JPH0333985Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to a disk cassette for recording and reproducing various analog and digital signals, etc. In particular, the present invention relates to a disk cassette for recording and reproducing various analog and digital signals. A disc-shaped disk is provided on at least one of the upper and lower surfaces of the casing for inserting a recording/reproducing head of the casing, which is rotatable approximately around the center of the casing. a head insertion hole extending in the radial direction, a web portion thereof being guided to one end edge of the housing near the head insertion hole to open and close the head insertion hole;
A shutter with a channel-shaped cross section whose pair of flange portions are moved in sliding contact with the upper and lower surfaces of the housing, a protrusion projecting from the shutter, and the one end edge of the housing for guiding the protrusion. a guide groove provided on the surface of the housing parallel to the guide groove; and a tapered portion in which the thickness of the housing is gradually reduced at a tapered surface that slopes from the edge of the guide groove toward the one edge. This invention relates to an improvement in a recording/reproducing disk cassette.

BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGY AND PROBLEMS As mentioned at the beginning, the installation of the shutter in a conventional disk cassette is shown in Figures 1A to 1C.
In the figure, the lower flange portion 11b of the shutter 11 is inserted into the guide groove 21 provided in the lower half 3 of the cassette by utilizing the elasticity of the shutter 11.
A protrusion (shutter claw) 19 provided by cutting and raising was inserted into the inside of the shutter. A tapered surface 35 extending from one end edge of the lower half 3 to the guide groove 21 is provided at a position corresponding to the projection 19 in this insertion position, and the projection 19 is guided to the guide groove 21 along this tapered surface 35. I was trying to do that. However, if the protrusion 19 is made higher, the guide groove 2
If you try to make it difficult to escape from 1, shutter 1
If the elastic deformation of the lower half 3 is insufficient and insertion becomes difficult, if you try to force the insertion, the lower half 3
In addition, even if it is inserted, chips may enter the sliding surface of the shutter 11, or the inner surface of the guide groove 21 may be damaged and the protrusion 19 may be damaged during sliding. This caused inconveniences such as getting stuck.

Purpose of the invention The present invention was devised in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a disk cassette for recording and reproducing in which a shutter can be easily inserted and difficult to come out even if the protrusion (shutter claw) is deep.

Summary of the invention In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is configured such that the tapered part is partially cut out from the casing in the recording/reproducing disk cassette mentioned at the beginning, with a concave part communicating with the guide groove.

With the above configuration, even if the protrusion projecting from the shutter is made high, the shutter can be easily inserted and difficult to come out of the guide groove.

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of a recording/reproducing disk cassette to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, in FIG. 2, the disk housing 1 is constructed as a thin, approximately square-shaped housing. This cassette housing 1 is composed of an upper half 2 and a lower half 3.
are fitted into each other from above and below and glued around the periphery, or are fixed together at the four corners by a suitable fixing method such as welding or screwing. Note that the upper and lower halves 2 and 3 are molded from a synthetic resin having appropriate elasticity, such as ABS resin. A disk-shaped recording medium (hereinafter referred to as "disk") 4, such as a magnetic disk made of a magnetic sheet, is rotatably housed in the cassette housing 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the disk 4 has a disk 5 made of a magnetic material fixed integrally at its center.
As a result, the lower half 3 is rotatably stored in a circular hole 6 provided in the center thereof. Further, the upper half 2 and the lower half 3 are provided with pad and head insertion holes 8, respectively.
Both of these insertion holes 8 are constituted by elongated holes extending in the radial direction of the disk 4, and are arranged to face each other from above and below. The recording/reproducing surface of the disk 4 is disposed facing downward so as to face the head insertion hole 8.

Next, a shutter 11 is movably attached to the cassette housing 1. This shutter 1
1 is a metal plate made of stainless steel or aluminum that is pressed into a nearly channel shape, and has a pair of rectangular flange portions 11.
A pair of window holes 13, which correspond to both the insertion holes 8, are provided at one end side of a and 11b. on the other hand,
On the upper and lower surfaces of the one end edge 1a side of the cassette housing 1,
A rectangular recess 14 is formed in each of the recesses. The shutter 11 is attached to the cassette casing 1 so as to straddle the cassette casing 1 vertically, with its flange portions 11a and 11b fitted into both the upper and lower recesses 14. In this state, the shutter 11 is capable of linearly reciprocating along the one end edge 1a of the cassette housing 1 with its web portion 11c.

