JPH087923B2 - Cassette loader device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial field of application) The present invention is used in a magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus such as a VTR (video tape recorder), in particular, a cassette loader device for automatically replacing a tape cassette containing a magnetic tape. Regarding

(Prior Art) A device that automatically inserts and ejects a cassette containing a magnetic tape into a magnetic recording / reproducing device such as a VTR or DAT so that dubbing can be performed efficiently in a short time. It is proposed as Kaisho 58-153264.

This equipment is equipped with a cassette loader device (cassette autochanger) on the front of the VTR deck unit, and this cassette loader device automatically inserts the tape cassette one by one into the cassette holder in the deck unit and ejects the used cassette. It was done like this.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) In the above device, the ejected tape cassette is put into the cassette receiver below the cassette autochanger.
Therefore, the thickness of the cassette loader device is increased in the vertical direction by the mounting space of the cassette receiver to increase the size.

In addition, since the cassette receiver is located at the lower front, it is difficult to stack the decks in the vertical direction, and thus it may be necessary to have a rack rack that holds the decks apart from each other to some extent. If the decks of the stand are arranged in a plane, a vast installation space is required.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to devise a tape cassette ejecting means to enable stacking of decks and to enable compact arrangement of a plurality of decks.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is characterized in that a cassette loader device is provided with a cassette discharging mechanism for discharging a used tape cassette to the side of the cassette loader device.

Further, the cassette ejection mechanism is characterized by including a turn mechanism for horizontally rotating the ejected tape cassette or a shooter portion for sliding down the tape cassette.

(Operation) The cassette ejecting mechanism ejects the used tape cassette sideways and, if necessary, horizontally rotates this tape cassette so that its short side faces the front surface, or tilts the tape cassette at the shooter part. Moreover, the tail portion of the tape cassette in the traveling direction is projected into the air to facilitate gripping.

(Example) Below, the Example of this invention is described based on an accompanying drawing.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a cassette discharging mechanism of a cassette loader device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the discharging mechanism.
FIG. 3 is a side view of the discharging mechanism. Before the description of the cassette ejection mechanism, the overall configuration of the cassette loader device will be described with reference to FIG. 6 and subsequent figures.

FIG. 6 is an overall side view of a VTR device as a magnetic recording / reproducing device in which the cassette loader device according to the present invention is assembled.
FIG. 8 is a plan view of the same VTR device, FIG. 8 is a front view in which the guide plates 103 of the middle and lower cassette loader devices 100 of the same VTR device are omitted, and FIG. 12 is a side view of the cassette loader device 100. The apparatus comprises an apparatus main body 1 and a cassette loader device 100 detachably attached to the front surface of the apparatus main body 1.

The apparatus main body 1 controls a signal processing unit 3 and each unit in which a recording signal processing board and a reproduction signal processing board for video / audio signals and the like are selectively replaced and used in a portion near one side in a box-shaped cabinet 2. The control unit 4 is disposed, and the VTR deck units 5 are vertically stacked in three stages on the sides of the signal processing unit 3 and the control unit 4. Further, the cassette loader device 100 corresponding to each deck unit 5 is similarly provided on the front surface of each deck unit 5 in three stages in the vertical direction.

This cassette loader device 100 forms a right arm portion 100a and a left arm portion 100b which bulge to the front side, and these arm portions 100a, 100b
The left and right flaps 101a and 101b are arranged in the space between them, and the right arm 1
A lamp 102 indicating that the deck unit 5 is being driven is attached to the front surface of 00a, a discharge tray 130 is attached to the outside from the left arm portion 100b, and a front side is provided between the left and right arm portions 100a and 100b. A guide plate 103 standing up diagonally is provided, and guide portions 104 are formed on the back sides of the front surfaces of the left and right arm portions 100a, 100b as shown in FIG. 12, and further arm portions 100a, 100b.
Notches 105 are formed on the inner upper edge and lower edge of the front surface of the cassette loading device, and when the cassette loader devices 100 are stacked, the upper and lower cassette loader devices, that is, the first stage cassette loader device and the cassette loader device 2
Notch 105,10 of the cassette loader of the second stage, or the cassette loader of the second stage and the cassette loader of the third stage
The tape cassette insertion portion 108 is formed between the five parts to guide the cassette side portion when the tape cassette C is inserted. When the tape cassette C is inserted along the notches 105 and 105, the tape cassette C is guided by the guide plate 103 and the guide portion 104 and slides on the flaps 101a and 101b as shown in FIG. In this way, whether or not the tape cassette C has entered the predetermined position on the flaps 101a and 101b is determined by the sensor 106 (12th unit) provided in the cassette loader device 100.
(Shown in the figure).

The cassette loader device 100 and the control unit 4 of the device body 1
And are connected by a cord 107.

