JPH0624073Y2 - Magnetic tape cartridge - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Industrial Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic tape cartridge in which a magnetic tape is wound around a single reel hub and rotatably housed in a case, particularly a leader block fixed to the free end of the magnetic tape. The present invention relates to a projecting portion of the case that regulates the insertion force and the extraction force of

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a magnetic tape cartridge used for an auxiliary storage device of a computer or the like has a magnetic tape wound around a single reel hub and rotatably housed in a case. When such a magnetic tape cartridge is mounted in the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus, it is possible to write and read data on the contained magnetic tape. At that time, if dust or the like is attached to the magnetic tape, it may cause erroneous recording or erroneous reproduction. Therefore, in order to prevent dust and the like from entering through the magnetic tape opening in and out of the case when not in use, a rectangular leader block is fixed to the free end of the magnetic tape, and the leader block can be taken in and out. There is a structure in which a leader block housing room for housing is provided near an opening at one corner where upper and lower cases are combined, and one side of the leader block is exposed to the opening to seal the opening (for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 61). -61470 gazette). The inside of this storage chamber is partly closed by partition walls protruding from the upper and lower cases, but the remaining part is made an opening (partition opening). The magnetic tape passes through the partition opening when taking it in and out. In addition, the upper and lower cases are formed with two rectangular sliding surfaces that are in contact with the upper and lower corresponding surfaces of the leader block so as to face each other, and the leader block is housed in at least one edge of both sliding surfaces. An elongated guide rib having a sliding surface that guides is provided so as to be continuous with the partition wall, and the guide rib is provided with an escape portion for one corner serving as the center of rotation of the leader block. By the way, when the escape portion is provided, the leader block can be freely rotated.

Inserting a leader block into such an upper case,
The process of taking out is shown in FIG. 1 in the figure
Reference numeral 0 is a leader block to which the free end of the magnetic tape 14 wound around the reel hub 12 is fixed, 16 is an upper case for accommodating them, and 18 is an upper portion of a leader block storage chamber at one corner of the upper case. An upper portion 18 of the leader block storage chamber has a ceiling surface 24 including a rectangular sliding surface 22 slightly protruding from an inner surface 20 of the upper case 16, and the periphery thereof is a part of a peripheral side wall 26 of the upper case 16. 26a, 2
6b, a partition wall 28, an elongated guide rib 32 having a sliding surface 30, an upper case opening 34, a partition opening 36, and the like. It should be noted that the guide rib 32 is provided with a recess as an escape portion 40 for one corner portion 38 which is the center of rotation of the leader block 10. At the time of insertion, the leader block 10 is guided by the drive pin on the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus side, which is passed through the central hole 44 of the distal end portion 42 thereof, first comes into contact with the rectangular sliding surface 22 and slides, and then at the rear end. The two corners 38 and 48 of the portion 46 are brought into contact with the sliding surface 30 of the guide rib 32, respectively. Next, the leader block 10 slides along the guide ribs 32, and when it enters the escape portion 40, it sequentially rotates around the one corner portion 38 as shown by a chain line. However, when the one corner portion 38 enters the recess of the escape portion 40, the one corner portion 38 comes into contact with the sliding surface there. The leader block 10 then attaches its tip 50 to a portion 26 of the peripheral side wall 26.
After coming into contact with the tip 52 of a, it further rotates and occupies a predetermined position in the upper portion 18 of the storage chamber. Part 2 of the surrounding side wall 26
6a projects from the upper case 16 like a cantilever beam,
It is a protruding portion that regulates the insertion force and the extraction force of the leader block 10. As a result, leader block 10
Can well close the opening 34 of the upper case 16. Also, the leader block 10 follows the reverse process when it is taken out. The same applies to the lower case.

However, in such a magnetic tape cartridge, since the insertion force and the ejection force of the leader block are standardized and are defined in consideration of the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus, the insertion force of the leader block is If the projecting portion that regulates the take-out force is a cantilever-shaped projection that is integrated with the upper case, very high dimensional accuracy is required to obtain the required insertion force and take-out force. Therefore, it is not enough to determine the dimensions of the protrusions by design, and based on the results of trial production and experiments, the thickness and length are adjusted and corrected, and then the predetermined insertion force and removal It is necessary to repeatedly obtain a product that matches the magnetic recording / reproducing device until the force is obtained.

