JPH06243561A - Cassette loading device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the number of components for promoting the miniaturization. CONSTITUTION:A cassette door is provided on a cassette inserting hole of a cabinet so as freely capable of opening and closing, and a door opening/closing member 23 to control the opening/closing of this cassette door is controlled for operation linked with the elevating/lowering motion of an elevating/lowering lever which guides a cassette holder 12 for the transfer. The door opening/ closing member 23 is positionally controlled with the elevating/lowering lever in the state the loading operation by the lever is completed, then the cassette door is locked to the closing position.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus such as a video tape recorder (VTR), and more particularly to a cassette loading apparatus used to load a tape cassette into a tape drive section.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a cassette loading device of this type is
A cassette door is provided so that it can be opened and closed via a door opening / closing lever so as to close the cassette insertion hole of the cabinet.
When the cassette door is pushed away and the tape cassette is inserted, the tape cassette is accommodated in the cassette holder in a substantially horizontal state. Here, when it is detected that the tape cassette is housed in the cassette holder, the cassette transfer mechanism is actuated, the cassette holder is moved from the cassette housing position in a substantially horizontal state, and then lowered, and the tape cassette is driven. And the cassette loading operation is completed. At this time, the door opening / closing lever of the cassette door is operated in association with the cassette transfer mechanism, and is automatically inverted to close the cassette insertion hole.

When the tape cassette loaded with the cassette is taken out, the cassette transfer mechanism is first inverted. Then, the cassette transfer mechanism guides the holder upward, and then reversely transfers it to the cassette insertion position in a substantially horizontal state. At this time, the cassette door is automatically opened by the door opening / closing lever being interlocked with the upward movement of the cassette transfer mechanism to allow the movement of the tape cassette, and the end portion of the tape cassette is inserted from the cassette insertion hole. It is possible to guide the protrusion and take out the cassette here.

By the way, in such a cassette loading device, at the cassette loading completion position, the cassette door is locked at the closed position of the cassette insertion hole in order to prevent erroneous insertion of the user's hand. A locking mechanism is provided. This lock mechanism, with the cassette holder loading the tape cassette in the tape drive,
It is configured to be actuated to lock the cassette door in the closed position and to be unlocked in conjunction with the ejection of the cassette holder.

However, since the cassette loading apparatus has both the door opening / closing lever for controlling the opening / closing of the cassette door and the lock mechanism for locking the cassette door at the loading completion position, its constituent parts are very important. There is a problem that it becomes large and large.

[0006]

As described above, the conventional cassette loading device has a problem that it becomes large in size because the number of constituent parts is very large.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a cassette loading device which has a simple structure and is capable of reducing the number of constituent parts, thereby promoting miniaturization. To aim.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a cassette insertion hole of a cabinet is closed, and a cassette door which is openably and closably provided in the cabinet and the cassette door is pushed and inserted through the cassette insertion hole. A cassette holder that accommodates the tape cassette that is formed in a substantially horizontal shape,
After moving the cassette holder in a substantially horizontal state from the cassette housing position, it is moved down and guided to the loading completion position where the tape cassette is loaded into the tape drive unit, and the cassette door is inserted through the cassette transfer mechanism. A support for opening and closing at a closed position of the hole, and a door opening / closing member that controls opening / closing of the cassette door in conjunction with entry / exit of the cassette insertion hole of the tape cassette, and an up / down drive of the cassette transfer mechanism. The cassette loading device is configured to include an operation controllable member, and a lock unit that locks the door opening / closing member at the loading completion position of the cassette holder and locks the cassette door to the closed position.

[0009]

According to the above structure, when the cassette holder is horizontally moved by driving the transfer mechanism, the cassette door movably supported in the cassette insertion hole by the door opening / closing member,
Opening / closing control is performed in conjunction with this, and the door opening / closing member is released and regulated in position in conjunction with the vertical movement of the cassette holder, and is locked in the closed position in the cassette loading completed state. As a result, the opening / closing function and the locking function of the cassette door can be performed only by controlling the operation of the door opening / closing member, and the number of components can be reduced.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a cassette loading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. A pair of guide portions 11 (only one of them is shown in the figure for convenience of illustration) is provided on a main chassis 10. A cassette holder 12 is movably arranged between the guides 11. That is, the guide portion 11 is provided with the first guide hole 11a corresponding to the loading locus, and the first guide hole 11a is provided with the first and second guide portions 12a formed on the cassette holder 12. 12b
Is movably accommodated. Then, the guide portion 11 is formed with a second guide hole 11b for guiding up and down.

