JP3009338B2 - 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 tape cassette,
More particularly, the present invention relates to a tape cassette provided with a lock mechanism for locking a lid that covers a front portion from which a magnetic tape is pulled out.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a tape cassette of a type having an openable and closable lid for covering a front portion of a case includes a case body 1 and a front portion for drawing out a magnetic tape in the case body. And a lid 2 that opens and closes. The lid 2 has side plates 4 pivotally mounted on both sides of the main body with a shaft 5 and is always urged in a closing direction by a spring. As shown in FIG. 2, a locking projection 6 is provided on one inner surface of the side plate 4, while a lid lock member 3 constantly urged forward by a spring 7 on the case body 1 side. Is axis 8
It is attached by. Claw 9 of lid lock member 3
Engages with the locking portion 6 of the lid so as to prevent the lid from rotating in the direction of arrow a.

However, in the above-described configuration, when an external force (rotational force in the direction of arrow a) which exceeds this engaging force is applied to the lid 2 in a direction in which the lid 2 is opened without being attached to the recording / reproducing apparatus. In some cases, the locking projection 6 rotates the lid lock member 3 against the urging force of the spring 7, and the engagement between the projection 6 and the claw 9 may be released.

On the other hand, FIG. 3 (members having the same functions as the individual members shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 have the same reference numbers).
A lid lock stopper 11 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-214277) disclosed in
There is known a mechanism that engages with a locking projection 6.
In this configuration, even if the locking projection 6 presses the claw 9, FIG.
As shown in (b), the lower portion of the claw 9 is received by the lid lock stopper 11 to limit further deformation of the lid lock member 3 and the engagement between the locking projection 6 and the claw 9 of the lid lock member is released. To prevent

Referring to FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b), when the lock mechanism disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-214277 is touched, the lid lock member 3 is fixed to the case body 1 by being fixedly fitted. 3a and a lock portion 3c having a claw 9 which engages with the locking projection 6 of the side plate 4 are connected via a metal leaf spring (elastic portion) 3b. The nail 9
Since it has a position determined by the shape of the leaf spring 3b, the relationship between the pawl 9 and the locking projection 6 is also determined thereby, and no other position regulating means is required.

However, when actually producing the tape cassette having this configuration, the tape cassette is originally a separate component, and the work of connecting the lock portion, the elastic portion, and the fixed portion is separately required. There is a drawback that the property is poor and the cost is high. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to improve the production and cost problems and to provide a product that is highly functionally reliable.

[0007]

Therefore, in order to achieve these objects, the lock portion, the connecting portion, and the fixing portion of the lid lock member, which are separate components, are integrally formed of plastic.

[0008] However, it has been found that the use of an integrally molded piece of plastic causes some obstacles. Since the plastic lid lock member needs to assist its elastic force, a spring applies an urging force in the engagement direction to the lock portion. As a result, depending on the individual spring used, the locking claw may be pushed more than necessary in the locking direction.Therefore, it is necessary to have a restricting means that always restricts this inconvenient pushing and stops at the proper locking position. It became. Therefore, the obstacle is solved by providing the case main body with a small protrusion-shaped or partially-thick limiting means that can be integrally formed with the case body. Since these limiting means can be formed integrally with the case body, there is almost no effect on production and cost. In this way, it is possible to solve the problem that may arise from the pushing of the lock portion more than necessary, and achieve the original object.

Therefore, a tape cassette according to the present invention for achieving the above object is provided with a case containing a tape reel, a lid rotatably mounted on the case, and a lid for locking the lid in a closed state. A lock member, wherein the lid lock member includes a fixed portion fixed to the case, a lock portion including an engagement claw for locking the lid, and a connecting portion connecting the fixed portion and the lock portion. The lid has an engaged portion that is engaged with the engagement claw to maintain the lid closed, the lid lock member is urged by a spring in an engagement direction, and Is a tape cassette provided with a stopper for inhibiting the lid lock member from being deflected by a predetermined amount or more when a force in an opening direction is applied to the lid before the lid is unlocked. In, a configuration in which said lid lock member is provided in the case a regulating portion for preventing the bias of a predetermined or more engagement direction.

