JPH04332982A - Tape cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the occurrence of such a case that a slider lock spring is caught by the tip of a pin which is used for fitting the slider lock spring and the spring is buckled. CONSTITUTION:A slider lock spring 20 is fitted by inserting a pin 2b protruding to an upper shell into the coil-wound section 20a of the spring and, at the same time, the part of the coil-wound section 20a corresponding to the tip of the pin 2b is closely wound.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention is directed to DAT (Digital Application Field).
The present invention relates to a tape cassette suitable for use in audio tape recorders and the like.

0002

[Prior Art] In recent years, analog signals such as acoustic signals have been
2. Description of the Related Art Digital audio tape recorders (DAT) that convert into digital signals such as M signals and record them on magnetic tape or reproduce the recorded signals have become widespread.

[0003] The tape cassette used in this DAT must be as sealed as possible because if a finger touches the magnetic tape and oil or fat or dust gets on it, dropouts may occur in the playback signal. can be,
Further, during recording and reproduction, a space is required inside the housing to insert a guide system in order to load a magnetic tape from a tape cassette. For this purpose, a lid that can be opened and closed is provided on the front surface of the casing, and a slider that slides from an open position to a closed position to open and close the front lower part of the tape cassette is provided on the lower surface of the lower shell.

FIGS. 4 and 5(a) and 5(b) show a tape cassette 1 used for DAT, and the housing of this tape cassette 1 is made up of an upper shell 2 and a lower shell 3 that are screwed together and integrated. A pair of reel hubs 4a and 4b around which magnetic tape T is wound are housed inside the housing. Since the upper shell 2 is provided with a window 2a, it is possible to check the remaining amount of the magnetic tape T wound around the reel hubs 4a and 4b. Further, a lid 7 is provided on the front surface of the tape cassette 1 so that the magnetic tape T is not exposed when the tape cassette is stored, and the lid 7 is rotatably supported in front of the upper shell 2.

A reel shaft insertion hole 3a is formed in the bottom inner surface of the lower shell 3 to correspond to a pair of reel hubs, and when the tape cassette 1 is attached to the DAT, the reel of the DAT is inserted through the reel shaft insertion hole 3a. The shaft is inserted. Further, a concave space 5 is formed on the front surface of the lower shell 3, into which a guide member for tape loading of the DAT is inserted when the tape cassette 1 is attached to the DAT.

Furthermore, a slider 6 is attached to the lower shell 3 and is slidable in the front-rear direction of the lower shell 3 while covering the bottom outer surface and both outer surfaces of the lower shell 3. A reel shaft insertion hole 6a is formed in the slider 6 so as to correspond to the reel shaft insertion hole 3a of the lower shell 3 when the slider 6 is slid to one slide position. Note that the slider 6 is urged forward (closed position) with respect to the lower shell 3 by a slider spring 8.

As described above, in the tape cassette 1 whose housing is formed by the upper shell 2 and the lower shell 3, the slider 6 is slidably mounted on the lower surface of the lower shell 3 and the slider 6 is rotatably mounted on the front surface of the upper shell 2. A space 5 on the front side of the housing can be opened and closed by a lid 7 attached to the lid 7. When storing the tape cassette 1, the slider 6 is held at the closed position on the front side of the tape cassette as shown in FIG. The front part 5 is closed by a lid 7. Also, at this time, the reel shaft insertion hole 3a formed in the lower shell 3 and the reel shaft insertion hole 6a of the slider 6 are not in corresponding positions, so the reel shaft insertion hole 3a is not in the corresponding position.
a is also closed by the slider 6.

On the other hand, when the tape cassette 1 is attached to the DAT, the slider 6 is slid to the rear open position and held there, as shown in FIG. 5(b), and in this state, the reel shaft insertion hole of the slider 6 is 6b corresponds to the position of the reel shaft insertion hole 3a of the lower shell 3, into which the reel shaft of the DAT can be inserted. Also, by moving the slider 6, the space portion 5
The lower part of the space 5 is also opened, and the front of the space 5 is also opened by rotating the lid 7 upward, so that a guide member for tape loading of the DAT can be inserted.