Next, FIGS. 3A and 3B show the shutter 11
When the shutter 11 is moved to the open position on one side as shown in FIG. 3A, the window holes 13 are superimposed on the insertion holes 8, Both insertion holes 8 are opened. Furthermore, when the shutter 11 is moved to the closed position on the other side as shown in FIG. 3B, the window holes 13 are laterally shifted from above the insertion holes 8, and the insertion holes 8 are located at the flange portions 11a and 11b. Obstructed.

In addition, as shown in FIGS. 2, 3A, and 3B, a tension coil spring 1 is provided in the shutter 11.
7 is placed. Both ends 17a and 17b of this tension coil spring 17 are connected to the shutter 11.
A locking portion 15 formed by bending or the like on a part of the web portion 11c, and a locking portion integrally formed on, for example, the upper half 2 at a portion of one end edge 1a of the cassette housing 1. 16, respectively. Further, the shutter 11 is biased back from the open position to the closed position (in the direction of arrow a) by a spring 17, and when the shutter 11 is moved to the open position (in the direction of arrow b), the spring 17 is pulled. Note that the shutter 11 is locked in the open position by a lock structure described later, but when the lock is released, the shutter 11 is automatically moved back to the closed position by the tensile force of the spring 17, and returns to the closed state. It is configured to be held in

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, a first
As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, second and third protrusions 18, 19, and 20 are provided in the recess 14 portion of the lower half 3, and are parallel to the one end edge 1a. The shutter 11 is engaged with the guide grooves 21 and 22, respectively.
22 and is configured to slide between an open position and a closed position. At this time, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the leading edges 11d of the flange portions 11a and 11b of the shutter 11 on the center side of the cassette housing 1 are in contact with both the recesses 14 of the cassette housing 1 that are opposite to the distal edges 11d of the flange portions 11a and 11b of the shutter 11. It is configured to slide in parallel to a step 14a formed on the center side of the cassette housing 1 and parallel to the one end edge 1a.

Further, this recording/reproducing disk cassette is loaded into a recording/reproducing apparatus, for example, with the shutter 11 moved to the open position as shown in FIG. 3A and locked. Note that it is also possible to open the shutter 11 by using the operation of inserting a cassette into the recording/reproducing apparatus. Then, the disk 4 is magnetically attracted and positioned on a disk drive rotary table provided in the recording/reproducing apparatus. A recording/reproducing head, such as a magnetic head, inserted into the cassette case 1 through the head insertion hole 8 comes into contact with the recording/reproducing surface of the disk 4, and is inserted into the cassette case 1 through the pad insertion hole 8. The top side of the disk 4 is held down by the pad. In this state, the disk 4 is driven to rotate, and the recording/reproducing head scans the disk 4 in the radial direction, thereby performing a desired recording/reproducing operation.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5A, the shutter 11
An engaging portion 29 formed of a square hole is provided at the corner portion of the lower flange portion 11b and the web portion 11c at the end opposite to the window holes 13 side. A lock pawl 30 with which this engaging portion 29 is engaged is integrally formed on the lower surface side of the edge portion of the lower half 3 of the cassette housing 1. The lock pawl 30 is located near the corner 3a on the shutter open position side shown in FIG. 5A, and the corner 3a and the corner 2a of the upper half 2 opposite thereto A slit 31 having a predetermined length l ₁ and width l ₂ as shown in FIG. 5A is formed between them. Therefore, the corners 2a and 3a of the upper and lower halves 2 and 3 are thinner than other parts, and can easily bend against elasticity in the directions of arrows c and d in FIG. 5B. It is configured as follows. Incidentally, as described later, a slit 39 is formed in the cassette housing 1 for accommodating the spring 17 provided in the shutter 11 adjacent to the web portion 11c.
1 is provided so as to be continuous with one end of the slit 39. Further, as shown in FIG. 5A, the locking pawl 30 is formed into a vertical surface such that its locking surface 30a can engage with the engaging portion 29 at right angles.
Further, the end surface opposite to the locking surface 30a is formed into an inclined surface 30b.

