JPH04241282A - Shutter for disk cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To close an opening by creating protruding parts in a direction orthogonally crossed with first and second protruding parts, which are formed protrusively on a plate part, and reinforcing the plate part with the protruding parts to a bending direction. CONSTITUTION:In the shutter member 10, the first protruding parts 11a, 12a form a direction to which the shutter member 10 is moved slidingly against the cartridge 3, and the second protruding parts 11b, 12b form the direction which is orthogonally crossed with the direction to which the shutter member 10 is moved slidingly against the cartridge 3. And, in each of the plate part 11, 12 of the shutter member 10, by reason that the first protruding parts 11a, 11b and the second protruding parts 12a, 12b form the direction orthogonally crossed between each group of parts, a bending strength to the direction of a face is reinforced. Consequently, by closing the opening 7, 8 for recording and reproducing when the disk is not in use and opening them when the disk is in use, writing and/or reading information signals on the disk 2 through the opening 7, 8 is facilitated.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a disk cartridge in which a disk such as a so-called magnetic disk or an optical disk is housed, and the present invention relates to a disk used to open and close an opening that exposes the disk to the outside. Regarding a cartridge shutter.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, disks for recording and/or reproducing information signals, such as so-called magnetic disks and optical disks, have been proposed. This disk has a disk-shaped disk substrate, and a signal recording layer is provided on the main surface of the disk substrate. The vicinity of the center of this disk is a chucked portion that is held by a so-called disk player device that records and/or reproduces information signals on the disk. In this disc, the area around the chucked portion serves as a signal recording surface on which information signals are written and/or read.

[0003]Furthermore, conventionally, in order to prevent damage to the disk due to dust adhesion or contact with fingers, etc., and to facilitate handling of the disk, the disk has been housed in a cartridge shaped like a housing. A structured disk cartridge is proposed. In this disc cartridge, the disc housed in the cartridge is rotatable within the cartridge. And, on the main surface of this cartridge,
An opening is provided so that at least a portion of the signal recording surface of the disk faces outward. That is, information signals are written to and/or read from the signal recording surface of the disc through the opening by the disc player device.

[0004] In the disc cartridge, a shutter for the disc cartridge is used to close the opening when not in use, in order to protect the disc by preventing dust from entering the cartridge. . This disc cartridge shutter has a plate portion formed in a size that allows the opening to be closed. This disk cartridge shutter has one end supported by the cartridge, and is moved from a first position where the plate body closes the opening to a second position where the plate body opens the opening. The cartridge is slidably movable with respect to the cartridge over the following positions.

[0005] The disk cartridge shutter is as follows:
When the openings are provided in pairs on both main surfaces of the cartridge, a pair of plate portions are provided to correspond to these openings. In this case, the disk cartridge shutter is constructed by bending a substantially rectangular metal plate into a substantially U-shape, with both ends of the metal plate serving as the plate portions. This disc cartridge shutter is used with a portion connecting the respective plate portions supported by the cartridge.

[0006]

By the way, the above-mentioned disk cartridge shutter needs to be made of as thin a material as possible in order to make the disk cartridge smaller and thinner. On the other hand, this disc cartridge shutter needs to have sufficient rigidity so that the plate body does not deform even if the cartridge is repeatedly slid and moved. That is, if the plate part does not have sufficient rigidity and is bent and deformed, there is a possibility that the opening cannot be closed. In order to reduce the thickness of this disc cartridge shutter while maintaining sufficient rigidity, it is desirable to construct the shutter by bending a metal plate as described above.

On the other hand, in order to facilitate manufacturing, the disk cartridge shutter is constructed by bending a synthetic resin plate into a U-shape, or by integrally forming a synthetic resin plate into a predetermined shape from a material such as synthetic resin. A structure formed by molding it into a shape has been proposed.

However, a disk cartridge shutter made of synthetic resin can only have lower rigidity than one made of a metal plate with the same thickness. Furthermore, disk cartridge shutters made of synthetic resin are more easily deformed by the effects of temperature and humidity than those made of metal plates.

