JPH05174472A - Casette holder driving mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance movability, to contrive the simplification and the miniaturization of a mechanism and to improve reliability by reducing a load at the time of the raising and lowering action of a cassette holder. CONSTITUTION:An upper arm 1 and a lower arm 2 capable of rocking vertically are abutted on a fixed pin 6a fitted in a cassette hold 6 from above and below. Also, a streching spring 3 connecting the upper arm 1 and the lower arm 2 is attached to both arms 1 and 2, and simultaneously, a link 4 rocking both arms 1 and 2 is engaged with the arm 1 and the arm 2 so as to be capable of rocking vertically.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cassette holder driving mechanism for vertically driving a cassette holder, and more particularly to a cassette holder driving mechanism for holding the cassette holder at an upper limit position and a lower limit position.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus, such as a VTR or DAT, which employs a rotary head to record / reproduce digital signals has been put into practical use. This magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus has an advantage of stabilizing and improving image quality and sound quality as compared with a conventional apparatus using a fixed head, but on the other hand, a drive mechanism of the rotary head and a tape drawn from a cassette are wound around the rotary head. A tape loading mechanism is required, which has a disadvantage that the number of members and the arrangement space are increased. Therefore, there is a strong demand for miniaturization and simplification of the structure of the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus.

Further, the cassette used in the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus is hermetically sealed when not in use in order to maintain the quality of the tape. Therefore, a lid that seals the opening is attached to the opening of the cassette where the tape is exposed so as to be openable and closable.

The lid is normally biased to close the opening, and it is essential to open the lid when loading the cassette into the apparatus. Generally, this lid opening operation is performed as follows. First, the cassette inserted in the device is held by the cassette holder provided in the device. At this time, the lid is locked to the lid opening portion fixed to the device side. Then, the cassette holder is lowered, and the lowering force is used to open the lid. Also, if you raise the cassette holder,
The opening force for the lid is released, and the lid is closed by the biasing force of the lid itself.

Therefore, the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus is equipped with a cassette holder drive mechanism for driving the cassette holder in the vertical direction. A conventional example of such a cassette holder drive mechanism is shown in FIG. That is, the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus is provided with a chassis 15 having a reel base and the like, and the side plate 17 is vertically disposed on the chassis 15. The side plate 17 has an upper surface portion 17a.
And an arc-shaped guide groove 17b. Also,
The cassette holder 16 is attached to the inner surface of the side plate 17.

The cassette holder 16 is a frame-shaped member having upper and lower surfaces and left and right side surfaces facing each other, and the cassette 5 is inserted from the opened front surface to the rear surface. Fixing pins 16a are provided on the left and right side surfaces of the cassette holder 16 so as to project outward. The fixing pin 16a is inserted into the guide groove 17b, and the cassette holder 16 moves up and down along the guide groove 17b.

Further, an arm 18 and a link 19 are swingably attached to the inner surface of the side plate 17 by supporting shafts 18a and 19a, respectively. Of these, a fixing pin 16a is rotatably engaged with the tip portion (the left end portion in the drawing) of the arm 18. A rectangular guide hole 18b is formed at the rear end of the arm 18 (right end in the figure).

On the other hand, an engaging pin 19b is provided at the tip (left end in the figure) of the link 19, and the engaging pin 19a is slidably inserted in the guide hole 18b. A drive source (not shown) is connected to the link 19. When the link 19 swings around the support shaft 19a by the drive source, this swinging force is transmitted to the arm 18 via the engagement pin 19b and the guide hole 18b, and the arm 1
Numeral 8 swings about the support shaft 18a in a direction opposite to the swinging direction of the link 19.

In the cassette holder driving mechanism having such a structure, when the lowering operation of the cassette holder 16 is performed, when the link 19 swings in the clockwise rotation direction in the drawing by the driving source (not shown), the engaging pin 19b. Is the guide hole 18b
While sliding in the right direction in the figure, the arm 18 swings in the counterclockwise direction in the figure, and the cassette holder 16 moves in the guide groove 17
descend along b. Then, when the lower surface of the cassette holder 16 contacts the chassis 15, the cassette 5 is mounted on the reel base (not shown), and the lowering operation is completed. This position is defined as the lowering operation completion position P.

