JPH0745031A - Tape cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent grease from splashing due to rotating a rotary body and to prevent an error from occurring at the time of recording and reproducing. CONSTITUTION:A belt driving roller 9 and a rotary body receiving part 29 for guiding a belt guide roller, which are incorporated into the cartridge consisting of one pair of halves 1 and 2 are provided with an annular rib 30 for preventing grease 31 from splashing, so as to cover over the outer circumference of the belt driving roller 9 and a projecting part 19 of the belt guide roller.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data tape cartridge for recording various data, for example, and more particularly to a support structure for a rotating body such as a roller.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, as a data tape cartridge for recording various data, there is a Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-1437.
The one disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 7 has been proposed. In such a tape cartridge, a magnetic tape hung between a pair of tape reels in a cartridge formed by a flat base plate and a case whose lower portion is opened, and a drive for running the magnetic tape. It is configured by including a mechanism.

The magnetic tape is unwound from one tape reel rotatably supported on a base plate, and the cartridge body is supported by a pair of tape guide rollers rotatably supported on both front corners of the cartridge. The tape is made to run along the front side and finally wound up on the other tape reel.

The drive mechanism is wound around each of the tape reels with a belt as a drive source for running the magnetic tape, a belt drive roller for rotating the belt, and a predetermined tension applied to the belt. It is composed of a pair of belt guide rollers that come into contact with the magnetic tape.

The belt drive roller is rotatably provided between the pair of tape guide rollers, and is rotated by rolling contact with the drive roller of the recording / reproducing apparatus which faces the inside through the opening provided in the cartridge. It is done like this.

On the other hand, belt guide rollers are rotatably provided at both corners on the back side of the cartridge body.
The belt is brought into contact with the magnetic tape wound around each tape reel with a predetermined tension.

In the tape cartridge constructed as described above, when the tape cartridge is mounted in the recording / reproducing apparatus and is set in the recording / reproducing mode, the drive roller provided in the apparatus passes through the opening formed in the cartridge to the inside thereof. The belt drive roller is contacted with the belt drive roller to rotate the belt drive roller. By the rotation of the belt driving roller, the belt wound between the pair of belt guide rollers is rotated, the tape reel is rotated by the belt, and the magnetic tape wound around the tape reel is rotated. It will be sent from the delivery reel to the take-up reel.

[0008]

By the way, in the above tape cartridge, in order to make the rotation of the belt drive roller and the belt guide roller, which are the drive mechanism for running the magnetic tape, smooth, these belt drive rollers are used. A lubricant such as grease is supplied to the rotating portion of the belt guide roller.

For example, when the mounting portion of the belt driving roller is enlarged and shown in FIG. 6, a central hole 104 of the belt driving roller 103 which is rotatable about a support shaft 102 fixed to a base plate 101, This belt drive roller 1
Grease 107 is supplied to a portion of the upper half 105 that guides 03, which faces the belt-driving roller 103, and the annular-shaped rotor receiving portion 106 provided on the upper half 105.

Similarly, FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the belt guide roller mounting portion, showing a central hole 110 of a belt guide roller 109 which is rotatable about a support shaft 108 fixed to the base plate 101. An annular rotor receiving portion 111 provided on the upper half 105 for guiding the belt guide roller 109 and the belt guide roller 10
The grease 107 is supplied to the portion facing 9.

However, the belt driving roller 103 or the belt guide roller 109 and the rotary member receiving portions 109, 1
Since there is no regulation between 11 and 11, these rollers 1
The grease 107 is easily scattered by the rotation of 03 and 109, and there is a risk that the grease 107 adheres to the magnetic tape housed in the cartridge. If the grease 107 adheres to the magnetic tape, the information signal recorded at an angle cannot be read, which causes an error. In particular, as a recent trend is to increase the number of drives with high speed, the use of low-viscosity grease makes the dispersion of grease more intense.

Therefore, the present invention has been proposed in view of the above-mentioned conventional technical problems, and it is highly reliable in that the grease is prevented from scattering and no error occurs due to the adhesion of the grease to the magnetic tape. An object is to provide a tape cartridge.

[0013]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a cartridge comprising a pair of halves, and a support which is axially fixed to the inner wall surface of one of the halves toward the inside of the cartridge. A shaft and a rotating body that is rotatably supported about the support shaft and has a protrusion that protrudes in the axial direction from the tape body winding portion at the center of rotation, and guides the rotating body. A rotating body receiving portion provided on the inner wall surface of the other half opposite to the half provided with the support shaft so as to project inwardly of the cartridge, wherein the rotating body receiving portion is provided outside the protruding portion of the rotating body. It is characterized in that an annular rib covering the periphery is provided.

A tape cartridge according to a first aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the tip end portion of the annular rib is fitted into a circular concave portion provided in the rotating body.