Also, if the leader block is repeatedly inserted and taken out hundreds of times due to repeated loading and unloading, the tip of the leader block will come into contact with the tip of the protruding part that is a part of the surrounding side wall each time, so the sliding The surface becomes worn and scrapes, and the insertion force and the withdrawal force change greatly and become unstable. Further, when the frictional resistance is further increased due to the scraping of the sliding surface, the resistance sometimes exceeds the insertion force and the extraction force of the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus, which makes it inoperable. Originally, magnetic tape cartridges used in computers are required to have reliability of repeated loading / unloading of several thousand times, and more than 5,000 times.

The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and the dimensions of the protruding portion can be determined by design, and even if it is repeatedly used, the insertion / removal of the leader block into / from the case can be smoothly performed. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a magnetic tape cartridge which is durable and has high reliability.

Means for Solving the Problems Means for achieving the above object will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 corresponding to the embodiments.

In this magnetic tape cartridge, a magnetic tape is wound around a single reel hub 76 and rotatably accommodated in a case 60. The free end of the magnetic tape 76 is fixed to a rectangular leader block 68, and the leader block 68 is secured. A leader block storage chamber 84 or the like for storing the cartridge is provided near the opening 66 at one corner of the case 60, and the storage chamber 84 or the like projects from the case 60 toward the opening 66 to insert the leader block 68. The present invention relates to the one formed by using the projecting portion 74 that regulates the take-out force, and the projecting portion 74 is coupled to the case 60 by using the elastic member 108.

Action With the above configuration, the protrusion 74 is attached to the elastic member 108.
Since it is coupled to the case 60 by using, the protruding portion 74 can be made of the same material as or different from the case 60, for example, a material having a small friction coefficient and good sliding property and a wear resistant material. Further, since the amount of displacement and the biasing force of the elastic member 108 can be designed to be determined by the dimensions, the insertion force of the leader block 68,
The take-out force can be determined by design. Furthermore, since elastic force acts on the protrusion 74, the leader block 68
Even if it touches the tip of the
It can be taken out smoothly and the sliding surface is not worn. Even if the surface is scraped to some extent by repeated use, the insertion force and the extraction force do not change. Further, if a material having good activity or a wear resistant material is used for the material of the protruding portion 74, the change in the insertion force and the removal force is further reduced.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a view showing a state in which a leader block is completely inserted into an upper case of a magnetic tape cartridge to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an appearance of the cartridge in an unused state. In the figure, reference numeral 60 is a rectangular cartridge case in which an upper case 62 and a lower case 64 are combined. In this case 60, a single reel hub around which a magnetic tape is wound is rotatably housed.
A rectangular leader block 68 fixed to the free end of the magnetic tape faces the opening (case opening) 66 in the corner, and the selector 72 for preventing erroneous recording is provided in the opening in the peripheral side wall 70 of the upper case 62. Facing. Reference numeral 74 is a protruding portion that protrudes from the peripheral side wall 70 of the upper case 62 toward the case opening 66 and restricts the insertion force and the extraction force of the leader block 68.

When the magnetic tape cartridge having such an appearance is turned over and the lower case is removed, it becomes clear from the internal structure as shown in FIG. In the figure, 76 is the above-mentioned reel hub located in the center of the upper case 62, 78 is the magnetic tape wound around it, and 80 is a clamp for the leader block 68 that fixes its free end. The upper case 62 has a top plate and a peripheral side wall 70 protruding vertically from the inner surface 82 thereof, a partition wall, and the like, and a leader block storage chamber for accommodating a leader block 68 in the vicinity of the upper case opening 66a so that the leader block 68 can be taken in and out. There is an upper part 84 of the. The partition wall described above has a partition wall 86 that forms a rotation region of a reel hub 76 having arcuate portions arranged near the four corners of the clamp 62 and a linear partition that forms an upper portion 84 of the leader block storage chamber. There is a wall 88. After all, the upper portion 84 of the leader block storage chamber includes the ceiling surface 9 including the rectangular sliding surface 90 slightly protruding from the inner surface 82 of the upper case 62.
2 and the peripheries thereof are parts 74 and 94 of the peripheral side wall 70 of the upper case 62, a partition wall 88, an elongated guide rib 98 having a sliding surface 96, an upper case opening 66a, and a partition opening 100.
It has a structure surrounded by etc. Moreover, the guide rib 98 has a recess as an escape portion 104 with respect to one corner 102 which is the center of rotation of the leader block 68. In addition, the projection 74, which is a part of the peripheral side wall 70, has a projection 1 at its rear end.
06 is provided, one end of the elastic member, for example, the tension coil spring 108 is fixed, and the other end is fixed to the partition wall 86 to connect the protruding portion 74 to the upper case 62. However, the rear end of the protruding portion 74 is further provided with irregularities on the end of the peripheral side wall 70 and is directly engaged with each other to be coupled. Note that the rectangular sliding surface 90 has a ridge (not shown) on the edge and inside thereof, and the upper surface of the leader block 68 comes into contact therewith.