[0009] Therefore, when the disc cartridge shutter is made of synthetic resin, it has to be thicker than when it is made of a metal plate. If the thickness of the disc cartridge shutter increases, it is impossible to make the disc cartridge thinner.

The present invention has been proposed in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and it is possible to increase the size of the disk cartridge even when it is made of a material with low rigidity such as synthetic resin. It is an object of the present invention to provide a shutter for a disk cartridge which has sufficient rigidity.

[0011]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the above-mentioned objects, a disk cartridge shutter according to the present invention stores a disk and directs at least a part of the signal recording surface of the disk to the outside. In a disk cartridge shutter that is slidably attached to a cartridge in which an opening facing the disk is formed and that opens and closes the opening, a first shutter that is formed in a size that can close the opening and that closes the opening is provided. a plate part that can be slid from a position to a second position where the opening is opened; and a protrusion formed on the free end side of the plate part along a direction in which the plate part can be slid. and a first protruding portion of the plate portion protruding along a side edge on one side that becomes the opening side when the plate portion is in the second position. and a second protrusion portion.

0012

[Operation] In the disc cartridge shutter according to the present invention, which is slidably attached to a cartridge that stores a disc, a plate portion for opening and closing an opening formed in the cartridge is formed protruding from the plate portion. Since the first and second protrusions extend in directions perpendicular to each other, the bending direction is reinforced by these protrusions.

[0013] Further, the cartridge may be provided with a recessed portion corresponding to the locus of movement of each of the protrusions as the disk cartridge shutter slides.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Specific embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. This example is an example in which the disk cartridge shutter according to the present invention is applied to a disk cartridge configured by storing a so-called floppy disk in the cartridge.

As shown in FIG. 1, this disk cartridge 1 includes a disk 2 and a cartridge 3 that accommodates this disk 2. The disk 2 is a so-called floppy disk, and includes a disk-shaped disk substrate made of a flexible material, and a signal recording layer made of a magnetic material adhered to the main surface of the disk substrate. It is configured with A disk hub 4 is attached to the center of the disk 2 for holding the disk 2 in a so-called disk player device that writes and/or reads information signals from the signal recording layer. This disk hub 4 is formed into a disk shape from a material such as a metal plate. In this disc 2, the portion around the disc hub 4 is as follows:
It serves as a signal recording surface on which information signals are written and/or read by the disc player device.

The cartridge 3 is formed into a thin, substantially rectangular housing so that the disc 2 can be housed therein by a pair of upper and lower halves 5 and 6 that are butted together. That is, in this cartridge 3, upper and lower main surface portions 5a and 6a along the main surface portion of the disk 2 are formed into a rectangular shape in which the length of one side is slightly longer than the diameter of the disk 2. Further, this cartridge 3 has a distance between the main surface portions 5a and 6a,
That is, the thickness of this cartridge 3 is made slightly thicker than the thickness of the disk hub 4.

Each main surface portion 5 of the cartridge 3
A, 6a are provided with a pair of upper and lower recording/reproducing openings 7, 8. These recording/reproducing openings 7,
8 is a substantially rectangular through hole, and each main surface portion 5a
, 6a from the vicinity of the center to the vicinity of one side thereof, and are provided at positions facing each other with the disk 2 interposed therebetween. The upper recording/reproducing opening 7 exposes a part of the signal recording surface of the disc 2 on the side facing the upper half 5 to the outside, extending over the inner and outer peripheries of the disc 2. Further, the lower recording/reproducing opening 8 exposes a part of the signal recording surface of the disc 2 on the side facing the lower half 6 to the outside across the inner and outer peripheries of the disc 2. There is. The above-mentioned disk player device allows a magnetic head or the like to write and/or
or by inserting a reading device into the cartridge 3,
Information signals are written to and/or read from the disk 2.

Furthermore, a substantially circular chucking opening 9 is provided at the center of the main surface of the lower half 6. This chucking opening 9 is located at the disc hub 4.
The lower surface of the frame faces outward. The disc player device causes a chucking device such as a so-called disc table to enter the cartridge 3 through the chucking opening 9 to chuck the disc 2.