[0015]

In the tape cartridge according to the present invention,
By covering the outer circumference of the protrusion provided in the center of the rotating body,
Since the ring-shaped rib is provided on the rotor receiving portion, the grease supplied between the rotor receiving portion and the rotor is prevented from scattering by the rib even when the rotor rotates. It Therefore, the grease does not adhere to the magnetic tape, and the error does not occur during recording and reproduction.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Specific embodiments to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. In the tape cartridge of this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a magnetic tape 4 for mainly recording data signals is run along the front surface of the cartridge 3 in a cartridge 3 composed of a pair of upper and lower halves 1 and 2. The tape running system and the tape drive system for running the magnetic tape 4 are built in.

The cartridge 3 has a lower half 1 formed as a plate-like body having a substantially rectangular shape in a plan view, and an upper half 2 formed as a case having one open, butted against each other, so that the inside thereof is formed. A space is formed that is large enough to accommodate the tape running system and the tape drive system. The lower half 1 is made of a metal plate such as aluminum. On the other hand, the upper half 2 is made of synthetic resin or the like and is formed by injection molding.

The tape running system is a pair for running the tape reel 5 for feeding, the tape reel 6 for winding, and the magnetic tape 4 fed from the tape reel 5 for feeding along the front surface of the cartridge. Tape guide rollers 7 and 8.

The pair of tape reels 5 and 6 are rotatably supported about a pair of reel shafts 5a and 6a which are axially fixed at a substantially central portion in the short side direction of the lower half 1 at a predetermined interval. ing. One of the tape reels 5 and 6 functions as a feed reel for feeding the magnetic tape 4 wound around the reel winding portion to the other tape reel 6. On the other hand, the other tape reel 6 functions as a take-up reel for winding the magnetic tape 4 delivered from the tape reel 5 that functions as the above-mentioned delivery reel.

The tape guide rollers 7 and 8 allow the magnetic tape 4 fed from the tape reel 5 functioning as a feeding reel to run along the front surface of the cartridge and then the other tape reel 6 functioning as a take-up reel. It is used to pass the tape to the front half of the cartridge, and is axially fixed to the lower half 1 at both corners on the front side of the cartridge.

On the other hand, the tape drive system is for running the magnetic tape 4 wound on the tape reel 5 on the payout side to the tape reel 6 on the take-up side, and comprises a belt drive roller 9 and a pair of belts. It is composed of three rotating bodies composed of the guide rollers 10 and 11, and an annular tape-shaped drive belt 12 which is wound around these rotating bodies.

The belt driving roller 9 is rotatable about a columnar support shaft 13 which is substantially centrally located between the pair of tape guide rollers 7 and 8 and is fixed to the lower half 1 on the front side of the cartridge. When the driving roller provided on the recording / reproducing apparatus (not shown) comes into contact with the driving roller, a driving force is applied to rotate the driving roller.

As shown in FIG. 3, the belt driving roller 9 has a cylindrical tape body winding portion 15 having a through hole 14 through which the support shaft 13 is inserted, and the tape body winding portion 15 is provided. The drive belt 12 is wound around the peripheral surface of the. Then, on the upper and lower end surfaces 15a and 15b in the axial direction of the tape body winding portion 15, concave portions 16 and 17 formed as circular blind holes for increasing the inertial force of the belt drive roller 9 are formed, respectively. Has been done. By forming these recesses 16 and 17, the weight of the belt driving roller 9 is reduced, and the inertial force is increased.
Stable high speed rotation is possible.

An annular roller abutting portion 18 that comes into contact with the driving roller of the recording / reproducing apparatus is provided on the outer peripheral edge of the tape body winding portion 15 on the upper end surface 15a side. The roller contact portion 18 is provided as a disk body formed so as to project outward from the outer peripheral surface of the tape body winding portion 15, so that the drive roller of the recording / reproducing apparatus makes rolling contact with the peripheral surface. It has become.

Further, at the center of rotation of the tape body winding portion 15, there are provided annular projections 19 and 20 projecting in the axial direction from the tape body winding portion 15. That is, the protrusions 19 and 20 are provided in the vicinity of the through hole 14 of the tape body winding portion 15 so as to project in the axial direction from the upper and lower end surfaces 15a and 15b of the tape body winding portion 15. . The center of rotation of the tape body winding portion 15 is made of a metal material, unlike the portion around which the drive belt 12 made of resin is wound, from the viewpoint of wear resistance.

On the inner wall surface 2a of the upper half 2 facing the support shaft 13 that rotatably supports the belt driving roller 9, a rotor receiving portion 29 that guides the belt driving roller 9 is provided. There is. The rotating body receiving portion 29
Is provided on the inner wall surface 2a of the upper half 2 so as to project inwardly of the cartridge as an annular projection.
The tip surface 29a is the protrusion 1 of the belt driving roller 9 described above.
The belt drive roller 9 is disposed so as to face the upper end surface 19a of the belt 9 with a minute gap T ₁ .

