JPH05342805A - Tape cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely open a cover either from the vertical direction or back and forth direction by providing a projecting part engaging with the movement in the back and forth direction of a cover opening member against a tape cassette, on a protecting cover of a recording medium. CONSTITUTION:The tape cassette 1 is provided with a cassette casing 2 consisting of an upper half 2a and lower half 2b, a front cover 3 and a top cover 4. In the casing 2, a magnetic tape 5 is stretched on the front surface and an opening part 6 is formed at back side of the tape 5. The front cover 3 consists of the front surface part 7 covering the tape 5 and side surface parts 9 provided with a rotary supporting shaft 8 supported by the side surfaces of the casing 2. The top cover 4 consists of the upper surface part 10 covering the upper surface of the opening part 6 and the projecting part 11 ranged therewith. Then, by loading the cassette 1, the cover opening member 16 advances relatively and abuts on the lower face side of the front surface part 7 or side surface part 9 to lift up the freely rotatable front cover 3. At this time, the top cover 4 is moved in the direction of rear of the casing 2 from the position where the opening part 6 is covered, linked with the front cover 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tape cassette containing a tape-shaped recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, what is called a tape cassette is used in a conventional cassette type video tape recorder (hereinafter referred to as VCR) and a cassette type audio tape recorder. A magnetic tape, which is a recording medium, is housed in this tape cassette and mounted on the VCR body to record and reproduce signals.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a closed state of a conventional tape cassette 101 applied to a VCR as seen from the upper side. FIG. 9 shows a perspective view of the tape cassette 101 with the lid opened. 8 and 9, the tape cassette 101 is composed of a cassette housing 102 including an upper half 102a and a lower half 102b, a front lid 103, and a rear lid 104. The cassette housing 102 has a magnetic tape 1 on the front surface.
05 is installed. The magnetic tape 105 includes a front lid 103 pivotally supported on a side surface 106 of a cassette housing 102 by a pivot point 107, and a rear lid 1 interlocking with the front lid 103.
Protected from fingers and dust by 04. When not attached to the VCR, the front lid 103 is biased in the closing direction by an elastic member (not shown), and this biasing force acts on the notch 108 formed on the front lid 103 and the cassette housing 102. It is received by the butting of the jaw portion 109 provided.

The operation of shifting from the closed state shown in FIG. 8 to the opened state shown in FIG. 9 will be described with reference to FIGS. A recording / reproducing unit 112 is mounted on a chassis 111 of the VCR 110, and a magnetic tape 105 pulled out from the tape cassette 101 is attached to the recording / reproducing unit 112 to record / reproduce information. A lid opening member 113 for opening the lid of the tape cassette 101 is provided on the chassis 111.
Are planted via arms 114. A post group (not shown) of the VCR 110 is inserted into the opening 6 of the tape cassette 101 to pull out the magnetic tape 105 from the tape cassette 101.
Is inserted into a cassette holder (not shown) that guides the movement of the tape cassette 101, and the VCR 1 is pushed in the order of pushing the tape cassette 101 together with the cassette holder.
It is attached to 10. As shown in FIG. 10, the lid opening member 1
The tape cassette 101 inserted in the direction indicated by the arrow A in the cassette holder 13 above is pressed down relatively in FIG. Is lifted. In the state shown in FIG. 12, the tape cassette 101 is completely attached to the VCR 110, and the front lid 103 and the rear lid 104 are opened as shown in FIG. Front cover 103
When the rear lid 104 is opened, the magnetic tape 105 is exposed, and the magnetic tape 105 can be pulled out from the tape cassette 101.

[0005]

In the above-mentioned conventional example, when the front lid 103 is closed, the urging force of the elastic member is the jaw portion 109.
On the contrary, in order to open the front lid 103, it is most reliable that the lid opening member 113 is inserted from the lower surface direction of the tape cassette 101 and the side surface portion 115 is pushed up. It was a lid-opening method. However, the fact that the opening direction of the lid opening member 113 is limited to one direction means that the tape cassette 101 with respect to the VCR is
However, the movement of the VCR is limited, which is a great constraint on the design of the VCR. Further, since the lid opening operation is performed by pushing in the tape cassette 101, the distance between the recording / reproducing section 112 of the VCR 110 and the tape cassette 101 is set in consideration of the rotation trajectory 116 of the front lid 103 as shown in FIG. I could not get closer than a certain amount. This has been a major obstacle for downsizing the VCR 110 in recent years when downsizing of the device is required due to convenience of carrying.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and the lid opening operation of the tape cassette can be performed not only by the upward / downward movement of the tape cassette, that is, the pushing operation but also the forward / backward movement, that is, the insertion operation of the tape cassette. It is intended to provide a tape cassette. As a result, the VCR can be designed more freely and the distance between the tape cassette and the recording / reproducing unit in the state where the VCR is mounted can be reduced to realize miniaturization.

[0007]

In order to achieve this object, a tape cassette of the present invention comprises a cassette housing having an opening inside a tape-shaped recording medium stretched on the front surface, and the tape-shaped recording medium. A first lid including a front surface portion that covers the cassette housing, and a side surface portion that has a rotation support shaft that is supported on a side surface of the cassette housing; and an opening portion of the cassette housing that covers the front surface direction of the cassette housing. The first lid has a portion protruding from the side surface of the first lid, and the second lid is provided so as to interlock with the first lid.