A shutter member 10, which is a disk cartridge shutter according to the present invention, is attached to the cartridge 3. This shutter member 10 is for opening and closing each of the above-mentioned recording/reproducing openings 7 and 8. This shutter member 10 includes upper and lower plate portions 11 and 12 that form a pair and face each other, and each of these plate portions 1.
It has a supported part 13 that connects one end sides of 1 and 12, and is integrally formed of a synthetic resin material such as polyacetal. Each of the plate parts 11 and 12 is
It is formed into a rectangular shape that is slightly larger than the recording and reproducing openings 7 and 8 so that each of the recording and reproducing openings 7 and 8 can be closed correspondingly. The supported portion 13 is arranged such that the plate portions 11 and 12 face each other in parallel with each other with a gap substantially corresponding to the thickness of the cartridge 3, and between one end side of each of the plate portions 11 and 12. It is formed into an elongated rectangular shape so as to span. Each of the plate parts 11 and 12 is, for example, 0
．． It is formed to have a predetermined uniform thickness of about 3 mm.

[0020] On the surface portion of the upper plate portion 11 of the shutter member 10 on the side opposite to the lower plate portion 12,
The first and second protrusions 11a and 11b are integrally provided in a protruding manner. Further, the lower plate portion 1 of the shutter member 10
Similar to the upper plate part 11, first and second protrusions 12a are provided on the side facing the upper plate part 11 of No. 2.
, 12b are integrally provided in a protruding manner.

[0021] The first protrusion 11a of the upper plate portion 11
is provided at the other end side portion of the upper plate portion 11, along the other end portion, from one side to the other side of the upper plate portion 11. Further, like the first protrusion portion 11a of the upper plate portion 11, the first protrusion portion 12a of the lower plate portion 12 is attached to the other end side portion of the lower plate portion 12. It is provided along the other end from one side to the other side of the lower plate body part 12. These first protrusions 11a, 12a
are parallel to each other and facing each other. These first protrusions 11a, 12a are connected to each of the plate parts 11, 12.
Therefore, it protrudes with a predetermined uniform protrusion amount of, for example, about 0.3 mm.

[0022] The second protrusion 11b of the upper plate portion 11
is provided on one side portion of the upper plate portion 11 along the one side portion, extending from one end side of the upper plate portion 11 to the other end side. That is, the second protrusion 11b is connected to the first protrusion 11a on the other end side of the upper plate portion 11. Further, the second protrusion 12b of the lower plate part 12 is provided on one side of the lower plate part 12, similarly to the second protrusion 11b of the upper plate part 11. It is provided along one side of the lower plate portion 12 from one end side to the other end side. That is, this second protrusion portion 12b is located on the other end side of the lower plate portion 12,
It is connected to the first protrusion 12a. These second protrusions 11b, 12b are parallel to each other and face each other. These second protrusions 11b and 12b protrude from the plate portions 11 and 12 by a predetermined uniform protrusion amount of, for example, about 0.3 mm.

[0023] The inner side surface of the supported portion 13 facing the other end of each of the plate portions 11 and 12 has a support groove 14 that engages with a support groove 14 provided on the side surface of the cartridge 3. Engagement claws (not shown) are provided to protrude for support. The support groove portion 14 includes each of the recording and reproducing openings 7.
, 8 is provided on the side surface of the cartridge 3 corresponding to one side of each of the main surfaces 5a, 6a.

The shutter member 10 is connected to the supported portion 1
3 is supported by engaging the engagement claw with the support groove 14, so that the upper plate part 11 is aligned with the upper main surface part 5a, and the lower plate part 12 is aligned with the lower main surface part 5a. 6
The plate portions 11 and 12 are supported by the cartridge 3 along the direction a, with the other ends of the plate portions 11 and 12 serving as free ends. This shutter member 10 has the above-mentioned engagement claw slidable along the above-mentioned support groove part 14, so that
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the upper plate portion 11 is placed along the upper main surface portion 5a, and the lower plate portion 12 is placed along the lower main surface portion 6a. It is configured to be slidable relative to the cartridge 3.

