JPH0353720B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a tape cassette designed to protect the magnetic tape loaded in the cassette body.

[Background technology and its problems]

Conventionally, a standard tape cassette called a compact cassette has a pair of tape reels rotatably mounted inside the cassette body, which is constructed by integrally joining a pair of upper and lower halves. The magnetic tape is wound and stored over the cassette body, and there are also a magnetic head that records and plays the magnetic tape by sliding it on the front side of the cassette body, and a pinch roller that runs the magnetic tape at a constant speed in cooperation with the capstan. It is configured with an opening through which it enters.

A tape cassette with such a configuration has a magnetic head provided on the front of the cassette body,
The opening into which the pinch rollers etc. enter is relatively large and formed to the extent that a person's finger can easily fit therein, so that when handling the tape cassette, a person's finger often passes through the opening and ends up inside the cassette body. The magnetic tape may be touched, and there is a risk that oil and fat components such as fingerprints may adhere to the magnetic tape. If such oily components such as fingerprints adhere to the magnetic tape, recording/reproduction signals may be lost during recording/reproduction, making it impossible to perform good recording/reproduction.

In particular, this type of tape cassette is used to convert analog signals such as audio signals into pulse-coded PCM signals for recording or playback.
When used as a recording medium for a PCM recording/reproducing device, the recording/reproducing signal is significantly missing due to the adhesion of oil and fat components such as fingerprints.

[Purpose of the invention]

Therefore, in view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention aims to protect the magnetic tape by making it possible for fingers to touch the magnetic tape loaded in the cassette main body and oil components such as fingerprints to adhere to the magnetic tape. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a tape cassette that obtains the desired results.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a cassette main body which incorporates a pair of tape reels for winding magnetic tape and has a plurality of openings on the front side through which magnetic heads, pinch rollers, etc. enter, and and a shielding plate provided with a plurality of through holes corresponding to the openings and a pressing operation piece at one end, and the shielding plate is provided on the device main body side with the pressing operation piece provided on the front side side. The shielding plate is slidably disposed on the inner side of the opening of the cassette body, facing the groove into which the operator for pressing the shielding plate enters, and is pressed and biased by the biasing means provided on the cassette body. Each through hole and each opening are made to be in a non-corresponding state so that the opening is shielded.

〔Example〕

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

The tape cassette according to the present invention has a cassette body 3 formed by integrally combining an upper half 1 and a lower half 2 formed by molding, for example, synthetic resin. That is, this cassette main body 3 is made by butting the upper half 1 and the lower half 2, and screwing a screw or fitting a shaft into a boss portion provided with a screw insertion hole 4 provided in each of the halves 1 and 2. However, it is constructed by integrally joining the upper and lower halves 1 and 2. Inside the cassette body 3, a pair of tape reels 6 and 7, each having a hub into which a reel drive shaft provided on the tape recorder side is fitted, is rotatably mounted, and a predetermined amount of magnetic tape 5 is wound thereon. There is.
The magnetic tape 5 wound between the pair of tape reels 6 and 7 is guided by guide pins installed on the bottom wall of the lower half 2 and guide rollers provided at both ends of the front side of the cassette body 3. The tape is reciprocated between the pair of tape reels 6 and 7.

A pair of circular capstan insertion holes 8, 8 communicating with the upper and lower surfaces are provided at the front side of the cassette body 3 loaded with the magnetic tape 5 as described above, and these capstan insertion holes 8, 8 Positioning through holes 9, 9, through which positioning pins provided on the tape recorder side are inserted, are provided adjacent to and outwardly thereof so as to communicate with the upper and lower surfaces of the cassette body 3.

Further, on the front side of the cassette main body 3, openings 11 into which pinch rollers and the like enter are symmetrical with respect to the central opening 10 into which the magnetic head enters.
12, 13, and 14 are provided. Although not shown, a leaf spring provided with a pad for supporting the magnetic tape 5 is disposed at a position corresponding to the central opening 10.

