JP4386310B2 - Single reel type magnetic tape cartridge - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a single reel type magnetic tape cartridge in which a leading piece provided at a tape feeding end is connected to a magnetic tape via a leader tape.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In this type of magnetic tape cartridge, a coupling tool for coupling a capturing body on the tape drive side is provided at the beginning of feeding of the tape. For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-232826, a round shaft-shaped leading piece is connected to one end of a leader tape, and the other end of the leader tape and a magnetic tape are connected by an adhesive tape. In many cases, the leader tape is formed of a plastic sheet of about 0.2 mm thicker than the magnetic tape. Regarding the present invention, it is known in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-113635 that one end of a leader tape is formed so that the thickness gradually decreases toward the end. However, the end of the tape in this case is connected to the magnetic tape.
[0003]
In order to more accurately position and hold the leading piece when not in use, the present applicant has previously proposed a leading piece configured in a U-shaped frame (Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-69505). This leading piece is formed in a U-shaped frame shape with a pin and a pair of hooks fixed to the top and bottom of the pin, and a leader tape is wound around the pin and connected. Specifically, after the tape end is wrapped around a pin and reversed, the reversed portion is bonded or welded to the tape surface.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, in the connection configuration in which the tape end of the leader tape is wound around the pin, the thickness dimension of the welded portion at the tape end is twice the tape thickness of the leader tape. Therefore, when the leading piece and the leader tape are wound around the reel on the tape drive side together with the magnetic tape in the usage state, a step is generated at the previous welded portion, and the magnetic tape is deformed along the step shape at the stepped portion. It will be addicted. The fact that the position of the tape circumscribing the stepped portion is always constant also facilitates the magnetic tape. The taped portion has an adverse effect on magnetic recording characteristics and reproduction characteristics, and the reliability of the tape cartridge is impaired.
[0005]
An object of the present invention is to provide a single reel type tape cartridge that eliminates the occurrence of a step in a connecting portion with a leading piece of a leader tape and can eliminate deformation of a magnetic tape in the connecting portion.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The single reel type magnetic tape cartridge of the present invention is provided with a leading piece 13 for connecting a capturing device on the tape drive side to the tape feeding end. The leading piece 13 and the magnetic tape 3 are connected via a leader tape 9. The leading piece 13 includes a metal pin 14 around which the leader tape 9 is wound and connected. The connecting portion 10 of the leader tape 9 wound around the pin 14 is formed thinner than the other tape surface of the leader tape 9. The connecting portion 10 is wound around the pin 14 and reversed, and a tape fixing portion 11 for fixing the inverted portion to the tape surface is provided to connect the leader tape 9 and the pin 14.
[0007]
The thickness dimension T <b> 2 of the connecting portion 10 is set to one half or less of the thickness T <b> 1 of the other tape surface of the leader tape 9. Therefore, the total tape thickness T3 in the tape fixing part 11 is made equal to or smaller than the previous tape thickness T1.
[0008]
The connecting portion 10 is formed in a wedge shape whose thickness gradually decreases toward the end portion. Therefore, the total tape thickness T3 in the tape fixing part 11 is set to be equal to or smaller than the thickness T1 of the other tape surface of the leader tape 9.
[0009]
The connecting portion 10 is composed of a pair of upper and lower winding pieces 12 divided by a notch 30 formed in the middle portion in the width direction of the leader tape 9. The winding piece 12 is wound around the pin 14 and reversed, and the inverted portion is welded to the tape surface to connect the leader tape 9 and the pin 14.
[0010]
The leading piece 13 is formed in a U-shaped frame shape by a metal pin 14 and a pair of upper and lower retaining arms 15 that are fixed to both ends of the pin 14 and project laterally. The pin 14 is formed of a round shaft that is long in the vertical direction, and includes a winding shaft portion 14b that is slightly smaller in diameter than the other shaft portions. Each of the pair of upper and lower winding pieces 12 is wound around and connected to the winding shaft portion 14b, and each of the winding pieces 12 is positioned in the vertical direction by the step portion 30 of the winding shaft portion 14b.
[0011]
[Effects of the invention]
Since the connecting portion formed thinner than the other tape surface is wound around the pin and fixed to the tape surface, the total thickness of the tape at the connecting portion can be reduced as compared with the case where the leader tape is simply wound and connected. Therefore, in the state where the leader tape is wound with the reel on the tape drive side, it is possible to eliminate the formation of a large step at the connecting portion with the pin of the leader tape, thereby eliminating the deformation of the magnetic tape due to the step. The deterioration of the magnetic recording characteristics and reproduction characteristics of the magnetic tape can be eliminated.