Next, an outline of the operation of the above VTR device is shown in FIGS.
It will be described with reference to the drawings. Here, FIGS. 9 (A) to 9 (E)
Is a schematic front view showing a process until the standby tape cassette is set in the cassette holder, and FIGS. 10A to 10E show a process in which the standby tape cassette moves to the recording / reproducing position. 11A to 11E are schematic front views showing a process in which the tape cassette returned to the cassette loader device moves onto the discharge tray.

First, as shown in FIGS. 9A and 10A, when the tape cassette C is set on the left and right flaps 101a and 101b of the cassette loader device 100 and is in the standby state, the starting point is From this state, one flap 101b first rotates downward as shown in FIG. 9 (B), and then the other flap 101a rotates with a delay as shown in FIG. 9 (C). As a result, one side of the tape cassette C falls into the cassette holder 10 before the other side, as shown in FIGS. 9 (D) and (E) and FIGS. 10 (B) and (C). By doing so, the tape cassette C is displaced toward the side where it is dropped first, and the side surface of the tape cassette C rises to the left rising portion 12 of the cassette holder 10.
Since it comes into contact with, the horizontal positioning is accurately performed. The tape cassette C is positioned in the front-rear direction by contacting the rear end of the tape cassette C when the tape cassette C falls on the tapered protrusion 11 provided at the rear end (left side in FIG. 10) of the cassette holder 10. The front of the cassette holder 10 (right side in Fig. 10)
This is done by applying the positioning piece 13 of.

Next, as shown in FIG. 10 (D), the cassette holder 10 is mounted on the deck unit 5 together with the tray 20 supporting the cassette holder 10.
Then, as shown in FIG. 10 (E), the cassette holder 10 holding the tape cassette C is lowered to the recording / reproducing position for recording or reproducing.

When the recording or reproducing is completed, the tape cassette C is transferred through the reverse process as shown in FIG. 11 (A).
The cassette loader device 10 with the
Return to 0. After that, as shown in FIG. 11 (B), one side of the tape cassette C is lifted from the cassette holder 10 by the lifting arm 162, and then the traveling body 120 is moved to FIG. 11 (C).
By moving laterally as shown in (F),
Eject tray 130 for recording or reproducing tape cassette C
A series of operations are completed by pushing upward.

In FIG. 12, 24 is a hole provided on the cassette holder 10 side, and 25 is a protrusion inserted into this hole 24.

Next, the cassette ejection mechanism according to the present invention provided in the cassette loader device 100 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. As described above, FIG. 1 is a front view showing the cassette discharging mechanism of the cassette loader device, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the discharging mechanism, and FIG. 3 is a side view of the discharging mechanism.

A rail 150 is installed in the cassette loader device 100 in the left-right direction, and the traveling body 120 is slidably mounted on the rail 150 via rollers 151. A timing belt (not shown) that travels in parallel with the rail 150 by a motor 143 is arranged, the traveling body 120 is fixed to the timing belt, and the traveling body 12 is driven by the motor 143.
Move 0 back and forth. A lever 121 for pushing out one side of the tape cassette C, a detection piece 123 detected by a sensor 122, and an arm 124 are attached to the traveling body 120.

On the other hand, a shaft 160 is arranged near the inside of the left arm 100b of the cassette loader device 100, the lower end of a lever 161 is rotatably supported by the shaft 160, and the lower end of the lever 161 is provided with a push-up arm 162. The base end portion is fixedly attached, and the upper end portion of the lever 161 and the lever 163 rotatably arranged near the upper inner side of the right arm portion 100a of the cassette loader device 100 are wire rods 164 such as a piano wire.
And the push-up arm 162 is further urged upward by a spring (not shown).

Thus, when the traveling body 120 is at the right end, that is, in the standby position as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the arm 1 of the traveling body 120 is
The lever 163 is pulled to the right side against the elastic force of the spring by 24, and the lever 161 and the push-up arm 162 are also in the solid line position in the figure.

From this state, the tape cassette C, which has been recorded or reproduced, is placed on the cassette holder 10 and the cassette loader device 100
When the sensor detects that it has been returned to the inside,
143 is driven to move the traveling body 120 to the left in the figure. Then, the pulling state of the lever 163 is loosened, and the pushing-up arm 162 is flipped upward by the elastic force of the spring as shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 1, lifting one side of the tape cassette C from the cassette holder 10 and To be removable. At this point, the running vehicle 120 is still
Lever 121 is not in contact with the tape cassette C.

Then, when the traveling body 120 further moves to the left, the lever 121 abuts against the tape cassette C and pushes it to the left, and the tape cassette C gets over the cassette holder 10 and the bank 131 of the discharge tray 130, and the discharge tray. Send out on 130.

After that, the traveling body 120 returns to the original position again. If the sensor 122 detects this, the flap 101
The a and 101b are swung downward, and the new tape cassette C that has been waiting is sent into the deck unit 5 together with the cassette holder 10.

Incidentally, when the tape cassette C is lifted by the push-up arm 162, the tape cassette C is pulled out slightly to the front side so as to prevent interference with other mechanisms, as shown in FIG. A section 170 is provided.

