JPH10106214A - Disc cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a disc cassette which can surely detect such an incorrect state that a shutter spring comes out of the retaining trench when it has occurred. SOLUTION: An upper case element is put on a lower case element so as to hold a recording disc between them and a slider and a shutter plate which open/close the window parts of the respective cases are attached to constitute a disc cassette. A shutter spring is provided between the slider and the corner part of a case unit to urge the slider in the direction of closing the window parts. A retaining trench into which the bent part 22c of the shutter spring is inserted and a guide rib 52 and a locking trench 44 which guide and lock the bent part 22c coming out of the retaining trench are provided in a retaining part with which the case side end of the shutter spring is retained. By restricting the shaking of the shutter spring whose bent part 22c comes out of the retaining trench, the defective attachment can be detected easily and securely.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a disk cassette containing various types of recording disks such as magnetic disks.
More specifically, the present invention relates to a shutter spring mounting structure for urging a shutter provided on a disk cassette.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a disk cassette of this kind, two upper and lower case bodies called a shell are overlapped and integrated, so that a recording disk is sandwiched between the case bodies and rotatable. A housed structure is provided. In this disc cassette, a window for recording and reproduction is formed in the case body, and a shutter for closing the window is provided.

When recording and reproducing a recording disk by mounting the disk cassette in a disk drive, a shutter on the disk drive is used to expose a recording surface of the recording disk from a window by a mechanism on the disk drive. Then, recording and reproduction are performed. Also, by removing the disk cassette from the disk drive device,
The shutter is moved by a shutter spring provided on the disk cassette to close the window.

A shutter spring for returning the shutter is a torsion coil spring, one end of which is locked to the shutter side and the other end of which is locked to one corner of the disk cassette. It is designed to bend and stretch with. That is, when opening the window portion, the shutter spring is bent in a direction in which both ends of the spring approach each other by forcibly sliding the shutter toward the corner portion side, and when closing the window portion, the spring is closed. The shutter spring extends in a direction in which both ends of the shutter are separated from each other, and moves the shutter toward the center of the case.

[0005] Both ends of the shutter spring are bent in an L-shape, the ends locked to the shutter side are locked to locking holes formed in a shutter plate or the like, and the ends on the case side are connected to the aforementioned corners. It is locked in a locking groove between ribs provided in the portion.
FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a conventional example of a locking groove for a shutter spring provided in a corner portion of such a case. This figure 5
Shows a right-side corner portion 4 of a front edge of one of the two case bodies 2 and is not shown in the drawing, but a slider provided with a shutter plate is formed on the case body 2. The case body 2 is guided by being engaged with the shutter slide groove 2 </ b> A, and slides along the front edge of the case body 2 in the arrow Y direction.

The corner portion 4 has a convex portion 4A projecting forward from the front edge of the case body 2 to limit the range of movement of the shutter. A rib 4a provided on the convex portion 4A, A locking groove 8 for locking the bent portion 6a of the shutter spring 6 is formed between the rib 4b and the rib 4b provided on the inner side of the shutter spring 4. The locking groove 8 is formed in a direction along the trajectory of the bent portion 6a when the shutter spring 6 is bent and stretched in the locking groove 8, so that the bent portion 6a can be guided smoothly. The rib 4b is formed so as to avoid the shutter slide groove 2A so as not to interfere with the movement of the slider.

[0007]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, there are cases where the bent portion 6a cannot be properly locked in the locking groove 8 when the shutter spring 6 is mounted. Further, the bent portion 6a may come off from the locking groove 8 because the shutter spring 6 once properly mounted receives a load in a subsequent manufacturing process, for example, in a direction indicated by an arrow Z in FIG. In such a case, the bent portion 6a may move from the proper mounting state shown by the solid line in FIG. 5 to the back side of the rib 4b as shown by the broken line.

If the shutter cannot operate in such a state, the shutter spring 6 can be determined to be in an improper state at that point, and can be determined to be defective. However, when the bent portion 6a is temporarily stabilized on the back side of the rib 4b, the shutter spring 6 is held in a swingable state, and there is a case where it cannot be determined in the final inspection process.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the shutter spring 6 detached from the locking groove 8 comes into contact with the inner wall surface of the outer peripheral rib 50a formed at the corner 50A of the case body 50 opposite to the case body 2. If the shutter spring 6 is held in a slidable state, the shutter spring 6 can be temporarily swung, and it is determined that a proper bending and extension operation can be performed. For this reason, there is a problem that the disk cassette in a state where the shutter spring 6 is detached is illegally shipped.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a disk cassette capable of reliably detecting an improper state when a shutter spring comes off a locking groove of a case.