[0012]
In order to make the total tape thickness in the tape fixing portion the same as or smaller than the thickness of the other tape surface of the leader tape, the thickness dimension of the connecting portion is half of the thickness of the other tape surface of the leader tape. Set as follows. Alternatively, the connecting portion is formed in a wedge shape whose thickness gradually decreases toward the end portion. In either case, the same result can be obtained in that the level difference can be eliminated, but in the former case, the connecting part can be easily formed by thinning the tape surface by cutting or using laminated tape. And the cost is low. In the latter case, since the change in thickness between the tape fixing part and the other tape surface is gentle, the breaking strength of the connecting part is large, and the thickness dimension of the leader tape can be reduced accordingly.
[0013]
The connection part is composed of a pair of upper and lower winding pieces, and the connection form in which these winding pieces are wound around pins and welded to the tape surface is made by utilizing the shaft portion between the upper and lower winding pieces. The leading piece is held and fixed when not in use. For example, even when the tape cartridge falls to the floor and receives a strong impact, the leading piece is positioned and held accurately, and the tape drive side catcher is used. This is to ensure the capture connection of the leading piece.
[0014]
According to the connection configuration in which each of the winding pieces is positioned in the vertical direction at the step portion of the winding shaft portion, the leader tape is prevented from floating along the axis of the pin, and the leading piece and the leader tape are Thus, the leader tape can be prevented from swinging in the width direction when the leading piece is pulled out by the capturing body of the tape loading mechanism.
[0015]
【Example】
1 to 7 show an embodiment of a single reel type tape cartridge according to the present invention. In FIG. 4, the tape cartridge has a square box-shaped case body 1 formed by joining upper and lower cases 1a and 1b in a lid-like manner, and the tape 3 is wound around one reel 2 arranged inside the case body. is there. A tape outlet 4 is opened on the front surface of the case body 1 and can be opened and closed by a door 5 pivotally supported by the tape outlet 4. The door 5 is closed and urged by a spring and is locked and held by a lock mechanism (not shown) at the closed position. Reel locks 6 and 7 that engage with gear teeth provided on the lower flange of the reel 2 to lock the reel 2 in a non-rotatable state when not in use are provided at two opposite inner corners of the case body 1. It is provided. A switching piece 8 for preventing erroneous erasure is provided on one side of the case back wall.
[0016]
In order to automatically capture and connect the magnetic tape 3 wound on the reel 2 by the capturing body H of the tape drive, a leading piece 13 is provided at the feeding end of the tape 3, and the leading piece 13 and the magnetic tape 3 are connected to the leader tape 9. Are connected through. In FIG. 3, the leading piece 13 is formed in a U-shaped frame shape with a stainless steel pin 14 fixed to the leader tape 9 and a pair of latching arms 15 provided at both upper and lower ends of the pin 14.
[0017]
The pin 14 is formed of a round shaft that is long in the vertical direction, and has a lock shaft portion 14a at the center in the vertical direction. A winding shaft portion 14b having a slightly smaller diameter than the lock shaft portion 14a is provided above and below the lock shaft portion 14a. An anchor portion 14c is formed at each axial end of the attached shaft portion 14b. As will be described later, the pin 14 is insert-fixed to the latch arm 15, but in order to prevent the relative rotation and vertical separation of the two 14, 15 after molding, anchor portions 14 c are provided at the upper and lower ends of the pin 14. Is provided. In this example, the shaft end of the winding shaft portion 14b was crushed in a diverging shape to form an anchor portion 14c.
[0018]
The latching arm 15 is made of a horizontally molded plastic product, and the pin 14 is insert-fixed at the time of molding. The upper and lower latching arms 15 are bent in a projecting manner toward the outer surface of the case, and a latching groove 16 for latching and connecting the capturing body H is formed on the entire surface of the arm. Specifically, an introduction guide surface 17 for the capturing body H is formed on the front surface of each latching arm 15 so as to be inclined downward toward the rear of the case, and the latching groove 16 is continuously provided on the tip end side of the inclined surface. It is formed to extend to As a result, the latching grooves 16 of the upper and lower latching arms 15 are opened in a state of facing vertically, and the groove starting end 18 is opened toward the base of the latching arm 15 on the pin 14 side. Note that the interval between the pair of upper and lower latch arms 15 is set to be sufficiently larger than the vertical width dimension of the magnetic tape 3. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the movement trajectory of the tape 3 from contacting and interfering with an arm receiving portion 21 described later. The upper wall or the lower wall of each latching groove 16 serves to position the vertical position of the latching pin 19 in a state where the capturing body H is connected to the latching groove 16. In FIG. 6, the catching body H is formed by fixing the latching pin 19 to the end of the leader tape on the tape drive side. By operating the latching pin 19 with a loading arm (not shown), its upper and lower ends The ball shaft 19 a is hooked in the hooking groove 16.