Therefore, when the shutter 11 in the closed position shown in FIG. 5A is moved in the direction of arrow b, which is the open position shown in FIG. 5B, against the tension spring 17,
The end of the lower flange portion 11b of the shutter 11 comes into contact with the lock pawl 30, and the lock pawl 30 bends in the direction of arrow c in FIG. 5A against its elasticity.
The engaging portion 29 crosses over the lock claw 30 and connects to the engaging portion 2.
9, the shutter 11 is automatically locked in the open position.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5B, the upper and lower halves 2,
Pinch the corners 2a and 3a of 3 from above and below with your fingertips,
The corners 2a and 3a are pressed in the directions of arrows c and d to bend the corners 2a and 3a toward each other against their elasticity. At the same time, the lock pawl 30 is bent, and the lock pawl 30 is disengaged from the engaging portion 29, and the shutter 11 is unlocked. Therefore, the shutter 11 is pulled in the direction of the arrow a by the tensile force of the tension spring 17 mentioned above, and automatically moves back to the closed position.

Next, according to FIG. 4 and FIGS. 6 to 10,
The assembly structure of the shutter 11 to the cassette case 1 will be explained.

First, as shown in FIG. 4, a first
The second and third three protrusions 18, 19, 20 are pressed at the same time in one press process, and these protrusions 18, 19, 20 are approximately perpendicular to the inside of the lower flange portion 11b. It is made up of pieces cut and raised into shapes.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3A, a notch 32 is provided in a part of one end edge 1a of the cassette housing 1 to detect and prevent incorrect insertion when the cassette is inserted into a recording/reproducing apparatus. 32 is the first guide groove 2
It is formed with a deep cut to a depth that crosses 1.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, there is a space between one end edge 1a of the lower half 3 and the first and second guide grooves 21, 22, from the edge of the guide grooves 21, 22 toward the one end edge 1a. Each inclined tapered surface 3
5 and 36, and thus two tapered portions are formed whose thickness gradually decreases as it approaches the one end edge 1a. These pair of tapered surfaces 35 and 36 have cutouts 3 as shown in FIG.
The first projection 18 is formed with predetermined intervals _{l 3} and _{l 4} based on the first projection 18
The distance is set to be the same as the distance between the second and third protrusions 19 and 20 based on .

By the way, as mentioned above, the disk cassette has a structure in which the disk 4 is housed in the substantially square cassette casing 1 so that the center of the cassette 1 is aligned with the center of the cassette 1. Therefore, the tapered surface 35 is provided on the lower half 3 at the position where the tapered surface 35 is provided as described above at the end of the disk 4 and the one end edge 1a.
The distance between them is extremely small.

Therefore, if we simply consider the tapered portion provided with the tapered surface 35 to be a cantilever beam, the elastic deflection will be insufficient because the span will not be sufficient. Therefore, as will be described later, it becomes extremely difficult to install the shutter 11 by fitting the protrusion 19 into the guide groove 21 while making sliding contact on the tapered surface 35.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7A, the tapered surface 3
A recess 37 of a predetermined width, which is spaced apart from the lower half 3 in the thickness direction of the lower half 3 and whose depth direction substantially coincides with both directions of the housing 1, is provided in the tapered part.
The guide groove 21 is inserted through the through hole 38 as shown in the figure.
It communicates with

Thus, the tapered portion provided with the tapered surface 35 serves as a cantilever beam as shown in FIG. 6, and at the same time serves as a thin-walled beam fixed at both ends extending left and right in the same figure through the through hole 38. , the elastic deflection of the tapered portion in the direction of arrow f in FIG. 7A can be increased. Note that the width of the recess 37,
In other words, the length of the through hole 38 is set so as to give the tapered portion a desired spring constant.

By the way, near the position where the recess 37 is provided, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7A, a spring 17 is provided.
A recess 39 is formed for accommodating the. Not only is the slit 31 continuously provided at one end of the slit 39, but also a recess 37 is continuously provided at the other end. Therefore, the portion 37 is provided only in a very small portion. Note that when the lower half 3 is too thin to provide a sufficient thickness for the recess 37, a recess 40 as shown by the dashed line in FIG. 7A may be formed in the upper half 2 corresponding to the recess 37. .