By sliding the shutter member 10 relative to the cartridge 3, the upper plate portion 11 can be moved to a first position shown in FIG. It is possible to slide between a second position shown in FIG. 3 in which the opening 7 is opened. Similarly to the upper plate part 11, the lower plate part 12 is also moved to a first position where the lower recording/reproducing opening 8 is closed by sliding movement of the shutter member 10 with respect to the cartridge 3. and a second position where the lower recording/reproducing opening 8 is opened. These first and second positions are set when the plate parts 11 and 12 are in the second position.
The positional relationship is such that the first position is on one side where the protrusions 11b and 12b are provided. Further, in this shutter member 10, each of the first protrusions 11a and 12a is arranged in a direction in which the shutter member 10 can slide relative to the cartridge 3, and each of the second protrusions 11b and 12b is a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the shutter member 10 can slide relative to the cartridge 3.

Each main surface portion 5 of the cartridge 3
a, 6a have first and second shutter member guide recesses 15, 16 corresponding to the movement locus of the shutter member 10.
is provided. The first shutter member guide recess 15 provided in the upper main surface portion 5a is connected to the upper plate portion 11.
from the surface of the upper main surface portion 5a,
Corresponding to the thickness of the upper plate portion 11, for example, 0.3 m
It is formed to have a predetermined depth of about m. In addition, in the first shutter member guide recess 15, the first and second protrusions 11a and 11b of the upper plate portion 11 are located from the first position of the shutter member 10 to the second position. Corresponding to the locus of movement accompanying movement across positions, the thickness corresponds to the thickness of the portion of the upper plate portion 11 where the respective protrusions 11a, 11b are provided, from the surface portion of the upper main surface portion 5a. A protrusion guide recess 15a having a predetermined depth of, for example, about 0.6 mm is formed. The protrusion guide recess 15a is provided near the center edge of the upper main surface 5a in the first shutter member guide recess 15 and around the upper recording/reproducing opening 7. The upper plate portion 11 is arranged so that the upper main surface portion 5a is provided with a first shutter member guide recess 15 having the protrusion guide recess 15a. Throughout the entire slide movement to the second position, it is substantially flush with the upper main surface portion 5a.

Further, the second shutter member guide recess 16 provided in the lower main surface portion 6a is connected to the lower plate portion 12.
from the surface portion of the lower main surface portion 6a, which is provided corresponding to the movement locus from the first position to the second position.
Corresponding to the thickness of the lower plate portion 12, for example, 0.3 m
It is formed to have a predetermined depth of about m. In addition, in this second shutter member guide recess 16, the first and second protrusions 12a and 12b of the lower plate portion 12 are located from the first position of the shutter member 10 to the second position. Corresponding to the locus of movement accompanying movement across positions, the thickness corresponds to the thickness of the portion of the lower plate portion 12 where the respective protrusions 12a, 12b are provided, from the surface portion of the lower main surface portion 6a. A protrusion guide recess 16a is formed with a predetermined depth of, for example, about 0.6 mm. The protrusion guide recess 16a is provided near the center edge of the lower main surface 6a in the second shutter member guide recess 16 and around the lower recording/reproducing opening 8. . The lower plate portion 12 is provided with a second shutter member guide recess 16 having the protrusion guide recess 16a in the lower main surface portion 6a, so that the shutter member 10 can be positioned at the first position. Thus, throughout the entire slide movement to the second position, it is substantially flush with the lower main surface portion 6a.

As described above, in the disk cartridge 1 constructed using the disk cartridge shutter according to the present invention, when not in use, the shutter member 10 closes each of the plate portions 11 and 12 to the 1, the recording/reproducing openings 7, 8 are closed to prevent dust, fingers, etc. from entering the cartridge 3 through the recording/reproducing openings 7, 8. In addition, in this disk cartridge 1, when in use, the shutter member 10 opens the recording/reproducing openings 7, 8 by placing the plate parts 11, 12 in the second position. let me,
Information signals can be written to and/or read from the disk 2 through these recording/reproducing openings 7 and 8.