On the other hand, when the cassette holder 16 is raised, when the link 19 swings counterclockwise in the drawing by the drive source (not shown), the engaging pin 19b moves the guide hole 18b in the leftward direction in the drawing. The arm 18 oscillates in the clockwise direction in the figure while sliding on the cassette holder 16, and the cassette holder 16 rises along the guide groove 17b. And cassette holder 1
When the upper surface of 6 comes into contact with the upper surface portion 17a of the side plate 17, the cassette holder 16 becomes horizontal with the position where the cassette 5 is inserted, and the lifting operation is completed. This position is the ascending operation completion position Q.

When the lowering operation of the cassette holder 16 is completed, it is necessary to press the upper surface of the cassette holder 16 from above so that the cassette holder 16 does not rise from the lowering operation completion position P in order to obtain stable tape running. There is. Further, in the state where the raising operation of the cassette holder 16 is completed, in order to prevent the insertion failure and the ejection failure of the cassette 5, the lower surface of the cassette holder 16 is held from below in order to hold the cassette holder 16 at the raising operation completion position Q. I have to hold it down. In particular, when the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus is adopted in an in-vehicle device, the vibration against the apparatus is large, so that the cassette holder 16 is at the predetermined positions P and Q.
There was a high probability that they would move from there, which was a serious problem.

Therefore, a cassette holder driving mechanism for holding the cassette holder at a predetermined position has been conventionally proposed. For example, in the cassette holder driving mechanism shown in FIG. 8, the plate spring 13 is rotatably attached to the support shaft 18a in order to prevent the cassette holder 16 from floating. The upper surface of the cassette holder 16 is in contact with the tip of the plate spring 13. Also, the rear end of the plate spring 13 and the side plate 17
The spring 12 is hooked on the upper surface 17a of the plate spring 13, and the plate spring 13 is constantly urged by the spring 12 in the counterclockwise direction in the drawing. Therefore, the cassette holder 16 can be pressed down from above.

Further, in such a cassette holder driving mechanism, there is a risk that the cassette holder 16 will fall below the ascending operation completion position Q due to the force of the plate spring 13 and the spring 12. Therefore, generally, in order to avoid this danger, an elastic member (not shown) that pushes up the cassette holder 16 located at the ascending operation completion position Q from below is provided.

[0014]

However, the following problems have been pointed out in the above-mentioned conventional cassette holder drive mechanism. That is, the raising operation of the cassette holder 16 is performed in opposition to the force of the plate spring 13 and the force of the spring 12. On the contrary, the descending operation of the cassette holder 16 is performed in opposition to the force of the elastic member (not shown) that pushes the cassette holder 16 upward.

As described above, in the prior art, when the cassette holder is moved up and down, the biasing force of the elastic member that holds the cassette holder at a predetermined position directly acts as a load for the operation. Therefore, the operability of the cassette holder deteriorates and a large driving force is required. As a result, the size of the drive source is increased, which hinders downsizing of the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus.

Further, since the cassette holder 16 must be held at two positions, the ascending operation completion position Q and the descending operation completion position P, two elastic members having different biasing directions are required, and the cassette holder drive mechanism. The configuration of was complicated. Moreover, adjusting the urging force in the vertical direction is troublesome, it is difficult to accurately hold the cassette holder at a predetermined position, and the reliability of the drive mechanism is low.

The present invention has been proposed in order to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the load when the cassette holder is moved up and down to ensure excellent operability. An object of the present invention is to provide a cassette holder drive mechanism that simplifies and downsizes the structure and further improves reliability.

[0018]

In order to solve the above problems, in the cassette holder drive mechanism of the present invention, a fixing pin is provided on the cassette holder, and an upper side which is vertically swingable with respect to the fixing pin. The arm and the lower arm are abutted from above and below, respectively, and the upper arm and the lower arm are further urged by the elastic member connecting the both arms when the fixing pin is at the upper limit position. When the fixing pin is at the lower limit position, it is attached so as to urge the upper arm, and a vertically swingable link is abutted so as to swing both arms.

[0019]

In the present invention having the above construction, when the cassette holder is lowered, the upper arm contacts the fixing pin by the swing of the link and swings so as to push it down, and the cassette holder descends. .. When the lowering operation of the cassette holder is completed, the fixing pin comes to the lower limit position. At this time, the urging force of the elastic member works to push down the cassette holder, and holds the cassette holder at the lowering completion position. Therefore, the cassette holder does not float from this position, and stable tape running can be obtained.

