pin 44. Further, the rear lid 42 is connected to the front lid 41, and the rear lid 4 is opened when the front lid 41 is opened.
Also release 2. Normally, the front lid 41 is constantly urged in the closing direction by a spring.

[0006] On one side surface 46 of the cassette body 45, a projection 47 provided on the side surface of the front cover 41 is engaged.
A lid lock member 48 for preventing the opening of the cover is attached. The lid lock member 48 is also urged by a spring so that the front lid 41 is always locked.

When the above-described tape cassette 40 is inserted into the apparatus, the lid unlocking member 49 of the cassette holder arranged on the apparatus side passes through the notch 50 of the front lid 41, comes into contact with the lid locking member 48, and is moved backward. . Accordingly, the engagement between the lid lock member 48 and the projection 47 of the front lid 41 is released, and the lock of the front lid 41 is released.

[0008]

However, the above configuration has the following problems.

Usually, the width of the front end of the cassette holder into which the tape cassette is inserted is larger than that of the tape cassette so that the tape cassette can be easily inserted. Therefore, when the tape cassette 40 is strongly pushed into the cassette holder, the tape cassette 40 may not be stopped at a predetermined position and may be inserted further back.

In this state, as shown in FIG. 9, the lid unlocking member 49 of the cassette holder is moved backward until the lid locking member 48 of the cassette hits the wall 50 of the cassette body 45 and is locked. At this time, since the angle D between the contact surface 51 of the lid lock member 48 contacting the lid lock release member 49 and the cassette body bottom surface 52 is obtuse, the direction in which the tape cassette 40 rides on the lid lock release member 49 A component force E acts on. As a result, tape cassette 4
0 gets over the lid unlocking member 49.

Then, after overcoming the above, the lid lock member 4
When the spring 8 is moved forward by the spring, the lid unlocking member 49 is inserted into the space 53 between the lid locking member 48 and the cassette wall 50.
However, there has been a problem that the front lid 41 is locked again.

When the tape cassette 40 is pulled out in this state, the lid lock releasing member 49 hits the lid lock member 48 and the tape cassette 40 cannot be pulled out. Then, there has been a large problem that the tape cassette 40 or the cassette holder is damaged when forcibly pulled out. The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a tape cassette that prevents a tape cassette from running on a cassette holder.

[0013]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a tape cassette according to the present invention is provided with a cassette main body having a front side formed with an opening for inserting a tape pull-out member on the apparatus side, and a tape main body provided on the front side of the cassette main body. A tape stretched over the opening by a tape guide provided, a lid rotatably supported by the cassette body and covering the tape, and a tape supported by the cassette body and engaged with the lid to engage with the lid. A lid lock member for locking the lid in a closed state, wherein when the cassette is mounted on the apparatus, a lid lock release member provided on the apparatus hits the lid lock member to unlock the lid, and the lid the locking member is pushed further to the lid lock releasing member in a state in which the lid locking member is locked against the said cassette body, and the lid lock releasing member Abutment surface of said lid locking member in contact is obtained by providing the lid lock member to be 92 ° or less with respect to the bottom surface of the cassette body.

[0014]

According to the present invention, when the tape cassette is strongly pushed into the cassette holder, the lid unlocking member is moved backward until the lid locking member hits the wall of the cassette body and is locked. At this time, since the contact surface of the lid lock member that is in contact with the lid lock release member is substantially perpendicular or acute to the bottom surface of the cassette body,
Since no component force acts on the lid unlocking member in the direction in which the tape cassette rides, the tape cassette stops at this point. Therefore, it is easy to take out the tape cassette from the cassette holder, and it is possible to prevent the tape cassette from running up in the cassette holder and damage to the tape cassette and the cassette holder due to the accident.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

FIGS. 1 and 2 are an assembly perspective view of a tape cassette and an exploded perspective view of the tape cassette of one embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the cassette main body constituting the tape cassette 1 is composed of a rectangular upper half 2 and a lower half 3 formed of a synthetic resin. The upper half 2 and the lower half 3 are joined to each other from above and below, and are screwed with set screws 4 to form an integral housing. An opening 5 is provided on the front surface of the tape cassette 1 for inserting a tape pull-out member on the apparatus side. A tape 6 is stretched over the opening 5 and is normally covered by a front cover 7 and a rear cover 8. A pair of reels 9 around which the tape 6 is wound are housed in the cassette body.