The tape cassette according to the present invention includes a cassette main body 3 configured as described above, and openings 10, 11 provided on the front side of the cassette main body 3.
12, 13, and 14, and a shielding plate 15 that is slidably disposed on the inner side of the shielding plates 12, 13, and 14. This shielding plate 1
5 is made of non-magnetic metal such as phosphor bronze and has a thickness of 0.3~
Through holes 16, 17, 18, 19 are formed in a plate shape of 0.4 mm and correspond to the central opening 10 and other openings 11, 12, 13, 14 of the cassette main body 3, respectively, along its longitudinal direction. 20 is perforated, and a pressing operation piece 21 formed by bending a protruding piece provided at one end is provided. The shielding plate 15 formed in this manner has the pressing operation piece 21 symmetrically provided on both sides of the front side of the cassette body 3, and is similar to the shielding plate provided on the main body side of the device, which is a tape recorder, to which the tape cassette is installed. a groove 22 into which an operator for pressing 15 enters;
23, and is slidably disposed along the inner side of each opening 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 of the cassette main body 3.

By the way, the grooves 22 and 23 provided on both sides of the front surface of the cassette body 3 are formed as concave grooves with both sides of the cassette body 3 open. A slit 24 is formed in the portion where the shielding plate 15 is provided with the pressing operation piece 21, through which the end of the shielding plate 15 is inserted. Furthermore, the openings 10, 1 of the cassette body 3
1, 12, 13, 14, each opening 10, 11, 12, 13, 1
A projecting piece 27 is provided facing the connecting portion 25 of No. 4 and forming an insertion groove 26 into which both sides of the shielding plate 15 are inserted and engaged. These projecting pieces 27 are provided so as to project from the main surfaces of the upper and lower halves 1 and 2.

The shielding plate 15 is arranged as shown in FIG. 2 by inserting the pressing operation piece 21 through the slit 24 so as to face one of the grooves 22, and by inserting and engaging the insertion groove 26 on both sides. The cassette body 3
The openings 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 are slidably disposed along the inner surfaces of the openings 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14, respectively.

Further, the shielding plate 15 disposed inside the cassette body 3 in this manner is supported by a torsion coil spring 28 as a biasing means attached to the inner surface side of the upper half 2.
As a result, the pressing operation piece 21 is pressed toward the side where the pressing operation piece 21 is provided. The torsion coil spring 28 has its coil portion inserted through a support pin 29 protruding from the inner surface of the upper half 2, and has one end 28a engaged with an engagement recess 30 provided on one side of the shielding plate 15, and the other end 28b is attached to the locking portion 31 provided on the inner surface of the upper half 2, so that the shielding plate 15 is attached to the side where the pressing operation piece 21 is provided (in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 3). It is strong.

When the shielding plate 15 is biased by the torsion coil spring 28, the openings 10, 11, 12 of the cassette body 3,
13, 14 and through holes 16, 17, 18, 19, 20
are in a non-corresponding state, and these through holes 1
6, 17, 18, 19, 20 faces each of the openings 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and at least these openings 10, 11, 12, 13,
14 to prevent fingers or the like from entering the cassette body 3 and touching the magnetic tape 5. and,
When the pressing operation piece 21 is pressed against the biasing force of the torsion coil spring 28, the shielding plate 15 slides in the opposite direction of arrow A in FIG.
8, 19, 20 and each opening 1 of the cassette body 3
Correspondence with 0, 11, 12, 13, 14 is planned,
These openings 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 reach an open state.

By providing a shielding plate opening mechanism as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 in a tape recorder to which the tape cassette T according to the present invention having the above-mentioned structure is mounted, the shielding plate 15 can be easily used for mounting the tape cassette T. Automatic opening/closing operations are performed accordingly.