[0011]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a case body formed in a substantially rectangular plate shape is joined in an overlapping state, and a recording disk is rotatable between the case bodies. A cassette case to be housed in the cassette case, a window portion provided on a side wall portion of the cassette case, and exposing a part of the recording disk, and a slidably attached along a front edge portion of the cassette case, A bent portion is formed at the tip of each of the extended end portions formed by extending both ends of the torsion coil spring, the shutter that opens and closes, and the bent portion of the first extended end portion is a movable side lock provided on the shutter. And a bent portion of the second extended end is provided at a corner of the cassette case on a side of the cassette case on which the shutter moves in a direction to open a window. A disk spring having a shutter spring that urges a shutter in a direction to close the window portion, wherein the fixed side locking portion is formed on one of the case bodies, A locking groove for locking the bent portion of the second extended end of the shutter spring; and a second extended end of the shutter spring formed on the other case body side of each of the case bodies and separated from the locking groove. Is characterized in that it is constituted by a lock groove that fits by being displaced in the extension direction by the spring force of the shutter spring.

In the disk cassette of the present invention, when the bent portion of the second extension end of the shutter spring is separated from the locking groove, the shutter spring is displaced in the extension direction by the spring force of the shutter spring, and is fitted into the lock groove. The shutter spring is
The swing is locked in a state where the swing is restricted. Therefore, in this state, the shutter cannot perform an appropriate sliding operation, and a defective state can be easily and reliably detected.

[0013]

Next, an embodiment of a disk cassette according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a main part front view showing a configuration example for locking a shutter spring detached from a locking groove of a shutter spring mounting portion in the disk cassette of the present embodiment. FIGS. 2 (1) and 2 (2)
FIG. 2A is a front view of a main part showing a configuration of the shutter spring mounting portion in the present example. FIG. 2A shows a corner portion of an upper case body, and FIG. 2B shows a corner portion of a lower case body. ing. FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing the entire configuration of the disk cassette in this example.

As shown in FIG. 3, the disk cassette of this embodiment includes an upper case body 10 and a lower case body 12 each formed in a substantially square plate shape by a synthetic resin. Each case body 10, 1
2, the recording disk 14 is rotatably accommodated. A window 10 for exposing the recording surface 14a of the recording disk 14 to record and reproduce information with a predetermined recording head (not shown) is provided in each of the case bodies 10 and 12.
a and 12a are formed.

The lower case body 12 has a center hub 14 of the recording disk 14 connected to the window 12a.
The hub receiving hole portion 12b for mounting b is formed. Further, the lower case body 12 is provided with a circular rib 12b for receiving the center hub 14b of the recording disk 14 and an outer peripheral rib 12c constituting a disk accommodating portion surrounding the outer periphery of the recording disk 14.

Although not shown in FIG. 3, the upper case body 10 also has the same shape as the rib 12b, and
A circular rib for receiving the fourth center hub 14b is provided. The upper case body 10 also has an outer peripheral rib 12c.
And a circular rib surrounding the outer periphery of the recording disk 14 is provided.
, A disk accommodating portion is configured. Also,
In addition to the above-described ribs, a large number of reinforcing ribs are integrally formed on each of the case bodies 10 and 12. In addition, each case body 1
Between 0 and 12, a write protector 42 for preventing erroneous erasure of the recording disk 14 is provided.

A slider 16 having a longitudinal shape in the width direction is mounted on the front edge of the case in which the case bodies 10 and 12 are joined and integrated. A shutter plate 18 for closing the windows 10a, 12a and the hub receiving hole 12b is screwed. The slider 16 has an engagement piece 16a that engages with a shutter slide groove formed at the front end edge of the case body 10, 12, and is guided by the shutter slide groove to slide along the front end edge of the case. It has become. FIG. 3 shows only the shutter slide groove 12d on the case body 12 side. Also, the shutter plate 18
Are on both sides of the screw mounting portion 18a to the slider 16,
A substantially rectangular shutter plate portion 18b, 18c extending on both upper and lower surfaces of the case is provided. The case body 1
2, a shutter guide 40 for stabilizing the distal end portion of the shutter plate portion 18c formed in a long shape is attached.

The corners 10A, 10B, 12A and 12B on both sides of the front edge of the case bodies 10 and 12 have projections 10c for limiting the sliding movement range of the slider 16,
10d, 12e, and 12f are provided. A shutter spring 22 is provided between the corners 10A and 12A on the side where the shutters of the case bodies 10 and 12 move to open the window 10a and the slider 16 of the shutter. The shutter spring 22 applies a spring force to the shutter plate 18 and the slider 16 when the shutter plate 18 and the slider 16 move in a direction to open the window portions 10a and 12a and approach the corner portions 10A and 12A. , And biases the windows 10a and 12a in the closing direction.