On the other hand, when the cassette holder is lifted, the lower arm swings in the opposite direction due to the swing of the link to abut the fixed pin, and when the swing is performed to push it up, the cassette holder rises. To do. The fixing pin reaches the upper limit position when the raising operation of the cassette holder is completed. At this time, the urging force of the elastic member works to push the cassette holder upward. Therefore, it is possible to hold the cassette holder at the ascending operation completion position and prevent defective insertion or defective ejection of the cassette.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the cassette holder driving mechanism of the present invention as described above will be described with reference to FIGS.
1 to 5 are side views of this embodiment, FIG. 6 is a perspective view of this embodiment, and FIGS. 7A and 7B are partially enlarged side views and front views of this embodiment. In addition, in the upper and lower arms 1 and 2 and the link 4 in the above side view, the left end in the drawing is the front end and the right end is the rear end.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus is provided with a chassis 10 having a reel base or the like, and a side plate 7 is vertically arranged on the chassis 10. The side plate 7 is provided with an upper surface portion 7a, and is formed with a vertically long guide groove 7b and an arc-shaped guide hole 7c. Also, the side plate 7
A cassette holder 6 is attached to the inner surface of the.

The cassette holder 6 has substantially the same structure as the cassette holder 16 shown in FIG. 8 except that two fixing pins 6a and 6b are provided on the side surface in the vertical direction. The fixing pins 6a and 6b are inserted into the guide groove 7b, and the cassette holder 6 is vertically movable along the guide groove 7b.

The vertical movement stroke of the cassette holder 6 is restricted by the guide groove 7b. That is, the position where the fixing pin 6a contacts the upper end of the guide groove 7b is the upper limit position of the cassette holder 6, and the fixing pin 6b is the guide groove 7b.
The lower end position of the cassette holder 6 is the position where it abuts against the lower end of the cassette holder 6. The upper surface of the cassette holder 6 at the upper limit position contacts the upper surface portion 7a of the side plate 7, and the upper limit position becomes the ascending operation completion position Q. Further, the lower surface of the cassette holder 6 at the lower limit position contacts the chassis 10, and this lower limit position becomes the lowering operation completion position P.

The main constituent member of this embodiment is the link 4 having the upper arm 1, the lower arm 2, the tension spring 3 and the engaging pin 4a. All of these are provided on the inner surface of the side plate 7. The upper and lower arms 1 and 2 are attached to the side plate 7 by a support shaft 8 so as to be vertically swingable, and are arranged so as to intersect each other around the support shaft 8. ..
At this time, the one with the rear end located above is the upper arm 1 and the one with the rear end located below is the lower arm 2.

Further, at the tips of the arms 1 and 2, the push-up portion 1 capable of contacting the fixing pin 6a of the cassette holder 6 is provided.
c and the pressing portion 2c are formed so as to face each other. Further, stopper parts 1a and 2a and abutting parts 1b and 2b are formed near the rear ends of the arms 1 and 2 so as to face each other.

By the way, the stopper portions 1a and 2a are provided so as to abut each other. These stopper parts 1
When a and 2a come into contact with each other, the contact portions 1b and 2b slidably contact the engagement pin 4a of the link 4 and the push-up portion 1
c, the push-down portion 2c slidably abuts on the fixed pin 6a, and both arms 1 and 2 are in a closed state (FIGS. 2 to 4,
(The state shown in FIG. 7).

Further, projections 1d and 2d are provided on the rear end portions of both arms 1 and 2, and a tension spring 3 is attached thereto. The urging force of the tension spring 3 is
When the stopper portions 1a and 2a come into contact with each other, they are absorbed by the stopper portions 1a and 2a and become zero.

The link 4 is attached to the side plate 7 by a support shaft 9 so as to be swingable in the vertical direction, and is connected to a drive source (not shown). An engaging pin 4a is provided at the tip of the link 4. Furthermore,
When the link 4 swings around the support shaft 9 by the drive source,
This swinging force is transmitted to the arms 1 and 2 via the engaging pin 4a and the contact portions 1a and 2a, and the arms 1 and 2 swing around the support shaft 8 in the direction opposite to the swinging direction of the link 4. It is supposed to do. The engagement pin 4a is inserted into the guide hole 7c of the side plate 7. Therefore, the swing stroke of the link 4 is restricted by the guide hole 7c.