In this embodiment, the minute gap T ₁
Since grease 31 for smoothing the rotation of the belt drive roller 9 is supplied to the belt, the interval of the grease 31 as a supply portion is 0.2 mm or more, 0.
It is set to 8 mm or less.

Further, in the rotary member receiving portion 29, an annular rib 30 for preventing the grease 31 supplied to the minute gap from scattering is provided outside the protrusion 19 of the belt driving roller 9. It is provided so as to cover the periphery 19b. The rib 30 is provided so as to cover the entire protrusion 19 of the belt drive roller 9 in order to prevent the grease 31 from popping out due to the rotation of the belt drive roller 9.

In this embodiment, the tip surface 30 of the rib 30 is
a and the gap T between the upper end surface 15a of the belt drive roller 9
_{The value 2} is determined from the fact that the belt driving roller 9 can be smoothly rotated and the grease 31 is prevented from scattering, and is set to, for example, 0.1 mm or more. Therefore, even if the belt drive roller 9 rotates at a high speed, the ribs 30 prevent the grease 31 from scattering, and the grease does not adhere to the magnetic tape 4 housed in the cartridge 3.

On the other hand, the belt guide rollers 10 and 11
Is rotatably supported by cylindrical support shafts 21 and 22 that are axially fixed to the lower half 1 at both corners on the cartridge back side, and is driven across the belt drive roller 9. It is designed to be rotated by a belt 12.

The belt guide rollers 10 and 11 are
The belt driving roller 9 has basically the same configuration as that of the belt driving roller 9 except that the roller contact portion 18 is not provided. FIG. 5 shows one of the belt guide rollers 10, and the belt guide roller 10 has a cylindrical tape body winding portion 24 having a through hole 23 through which the support shaft 21 is inserted. The drive belt 12 is wound around the peripheral surface of the portion 24. Then, on the upper and lower end surfaces 24a and 24b of the tape body winding portion 24 in the axial direction, concave portions 25 and 26 formed as circular blind holes for increasing the inertial force of the belt guide roller 10 are formed, respectively. Has been done.

Further, at the center of rotation of the tape body winding portion 24, there are provided annular projections 27 and 28 projecting in the axial direction from the tape body winding portion 24. That is, the protrusions 27 and 28 are provided in the vicinity of the through hole 23 of the tape body winding portion 24 so as to project in the axial direction from the upper and lower end surfaces 24a and 24b of the tape body winding portion 24. .

Then, this belt guide roller belt 1
On the inner wall surface 2a of the upper half 2 facing the support shaft 21 that rotatably supports 0, a rotor receiving portion 32 that guides the belt guide roller 10 is provided. The rotating body receiving portion 32 has the same structure as the rotating body receiving portion 29 that guides the belt driving roller 9 described above. That is, the protrusion is formed on the inner wall surface 2a of the upper half 2 as an annular protrusion so as to protrude inward of the cartridge.
Its front end face 32a is opposed with respect to the belt guide rollers 10 to the upper end surface 27a of the protrusion 27 with a gap T ₃ of the minute of the belt guide rollers 10. The gap T ₃ here is 0.2 mm or more, which is the same as the relationship between the belt driving roller 9 and the rotating body receiving portion 29.
It is set to 0.8 mm or less.

Further, in the rotary member receiving portion 32, an annular rib 33 for preventing the grease 31 supplied to the minute gap T _{3 from} scattering is provided with a protrusion 27 of the belt guide roller 10. Is provided so as to cover the outer periphery 27b. The rib 33 is provided on the belt guide roller 1.
Since the grease 31 is prevented from jumping out due to the rotation of 0, it is provided so as to cover the entire protrusion 27 of the belt guide roller 10. The gap T ₄ between the tip end surface 33a of the rib 33 and the upper end surface 24a of the belt guide roller 10 is set to 0.1 mm or more, which is the same as the relationship between the belt drive roller 9 and the rotor receiving portion 29. There is.
Therefore, even if the belt guide roller 10 rotates at a high speed, the ribs 33 prevent the grease 31 from scattering and prevent the grease 31 from being attached to the magnetic tape 4 housed in the cartridge 3.

The drive belt 12 that is stretched over the belt drive roller 9 and the belt guide rollers 10 and 11 configured as described above is an annular endless belt having elasticity. , 11
You can hang it with a certain tension. A part of the drive belt 12 hung between the belt drive roller 9 and one of the belt guide rollers 10 is
The magnetic tape 4 wound around the one tape reel 6 that functions as a take-up reel is in contact with the peripheral surface of the magnetic tape 4. Similarly, a part of the drive belt 12 hung between the belt drive roller 9 and the other belt guide roller 11 is attached to the peripheral surface of the magnetic tape 4 wound around the other tape reel 5 functioning as a feeding reel. It is designed to come into contact.