As shown in FIGS. 4 (1) and 4 (2), the shutter spring 22 is formed in the form of a torsion coil spring, and each extended end 22 formed by extending both ends of the coil portion 22A.
B and 22C are formed with bent portions 22b and 22c at the tips thereof, respectively. The bent portion 22b of the first extended end 22B is connected to one end 16A of the slider 16.
And is locked by a movable side locking portion formed by cutting out.
Note that the movable side locking portion is covered by the shutter plate 18 to prevent the bent portion 22b from being detached.

On the other hand, the bent portion 22 of the second extended end portion 22C
c is locked by fixed locking portions provided on the corner portions 10A and 12A. As shown in FIG. 2A, the fixed side locking portion is formed by forming a locking groove 28 for locking the bent portion 22c in the corner portion 10A. This locking groove 28 is
It is formed between a rib 24 provided on the convex portion 10e of the corner portion 10A and a rib 26 provided on the inner side of the corner portion 10A. The rib 30 provided on the outer periphery of the case body 10
Are continuous with the ribs 24 and 26, and the terminal end of the locking groove 28 is located inside the rib 30. The locking groove 28 is formed in a direction along the trajectory of the bent portion 22c when the shutter spring 22 is bent and stretched in the locking groove 28, so that the bent portion 22c can be guided smoothly. . The end of the locking groove 28 is formed in a key-like bent shape so as to prevent the bent portion 22c from falling off.

Further, the fixed side locking portion is shown in FIGS.
As shown in (2), the corner portion 12A of the case body 12
Further, a lock groove portion 44 for locking the bent portion 22c of the second extended end portion 22C detached from the locking groove portion 28 of the case body 10 is provided. The lock groove 44 is provided in the case 1
2 between the inner peripheral surface of the concave arc portion 46A of the rib 46 provided on the outer periphery of the rib 46 and the outer peripheral surface of the screw mounting boss portion 48 for screwing and coupling the case bodies 10 and 12 to each other. It is formed in a cut state. The concave arc portion 46
A is for fitting a lock member (not shown) of a mechanism for positioning and holding the disk cassette in the recording / reproducing apparatus when the disk cassette is mounted on the recording / reproducing apparatus.

Further, between the corner portion 12A of the case body 12 and the top of the concave arc portion 46A, the bent portion 22c of the second extended end portion 22C separated from the locking groove portion 28 is guided to the lock groove portion 44. Guide ribs 52 are provided. The guide rib 52 is formed so as to connect the end of the locking groove 28 of the case body 10 and the entrance of the lock groove 44, and in the example shown in the drawing, a direction perpendicular to the front edge of the case 10. Is formed.

In the above-described configuration, when the bent portion 22c of the second extended end portion 22C of the shutter spring 22 fails to be mounted in the locking groove portion 28 or is detached after mounting, the end portion of the locking groove portion 28 The detached bent portion 22 c is received by the guide rib 52. Here, the bent portion 22c slides along the guide rib 52 by the spring force of the shutter spring 22 in the extending direction, and the concave arc portion 46 is formed.
The shutter spring 22 guides the lock groove 44 through the peripheral surface of A, and is fitted into the lock groove 44 by the spring force of the shutter spring 22. In this state, the coil portion 22 of the shutter spring 22
As shown in FIG. 1, it comes into contact with the outer peripheral rib 12c of the disk accommodating portion. As a result, the movement of the shutter spring 22 is locked between the lock groove portion 44 and the outer peripheral rib 12c, and the shutter spring 22 is in a non-expandable state. Therefore, in this state, the shutter plate 18 and the slider 16 cannot operate, and the mounting failure state of the shutter spring 22 can be easily determined.

As described above, in order to lock the shutter spring 22 with the lock groove portion 44 and the outer peripheral rib 12c, the length L1 from the coil portion 22A to the bent portion 22c is determined by changing the length L1 from the contact position of the outer peripheral rib 12c to the lock groove portion. It is necessary to match with the distance L2 to the middle part of 44. In particular,
If the length L1 is larger than the distance L2, the bent portion 22c stops at the guide rib 52 without being guided to the lock groove portion 44, and the shutter spring 22 can swing.
The length L1 needs to be at least equal to or slightly smaller than the distance L2.