In addition, the bank portion 131 is attached to the loader side end of the discharge tray 130.
The bank portion 131 reliably prevents the tape cassette discharged onto the discharge tray 130 from returning to the cassette loader device 100 side for some reason.

Further, when the next tape cassette is ejected by the ejection mechanism while the cassette ejected on the ejection tray 130 is still present, the previous ejection cassette on the ejection tray 130 drops, so that the ejection cassette on the ejection tray 130 is ejected. The presence / absence of a tape cassette is detected by the sensor 132, and when there is no tape cassette, the ejection operation of the next tape cassette is performed, and when it is present, the ejection operation of the tape cassette is stopped.

Further, on the discharge tray 130, the guide convex portion 133 shown in FIG.
Is formed, and this guide convex portion 133 ejects the tape cassette straight and laterally.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, 144 is a flap 101a, 101b.
A shaft for driving the, 147 is a rotating disc fixed to the shaft 144,
Reference numeral 148 is a hole formed in the rotating disk 147, and 149 is a sensor for detecting the hole 148.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of another embodiment of FIG.
Is equipped with a turn mechanism 231. This turn mechanism 231
Indicates that the used tape cassette C discharged from the right to the left in the figure is rotated leftward in a plane as indicated by an imaginary line → an imaginary line. For example, a curved guide ridge 232 is suitable.

That is, the used tape cassette C is the traveling body 120.
Then, only that one corner (upper right corner in FIG. 2) is pressed. Therefore, the tape cassette C is always subjected to a counterclockwise couple in a plan view, and the curved guide ridges 232 cooperate with each other, so that the tape cassette C ejected in the lateral direction is rotated to the left. The side C1 side faces toward you (downward in Fig. 4).

Thereby, the operator can easily grasp the short side C1 and the workability is improved.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing still another embodiment of the cassette ejection mechanism, and the ejection tray 330 has an inclination angle of 30 to 6 on the left side of the drawing.
Shooter part 331 and its tip (left end in the figure) specified at 0 °
A stopper portion 332 is formed on the shooter portion 331.
Is more than half the length of the tape cassette C.

Accordingly, the short side C1 on the front side of the ejected tape cassette C slides down along the shooter portion 331, is stopped by the stopper portion 332, and the tail portion C2 floats in the air. The operator can easily collect the tape cassette C by putting his / her finger on the tail C2.

(Advantages of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, the used tape cassette is discharged laterally, so that the cassette loader device can be made thin and a space is required below the cassette insertion opening on the deck side. Since it does not, it is possible to stack a large number of decks on top of each other, thus significantly reducing the footprint of the decks.

Further, by attaching the turn mechanism or the shooter portion to the cassette ejecting mechanism, the work of collecting the tape cassette is further facilitated, and the usefulness of the cassette loader device is enhanced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a cassette ejecting mechanism of a cassette loader device, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the ejecting mechanism, FIG. 3 is a side view of the ejecting mechanism, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are ejecting tape cassettes. FIG. 6 is a plan view and a front view showing another embodiment of the tray, FIG. 6 is a side view of a magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus assembled with the cassette loader device according to the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a plan view of the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus. FIG. 8 is a front view of the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus, and FIGS. 9 (A) to 9 (E) are schematic front views showing a process until the standby tape cassette of the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus is set in the cassette holder. 10 (A) to (E) are schematic side views showing a process in which the standby tape cassette of the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus moves to the recording / reproducing position, and FIGS. 11 (A) to (F) are cassette loaders. The tape cassette returned to the device moves to the output tray Schematic front view showing the process of
FIG. 12 is a side view of the cassette loader device. 1 ... Device body, 100 ... Cassette loader device, 130, 20,
330 ... Ejection tray, 231 ... Turn mechanism, 331 ... Shooter section, C ... Tape cassette, C1 ... Front edge, C2 ...
…tail.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A cassette loader device mounted on the front surface of a main body of a device for automatically supplying and ejecting a tape cassette to and from a main body of a magnetic recording / reproducing device, wherein the cassette loader device is attached to the cassette loader device. By stacking the main bodies, a cassette insertion portion capable of supplying the tape cassette is formed between the cassette loader devices, and the cassette loader device is provided inside a cassette holder that is horizontally pulled out from the front surface of the main body of the device. A cassette loader comprising a cassette discharge mechanism for discharging a used tape cassette to the side of the cassette loader device so as to be orthogonal to the drawing direction. 2. The cassette ejecting mechanism includes a turn mechanism for horizontally rotating a used tape cassette ejected beside the cassette loader device, and a short side of the tape cassette is exposed to a front side of the cassette loader device. The cassette loader device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The cassette ejecting mechanism includes a shooter portion that slides down a used tape cassette ejected beside the cassette loader device, and the length of the shooter portion is less than the length of the tape cassette. The cassette loader device according to claim 1, wherein: