JPH01105373A - Tape cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a means for locking and unlocking tape reels which are freely, rotatively and axially supported in a cassette main body and to effectively utilize the whole tape cassette by drivably supporting a front lid in an inward position from the both sides of the cassette main body and utilizing an unused space between a drivably supporting part of the front lid and the both side walls of the cassette main body respectively. CONSTITUTION:The cassette main body 3 is constituted by combining one pair of an upper half and a lower half 2, and one pair of the tape reels 4 and 5 are freely, rotatively and axially supported in the main body 3. Then, a recessed part 6 for approaching a tape drawing mechanism for the tape in the main body 3 is freely operably and closably covered with the front lid 11, and the magnetic tape 9 stretching out to be in the recessed part 6 is covered as well. This front lid 11 is held by one pair of holding parts 12, and the tape 9 is exposed to the exterior in its stretched position in the recessed part 6. When this front lid 11 is closed, rotational operating shafts 30 are integrally turned to bring operating segments 29 into contact with turning operation pieces 28 of reel lock levers 22, so as to lock rails 4 and 5, and when the lid is opened, the operation pieces 28 are pressed by the operating segments 29 to unlock the reels 4 and 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a tape cassette used in a recording/reproducing device such as a video tape recorder, and particularly to a tape cassette that covers a magnetic tape extending outward from the front side of the cassette body. It relates to a device equipped with an opening/closing lid.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, tape cassettes used in recording and reproducing devices such as video tape recorders equipped with a rotating magnetic head device automatically pull out the magnetic tape by a tape drawer mechanism provided on the recording and reproducing device side, and a loading device automatically pulls out the magnetic tape. In order to wind the tape around the cassette, a portion of the magnetic tape is exposed to the outside of the front of the cassette body. Also,
The front side of the cassette body is provided with a tape pull-out mechanism entry recess into which the tape pull-out mechanism for pulling out the magnetic tape faces. Furthermore, a front cover that covers the magnetic tape is rotatably attached to the front side of the cassette body in order to protect the magnetic tape facing outward from the front side of the cassette body. The front cover of this conventionally used tape cassette rotates by pivoting on both sides of the cassette body with rotating arms that are bent and connected at both ends of the front cover, thereby opening the front side of the cassette body. It is installed to open and close.

By the way, the applicant has proposed a recording and reproducing device that is capable of recording and reproducing tape cassettes with different tape lengths depending on the intended use and external sizes depending on the tape lengths using the same device. ing. Even if the tape cassettes used in this type of recording/playback device have different external sizes, the magnetic tape is pulled out by the same tape pull-out mechanism in order to maintain compatibility, so the recess for entering the tape pull-out mechanism is The structure is formed as a common one. The magnetic tape can be pulled out by the tape pull-out mechanism if it faces the recess, so no matter which tape cassettes have different external sizes,
It faces outward in the recessed portion having a common structure.

For tape cassettes with different external sizes, the front cover that opens and closes the recess for entering the tape pull-out mechanism on the front side of the cassette body is rotatably supported on the cassette body. If the tape cassette has a large external size, the disadvantage is that the entire front cover becomes larger, even though the recess for entering the tape drawer mechanism is the same as a small tape cassette. This not only inconveniently covers the outer part of the recess for entering the tape pull-out mechanism, where the magnetic tape that should originally be protected extends, but also makes it impossible to maintain sufficient mechanical strength of the front cover.

Therefore, in order to prevent the front cover from increasing in size, the applicant of the present application moved the rotating arms, which are bent and connected at both ends of the front cover and supports the front cover rotation shaft, to a position inward from both sides of the cassette body. A tape cassette has previously been proposed which is pivoted within a provided holding portion.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

As mentioned above, in the case where the front cover is configured to be pivoted inward from both sides of the cassette body, there is an unused space between the pivot portion of the front cover and both side walls of the cassette body. It is formed. Further, the present invention utilizes the above space to lock the tape reel rotatably supported within the cassette body, and provides a reel lock release mechanism for the reel lock means, thereby providing an efficient reel lock means and reel lock release mechanism. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a tape cassette that allows for the installation of tape cassettes.

[Means for Solving the Problem] The present invention rotatably supports a pair of tape reels in a cassette body formed by butt-joining a pair of upper and lower halves, and the tape is disposed between the tape reels. At the same time, a recess for entering the tape drawer mechanism and a pair of tape drawer windows located on both sides of the recess are provided on the front side of the cassette body, and the tape is wound between the tape reels. A tape body is drawn out between the window parts and extends along the concave part, and a front cover is rotatably attached to the front side of the cassette body to cover the tape body extending along the concave part. In the cassette, the front cover is rotatably attached to the cassette body by pivoting arm parts bent and connected on both sides of the front cover and pivoted in holding parts formed inwardly from both side walls of the cassette body. At the same time, a reel lock release mechanism for unlocking the reel locking means of the tape reel in conjunction with the rotation of the front cover is provided outside the rotation arm portion and inside the side wall of the cassette body. It was designed to be provided.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

The tape cassette according to the present invention, as shown in FIG.
It has a cassette main body 3 formed by butting together a pair of upper half 1 and lower half 2. Inside the cassette body 3, as shown in FIG. 1, a pair of tape reels 4.
5 is rotatably supported. In addition, in the central part of the front side of the cassette body 3, there is a recess 6 for entering the tape drawer mechanism, from which the tape drawer mechanism provided on the device side faces when the tape cassette is installed in a recording/reproducing device such as a video tape recorder. It is formed. Tape drawer windows 7 and 8 are provided on both sides of the recess 6, and the magnetic tape 9 wound between the tape reels 4 and 5 is inserted into the window 7.
, 8 to the outside of the cassette main body 3, and is extended into and run through the recess 6 for entering the tape drawing mechanism. The above tape drawer window 7,
A guide pin 10.10 for guiding the tape running is installed at a position closer to the partition wall that partitions the recess 6 in the recess 6.

Each of the tape reels 4 and 5 has a reel hub provided in the center that engages and locks the reel shaft of the recording/reproducing device that enters through the opening provided in the lower half 2. It is driven to rotate integrally with the shaft to feed or wind up the magnetic tape 9.

Then, the cassette body 3 of the tape cassette according to the present invention
, a pair of holding portions 12. which cover the four tape drawer mechanism entry portions 6 in an openable and closable manner and rotatably support a front cover 11 which covers the magnetic tape 9 extending within the recessed portion 6.
12 is a position more inward than both side walls 13° 14,
It is formed on the outer side of the tape drawer windows 7 and 8. These holding portions 12.12 have a pair of vertical walls 12a, 12b erected in parallel from the front side of the cassette main body 3, and each of these vertical walls 12a.

The space 12c between the cassette 12b is opened to the front side and the top side of the cassette main body 3, and is formed as a groove-shaped recess.

Front cover 1 attached via these holding parts 12.12
1 is a rotating arm portion 15.1 that is perpendicular to both left and right ends.
15 are arranged in a continuous manner. These rotating arm portions 15.
15, a shaft portion 16 is integrally molded and protrudes from the inner side surface near the tip so that the front cover 11 is rotatably supported with respect to the cassette body 3. It is rotatably fitted into a shaft hole 17 formed in one vertical wall 12a of the holding part 12. Note that if the shaft hole 17 is formed between the abutting portions of the upper half 1 and the lower half 2 that constitute the cassette body 3, the shaft of the front cover 11 will be formed when the respective halves 1 and 2 are assembled. Fitting can be easily achieved by adapting the portion 16 in advance.

Further, it is preferable that the shape of the tip end edge of each of the rotating arm parts 15.15 and the internal shape of the holding part 12 are formed on an arc of rotation centering on the shaft part 16, as shown in FIG.

Further, a torsion coil spring 17a is wound around the shaft portion 16, and the front cover 11 is biased to rotate in a direction to close the front side of the cassette body 3.

A lid locking mechanism (not shown) is provided between the front lid 11 and the cassette body 3 to lock the front lid 11 to the cassette body 3 when the lid is closed.

In addition, in the space sandwiched between each holding part 12.12 and both side walls 13.14 in the cassette body 3, there are provided a plurality of tapes on the outer peripheral edges of the reel flange parts 4a and 5a of each tape reel 4.5. Reel locking means that engages with the engagement recess 18 and locks the tape reels 4 and 5 to prevent the magnetic tape 9 wound thereon from unwinding when the front lid 11 is in the closed state. A constituting reel lock lever 21 is rotatably attached. This reel lock lever
21 has a lock claw 22 on the distal end side that engages with the engagement recess 1B of the tape reel 4.5, and a cylindrical pivot 2 on the proximal end side.
3, and is rotatably attached to the cassette main body 3 by inserting and supporting this pivot 23 through a pivot pin 24 planted in the lower half 2. The reel lock lever 21 is wound around the pivot portion 23 and has one end attached to the lower half 23.
The tape reels 4, 5 are connected by a torsion coil spring 27, which has one end locked to the boss portion 25 of
It is biased to rotate to the side. Further, on one side of the pivot portion 23, a rotation operation piece 28 is provided to protrude inward of the cassette body 3 so as to be orthogonal to the reel lock lever 21.

On the other hand, on the outer side surface of each rotary arm portion 15.15 of the front cover 11, a rotary operation shaft 30 having a protruding operator 29 for pressing the rotary operation piece 28 coaxially with the shaft portion 16 is attached to the reel lock. It is provided so as to protrude so as to face the rotation operation piece 28 of the lever 21. The operator 29 is provided so as to protrude from one side of the rotating operation shaft 30. This operator 29 is used to press the rotary operation piece 28 of the reel lock lever 21 in conjunction with the opening operation of the front cover 11 to release the lock pawl 22 from the engagement recess 18 of the tape reels 4 and 5. It has sufficient length. When the front cover 11 is in the closed state as shown in FIG.
The rotation operating shaft 30 is provided so as to protrude from the rotation operation shaft 30 so as to project upward from the cassette main body 3 without coming into contact with the cassette body 8 .

That is, the tape cassette reel lock release mechanism according to the present invention includes a rotary operation shaft 30 provided on the front lid 11, an operator 29 protruding from the rotary operation shaft 30, and a reel lock lever 21. It consists of two protruding rotating operation pieces.

When the tape cassette according to the present invention is installed in a recording/reproducing device and the lid locking mechanism is unlocked, the front lid 11 is rotated around the shaft 16, and the front lid 11 is rotated around the shaft portion 16, so that the front lid 11 is rotated around the shaft portion 16, and is attached to the front side of the tape cassette body 3. The facing magnetic tape 9 is exposed to the outside at a position extending into the tape pull-out mechanism entry recess 6, and becomes ready for tape pull-out operation by the tape pull-out mechanism.

When the front cover 11 is opened as shown in FIG.
9 comes into contact with the rotating operation piece 28 of the reel lock lever 21. Furthermore, when the front door is opened, the operator 29 presses the rotation operation piece 28, rotates the reel lock lever 21 as shown in FIG. release the engagement from the engagement recess 18,
The tape reels 4 and 5 are made rotatable.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention pivots the front cover at a position inward from both sides of the cassette body, and utilizes the space between the pivot portion of the front cover and the side walls of the cassette body to support the cassette body. Since a reel lock release mechanism is provided for the reel lock means for locking the tape reel rotatably supported within the cassette body, it can be efficiently disposed within the cassette body. Furthermore, even if a front cover is provided that is smaller than the distance between a pair of tape reels and tape drawer windows are provided on both sides of the front cover, the path of the magnetic tape being drawn out from each tape reel is obstructed. The reel locking means and reel lock release mechanism can be installed without having to do anything.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the lower half of the tape cassette according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the tape cassette, and FIG. 3 is a side view with the front cover opened. , FIG. 4 is a plan view of the main part with the front cover opened. 3...Cassette body 4.5...Tape reel 6...Tape drawer mechanism entry recess 7.8...Tape drawer window 9...Magnetic tape 11...Front cover I2...・Holding part 15...Rotating arm part 21...Reel lock lever 22...Lock claw 28...Rotating operation piece 29...Operator 30...Rotating operation shaft

Claims (1)

[Claims] A pair of tape reels are rotatably supported within a cassette body formed by butting and joining a pair of upper and lower halves.
A tape body is wound between these tape reels, and a recess for entering the tape pull-out mechanism and a pair of tape pull-out windows located on both sides of this recess are provided on the front side of the cassette main body, and a pair of tape pull-out windows are provided on the front side of the cassette body. a front lid for pulling out the tape body wound between the window parts and extending it along the concave part, and further covering the tape body extending along the concave part on the front side of the cassette main body; In the tape cassette in which the front cover is rotatably attached, the front cover has rotating arm parts bent and connected on both sides thereof, which are pivoted in holding parts formed inwardly from both side walls of the cassette main body. The reel lock means of the tape reel is rotatably attached to the cassette body, and is located outside the rotating arm portion and inside the side wall of the cassette body, and locks the reel locking means of the tape reel in conjunction with the rotation of the front cover. A tape cassette equipped with a reel lock release mechanism.