JPH0853177A - Disk storing tray and diskcase - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To solve the trouble caused by a handle which may block the horizontal movement of a disk when taken in or out of a case body by a method wherein, when a tray is pulled part way out, the part of the tray projecting from the case body is allowed to bend downwards by a hinge part. CONSTITUTION:A hinge part 9 is formed in a tray 2 for storing a disk D by providing a straight, thin-wall part at its intermediate portion across its entire width and, when the tray is pulled part way out, its first half part 2c is allowed to bend downwards by the hinge part 9.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a disk storage tray for storing disks such as floppy disks, compact disks, CD-ROMs, laser disks and the like, and a disk case incorporating the tray.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a tray (drawer) for accommodating discs one by one, and a disc case in which the trays are stacked in a plurality of upper and lower stages in a case main body so that they can be freely taken in and out have been known.

In this known disc case, vertically adjacent trays are interlockingly connected to each other so that all trays can be simultaneously taken in and out.

In this case, if all the trays are pulled out by the same amount, it becomes extremely difficult to take in and out the discs. Therefore, the tray strokes are made different so that the trays are pulled out stepwise.

[0005]

However, according to this known disc case, even if each tray is pulled out in a stepwise manner, each disc is in a state in which only its front end is seen from the tray. It was necessary to push the part with fingers and slide it forward, and at the time of storage, it was necessary to pinch the front end of the disc with the fingertips and push it into the tray.

For this reason, taking in and out (especially taking out) of the disk is troublesome, and there is a possibility that the disk surface is damaged by the taking in and out.

Further, since all the trays are put in and taken out at the same time, the center of gravity of the case moves largely back and forth in the pulled-out state and the pushed-in state. Therefore, the weight of the case body must be increased so that the case does not fall forward in the pulled-out state, and there is a drawback that the entire case becomes heavy.

As a measure for improving this point, it is conceivable that each tray is independently taken in and out.

However, in the case of adopting this structure, a handle is required at the front end for each tray for the operation of taking in and out. Moreover, this handle must be provided so as to project upward in consideration of the operability of the lower one.

As a result, the handle becomes an obstacle so that the disc cannot be slid back and forth in a horizontal position to be taken in and out, and the disc must be tilted forward and backward until it comes off the handle. For this reason, the space in the vertical direction that should be secured for one disk becomes large, and the disk case becomes large.

Therefore, the present invention provides a disc storage tray and a disc case in which the handle does not interfere with horizontal loading and unloading of the disc.

[0012]

According to a first aspect of the invention (disc storage tray), there is provided a disc storage tray which can be inserted into and removed from a case body of a disc case in which a plurality of discs are stored, and which is a front end. In addition, a hinge portion is provided at a portion which is provided with a handle and which is protruded to the outside of the case main body so that the entire portion can be bent downward.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the structure of the first aspect, the entire tray is formed of plastic, and a linear thin portion over the entire width of the tray is provided to form a hinge portion.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the configuration of the second aspect, the weight of the front portion of the hinge portion is opposed to the weight of the front portion of the hinge portion so that the front portion of the hinge portion bends downward due to the weight of the hinge portion when pulled out. The restoring force of the hinge part is set.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention (disc case), the disc housing tray according to any one of the first to third aspects is provided in the case body so as to be vertically movable in a plurality of stages.

[0016]

According to the above construction, the portion of the tray that projects outside the case body in the pulled-out state is bent downward by the hinge portion, so that the handle at the front end of the tray does not interfere with horizontal loading and unloading of the disc. Therefore, an extra vertical space for tilting the disc forward and upward is not required, so that the case can be downsized.

Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, since the hinge portion can be formed at the same time when the plastic tray is molded, the manufacturing is easy and the cost is low. Moreover, since the hinge portion does not project in the tray thickness direction, the tray thickness can be minimized.

Further, according to the third aspect of the present invention, since the projecting portion naturally bends downward when the tray is pulled out, it is not necessary to intentionally bend the projecting portion. For this reason, the loading / unloading operation of the disc becomes easier.

[0019]

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

In this embodiment, a floppy disk, a compact disk, a CD-, which is usually called a P case, is used.
An example is applied to a disk case (hereinafter referred to as a unit case) configured by stacking plastic single flat case A for accommodating one disk D such as a ROM and a laser disk in a plurality of upper and lower stages. .

When the individual case A is carried and used alone, as shown in FIG. 4, it is provided with a base 1 constituting the case body of the unit case and slidable (withdrawal) on the base 1. Further, it is composed of a disc storage tray 2 and a plate-like lid (usually formed transparent) 3. At the time of assembling the unit cases, the lids 3 are removed except for the uppermost single case A, and the bases 1 are stacked in a state of being engaged and coupled with each other.

The base 1 of the single case A has rising walls 1a, 1a, 1 which are vertical to the left and right sides and the rear side as shown in FIG.
b, and in the central portion of the rear rising wall 1b, a dovetail-shaped rear engaging projection 4 is provided on the upper surface side, and a dovetail-shaped rear engaging concave portion 5 (see FIG. 3) is provided on the lower surface side. During stacking, the rear engagement protrusions 4 and the rear engagement recesses 5 that are vertically adjacent to each other are engaged with each other to connect the rear bases.

Further, front engaging protrusions 6 are provided on the upper surface side and front engaging recesses 7 are provided on the lower surface side at the front ends of the rising walls 1a, 1a on the left and right sides, respectively. The front engagement protrusion 6 and the front engagement recess 7 are engaged with each other in the vertical direction.