Further, the swing strokes of the arms 1 and 2 are
The swinging stroke of the link 4 and the vertical stroke of the cassette holder 6 regulate the stopper portions 1a and 2a so that they are separated from each other at the upper limit position and the lower limit position.

That is, when the engaging pin 4a comes into contact with the lower end of the guide hole 7c, the pushing-down portion 2c of the lower arm 2 is raised most, but this position is the cassette holder 6 located at the raising operation completion position Q. It is set to exceed the fixed pin 6a. Further, the push-down portion 1c of the upper arm 1 is restricted from swinging upward by the fixing pin 6a.
As a result, the arms 1 and 2 are opened and the stopper portions 1a and 2a are opened.
Separates (state of FIG. 1).

On the other hand, when the engaging pin 4a abuts on the upper end of the guide hole 7c, the abutting portion 1c of the upper arm 1 is most lowered, but this position is the cassette holder 6 located at the lowering operation completion position P. It is set so as to fall below the fixing pin 6a. Further, the push-down portion 2c of the lower arm 2 is restricted from swinging downward by the fixing pin 6a. As a result, the arms 1 and 2 are opened and the stopper portions 1a and 2a are separated (state of FIG. 5).

The operation of this embodiment having the above construction is as follows. a. Cassette holder descending start state (= cassette holder ascending complete state) ... Fig. 1 The cassette holder 6 is located at the ascending operation completion position Q, and the engaging pin 4a is located at the lower end of the guide hole 7c. At this time,
Since the contact portion 2b of the lower arm 2 comes into contact with the engagement pin 4a and the stopper portions 1a and 2a are separated from each other, the tension spring 3
The urging force of (3) acts so as to swing the upper arm 1 in the clockwise direction in the drawing, and the push-up portion 1c pushes up the fixing pin 6a from below. Therefore, the cassette 5 does not fall from the ascending operation completion position Q, and it becomes possible to prevent defective insertion and defective ejection of the cassette 5.

B. Cassette holder lowering operation ... Figs. 2 to 4 When the link 4 is rotated clockwise around the support shaft 9 by the drive source, the engaging pin 4a slides leftward in the drawing along the guide hole 7c. While rising. At this time, the urging force of the tension spring 3 acts to bring the contact portion 2b into contact with the engagement pin 4a, and becomes zero when the stopper portions 1a and 2a come into contact. At this time, the engagement pin 4a comes into contact with the contact portion 1b of the upper arm 1, and the contact portions 1b and 2b come into contact with the engagement pin 4a.
Hold a from above and below. At the same time, the push-down portion 2c of the lower arm 2 contacts the fixed pin 6a of the cassette holder 6, and the push-up portion 1c and the push-down portion 2c are fixed to the fixed pin 6a.
Is clamped from above and below (Fig. 2).

Further, as the engaging pin 4a is raised along the guide hole 7c while being held between the abutting portions 1b and 2b, both arms 1 and 2 are rotated about the support shaft 8 in the counterclockwise direction in the figure. The cassette holder 6 descends along the guide groove 7b with the push-up portion 1c and the push-down portion 2c holding the fixing pin 6a. At this time, since the urging force of the tension spring 3 is zero, it does not become a load for lowering the cassette holder 6 (FIG. 3).

Then, when the lower surface of the cassette holder 6 contacts the chassis 10 and the cassette holder 6 is located at the lowering operation completion position P, the lowering operation of the cassette holder 6 is stopped (FIG. 4).

C. Cassette holder descent completed state (= cassette holder ascending start state) ... FIG. 5 The cassette holder 6 is located at the ascending operation completion position Q, and the engagement pin 4a is located at the upper end of the guide hole 7c. At this time,
Since the abutment portion 1b of the upper arm 1 abuts on the engagement pin 4a and the stopper portions 1a and 2a are separated from each other, the tension spring 3
The urging force of 2 acts to swing the lower arm 2 in the counterclockwise direction in the drawing, and the push-down portion 2c pushes down the fixing pin 6a from above. Therefore, the floating of the cassette 5 can be prevented, and stable tape running can be ensured.