Note that 3c1 to 3c4 are screw insertion holes into which screws are inserted to integrate the lower shell 3 and the upper shell 2, and the screw insertion holes 3c1 to 3c4 are used to insert the slider 6 as shown in FIG. 5(b). Screws can be inserted when in the open position. That is, when the slider 6 comes to the open position, the screw insertion holes 3c3, 3c on the front side of the tape cassette
4 are exposed on the lower surface of the housing, and the positions of the screw insertion holes 3c1 and 3c2 on the rear side of the tape cassette correspond to the holes 6d1 and 6d2 of the slider, so that screws can be inserted, respectively.

As mentioned above, the slider 6 is held in the front closed position when the tape cassette 1 is stored, and is held in the rear open position when the tape cassette 1 is attached to the DAT. 6, the slider 6 is provided with engagement holes 6b and 6c, and the lower shell 3 can be engaged with the engagement holes 6b and 6c as shown in FIGS. A pin-shaped slider lock portion 3b is formed.

The slider lock portion 3b is integrally formed with the lower shell 3 as shown in FIG. 6, and has a spring property that always returns to the direction of the engagement hole 6b of the slider 6.
When the slider 6 is in the closed position, it engages with the engagement hole 6b to hold the slider 6 in the closed position, and when the slider 6 is in the open position, it engages with the engagement hole 6c to open the slider 6. It is held in place.

In order to prevent the return force of the slider lock portion 3b from decreasing due to so-called fatigue, a compressed spring (slider lock spring) 10 is provided between the slider lock portion 3b and the upper shell 2. It has been proposed as a prior art that the The slider lock spring 10 is attached to a pin 2b protruding from the inner surface of the upper shell 2, and presses the slider lock portion 3b toward the slider 6.

[0013]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, when the slider lock spring 10 attached to the pin 2b as shown in FIG. In the gap S, there is a problem in that the tip 2b1 of the pin 2b may get caught in the middle of the coiled portion of the slider lock spring 10, causing buckling as shown in FIG. In this case, the slider lock spring 10 expands and contracts only within the gap S, and the biasing force exerted by the slider lock spring 10 becomes unstable, which impairs the function of the slider lock portion 3b and the good sliding movement of the slider 6. This is highly undesirable.

[0014]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and provides a slider lock provided on the lower shell to lock the position of a sliding slider attached to the lower shell. In a tape cassette in which a spring member is interposed between the member and the upper shell to urge the slider lock member in the slider lock direction, the spring member is provided at a coiled portion thereof protruding from the upper shell. A pin is inserted and attached, and in this coiled portion, a portion that may correspond to the pin tip position, that is, a portion corresponding to the vicinity of the pin tip position is formed as a tightly wound portion. It is.

[0015]

[Operation] The pin protruding from the upper shell for attaching the slider lock spring may get caught in the coiled part of the slider lock spring, which may correspond to the tip of the pin due to expansion and contraction. It's a certain part. Therefore, for example, by forming a portion from the end on the slider lock member side, which may correspond to the tip of the pin, to the shell side slightly above the tip of the pin as a tightly wound portion, the pin This prevents the tip from getting caught.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. Note that the appearance of the tape cassette of this embodiment and the sliding operation of the slider are the same as those described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8, and therefore their description will be omitted. Further, functional parts that are the same as those of the tape cassette in these figures are indicated by the same reference numerals.

1(a), (b), and (c) are a front view, a top view, and a bottom view of the slider lock spring of this embodiment, and 20 shows the slider lock spring as a whole, and 20a shows the slider lock spring wound into a coil. The bent main body portion 20b is an extending portion extending linearly from one end 20a1 of the main body portion 20a. In the main body portion 20a, one end 20
The part from a1 to a predetermined position is, for example, a telescopic functional part 20a3 coiled at a constant coil winding pitch CP1.
However, the portion from the other end 20a2 to a predetermined position is a tightly wound portion 20a4 that does not have an elastic function.

On the other hand, the inner surface of the upper shell 2 constituting the housing of the tape cassette of this embodiment has a slider lock, as shown in FIGS. A pin 2b into which a spring 20 (indicated by a chain line) is inserted from an end 20a1 is provided protrudingly, and
A spring fixing portion 2d is provided in a protruding manner at a position corresponding to the vicinity of the tip of the extension portion 20b of the slider lock spring 20. As shown in the partially enlarged view of FIG. 2(c) and the AA sectional view of FIG. 2(d), this spring fixing portion 2d is
The approximately cylindrical protrusion has a notch 2d1, and the width of the notch 2d1 is such that the extending portion 20b of the slider lock spring 20 is tightly fitted.
The size is approximately the same as the diameter of the extending portion 20b.