[0019]
The leader tape 9 is made of a plastic sheet having a thickness of 0.2 mm. After the connecting portion 10 provided at one end is wrapped around the previous pin 14 and reversed, the inverted end is welded to the tape surface to be connected to the pin 14. Integrate. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the thickness T2 of the connecting portion 10 is set to one half of the thickness T1 of the other tape surface of the leader tape 9, and the total thickness T3 of the welded tape fixing portion 11 is set. However, it was prevented from becoming larger than the thickness dimension T1 of the previous tape surface. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, in the relationship with the pin 14, the intermediate portion in the width direction of the connecting portion 10 was vertically divided by the notch 30, and the winding pieces 12 were formed above and below the notch 30. In the state where the upper and lower winding pieces 12 are wound and connected to the winding shaft portion 14b of the pin 14, as shown in FIG. 3, the lower edge and the upper edge of the winding portion are wound around the lock shaft portion 14a. It is positioned in the vertical direction by the step portion 31 between the shaft portion 14b and the play in the vertical direction is restricted. In this connected state, the pin 14 can rotate relative to the leader tape 9. The connecting portion 10 can be formed by cutting one side of the leader tape 9. Further, the connecting portion 10 may be formed by removing a part of the laminated plastic sheet.
[0020]
In order to hold and fix the leading piece 13 when not in use in a predetermined standby posture, an arm receiving portion 21 and a lock piece 22 are provided facing the tape outlet 4 as shown in FIGS. The arm receiving portion 21 is formed to be recessed on the inner surface of the case body 1. Specifically, low ribs are provided on the upper and lower walls facing the tape outlet 4 so as to be opposed to each other in the vertical direction, and the ribs are curved in a bowl shape along the outline on the case inner surface side of the latch arm 15. Forms an arm receiving portion 21 that is recessed inward of the case. In a state where the leading piece 13 is pulled into the case together with the leader tape 9, the leading piece 13 is received in a state in which the hooking arm 15 is in close contact with the upper and lower arm receiving portions 21, and is properly positioned and held (FIG. 5). reference).
[0021]
Even in a situation where tape slack occurs, the pin 14 of the leading piece 13 is locked and held by the lock piece 22 in order to withstand a drop impact and maintain the above positioning posture. In FIG. 6, the lock piece 22 is made of a plastic molded product in which a boss 23, a lock arm 24 and a lock release piece 25 projecting laterally from the peripheral surface thereof are integrally formed. The boss 23 is pivotally supported by the upper and lower cases 1a and 1b, and the lock piece 22 is oscillated and biased to a locked posture by a spring 26 assembled to the lower end of the boss 23 so that the lock arm 24 is always inward of the case. As shown in FIG. 5, the hook portion 27 provided at the tip of the pin 14 engages with the lock shaft portion 14 a in the middle of the pin 14 in the vertical direction. At this time, the lock arm 24 engages and holds the pin 14 from the outer surface side of the case, and the lock release piece 25 faces the release pin insertion opening opened in the front wall of the case body 1.
[0022]
As described above, when the leading piece 13 when not in use is held in cooperation by the arm receiving portion 21 and the lock piece 22, the external impact acting on the leading piece 13 is against the lock 26 by the lock piece 22. Since it can be relaxed and absorbed by swinging, even if the magnetic tape 3 is slackened inside the case, it is possible to prevent the leading piece 13 from moving or jumping out from the arm receiving portion 21. Simultaneously with the extinction of the external impact force, the lock piece 22 receives the urging force of the spring 26 and returns the lead piece 13 to the arm receiving portion 21 to bring it into close contact, so that the lead piece 13 is always kept in an appropriate standby posture. it can.
[0023]
The door 5 when not in use closes the tape outlet 4 and covers the outer surface of the leading piece 13. Therefore, a pressing portion 28 that matches the contour line on the outer surface side of the leading piece 13 is provided on the inner surface of the door 5, and the leading end side of the leading arm 13, particularly the latching arm 15, can be prevented from floating away from the arm receiving portion 21. I am doing so.