D. 4 to FIG. 2 When the link 4 is rotated counterclockwise in the figure about the support shaft 9 by the drive source, the engaging pin 4a remains in contact with the contact portion 1b and the engaging pin 4a is a guide hole. 7c descends while sliding to the right in the figure. Then, the biasing force of the tension spring 3 becomes zero when the stopper portions 1a and 2a come into contact with each other, and the contact portion 1
b and 2b sandwich the engaging pin 4a from the vertical direction, and the push-up portion 1c and the push-down portion 2c sandwich the fixing pin 6a from the vertical direction (FIG. 4).

Further, as the engaging pin 4a is lowered along the guide hole 7c while being held between the abutting portions 1b and 2b, both arms 1 and 2 are rotated clockwise around the support shaft 8 in the figure. The cassette holder 6 rotates, and the cassette holder 6 rises along the guide groove 7b in a state where the push-up portion 1c and the push-down portion 2c sandwich the fixing pin 6a. At this time, since the urging force of the tension spring 3 is zero, it does not become a load for raising the cassette holder 6 (FIGS. 3 and 2).

Then, when the upper surface of the cassette holder 6 contacts the upper surface portion 7a of the side plate 7 and the cassette holder 6 is located at the ascending operation completion position Q, the descending operation of the cassette holder 6 is stopped and the engaging pin When 4a is located at the lower end of the guide hole 7c, the cassette holder ascending state shown in FIG. 1 is completed.

According to the present embodiment as described above, when the cassette holder 6 is moved up and down, the urging force of the tension spring 3 that holds the cassette holder 6 at the predetermined positions P and Q is zero, and the operation is performed. Does not become a load on. Therefore,
The operability of the cassette holder 6 is improved, the cassette holder 6 can be driven by a small drive source, and the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus has been downsized.

Since only one tension spring 3 can hold the cassette holder 6 in two positions of the ascending operation completion position Q and the descending operation completion position P, the structure of the mechanism is simplified and the urging force is increased. Is easy to adjust. Therefore, even if the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus is adopted in a vehicle-mounted device or the like that is subject to severe vibration, the cassette holder 6 can be reliably held at the predetermined positions P and Q, and the reliability of the mechanism is improved.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and the shape and size of each member can be changed as appropriate. For example, the elastic member may be a torsion spring instead of a tension spring. Moreover, it is not always necessary to arrange the upper arm and the lower arm to intersect each other. Further, even if the stoppers 1a and 2a of the arms 1 and 2 are not provided, the urging force of the tension spring 3, the support shaft 8 which is the center of rotation of the arms 1 and 2, the push-up portion 1c, and the push-down portion 2c.
By appropriately adjusting the distance and the like, it is possible to reduce the biasing force of the elastic member, which is a load on the lifting operation, to zero.

[0044]

As described above, according to the cassette holder driving mechanism of the present invention, the load during the cassette holder ascending / descending operation is reduced while the cassette holder is reliably held at the predetermined position by the single elastic member. As a result, excellent operability can be ensured, and the configuration can be simplified and downsized, and the reliability can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the present embodiment.

7A is a partially enlarged side view of the present embodiment, and FIG. 7B is a front view of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a side view of a conventional cassette drive mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Upper Arm 2 Lower Arm 1a, 2a Stopper 1b, 2b Abutment 1c Push Up 2c Push Down 3 Extension Spring 4 Link 5 Cassette 6 Cassette Holder 6a Engagement Pin 7 Side Plate 8 9 Spindle 10 Chassis

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cassette holder drive mechanism for driving a cassette holder holding a cassette in the vertical direction to hold the cassette holder at an upper limit position and a lower limit position in a vertical movement stroke of the cassette holder. A pin; an upper arm that is vertically swingable and can come into contact with the fixed pin from above; and a lower arm that is vertically swingable and can come into contact with the fixed pin from below. , Connecting the upper arm and the lower arm, urging the lower arm when the cassette holder is at the upper limit position,
An elastic member for urging the upper arm when the cassette holder is at the lower limit position, and is vertically swingable, and can abut the arm so as to swing the upper arm and the lower arm. A cassette holder drive mechanism that is equipped with various links.