In the above description, the shutter spring 22
Is fixed by the lock groove portion 44 and the outer peripheral rib 12c, but may be fixed by the lock groove portion 44 and another rib. For example, a dedicated rib for fixing the shutter spring 22 may be provided. Further, the bent portion 22b of the first extended end portion 22B of the shutter spring 22 described above
Although it is locked to the moving side locking portion formed on the slider 16, a similar locking portion may be provided on the shutter plate 18.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, the locking groove for locking the bent portion of the second extension end of the shutter spring to the fixed locking portion of the shutter spring provided at the corner of the cassette case. In addition, a lock groove portion is provided in which a bent portion detached from the locking groove portion is fitted so as to lock the shutter spring that has failed to be attached or detached after the attachment. For this reason, the shutter spring is locked in a state where its swing is restricted, and in this state, the shutter cannot perform an appropriate sliding operation, so that a defective state can be easily and reliably detected. Therefore, without providing a special process for detecting the shutter spring detachment, the shutter spring detachment can be detected in the normal operation process, and the reliability of the product can be secured without increasing the manufacturing cost.
In addition, the outflow of defective products to the market can be prevented, which can contribute to improving the product image.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an essential part showing a configuration example for locking a shutter spring in a disk cassette according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a main part front view showing a configuration example of a shutter spring mounting portion of the disk cassette shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing the entire configuration of the disk cassette shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view and a side view showing a shutter spring of the disk cassette shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a front view of a main part showing a configuration example of a shutter spring mounting portion of a conventional disk cassette.

FIG. 6 shows a conventional disk cassette shown in FIG.
It is a principal part front view which shows the state at the time of a shutter spring having detached.

[Explanation of symbols]

10, 12 case body, 10a, 12a window part, 10A, 10B, 12A, 12B corner part, 1
0c, 10d, 12e, 12f..., Convex portion,..., Recording disk, 16, slider, 18, shutter plate, 2
2 ... Shutter spring, 22B, 22C ... Extended end, 2
2b, 22c ... bending part, 28 ... locking groove part, 44 ...
Lock groove, 46A: concave arc, 48: boss,
52... Guide ribs.

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A cassette case in which case bodies each formed in a substantially rectangular plate shape are joined in an overlapped state, and a recording disk is rotatably stored between the case bodies. A window portion for exposing a part of the recording disk; a shutter slidably mounted along a front edge portion of the cassette case to open and close the window portion; and extending both ends of the torsion coil spring. A bent portion is formed at the tip of each of the extended end portions, and the bent portion of the first extended end portion is locked by a movable side locking portion provided on the shutter, and a second extended end portion is formed. Bent portion of the cassette case is locked to a fixed side locking portion provided at a corner portion of the cassette case that moves in a direction in which the shutter opens the window portion,
A shutter spring for urging a shutter in a direction to close the window portion, wherein the fixed side locking portion is formed on one of the case bodies, and A locking groove for locking the bent portion of the second extended end; and a bent portion of the second extended end of the shutter spring formed on the other case body side of each of the case bodies and separated from the locking groove. And a lock groove that is fitted by being displaced in the extension direction by the spring force of the shutter spring. 2. The locking groove is formed in a direction substantially along the trajectory of the bent portion when the bent portion of the second extension end of the shutter spring is mounted. Item 10. The disk cassette according to Item 1. 3. The other case body has a guide rib for guiding a bent portion of a second extended end of the shutter spring detached from the locking groove to the lock groove. 2. The disc cassette according to claim 1, wherein the disc cassette is formed so as to substantially linearly connect an end portion of the locking groove and an entrance of the lock groove. 4. The lock groove portion has an inner wall surface of an arc-shaped rib forming a concave portion for positioning and fixing when a disk cassette is mounted on a recording / reproducing apparatus, and a screw hole for screwing each case body. 2. The disk cassette according to claim 1, wherein the disk cassette is formed between an outer wall surface of the boss portion and the outer wall surface. 5. The other case body has a guide rib for guiding a bent portion of a second extended end of the shutter spring detached from the locking groove to the lock groove, wherein the guide rib is 5. The disk cassette according to claim 4, wherein the disk cassette is formed in a tangential direction of the arc-shaped rib. 6. A part of the shutter spring abuts on a predetermined rib in a state where the bent portion of the second extended end of the shutter spring is fitted in the lock groove, whereby the bending / extending operation of the shutter spring is regulated. 2. The disk cassette according to claim 1, wherein: 7. The disk cassette according to claim 6, wherein said predetermined rib is an outer peripheral rib surrounding an outer periphery of a recording disk. 8. A projection provided at both corners at a front end of each of the case bodies to project forward of a cassette case to limit a movement range of the shutter, and a rib provided at the projection is provided; 2. The disk cassette according to claim 1, wherein the locking groove is formed between the corner and a rib provided on an inner side of the corner. 9. A slider which is guided by being engaged with a shutter slide groove formed along a front edge of the cassette case, and is slidably mounted along the front edge of the cassette case. 2. The disk cassette according to claim 1, further comprising: a shutter plate integrally attached to the slider to open and close the window. 10. The disk cassette according to claim 9, wherein an end of said slider is formed so as not to interfere with a rib provided at a corner of said case body.