[0024]
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 prevent the reel 2 from rotating are unlocked. The lock piece 22 is unlocked through the lock release piece 25 so that the hook portion 27 is separated from the pin 14. The reel 2 engages with a reel drive shaft that enters the case from the case lower surface side. In this state, the catcher H on the tape drive side enters the tape outlet 4, and the latch pin 19 is latched and connected to the latch groove 16 of the upper and lower latch arms 15, as shown in FIG. Then, the magnetic tape 3 is pulled out through the leading piece 13 and wound on a reel on the tape drive side. At this time, the tape fixing portion 11 of the leader tape 9 circumscribes the peripheral surface of the hub of the previous reel, but since the total thickness dimension T3 is equal to the thickness dimension T1 of the previous tape surface, there is a step on the outer surface of the tape fixing section 11. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the deformation of the magnetic tape 3 on the outer surface of the tape fixing portion 11. When the writing or reading of data with respect to the magnetic tape 3 is completed, the magnetic tape 3 is rewound onto the reel 2, and the tip piece 13 is positioned and held again in the standby state by the arm receiving portion 21 and the lock piece 22.
[0025]
In addition to the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the cross-sectional shape of the connecting portion 10 is formed in a wedge shape that gradually decreases in thickness toward the end portion, and the total tape thickness in the tape fixing portion 11 is the leader tape. It can be set to be equal to or smaller than the thickness of the other tape surface 9. Moreover, the connection part 10 can be formed in step shape. The pin 14 can be formed with an angular axis or an ellipse axis. The thickness dimension of the leader tape 9 is not limited to the dimension described in the embodiment, and a thinner tape may be used. The structure of the leading piece 13 may be other than the structure described in the embodiment, and may be a round shaft-shaped leading piece as in the leading piece described in the conventional example.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG.
FIG. 2 is a plan view of a connecting portion of a leader tape.
FIG. 3 is a front view of a leading piece.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional plan view of the tape cartridge.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional plan view of the tape outlet.
FIG. 6 is a longitudinal front view of the tape outlet.
FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a state in which the tape is pulled out of the case.
FIG. 8 is a plan view showing another embodiment of the connecting portion.
[Explanation of symbols]
3 Magnetic tape 9 Leader tape 10 Connecting part 11 Tape fixing part 12 Wrap piece 13 Leading piece 14 Pin

Claims (5)

A leading piece for connecting the tape drive side capturing body to the tape feeding end is provided, and the leading piece and the magnetic tape are a single reel type magnetic tape cartridge in which a leader tape is connected. And
The leading piece includes a metal pin around which the leader tape is wound and connected,
The connecting portion of the leader tape wound around the pin is formed thinner than the other tape surface of the leader tape,
A single reel type magnetic tape cartridge comprising: a tape fixing portion that winds and reverses the connecting portion around the pin, and fixes the inverted portion to a tape surface, and the leader tape and the pin are connected.   The thickness dimension of the connecting portion is set to be less than or equal to one half of the thickness of the other tape surface of the leader tape, and the total tape thickness in the tape fixing portion is the thickness of the other tape surface of the leader tape. 2. The single reel type magnetic tape cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the single reel type magnetic tape cartridge is set equal to or smaller than.   The connecting portion is formed in a wedge shape whose cross-sectional shape gradually decreases toward the end portion, and the total tape thickness in the tape fixing portion is the same as the thickness of the other tape surface of the leader tape. 2. The single reel type magnetic tape cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the single reel type magnetic tape cartridge is set to be smaller than this. The connecting portion is composed of a pair of upper and lower winding pieces divided by a notch formed in the middle in the width direction of the leader tape,
4. The single reel type magnetic tape cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the winding piece is wound around the pin and reversed, and the reversed portion is welded to a tape surface to connect the leader tape and the pin. . The leading piece is formed in a U-shaped frame with a metal pin and a pair of upper and lower latch arms that are fixed to both ends of the pin and project laterally,
The pin consists of a round shaft that is long up and down, and has a winding shaft portion slightly smaller in diameter than the other shaft portions on the top and bottom,
5. Each of the pair of upper and lower winding pieces is wound around and connected to the winding shaft portion, and each of the winding pieces is positioned in a vertical direction at a step portion of the winding shaft portion. Single reel type magnetic tape cartridge.

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