JPH07118173B2 - Tape car ledge - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a shutter for opening and closing a tape loading pocket as represented by a tape cartridge for a digital audio tape recorder (hereinafter referred to as DAT). The tape cartridge is provided with lock means for non-slidably locking the shutter at a predetermined slide position (generally, the open / close position 2), and the lock means is improved.

[Conventional technology]

As a prior art of this type of locking means, it is known in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-253076 that a spring member for pressing and biasing the locking piece in a locking posture is formed of a compression coil spring. As a further development and improvement of this, as shown in FIG. 7, in the main body case 1, a compression coil spring 21 is mounted between the upper surface of the tip of the lock piece 16 and the upper case 1a. A form of pressing the 16 is proposed by the present applicant (Japanese Patent Application No. 61-122617, etc.). Reference numeral 10 is a shutter.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In the form of the locking means as described above, the upper and lower cases 1a and 1b
It is necessary to hold and hold the spring 21 in a predetermined position in which the spring 21 is compressed and deformed at the same time that the springs 21 are joined in a lid-fitting manner. for that reason,
It is difficult to guarantee that the spring 21 is assembled in a normal position in an upright posture, and in some cases, the spring 21 may fall off from a predetermined assembly position and roll over. Moreover, once the upper and lower cases 1a and 1b were joined together, the assembly posture of the spring 21 could not be confirmed, and it was only possible to infer the quality of assembly by conducting an operation test. Moreover, even if the operation test is passed, there is a concern that the spring 21 is assembled in a tilted posture and the spring 21 is not assembled in a correct posture, and there is a tendency to lack certainty.

Incidentally, in the above-mentioned locking means, the upper case 1a
A spring receiving protrusion 41 is provided on the side window plate 40, and the spring 21 is attached to the protrusion 41.
Although the upper case 1a is lower than the lower case
I was dissatisfied with the point that reliability was difficult to obtain because the spring 21 sometimes fell off just before it was put on 1b.

It is an object of the present invention to pay attention to such a fact so that the spring 21 can be surely assembled in a proper posture, and the shutter 10 can be held securely in a locked state, and a highly reliable tape cartridge can be obtained.

An object of the present invention is to improve the assembling workability and the assembling reliability by making it possible to assemble the spring 21 easily and surely.

An object of the present invention is to improve productivity by enabling automatic mechanization of the assembly of the spring 21.

[Means for solving problems]

According to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, a support member 24 for holding the spring 21 in a free state in a self-sustaining manner is provided on the inner surface side of the bottom wall 4 corresponding to the assembling position of the spring 21 made of a compression coil spring. By integrally projecting upward from the bottom wall 4 and temporarily assembling the spring 21 in the support member 24, the assembly is facilitated and ensured. In other words, the support member 24 is used for positioning when assembling the spring, and at the same time, the position and posture of the spring 21 can be maintained when the upper and lower cases 1a and 1b are assembled.

〔The invention's effect〕

In the present invention, the support member 24 is provided on the bottom wall 4 of the main body case 1 so as to surround the spring assembly position, and the spring 21 is temporarily assembled to the support member 24. Can be maintained in a normal standing position. Also, when the upper and lower cases 1a and 1b are assembled, the positional deviation of the spring 21 and the spring 21
Supporting member to hold the posture when it is compressed and deformed to a predetermined posture
Can be done at 24. As a result, the spring 21 can be surely assembled in the proper assembly position in the proper posture, and the shutter 10 can be securely locked and held at the predetermined position to improve the functional reliability.

Since the support member 24 is formed so as to surround the periphery of the spring 21,
The spring 21 can be assembled in a normal state by, for example, dropping it on the support member 24, and the spring 21 can be easily and surely assembled, and the assembling workability and the assembling reliability can be improved. Moreover, since the supporting member 24 is integrally provided so as to project from the bottom wall 4 of the main body case 1, the number of members does not increase unlike the form in which a separate supporting member is assembled, and in this respect also the assembling workability is secured. And often achieve the intended purpose.

Since the spring 21 is simply fitted into the support member 24 that opens upward or on the circumferential side, it is possible to easily assemble the spring 21 with an automatic assembly device, and manual assembly is indispensable. In addition, productivity can be improved compared to the conventional form.

[First Embodiment] FIGS. 1 to 4 show a first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a tape cartridge for DAT.