This shielding plate opening mechanism is operated by pressing the tape cassette T when the tape cassette T is positioned and supported by the positioning support part 32 in the tape recorder and installed in a predetermined cassette device part as shown in FIG. A detection switch 33 detects whether the tape cassette T has been installed, and a detection switch 33 is installed in the grooves 22, 23 at positions facing the grooves 22, 23 on both sides of the installed tape cassette T, as shown in FIG. A pair of operating levers 36 and 37 are provided with an operating element 34 at the tip thereof and are rotatable about a support shaft 35, and these operating levers 36 and 3
a link mechanism consisting of a pair of straight rod levers 38, 39 and a pair of L-shaped levers 40, 41, which rotate and operate the solenoid plunger 42, which operates upon receiving the detection output and operates the link mechanism. It consists of In the link mechanism, one end of a pair of L-shaped levers 40 and 41, which are rotatable by pivoting a bent portion on a support shaft 43, is attached to a drive shaft 44 of a solenoid plunger 42, and the L-shaped lever The pair of L-shaped levers 40, 41 are constructed by connecting straight rod levers 38, 39 between the other ends of the operating levers 38, 39 and the midpoints of the operating levers 36, 37, respectively.
By tensioning the compression coil spring 45 between the other ends, the operator 34 at the tip of the operating levers 36, 37
As shown by broken lines in FIG. 5, each of the tape cassettes T is rotated and biased so as to escape toward the side of the tape cassette T. Then, when the tape cassette T is attached and the detection switch 33 is operated to input the detection output to the solenoid plunger 42, the solenoid plunger 42 operates to attract the drive shaft 44, and the L-shaped levers 40, 41 is rotated against the compression force of the compression coil spring 45, and the operating levers 36, 37 are rotated via the straight rod levers 38, 39. Facing each of the grooves 22 and 23 of the cassette T, press the pressing operation piece 21 of the shielding plate 15 with one of the operators 34 to slide the shielding plate 15 against the torsion coil spring 28, and open each through-hole 16. , 17, 18, 19, 20 and each opening 10, 11, 12, 13 of the cassette body 3,
14, these openings 10, 11, 1
2, 13, and 14 are opened to allow the magnetic head, pinch roller, etc. to enter into the cassette body 3.

In addition, in the above explanation, an example of a tape cassette in which the upper and lower surfaces can be used has been given, so the groove portions 22,
23 are provided on both sides of the cassette body 3, and operating levers 36, 37 are provided with an operator 34 of the shielding plate opening mechanism.
However, in the case of a tape cassette that is used only on one side, only the groove portion of the shielding plate 15 facing the pressing operation piece 21 is provided, and one of the operation levers is provided facing the groove portion. That's fine.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, in the tape cassette according to the present invention, unless the shielding plate is slid against the biasing means, the opening of the cassette main body remains shielded by the shielding plate. This prevents a person's finger from being inserted into the cassette body, and prevents oily components such as fingerprints from adhering to the magnetic tape, ensuring reliable protection of the magnetic tape. It becomes possible to provide a tape cassette that can prevent dropouts in recording and reproduction signals and always maintain good recording and reproduction characteristics.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the mounting portion of the shielding plate, FIG. 3 is an overall perspective view, FIG. 4 is a schematic side view showing an example of a tape recorder to which the present invention is installed, and FIG. The figure is a plan view showing a shielding plate opening mechanism provided in the tape recorder. 3...Cassette body, 5...Magnetic tape, 1
0, 11, 12, 13, 14... opening, 15...
...shielding plate, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20... through hole, 21... pressing operation piece, 22, 23... groove,
28...Torsion coil spring.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cassette body containing a pair of tape reels for winding magnetic tape and having a plurality of openings on the front side through which magnetic heads, pinch rollers, etc. enter, and a plurality of through holes corresponding to each of the openings. and a shielding plate provided with a pressing operation piece at one end thereof, and the shielding plate is provided on the side of the main body of the device and the pressing operation piece is provided on the side of the front side. It is slidably disposed on the inner side of the opening of the cassette body facing the groove into which the child enters, and is pressed and biased by the biasing means provided in the cassette body to close each through hole and each opening. A tape cassette that is adapted to cover the opening.