Here, as shown in FIG. 6, the front engaging projection 6
And semi-spherical protrusions 6a, 7a that engage in a vertically meshed manner are provided on the mutually engaging surfaces of the front side engaging concave portion 7, and the front portion of the base is connected by this engaging portion.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a tray stopper 8 is provided on the inner surface of the front end of the rising walls 1a, 1a so as to project therefrom.

The tray 2 is provided with vertical rising walls 2a, 2a, 2b on the rear half of both the left and right sides, and on the rear side, and when it is pulled out,
As shown in FIG. 5, the front end surfaces of the left and right upright walls 2a, 2a contact the tray stopper 8 to restrict the withdrawal stroke. In this maximum pulled-out state, substantially the front half of the tray 2 projects out of the base 1.

The tray 2 has a hinge portion 9 formed by providing a linear thin-walled portion over the entire width at an intermediate portion in the front-rear direction, and the hinge portion 9 projects out of the base 1 in a pulled-out state. The tray front half 2c is configured to be bendable with respect to the rear half.

Here, when the tray 2 is pulled out, the weight of the front half portion 2c of the tray and the weight of the front half portion 2c of the tray are naturally bent so that the front half portion 2c of the tray naturally bends downward as shown by phantom lines in FIGS. The restoring force (determined by the plastic material, the thickness of the hinge portion 9, etc.) of the hinge portion 9 against the own weight is set.

At the front end of the tray 2, there is provided a handle 10 for taking in and out.

The handle 10 is formed in an inverted L shape consisting of a vertical portion and a horizontal portion, and the handle 10 prevents the disc D from falling off forward.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 7, a small protrusion 11 is provided on the outer surface of the front end portion of the tray 2, and the small protrusions 11 are provided as shown in FIGS.
As shown in, when the tray 2 is pushed in, the small projection 11
Rides over the tray stopper 8 of the base 1 and is locked to the rear side. This prevents the tray 2 from unexpectedly slipping forward.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, the lid 3 has a rear notch 12 which engages with the rear engaging projection 4 of the base 1, a front notch on both the left and right sides, at the front center. Front notches 13 that engage with the engagement protrusions 6 are provided.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, this front side notch 1
The engaging projection 14 that engages with the lower side of the engaging projection 6a of the projecting piece 6 is provided on the surface of the front engaging projection piece 6 that contacts the back surface of the projecting piece 6, and the lid 3 is connected to the base 1 by these. .

According to this structure, when the tray 2 is pulled out from the single case A or the unit case, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, since the tray 2 is bent downward by the hinge portion 9 and the handle 10 is located below the disc D, the disc D can be slid forward and taken out in a horizontal posture.

Similarly, when the disc D is stored, the handle 10 does not obstruct the same and the disc D can be horizontally inserted into the tray 2.

That is, since it is not necessary to tilt the disc D forward and backward while taking in and out the tray independently, the space in the vertical direction to be secured for one disc is the thickness of the disc D + the thickness of the tray 2. It can be as small as possible.

In the above embodiment, the restoring force of the hinge portion 9 is set so that the tray front half portion 2c naturally bends downward when the tray 2 is pulled out. The tray front half portion 2c may not be bent when it is only pulled out. In this case, when loading / unloading the disc, the first half of the tray 2
Press c down by hand.

As another means for forming the hinge portion 9,
The front half portion 2c and the rear half portion may be formed separately, and these may be adhesively connected by a flexible and deformable sheet material such as rubber or soft plastic, and this sheet material may be formed as a hinge so as to be bendable.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the unit case described in the above embodiment, but can be applied to a general disc case in which the case body is composed of the top, bottom plate, back plate and both side plates.

[0040]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the portion projecting outside the case body in the pulled-out state is bent downward by the hinge portion, the handle at the front end of the tray does not interfere with horizontal loading / unloading of the disc.

Therefore, an extra vertical space for tilting the disc forward and upward until it is removed from the handle is unnecessary, so that the case can be made compact and lightweight.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the hinge portion can be formed at the same time when the plastic tray is formed, the manufacturing is easy and the cost is low. Moreover, since the hinge portion does not project in the tray thickness direction, the tray thickness can be minimized.

Further, according to the third aspect of the present invention, since the protruding portion naturally bends downward in the tray pulled-out state, it is not necessary to intentionally bend the protruding portion. For this reason, the loading / unloading operation of the disc becomes easier.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a disk case according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the case.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the case.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a single-piece case that constitutes the case.

5 is a sectional view taken along line VV of FIG.

6 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line VI-VI of FIG.

FIG. 7A is a partial plan view of the same case at the final stage of pushing in the tray, and FIG. 7B is a partial plan view of the same pushing state.

[Explanation of symbols]

A Single case that constitutes the disk case (unit case) 1 Base of the single case 2 Disk storage tray 2c Tray front half that protrudes outside when the same tray is pulled out 3 Lid 9 Hinge

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A disc storage tray, which is provided in a case body of a disc case that accommodates a plurality of discs so as to be freely inserted into and removed from the case body, and has a handle at its front end and projects outside the case body in a pulled-out state. A tray for storing a disk, wherein a hinge portion that allows the entire portion to be bent downward is provided in the portion to be stored. 2. The disk storage tray according to claim 1, wherein the entire tray is formed of plastic, and a linear thin portion extending over the entire width of the tray is provided to form a hinge portion. 3. The weight of the front portion of the hinge portion and the restoring force of the hinge portion against the own weight are set so that the front portion of the hinge portion is bent downward by its own weight when pulled out. The disc storage tray according to claim 2. 4. A disk case, wherein the disk storage tray according to claim 1 is provided in a case body so as to be freely inserted and removed in a plurality of upper and lower stages.