Further, the guide portion 11 and the cassette holder 12
An elevating lever 13 is interposed therebetween. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the lift lever 13 has a lift guide hole 13a.
Is formed corresponding to the second guide hole 11b of the guide portion 11, and the guide shaft 14 is movably supported in the up and down guide hole 13a and the second guide hole 11b of the guide portion 11 in the directions of arrows C and D. To be done. In addition, the elevating lever 13 has a linear guide hole 1
3b are formed corresponding to the second guide holes 11b of the guide portion 11, and the first and second guide holes 11b of the cassette holder 12 are formed in the second guide hole 13b and the first guide hole 11a of the guide portion 11, respectively. The guide portions 12a and 12b are movably inserted.

Further, the first guide portion 12a of the cassette holder 12 is a recess 1 provided at the tip of the crimping arm 15.
The spring member 16 is inserted and attached to 5a, and the base end portion of the crimping arm 15 is supported by the guide shaft 14.
The drive gear 17 is coaxially fitted to the guide shaft 14. The drive gear 17 is meshed with a rack gear 18. The rack gear 18 has an arrow A. It is movably provided in the B direction, and one end thereof is linked to one end of the drive arm 19. And. The other end of the drive arm 19 is engaged with the cam portion 21 of the cam gear 20.

The guide shaft 14 to which the crimping arm 15 is fitted has a base portion of a substantially similar crimping arm arranged at the other guide portion fitted to the other end, and includes a pair of these crimping arms. The cassette transfer mechanism is driven synchronously to transfer the cassette holder 12.

A drive cam 22 for controlling opening / closing of the cassette door is formed at the base end of the crimping arm 15. A drive portion 23a of the door opening / closing member 23 is engaged with the drive cam 11. An intermediate portion of the door opening / closing member 23 is rotatably supported via a shaft, and the tip end portion thereof is shown in FIGS.
The cassette door 24 is rotatably attached as shown in FIG. The cassette door 24 is attached to the front surface of the cabinet 25 (see FIGS. 2 and 3) so as to be openable and closable.

The door opening / closing member 23 is provided with a lock portion 23b for locking the door. The locking portion 23b corresponds to a locking claw 13c formed on the elevating lever 13, and is locked by the locking claw 13c of the elevating lever 13 to regulate the position when the elevating lever 13 is in the lowest position. The door 24 is locked in the closed position.

The locking claw 13c of the elevating lever 13 and the locking portion 23b of the door opening / closing member 23 are formed, for example, on the sides facing each other at an acute angle, so that the cassette door 2
Even if there is an irregular angle of 4 or the like, a reliable operation can be realized.

In the above structure, when the tape cassette 26 (see FIG. 2) is inserted in the closed state of the cassette door 24 shown in FIG. 4, the cassette door 24 is pushed away as shown by the broken line in the drawing to open and close the door. The member is rotated in the clockwise direction in the figure to allow entry. Here, when the detection unit (not shown) detects that the tape cassette 26 is housed in the cassette holder 12, the drive motor (not shown) is driven to rotate the cam gear 20. Then, the cam gear 20
2 drives the drive arm 19 with the cam portion 21 to linearly move the rack gear 18 in the direction of arrow B to drive the drive gear 17 of the crimp arm 15 to rotate the crimp arm 15 counterclockwise in FIG. The cassette holder 12 is driven and transferred.