In addition to the tape running system and the tape drive system, a mirror 34 for detecting the tape end of the magnetic tape 4 is provided in the cartridge 3, and a recording provided in the recording / reproducing apparatus at the time of recording / reproducing. An opening / closing door 35 for allowing the reproducing head to face the cartridge 3 is provided rotatably around a fulcrum pin 36. Upper half 2
The belt drive roller 9 has an opening 37 through which the drive roller provided in the recording / reproducing device for rotating the belt drive roller 9 comes into contact with the inside of the cartridge 3.

When the tape cartridge constructed as described above is mounted in the recording / reproducing apparatus, the opening / closing door 35 is moved to the arrow X in FIG. 1 by the opening means incorporated in the recording / reproducing apparatus.
It is rotated in the direction shown by. Then, the recording / reproducing head of the recording / reproducing apparatus faces the inside of the cartridge 3, and the magnetic gap portion contacts the magnetic tape 4. At the same time, the drive roller of the recording / reproducing apparatus faces the inside of the cartridge 3 through the opening 37 of the upper half 2 and comes into rolling contact with the roller contact portion 18 of the belt drive roller 9 to rotate the belt drive roller 9. Let

Then, the drive belt 12 is rotated by the rotation of the belt drive roller 9, for example, in the direction indicated by arrow A in FIG. At this time, the drive belt 12 is in contact with the outer circumference of the magnetic tape 4 wound around the tape reels 5 and 6 in a state in which a strong tension is applied. 5 and 6 are rotated. As a result, the magnetic tape 4 is unwound from the unwinding side tape reel 5, travels along the front surface of the cartridge, and is finally wound up onto the winding side tape reel 6.

At this time, the belt drive roller 9 and the belt guide rollers 10 and 11 rotate together, but the rotating body receiving portions 29 and 32 for guiding the belt drive roller 9 and the belt guide rollers 10 and 11 are provided with grease 31. Since the ribs 30 and 33 for preventing scattering are provided, the grease 31 does not scatter in the cartridge 3 and the adhesion of the grease 31 to the magnetic tape 4 is prevented. As a result, errors during recording / reproduction can be prevented.

The specific embodiments to which the present invention is applied have been described above, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, a circle fitted to the recess 16 provided in the belt drive roller 9 at the tip of the rib 30 of the rotary body receiving portion 29 that guides the belt drive roller 9 shown in FIG. An annular fitting protrusion 38 may be provided. By providing the fitting protrusion 38, it is possible to reliably prevent the grease 31 from scattering together with the rib 30.

[0041]

As is apparent from the above description, in the tape cartridge of the present invention, the tape cartridge of the present invention has a rotary member receiving portion for guiding a rotary member such as a belt driving roller and a belt guide roller, and a central portion of the rotary member. Since the annular rib that covers the outer periphery of the provided protrusion is formed, the grease supplied between the rotor receiving portion and the rotor is prevented from scattering even if the rotor rotates at high speed. Can be prevented. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the grease from adhering to the magnetic tape, and it is possible to eliminate the occurrence of errors during recording and reproduction.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of a tape cartridge to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state in which the upper half of the tape cartridge to which the present invention is applied is removed.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of a tape cartridge to which the present invention is applied, showing an enlarged portion where a belt drive roller is attached.

FIG. 4 shows another example of the rotary body receiving portion that guides the belt drive roller, and is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main portion showing a state where the belt drive roller is guided by the rotary body receiving portion.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of an essential part showing a belt guide roller mounting portion in a tape cartridge to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of an essential part showing a belt drive roller mounting portion of a conventional tape cartridge in an enlarged manner.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of an essential part showing a belt guide roller mounting portion in a conventional tape cartridge in an enlarged manner.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Lower half 2 ... Upper half 3 ... Cartridge 4 ... Magnetic tape 5, 6 ... Tape reel 9 ... Belt drive roller 10, 11 ... Belt guide roller 13, 21 , 22 ... Spindle 15, 24 ... Tape body winding portion 18 ... Roller contact portion 29, 32 ... Rotating body receiving portion 30, 33 ... Rib 38 ... Fitting protrusion

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A cartridge comprising a pair of halves, a support shaft axially fixed to the inner wall surface of one of the halves toward the inside of the cartridge, and rotatably supported around the support shaft. A rotating body having a protrusion projecting in the axial direction from the tape body winding portion in the central portion, and an inner wall surface of the other half that guides the rotating body and opposes the half on which the support shaft is provided. A rotating body receiving portion provided so as to project inward of the cartridge, wherein the rotating body receiving portion is provided with an annular rib that covers an outer periphery of the protruding portion of the rotating body. Tape cartridge. 2. The tape cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a tip end portion of the annular rib is fitted in a circular concave portion provided in the rotating body.