[0008]

According to the present invention, the tape-shaped recording medium is covered by engaging the lid opening member with the side surface of the first lid when the lid is opened by the vertical movement of the tape cassette. The front member of the first lid can be rotated, and when the lid is opened by the movement in the front-back direction, the lid opening member is engaged with the protruding portion of the second lid that interlocks with the first lid. As a result, the front surface member of the first lid that covers the tape-shaped recording medium can be rotated to expose the tape-shaped recording medium.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tape cassette 1 to which the present invention is applied, as viewed from the top, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the tape cassette 1 with the lid closed. 3 is a side view in the closed state, FIG. 4 is a side view in the opened state, and FIG. 5 is a plan view in the closed state. 1 to 5, the tape cassette 1 has a cassette housing 2 including an upper half 2a and a lower half 2b, a front lid 3 as a first lid, and a canopy 4 as a second lid.
A magnetic tape 5 which is a tape-shaped recording medium is stretched over the front surface of the cassette housing 2, and an opening 6 is formed inside the magnetic tape 5. The front lid 3 includes a front surface portion 7 that covers the magnetic tape 5 and a rotation support shaft 8 that is supported on the side surface of the cassette housing 2.
And a side surface portion 9 having. The canopy 4 includes an upper surface portion 10 that covers the upper surface of the opening portion 6 and a protruding portion 11 that is continuous with the upper surface portion 10.
A guide groove 12 that restricts the movement of the canopy 4 from the position where the upper surface 10 covers the opening 6 to the position where the opening 6 is opened is formed on the side surface of the cassette housing 2. An engagement support shaft 13 that engages with the guide groove 12 is provided on the protrusion 11. Further, the front lid 3 and the canopy 4 are linked by an engagement hole 14 provided in the side surface portion 9 and an engagement shaft 15 provided in the protruding portion 11. The thickness of the side surface portion 9 of the front lid 3 is t ₁ , and the canopy 4 is
The thickness of the projecting portion 11 is t ₂ and t ₁ <t ₂ , and the projecting portion 11 projects beyond the side surface portion 9 when viewed from the front surface direction of the tape cassette 1.

The operation of shifting the closed state shown in FIG. 3 to the opened state shown in FIG. 4 with respect to the tape cassette constructed as described above will be described. By mounting the tape cassette 1 on the VCR (not shown) from the closed state shown in FIG. 3, the lid opening member 16 of the VCR relatively enters from the direction of the arrow B, and the front portion of the front lid 3 is moved. 7 or the front lid 3 which is rotatable by coming into contact with the lower surface side of the side surface portion 9 is lifted. At this time, the canopy 4 moves in conjunction with the front lid 3 from the position where it covers the opening 6 toward the rear surface of the cassette housing 2. When the lid opening member 16 is lifted to the state shown in FIG. 4, the front lid 3 is rotated about 90 ° from the state shown in FIG.
The upper surface portion 10 has moved to a position where the opening 6 is opened, and the magnetic tape 5 is exposed. In this state, the magnetic tape 5 can be pulled out from the tape cassette 1 and attached to a recording / reproducing unit (not shown) of the VCR.

In addition to the above case, when the lid opening member 16 of the VCR relatively enters from the direction of arrow C as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the lid opening member 16 projects from the canopy 4. The canopy 4 is moved toward the rear surface of the cassette housing 2 by contacting the protruding portion of the portion 11. At this time, the front lid 3 is rotated together with the canopy 4, and the front portion 7 that has covered the magnetic tape 5 is lifted. When the lid opening member 16 moves to the state shown in FIG. 7, the upper surface portion 10 of the canopy 4 moves to a position where the opening portion 6 is opened, and the front lid 3 is rotated about 90 °, and the magnetic tape 5 is moved. The tape cassette 1 can be pulled out. Further, in this embodiment, since the protrusions 11 that engage with the lid opening member 16 are provided on both left and right sides in FIG. 5, the lid can be opened from either the left or the right.

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, the lid that covers the opening of the cassette housing and protects the tape-shaped recording medium is provided with the protrusion that engages with the movement of the lid opening member with respect to the tape cassette in the front-rear direction. As a result, the lid can be reliably opened from either the up-down direction or the front-back direction of the tape cassette. Therefore, the allowable range of movement of the tape cassette with respect to the VCR becomes large, and the trajectory of the tape cassette is not restricted by opening the lid. Also, V
The lid can be opened by inserting the tape cassette into the CR, and the pushing operation of the tape cassette can be performed with the lid completely opened, so it is not necessary to consider the rotation trajectory of the lid.
It is possible to bring the R recording / reproducing unit closer to the tape-shaped recording medium stretched over the front surface of the cassette housing, which contributes to downsizing of the entire apparatus and has a great practical effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an opened state of a tape cassette according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the tape cassette in the closed state according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the tape cassette in the closed state according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the tape cassette in the opened state according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the tape cassette in the closed state according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a side view of the tape cassette in the closed state according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the tape cassette in the opened state according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a closed state of a conventional tape cassette seen from above.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of an open state of a conventional tape cassette seen from above.

FIG. 10 is a side view for explaining a lid opening operation when a conventional tape cassette is attached to a VCR.

FIG. 11 is a side view for explaining a lid opening operation while the conventional tape cassette is being attached to the VCR.

FIG. 12 is a side view for explaining a state in which a conventional tape cassette is attached to a VCR.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Tape cassette 2 Cassette housing 3 1st lid 4 2nd lid 5 Tape-shaped recording medium 6 Opening 7 Front part 9 Side part 11 Projection part

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cassette housing having an opening inside a tape-shaped recording medium stretched over a front surface, a front surface covering the tape-shaped recording medium, and a rotation supported on a side surface of the cassette housing. A first lid including a side surface having a support shaft; and a portion that covers the opening of the cassette housing and projects from the side surface of the first lid when viewed from the front surface direction of the cassette housing. And a second lid that interlocks with the first lid, and a tape cassette.