The cassette holder 12 is composed of first and second cassette holders.
Guide portions 12a, 12b of the guide portion 11 are guided by the first guide hole 11a of the guide portion 11 and the linear guide hole 13b of the elevating lever 13 to move linearly, and then the second guide hole 11b of the guide portion 11
By the action of the up-and-down guide hole 13a of the up-and-down lever 13, it is moved down in the direction of the arrow C and is loaded in the tape drive unit (not shown) to complete the cassette loading operation (FIG. 3).
reference). Here, the crimp arm 15 has its drive cam 22
Drive the drive portion 23a of the door opening / closing member 23 to rotate the cassette door 24 to the closed position, and press the first guide portion 12a of the cassette holder 12 with the spring force of the spring member 16 to cause the cassette holder 24 to rotate. 12 is crimped to a tape drive (not shown). At the same time, the door opening / closing member 24 is shown in FIG.
, Its locking portion 23b is locked by the locking claw 13c of the elevating lever 13 and its position is regulated.
Lock in the closed position.

When the loaded tape cassette 26 is to be unloaded, the drive motor (not shown) is first driven in reverse. Then, the cam gear 20
Is reversed and the rack gear 18 is moved in the direction of arrow A via the drive arm 19, and the crimping arm 15 is driven by the drive gear 17
Is rotated in the clockwise direction in FIG. As a result, the cassette holder 12 is lifted in the direction of arrow D, which is substantially opposite to the loading operation described above, and then ejected to the cassette housing position in the direction of arrow B. At this time, the crimping arm 15 drives the drive portion 23a of the door opening / closing member 23 with the drive cam 22 thereof to open the cassette door 24 and allow the tape cassette 26 to be ejected (see FIG. 4). At the same time, when the up-and-down lever 13 ascends, its locking claw 13c is disengaged from the locking portion 23b of the door opening / closing member 23, and the position regulation of the door opening / closing member 23 is released to unlock the cassette door 24. (See Figure 4).

As described above, in the cassette loading device, the cassette door 24 is provided in the cassette insertion hole of the cabinet 25 so as to be openable and closable, and the door opening / closing member 23 for controlling the opening / closing of the cassette door 24 is guided to the cassette holder 12. When the loading operation by the elevating lever 13 is completed, the door opening / closing member 23 is positionally regulated by the elevating lever 13 so that the cassette door 24 is closed. Configured to lock. According to this, the opening / closing function and the locking function of the cassette door 24 can be controlled by only the operation control of the door opening / closing member 23, and an independent lock mechanism as in the conventional case is not provided. The number of parts can be reduced, and miniaturization can be promoted as much as possible. In addition,
Of course, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0022]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a cassette loading device which has a simple structure and can reduce the number of constituent parts, thereby promoting miniaturization. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a main part of a cassette loading device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a state where the cassette of FIG. 1 is accommodated.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a cassette loading completion state of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a view showing a state of a cassette door before accommodating the cassette of FIG.

5 is a view showing a state of a cassette door at a cassette loading completion position of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Main chassis, 11 ... Guide part, 11a ... 1st
Guide holes, 11b ... second guide holes, 12 ... cassette holders, 12a, 12b ... first and second guide portions, 13 ... elevating levers, 13a ... elevating guide holes, 13b ... straight guide holes,
13c ... Locking claw, 14 ... Guide shaft, 15 ... Crimping arm, 1
5a ... Recessed portion, 16 ... Spring member, 17 ... Drive gear, 18 ...
Rack gear, 19 ... Drive arm, 20 ... Cam gear, 21
... Cam part, 22 ... Drive cam, 23 ... Door opening / closing member, 23
a ... driving part, 23b ... locking part, 24 ... cassette door, 2
5 ... Cabinet, 26 ... Tape cassette.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cassette door that closes a cassette insertion hole of a cabinet, and a cassette door that is openably and closably provided in the cabinet and a tape cassette that is inserted by pushing the cassette door through the cassette insertion hole are substantially horizontal. And a cassette transfer mechanism that moves the cassette holder from the cassette storage position in a substantially horizontal direction and then lowers and transfers it to a loading completion position where the tape cassette is loaded in the tape drive unit. A door opening / closing member for supporting the cassette door to be opened and closed at a closed position of the cassette insertion hole, and controlling opening / closing of the cassette door in association with entry / exit of the cassette insertion hole of the tape cassette; The operation is controlled in conjunction with the lifting drive of the mechanism. Located regulated by the loading completion position of da, cassette loading device the cassette door equipped and locking means for locking in the closed position.