According to a second aspect of the tape cassette of the present invention, the restricting portion is provided also as the stopper.

[0011]

By integrally molding the lid lock member, there is no need for a step of connecting the lock portion, the connecting portion including the elastic portion, and the fixing portion, and there is no need to worry about a defective product when connecting. In addition, obstacles caused by being an integrally molded product can be solved by providing a regulating portion that can be integrally molded with the molded product.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. The structure of the tape cassette of the present invention is the same as that of the conventional tape cassette except for the lock mechanism. Therefore, the above description will be referred to, and the common parts to the conventional example will be indicated by the same reference numerals.

FIG. 4 illustrates a first embodiment of the lock mechanism of the present invention. The locking mechanism of the present invention includes a connecting portion 37 including a locking projection 6 of the lid side plate 4, a locking portion 32 having a claw 31, a thin elastically deforming portion 35 (a portion within a circle), and a thick rigid portion 34. And a fixing portion 36 integrally formed of plastic or the like, a spring 20 for constantly urging the lock portion 32 of the lid lock member 30 leftward in the drawing, and a lower half 1b. Of the lid lock member 30 to the left and the lid 4
And a lid lock stopper 40 for restricting the rotation of the lid 2 in the opening direction. When the lid 2 is closed, the locking projection 6 engages with the pawl 31 of the lid lock member 30 as shown in FIG. Unnecessary opening due to movement is prevented. In the connecting portion 37 between the lock portion 32 and the fixing portion 36, the connecting portion 37 includes an elastic deformation portion 35 and a rigid portion 34.
The rigid portion 34 is configured to be thicker than the elastic deformation portion 35 to have rigidity. This is to limit the bent portion to one portion of the elastic deformation portion 35. With this configuration, the distance between the tip of the claw 31 and the elastically deformable portion 35 can be maintained constant, and the problem of disengagement between the claw 31 and the locking projection 6 due to unnecessary external force is completely eliminated in the conventional example. Problems that could not be solved can be completely solved.

The spring 20 has one end 21 fixed to the case body 1 and the other end 22 pressing the back 33 of the lock portion 32 leftward in the drawing (the direction of engagement between the claw 31 and the locking projection 6). Function. The spring 20 assists the elasticity of the elastic deformation portion 35 made of plastic.

The lid lock member 30 includes a lock portion 32 including a claw 31, a rigid portion 34, an elastic deformation portion 35, and a fixed portion 36.
4 is integrally molded from plastic, and is fixed to a predetermined position of the upper half 1a by a fixing portion 36 in a manner as shown in FIG. 4, and the back portion 33 of the lock portion 32 is pressed by the spring 20 to form the lid side plate 4 It is always urged in the direction of engagement with the locking projection 6. Accordingly, when a lock release member (not shown) of the recording / reproducing apparatus acts on the lock portion 32, the lock release member 30 exerts a force against the urging force of the spring 20 on the lid lock member 30 to deflect the elastically deformable portion 35. The rocking portion 32 of the lid lock member 30 is displaced by swinging using the fulcrum as a fulcrum. As a result, the engagement between the locking projection 6 and the claw 31 is released, and the lid 2
Can be opened.

As is clear from the above description, the feature of the present invention is that in the conventional example, the base portion and the lock portion of the separate components were originally required to be connected with a metal leaf spring. In the present invention, however, the connecting step can be omitted by forming all of these into an integrally molded product.

However, as described above, in the conventional example, there is no problem because the urging force of the spring 20 does not exist. However, when the urging force of the spring 20 is used as in the present invention, the individual springs 20 are not used. Depending on the lid lock member 30
May be pushed to the left of the drawing beyond the desired position, and it is necessary to always limit the pushing.