As shown in FIG. 2, the front cover 7 comprises a front cover 10 covering the front surface of the tape 6 stretched over the opening 5 and an upper cover 11 covering the upper surface of the tape 6. It has a shape. A pair of fulcrum pins 1 are provided on both left and right end faces 12 of the front lid 7.
3 and 13 ′ are provided, and the fulcrum pins 13 and 13 ′ are inserted into a pair of notches 14 provided at both left and right ends of the lower half 3. The front lid 7 is provided with fulcrum pins 13 and 13 '.
About the center. The fulcrum 13 '
A coil spring 15 is mounted on the side, and constantly biases the front lid 7 in the closing direction. Further, a pair of bracket portions 16 is provided on the inner surface of the upper lid portion 11 of the front lid 7, and a pin hole 17 is formed in the pair of bracket portions 16.

The rear cover 8 includes a back cover 18 covering the back surface of the tape 6 stretched over the opening 5 and an upper cover 1 covering the upper surface of the opening 5.
9. And it has a substantially rectangular shape with a pair of support pins 20 provided at substantially the center of the side surface of the rear cover 8 as a center.

The pair of support pins 20 are connected to the bracket 1
6, the rear cover 8 is rotatable about a pair of support pins 20.

A pair of tape guides 21 provided on the lower half 3 guide and support the tape 6 stretched over the opening 5. A notch 22 is provided in the lower end surface of the front cover 10 of the front cover 7 located near the tape guide 21.

A pair of rear cover guide walls 23 are provided behind the pair of tape guides 21 and on both side surfaces of the opening 5. A rear cover guide wall 24 is also provided on the upper half 2 facing the rear cover guide wall 23, and a rear cover guide groove 25 is formed by combining the upper and lower halves 2 and 3. A pair of guide pins 27 formed on protruding portions 26 provided on both right and left ends of the rear cover 8 are slidably inserted into the rear cover guide grooves 25.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the lid lock, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a main part of the lid lock. A slit 28 is provided on the side wall of the lower half 3, and a lid lock member 29 is attached in the slit 28. The lid lock member 29 is made of a synthetic resin including a lock claw 31 that engages with a protrusion 30 attached to the inside of the end surface 12 of the front lid 7, a contact portion 32 that contacts a lid lock release member described later, and a fulcrum pin 33. Are integrally molded. The fulcrum pin 33 is inserted into a pin insertion hole 34 provided in the lower half 3 so as to be rotatable in the front-rear direction. The lid lock member 29 is urged forward by pressing the rear part of the lid lock member 29 with one end of the leaf spring 35. As a result, the projection 30 of the front lid 7 and the locking claw 3 of the lid locking member 29
1 is always engaged so that the front lid 7 is locked in the closed state.

The tape cassette 1 constructed as described above
The operation will be described below. When the tape cassette 1 is inserted into the apparatus, as shown in FIG. 5, the lid unlocking member 36 of the cassette holder arranged on the apparatus side enters through the notch 22 of the front lid 7 and the contact part 3 of the lid locking member 29 enters.
In step 2, move in the direction A. Accordingly, the engagement between the locking claw 31 of the lid locking member 29 and the projection 30 of the front lid 7 is released, and the locking of the front lid 7 is released.

Thereafter, the tape cassette 1 is moved to the position B shown in FIG.
When it is moved in the direction of FIG.
As a result, one end of the front lid 7 is pushed up. Therefore, the front lid 7 rotates upward against the coil spring 15. At this time, the rear lid 8 is opened while being guided by the rear lid guide groove 25. Note that the closing operation is performed in a completely opposite manner to the above-described operation.