When assembling the shutter 11, first, both ends of the spring 17 are locked diagonally between the locking parts 15 and 16, as shown by the imaginary lines in FIG.
The shutter 11 is attached to its flange portions 11a, 11.
b, sandwiching the outside of the upper and lower halves 2, 3 from the one end edge 1a side of the cassette housing 1, and mark the arrow e in the direction perpendicular to the beam guide grooves 21, 22.
insert it in the direction. At this time, when the first protrusion 18 is made to correspond to the notch 32, the second and third protrusions 19 and 20 are made to correspond to the tapered surfaces 35 and 36, respectively. Therefore, when the shutter 11 is inserted in the direction of arrow e in the corresponding state, the first protrusion 18 is inserted into the first guide groove 21 from the notch 32, and the second and third protrusions are inserted into the first guide groove 21. 19 and 20 are guided by tapered surfaces 35 and 36, respectively, to the first and second guide grooves 21 and 22.

At this time, since the concave portion 37 is formed in the tapered portion where the tapered surface 35 is provided as described above, the second protrusion 19 is formed as shown in FIGS. 7B and 8B.
As shown in the figure, the tapered surface 35 is easily inserted into the first guide groove 21 with a snap while being easily elastically deformed in the direction of the arrow f.

In this case, since the tapered portion on which the tapered surface 36 is provided is located near the corner of the substantially square housing 1 as shown in FIG. 6, as shown in FIG. the edge of disk 4,
The distance from one end edge 1a of the housing 1 is sufficiently large. Therefore, in order to increase the span of the tapered part, this tapered part has a tapered surface 3.
As in the case of the taper section 5, special structures for reducing the spring constant are generally not required.

Effects of the Invention As explained above, according to the present invention, a recess of a predetermined width is spaced from the tapered surface in the thickness direction of the tapered portion including the tapered surface and whose depth direction substantially coincides with the surface direction of the casing. is provided in the tapered portion, and furthermore, this recessed portion is communicated with the guide groove, so that the tapered portion can be easily elastically deformed. Therefore, even if the height of the projection of the shutter is increased, the projection can be easily inserted into the guide groove, and the surface of the cassette case or the inner surface of the guide groove will not be damaged during insertion. In addition, since the height of the protrusion can be increased as described above, the shutter does not slip out of the guide groove, which is advantageous because it can be used with peace of mind.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1A to 1C are longitudinal cross-sectional views of main parts showing the shutter insertion process, and Figures 2 to 1C are diagrams showing a conventional example.
FIG. 10 shows an embodiment of a recording/reproducing disk cassette to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the cassette housing with the shutter disassembled, and FIGS. 3A and 3B are FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway perspective view of the shutter, and FIGS. 5A and 5B are essential points for explaining the lock structure of the shutter. FIG. 6 is a bottom view of the main part of the cassette case with the shutter removed, and FIGS. 7B and 8B are diagrams showing the state of deformation when the shutter is inserted, FIG. 9 is a bottom view of the main parts to explain the assembled capacity of the shutter, and FIG.
It is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line - in the figure. In addition, in the symbols used in the drawings, 1...
Cassette housing, 1a... one end edge, 2, 3... upper half, lower half, 4... disk, 8... part and head insertion hole, 11... shutter, 11
a, 11b...flange part, 11c...web part, 18, 19, 20...1st to 3rd protrusions, 2
1, 22...first and second guide grooves, 32...notches, 35, 36...tapered surfaces, 37...recesses.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] A substantially rectangular and thin casing; a disc-shaped disk housed in the casing and rotatable approximately around the center of the casing; A head insertion hole is provided on at least one of the upper and lower surfaces of the casing for inserting a recording/reproducing head and extends approximately in the radial direction of the disk; a shutter with a channel-shaped cross section that is guided by one end edge of the housing near the insertion hole and whose pair of flanges move in sliding contact with the upper and lower surfaces of the housing; and a shutter that projects from the shutter. a protrusion; a guide groove provided on the surface of the casing parallel to the one end edge of the casing for guiding the protrusion; and a tapered surface that slopes from the edge of the guide groove toward the one end edge. and a tapered portion in which the thickness of the casing is gradually reduced, the tapered portion being spaced apart from the tapered surface in the thickness direction of the tapered portion, and the direction of the depth substantially matching the surface direction of the casing. A recessed portion of a predetermined width is provided in the tapered portion, and this recessed portion is communicated with the guide groove, and when the projection of the shutter is fitted into the guide groove while sliding on the tapered surface, the tapered portion is provided with a desired amount of width. A disk cassette for recording and playback that is designed to have an elastic deflection of .