In FIG. 1, the main body case 1 is made by screwing a plastic upper case 1a and a lower case 1b together in a lid-like shape.
It has hubs 3 and 3 around which the tape 2 is wound on the left and right sides. A pocket 6 for tape loading is recessed in the front center part of the main body case 1, and the tape 2 is led out to the front of the case via a pair of tape guides 7 provided on the left and right front ends of the pocket 6. Connected to both hubs 3.3. When loaded on the deck, the tape 2 is pulled out forward by the loading pin on the deck side through the pocket 6, and in this state, the tape 2 is separated from the tape guides 7 and 7.

The front and bottom of the pocket 6 are open, and the front side is opened and closed by the front lid 9 for protecting the tape and the bottom side is opened and closed by the shutter 10.

In FIG. 2, the shutter 10 is slidably supported only in the front-rear direction along the case bottom wall 4. To keep the bottom of the pocket 6 closed with the shutter 10 when not in use,
A torsion coil type spring between the lower case 1b and the shutter 10.
There are thirteen.

A pair of left and right locking means 15 is provided between the case bottom wall 4 and the shutter 10 in order to lock and hold the shutter 10 in the open position and the closed position.

In FIGS. 3 and 4, the locking means 15 includes a lock piece 16 provided at the left and right positions of the case bottom wall 4 and a shutter 10.
It is composed of engaging holes 17 provided at two front and rear positions on the left and right sides of and the spring 21 described later. Long holes 18 are formed in the front and rear of the case bottom wall 4 at positions on both sides of the pocket 6 toward the rear, and the lock pieces 16 are cantilevered forward from the rear end of the holes 18. There is. The lock piece 16 has an arm shape that is elastically deformed up and down with the continuous base end side as a fulcrum, and an engaging element 19 is provided at the front end thereof so as to project downward. The shutter 10 is locked and held in the open / closed 2 position by the engagement of the engagement element 19 with one of the engagement holes 17 and 17. A spring seat 20 is formed on the upper surface of the front end of the lock piece 16 so as to project therefrom.

In order to reinforce the engaging force between the engaging element 19 and the engaging hole 17, there is provided a spring 21 for urging the front surface of the front end of the lock piece 16 downward. This spring 21 is composed of a compression coil spring made of a metal wire, and the spring length H in the free state is almost the same as or slightly smaller than the space between the upper and lower inner surfaces of the upper and lower cases 1a and 1b.

In FIG. 3, arc-shaped spring receiving walls 22 are provided so as to face each other on both side walls near the front end of the hole 18 surrounding the lock piece 16. The spring 21 is received and supported by the spring receiving wall 22 and the spring seat 20 provided on the lock piece 16. That is, the mounting position of the spring 21 is set almost directly above the engaging element 19. At this assembled position, a support member 24 is provided so as to surround the outer surface of the spring 21 and to project upward together with the bottom wall 4.

The support member 24 is formed with side walls 25, 25 and a front wall 26 that continuously surround the left and right sides and the front of the spring 21 in a substantially C-shaped cross section. The left and right tape guides 7 and 7
A semi-circular tape guide rib 27 is laterally projected at the front corner of the side wall 25 facing the tape path connecting the hubs 3 and 3. In addition, retaining ribs 28 from the rear ends of both side walls 25
28 are projected to face each other. The facing distance between the both side walls 25, 25 is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the spring 21, and the retaining ribs 28, 25
The facing interval of 28 is set smaller than the outer diameter of the spring. Further, the vertical height h of the support member 24 is equal to the free length H of the spring 21.
Set to 1/2 or more. In the support member 24 on the right side of the drawing hub 3 facing the drawing, one side wall 25 overlaps with the mounting seat of the biasing spring 13 of the shutter 10 so that the front half thereof is notched.

In order to compressively deform the spring 21 mounted in the support member 24 to a predetermined length, a pressing piece 30 is provided so as to project downward from the inner surface of the upper case 1a. In FIG. 4, the pressing piece 30 is formed in a plate rib shape for the purpose of preventing sink marks at the time of molding, and has a pressing seat 31 and a wedge-shaped assembly guide piece 32 at the front and rear ends of its bottom.
Since the presser piece 30 enters the inside of the support member 24 in the assembled state, the presser piece 30 is used as the upper movement restricting member of the lock piece 16 by appropriately setting the size of the assembly guide piece 32 at the entry position. You can also

At the time of assembly, the spring 21 is dropped into the support member 24 from the opening side of the upper surface and temporarily assembled. In this temporarily assembled state, the spring
Most of the peripheral surface of 21 in the vertical direction is surrounded by a supporting member 24. Therefore, the spring 21 can maintain the standing posture without being displaced from the regular assembly position even when vibration or impact caused by the movement to the next process acts on the lower case 1b.