Next, when the tape cassette 1 is strongly pushed into the cassette holder as described above, the lid unlocking member 36 strongly contacts the contact portion 32 of the lid locking member 29 as shown in FIG. Then, the lid lock member 29 is further moved rearward to hit and lock the cassette wall 38. However, at this time, as shown in FIG.
The angle C between the second and the cassette bottom 39 is a right angle. Therefore, the tape cassette 1 stops at this point because the upward component force for the tape cassette 1 to ride on the lid unlocking member 36 does not act.

Therefore, there is a great effect that it is possible to prevent the tape cassette from running in the cassette holder and the damage to the tape cassette and the cassette holder due to the accident.

Normally, when a tape cassette is designed and manufactured so that the above-mentioned angle C is 90 °, due to the dimensional variation of each part of the synthetic resin and the clearance between the pins, etc.
Although the angle C may be about 92 °, which is slightly larger than 90 °, there is no problem at all in the experiment, which is equivalent to a right angle product.

Even if the angle C is set to an acute angle of 90 ° or less, the same great effect is produced because the component force for the tape cassette to ride on does not work.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the lid lock member is pushed by the lid lock release member and locked against the cassette body, the contact surface of the lid lock member that is in contact with the lid lock release member is changed. It is configured such that it is at right angles to the bottom surface of the cassette body.

Therefore, when the tape cassette is strongly pushed into the cassette holder, the lid lock releasing member is moved backward until the lid lock member contacts the wall of the cassette body and is locked. At this time, since the surface of the lid lock member that is in contact with the lid lock release member is substantially perpendicular or acute to the bottom surface of the cassette body, no component force acts on the lid lock release member in the direction in which the tape cassette rides. The tape cassette stops at this point. Therefore, it is easy to take out the tape cassette from the cassette holder, and there is a great effect that the accident of running the tape cassette in the cassette holder and the damage of the tape cassette and the cassette holder due to the accident can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an assembled perspective view of a tape cassette according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the tape cassette.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a main part of the tape cassette lid lock section.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of the tape cassette lid lock section.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a main part of a tape cassette lid lock portion showing a lid lock releasing means when the tape cassette is inserted into a cassette holder.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a tape cassette lid lock portion when the tape cassette is inserted into a cassette holder.

FIG. 7 is an assembled perspective view of a conventional tape cassette lid.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of the tape cassette lid lock section.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a tape cassette lid lock portion when the tape cassette is inserted into a cassette holder.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view of a main part of a tape cassette lid lock portion when the tape cassette is inserted into a cassette holder.

[Explanation of symbols]

 7 Front lid 8 Rear lid 29 Lid lock member 32 Contact part 35 Leaf spring 36 Lid lock release member

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing on the front page (72) Osamu Zaitsu, Inventor 1006, Kazuma, Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Inside Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (72) Hideto Soga 1006, Kazuma, Kazuma, Kadoma, Osaka Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. In-house (56) References JP-A-2-132383 (JP, U) JP-A-2-30182 (JP, U)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cassette body having an opening for inserting a tape pull-out member on the apparatus side formed on the front surface, a tape stretched over the opening by a tape guide provided on the front surface of the cassette body, and the cassette body. A lid that is rotatably supported on the tape and covers the tape; and a lid lock member that is supported by the cassette body and engages with the lid to lock the lid in a closed lid state. When attached to the device, the lid lock release member provided in the device hits the lid lock member to release the lock of the lid, and the lid lock member is further pushed by the lid lock release member so that the lid lock member is In a state where the lid lock member comes into contact with the lid lock release member in a state where the lid lock member comes into contact with the cassette main body and is locked, the contact surface of the lid lock member with respect to the bottom surface of the cassette main body.
A tape cassette, wherein a lid lock member is provided so as to be 92 ° or less .