Each plate body portion 11, 1 of the shutter member 10
2, each of the first protrusions 11a, 11b and the second
Since the protrusions 12a and 12b are arranged in directions perpendicular to each other, the bending strength in the plane direction is reinforced. Further, since the shutter member 10 is made of a material having good temperature and humidity characteristics, such as polyacetal, it does not undergo large deformation due to changes in temperature or humidity.

Furthermore, since the shutter member 10 is made of a so-called self-lubricating material such as polyacetal, powder is generated due to friction between the shutter member 10 and the cartridge 3 when the shutter member 10 slides relative to the cartridge 3. It does not cause so-called powder falling. Further, the amount of protrusion of each of the first protrusions 11a, 12a and the depth of the portions of the protrusion guide recesses 15a, 16a corresponding to the first protrusions 11a, 12a may be adjusted as appropriate. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the surface portions of the respective plate portions 11 and 12 from sliding into contact with the cartridge 3 due to the sliding movement of the shutter member 10. By preventing the plate parts 11 and 12 from sliding against the cartridge 3 in this way, the above-mentioned powder falling can be more reliably prevented.

Note that the disc cartridge shutter according to the present invention is applicable only to a disc cartridge configured using a cartridge in which recording and reproducing openings are provided on both main surfaces, as shown in the above-mentioned embodiments. It is not something that will be done. That is, this disk cartridge shutter can also be applied to a disk cartridge configured using a cartridge in which a recording/reproducing opening is provided only on one main surface. In this case, the plate portion is provided only on one side corresponding to the recording/reproducing opening.

Further, the disk cartridge shutter according to the present invention is not limited to disk cartridges constructed using so-called floppy disks, as shown in the above embodiments, but can also be applied to disk cartridges constructed using optical disks or magneto-optical disks. It can also be applied to configured disk cartridges.

[0033]

Effects of the Invention As described above, in the disc cartridge shutter according to the present invention, which is slidably attached to a cartridge that stores a disc, the plate portion that opens and closes the opening formed in the cartridge is Since the first and second protrusions formed in a protruding manner on the plate body are oriented in directions perpendicular to each other, the bending direction is reinforced by these protrusions.

In a disc cartridge constructed using this disc cartridge shutter, the cartridge is provided with a locus of movement of each of the protrusions in accordance with the sliding movement of the disc cartridge shutter. By providing the recessed portions, the above-mentioned protrusions do not hinder the reduction in thickness of the disk cartridge.

That is, the present invention provides a disk cartridge shutter that has sufficient rigidity without increasing the size of the disk cartridge even when it is made of a low-rigidity material such as synthetic resin. It is something that can be done.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing the structure of a disc cartridge constructed using a disc cartridge shutter according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state in which a plate portion of the disc cartridge shutter is in a first position in the disc cartridge.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state in which the plate portion of the disc cartridge shutter is in a second position in the disc cartridge.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view, partially cut away, showing the shape of the disc cartridge shutter.

5 is an enlarged perspective view, partially cut away, showing the shape of the disk cartridge shutter, viewed from a direction different from that shown in FIG. 4; FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1.......Disk cartridge 2.
......Disc 3...Cartridge 5a...
......Upper main surface section 6a...Lower main surface section 7...Upper recording/reproduction opening 8.
......Lower recording/reproduction opening 10...
......Shutter member 11...
......Upper plate body part 12...Lower side plate body parts 11a, 12a...First protrusions 11b, 12b...Second protrusions

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A disc cartridge for a disc cartridge that is slidably attached to a cartridge that houses a disc and has an opening that exposes at least a part of the signal recording surface of the disc to the outside, and that opens and closes the opening. In the shutter, a plate is formed in a size that allows the opening to be closed, and is slidable from a first position for closing the opening to a second position for opening the opening. a first protrusion protruding from the free end side of the plate part along the slidable direction of the plate part; A shutter for a disc cartridge, comprising: a second protrusion formed protruding along a side edge on one side that becomes the opening side when the shutter is in the position.