When the upper case 1a is covered with the lower case 1b in a lid-matching manner in the subsequent steps, the pressing piece 30 is brought into contact with the spring 21 which is in a free state, and the assembly guide piece 32 is moved inside the spring 21. Fit in. When the upper case 1a is pushed down in this state, the spring 21 is pressed and deformed and contracts to a predetermined length. At this time, when the upper case 1a is pushed down in a state of being inclined or laterally displaced with respect to the horizontal plane, the spring 21 receives an external force that is displaced in the radial direction, but the outside is surrounded by the support member 24, and the spring is
Since the upper and lower ends of the spring 21 are engaged and held by the spring seat 20 and the pressing seat 31, the mounting position and mounting posture of the spring 21 do not shift.

When mounting the spring 21 by dropping it with an automatic assembly device, the positioning of the lower case 1b is indispensable. For example, if the center of the spring 21 to be assembled with the support member 24 is misaligned, the spring 21 should be assembled securely. Can not be. In order to avoid such a defect, the spring 21 is attached to the retaining ribs 28, 28 of the support member 24.
It may be assembled from the opening 28A side. That is, the spring 21 held by the jig is moved from the rear side of the case toward the opening 28A, and the spring 21 is pushed while being flexibly deformed between the ribs 28 and 28. Therefore, the center of the spring 21 and the supporting member
Even if the center of 24 is misaligned, the spring 21 can be flexibly deformed to absorb the misalignment.

[Second Embodiment] FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.
24 is formed by a plurality of pin-shaped projections 24a. The distance between adjacent protrusions 24a is set to be smaller than the outer diameter of the spring 21. Thus, the support member 24 does not necessarily have to be formed by a continuous wall.

[Third Embodiment] FIG. 6 shows a third embodiment of the present invention. This is the foot 30
Is integrally formed on the upper end of the supporting member 24. The pressing piece 30 is formed so as to project from the center of the front wall 26 of the support member 24 toward the rear of the case, and has an E-shaped overall shape in a plan view. Reference numeral 34 in the drawing is a die-cutting hole. In this embodiment, the spring 21 compressed and deformed to a predetermined length is assembled to the support member 24.

[Another embodiment example]

The position where the support member 24 is formed is changed depending on the position where the spring is assembled, and may be located outside the upper periphery of the engagement element 19.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 4 show a first embodiment of a tape cartridge according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a plan view of the inside, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. The drawing is a plan view of the support member, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. FIG. 5 is a plan view of a supporting member showing a second embodiment of the tape cartridge according to the present invention. FIG. 6 is a vertical cross-sectional side view of essential parts showing a third embodiment of the tape cartridge according to the present invention. FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional side view of a main part of a conventional example. 1 …… Main body case, 4 …… Bottom wall, 6 …… Pocket, 10 …… Shutter, 16 …… Lock piece, 21 …… Spring, 24 …… Supporting member, 30
...... Presser piece.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Shigeru Tabata 1-188, Tora, Ibaraki-shi, Osaka Inside Hitachi Maxell Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-61-278091 (JP, A) 60-155064 (JP, U)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A shutter 10 for opening and closing a tape loading pocket 6 is mounted on the outer surface of a bottom wall 4 of a body case 1 so as to be slidable back and forth, and the shutter 10 is slid on the bottom wall 4 at a predetermined sliding position. A tape cartridge having a lock piece (16) for locking and holding the lock piece (16) and a spring (21) composed of a compression coil spring that presses and urges the lock piece (16) in a locking posture, which corresponds to the mounting position of the spring (21). A tape cartridge in which a support member (24) that surrounds the outer periphery of the spring (21) in a free state and supports and holds the spring (21) in a self-supporting manner is integrally projecting upward from the bottom wall (4) on the inner surface of the bottom wall (4). 2. The tape cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the support member 24 is formed of a continuous standing wall having a C-shaped cross section while avoiding the vertical movement region of the lock piece 16. 3. The tape cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the support member 24 is formed of a plurality of protrusions 24a surrounding the mounting portion of the spring 21 at small intervals.