Therefore, the lid lock stopper 40 disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 4-213277 has a function of restricting the movement of the claw 31 in the direction A and also restricting the movement of the lock portion 32 in the direction B. It was configured as follows. That is, FIG.
As described above, the lid lock stopper 40 is configured to be adjacent not only to the claw 31 but also to the lock portion 32. With this configuration, in addition to the downward movement of the claw 31 (or the downward movement of the lock portion), the lock portion 32 can be prevented from moving to the left beyond a desired position. With this configuration, it is not necessary to pay much attention to the accuracy of the elasticity of the spring 20. In this way, it is possible to solve the obstacles before the object of the present invention has been achieved and achieve the original object of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment. In the second embodiment, the lid lock member 30 of the integrally molded product of the first embodiment is employed as it is, but a different configuration is employed for the movement restricting means. That is, the function of the lid lock stopper 41 remains as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 4-213277, which merely restricts the downward movement of the claw 31, and as a means for restricting the leftward movement of the lock portion 32 as shown in FIG. And a thick portion 15 (hatched portion in the figure) on the inner wall of the upper half 1a.
Is newly provided, and the thick portion 15 restricts the bending of the lid lock member 30 in the vicinity of the elastic deformation portion 35. Thus, an effect similar to the effect of restricting the leftward movement of the lid lock stopper 40 of the first embodiment can be obtained, and the object of the present invention can be achieved similarly.

Although the embodiments employing the two types of limiting means have been disclosed above, if it is possible to limit the movement of the lock portion 32 to the left more than desired, the limiting means of the wall thickness or the projection is different from those of these embodiments. It can be easily inferred that the can be provided at an appropriate position of the different main body case 1.

[0021]

According to the present invention, it is possible to solve the problem caused by the use of a spring that constantly urges the lock portion of the lid lock member to the left, so that the lock portion, the connection portion, The purpose of the present invention, namely, the effect of the integral molding of the fixing part made of plastic can be sufficiently exhibited,
The objective of improving production and cost issues can be achieved. Further, since the present invention is an integrally molded product, there is no problem of defective products occurring when the lock portion, the elastic portion, and the fixed portion of the related art are connected, and the structure is not complicated as in the configuration of the conventional lid lock member. This makes it possible to provide a product with higher reliability in function.

Having shown and described preferred embodiments of the present invention and what is presently considered, those skilled in the art will appreciate that
It will be apparent that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. All such changes and modifications are to be included in the spirit of the present invention.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional tape cassette.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a conventional lock mechanism.

FIG. 3A is a perspective view illustrating a conventional lock mechanism, and FIG. 3B illustrates a state where an unnecessary external force is applied when the lock mechanism is closed in the lock mechanism of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view showing a lock mechanism according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view showing a lock mechanism according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Case main body 2 Lid 3 Lid lock member 3a Fixed part of conventional lid lock member 3b Elastic part of conventional lid lock member 3c Lock part of conventional lid lock member 4 Lid side plate 5 Lid opening / closing axis 6 Locking projection 7 Spring Reference Signs List 8 Shaft of lid lock member 9 Claw 11 Lid lock stopper 15 Thick part 20 Spring for biasing lock part 21 Fixed end of spring 22 Urging end of spring 31 Engagement claw of lid lock member 32 Lock of lid lock member Part 33 back part of lock part 34 rigid part of lid lock member 35 elastic deformation part of lid lock member 36 fixing part of lid lock member 37 connecting part of lid lock member 40, 41 lid lock stopper

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G11B 23/087 521

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A case having a tape reel built-in, a lid rotatably mounted on the case, and a lid lock member for locking the lid in a closed state, wherein the lid lock member is A locking portion including a fixed portion fixed to the case, an engagement claw for locking the lid, and a connecting portion connecting the fixed portion and the lock portion, wherein the lid is engaged with the engagement claw. There is an engaged portion for maintaining the lid closed, the lid lock member is urged in the engagement direction by a spring, and the case is further opened to the lid before the lid is unlocked. In a tape cassette provided with a stopper for preventing the lid lock member from being deflected by a predetermined amount or more when a force is applied, the lid lock member may It said tape cassette, characterized in that the regulating portion for preventing 倚 provided on the case. 2. The tape cassette according to claim 1, wherein said stopper is also used as said stopper. 3. The tape cassette according to claim 1, wherein the restricting portion is provided at a position in contact with the connecting portion.