As shown in a partial cross-sectional view in FIG.
The slider lock spring 20 is temporarily fixed by being fitted into the pin 2b in the main body part 20a, and is caulked to the fixing part 2d of the upper shell 2 in the extending part 20b. The other end 20a2 of the main body portion 20a contacts the slider lock portion 3b of the lower shell 3, and presses the slider lock portion 3b toward the engagement hole 6b (6c) of the slider 6.

Here, if the distance from the tip 2b1 of the pin 2b protruding from the upper shell 2 to the slider lock portion 3b of the lower shell 3 is W, then the main body of the slider lock spring 20 in this embodiment is The tightly wound portion 20a4 of the portion 20a is formed in a section having a distance H longer than the interval length W from the other end 20a2. That is, as the slider lock spring 20 expands and contracts, the tip 2b1 of the pin 2b is moved from the other end 20a2, which is a portion that may correspond to the position of the tip 2b1 of the pin 2b.
The area slightly above the shell is tightly wound.

Since the tightly wound portion 20a4 is thus formed in the area at a distance H from the other end 20a2, the tip portion 2b1 of the pin 2b is not caught and buckling as shown in FIG. 7 is prevented. . The slider lock spring 20 can be stably extended and contracted by the telescopic function part 20a3 formed on the upper shell side of the tightly wound part 20a4. Therefore, in the tape cassette of this embodiment, a stable biasing force is always obtained against the slider lock portion 3b, and the sliding movement of the slider 6 is not inhibited.

In this embodiment, since the slider lock spring 20 is caulked and fixed to the upper shell 2, the slider lock spring 20 does not fall off when the upper shell and the lower shell 3 are assembled, which improves work efficiency. Improve. In addition, since the fixed part of the slider lock spring 20 is near the tip of the linear extension part 20b, the main body part 20a is well held upright and hardly tilts or falls. This eliminates any adverse effects caused by the looseness of the inner diameter of the slider lock spring 20. Furthermore, since the slider lock spring 20 is fixed to the upper shell 2, no displacement occurs due to impact or the like after assembly.

The slider lock spring in the tape cassette of the present invention is not limited to the shape shown in the above embodiment, and at least the portion corresponding to the tip position of the pin for attaching the slider lock spring is a tightly wound portion. Any shape is acceptable as long as it is Of course, if the pin is shorter, for example reaching only the center of the main body, the area near the center will be set as the tightly wound portion.

In addition, various shapes and fixing methods can be considered for the extension part of the slider lock spring provided in the upper shell, and the extension part is not formed and it can be attached only by inserting a pin into the coiled body part. It can also be applied to tape cassettes with slider lock springs.

[0025]

As explained above, in the tape cassette of the present invention, in the coiled part of the slider lock spring, the part corresponding to the vicinity of the tip of the pin for attaching the slider lock spring is formed as a tightly wound part. This prevents buckling due to catching of the pin, and therefore has the effect that the biasing force of the slider lock spring can always be stabilized, so that the sliding movement of the slider is not inhibited.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view, a top view, and a bottom view of a slider lock spring in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view, a side view, a partially enlarged view, and a sectional view taken along line AA of the fixing portion of the upper shell of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view showing how the slider lock spring of this embodiment is attached.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the tape cassette.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the slider of the tape cassette.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a slider lock mechanism.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the slider lock spring is buckled by the pin.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Upper shell 2b pin 3 Lower shell 3b Slider lock part 6 Slider 20 Slider lock spring 20a Main body part 20a3　　Extendable function part 20a4 Closely wound part

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A spring member is interposed between a slider lock member provided on the lower shell and the upper shell to lock the position of a slider that is attached to the lower shell and slides, and the slider lock member is provided with a spring member. In the tape cassette, the spring member is attached by inserting a pin protruding from the upper shell into a coiled portion of the spring member, and a pin protruding from the upper shell is inserted into the coiled portion of the spring member. A tape cassette characterized in that a portion corresponding to the vicinity of the tip position is formed as a tightly wound portion.