In this way, when the protrusion 74 is coupled to the upper case 62 by using the elastic member 108, the protrusion 74 is attached to the upper case 6.
It is possible to use a material having the same quality as or different from that of No. 2 and having a small coefficient of friction, which has good slipperiness, a material having large wear resistance, or the like. Further, the elastic member 108 can be designed to determine the displacement amount and the urging force by designing. For example, if the material, wire diameter, length, number of turns, winding diameter, etc. of the tension coil spring are known, the displacement amount and spring force will be apparent from literatures and the like. Incidentally, a metal spring is preferable to a plastic spring because it is less affected by temperature and humidity. Therefore, when the elastic member 108 is used, the protrusion 74
Leader block 6 without considering the dimensional accuracy of
It is possible to designally determine the insertion force and the withdrawal force of No. 8.

When such a magnetic tape cartridge is mounted on the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus and the insertion of the leader block into the upper case is shown, it is as shown in FIG. At the time of insertion, the leader block 68 has a central hole 11 at its tip 110.
First, the sliding surface 9 of the rectangular shape is guided by the drive pin passed through
0 slides in contact with 0, and the two corners 102 and 114 at the rear end are respectively moved to the sliding surface 9 of the guide rib 98.
Contact 6 Then, the leader block 68 continues to slide along the guide ribs 98, and when one corner portion 102, which is the rotation center thereof, enters the escape portion 104, the leader block 68 sequentially rotates around the corner portion. At that time, one corner 102 is the escape portion 104
Once inside the recess, it will contact the sliding surface there. Next, the leader block 68 contacts its tip end 116 with the sliding surface at the tip end 118 of the protruding portion 74 protruding from the peripheral side wall 70 of the upper case 62 toward the case opening 66a.
At this time, since elastic force acts on the protruding portion 74, even if the leader block 68 comes into contact with the tip 118 of the leader block 68, the insertion and removal can be smoothly performed without being forced there, and the sliding surface is not worn. . Even if the surface is slightly scraped by repeated use, the insertion force and the withdrawal force do not change. When the leader block 68 is further rotated and occupies a predetermined position in the upper portion 84 of the storage chamber, the leader block 68 moves to the opening 66 of the upper case 62.
a can be closed well. Upon removal, leader block 68 follows the reverse process. Also, the lower case 64
In this case, the protrusion 74, the elastic member 108, etc. are not provided, but they are substantially the same.

The above-mentioned protruding portion can be opened and closed by operating from the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus side.

Effect of the Invention According to the present invention described above, the dimensions of the protrusion and the elastic member can be determined by design, which is convenient. Also, since the elastic force acts on the protruding part, wear is reduced,
Even when used repeatedly, the leader block can be inserted and removed smoothly from the case. Therefore, manufacturing is facilitated, and durability and reliability in use are improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a state in which a leader block has been inserted into an upper case of a magnetic tape cartridge to which the present invention has been applied, and corresponds to a partially enlarged view of FIG. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of the cartridge in a non-use state, and FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the internal structure of the cartridge with the lower case removed. FIG. 4 is a partial plan view showing the process of inserting and removing the leader block from the upper case of the conventional magnetic tape cartridge. 60 ... Cartridge case, 62, 64 ... Upper and lower cases,
66 ... Case opening, 68 ... Leader block, 70 ... Surrounding side wall, 74 ... Projection part, 76 ... Reel hub, 78 ... Magnetic tape, 84 ... Upper part of leader block storage chamber, 86 ...
Partition wall, 108 ... Elastic member

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A magnetic tape is wound around a single reel hub and rotatably accommodated in a case, the free end of the magnetic tape is fixed to a rectangular leader block, and the leader block is accommodated so that it can be taken in and out. A magnetic tape formed by providing a leader block storage chamber near an opening at one corner of the case and projecting the storage chamber from the case toward the opening to control the insertion and removal forces of the leader block. In a cartridge, a magnetic tape cartridge characterized in that the protruding portion is coupled to a case using an elastic member.