JPH11265560A - Single reel type magnetic tape cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To constitute a door and a door spring to be more compact by in a single reel tape magnetic tape cartridge having a large slide stroke of a door for opening/closing a tape drawing-out port. SOLUTION: This magnetic tape cartridge is provided with a door 5 for opening/closing a tape drawing-out port 4. The door 5 is guided to be freely slid in a case main body, and closed and pressed by a door spring 20 disposed in a guiding groove 31 for the door 5. The door spring 20 is composed of spring arms 23 and 24 drawn out like a chain from two coil parts 21 and 21 adjacent to each other left and right. One spring arm 24 is hooked in the door 5, and the other spring arm 23 is hooked in the guiding wall 16 of case main body 1. The sufficient number of turns is secured by the two coil parts 21 and 21. A notch 14 is provided in the upper part of the side wall 12 of the door 5 for receiving the coil part 21. A guiding surface 30 is provided in the side end of the notch 14. During the opening of the door, the coil part 21 is transferred and guided to the notch 14 by the guiding surface 30, and contact interference between the door 5 and the coil part 21 is prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a single-reel type magnetic tape cartridge represented by a magnetic recording medium of a data recorder for a computer, and relates to an improved door structure for opening and closing a tape outlet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to prevent foreign matter such as dust from entering a case when not in use, there is a single-reel type magnetic tape cartridge in which an outer surface of a tape outlet can be closed and held by a door (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 9-102568). 8-63940). Here, the left and right horizontally long tape outlets opened on the front of the case are closed by swingable openable doors. The door is urged to move freely by a torsion coil type spring fitted around the swing axis, and is kept closed by a lock mechanism provided between the base end of the door swing and the case body. it can.

[0003]

In such a door structure in which the tape outlet is opened and closed by the swingable door, the door in the open state protrudes largely outward of the front surface of the case body. Therefore, it is inevitable that the degree of freedom in designing the arrangement of the tape loading mechanism and the tape transport mechanism on the tape drive side is reduced, and there is a limit in simplifying the structure of the tape drive and increasing the speed.

[0004] In order to help simplify the structure of the tape drive and improve its functions, the present inventors have proposed changing the door structure to a sliding door shape and opening and closing the door within the outline of the case body. investigated. Sliding doors can be realized without any problems on the left. However, in the case of a single-reel type magnetic tape cartridge, the tape puller fixed to the tape end is held in the case in a standby state and pulled out of the case by the loading mechanism. However, there is a problem in that the opening / closing stroke of the door is increased accordingly.

More specifically, when the opening / closing stroke of the door increases, it becomes difficult to properly arrange the spring that urges the door to close the door and to change the tension change width of the spring between opening and closing. When the opening / closing stroke of the door is small, the door can be closed and urged without any trouble with a normal form of torsion coil spring with a spring arm extending to both ends of the coil part, and the wire tension and number of windings can be selected as appropriate for the spring tension. By doing so, the settings can be made as intended by the designer. However, as the opening / closing stroke increases, the opening stroke of the pair of spring arms of the torsion coil spring tends to be insufficient. In particular, when the torsion coil spring is arranged on the inner surface of the case body in an upright posture, the vertical dimension of the spring arm must be smaller than the vertical dimension of the inner surface of the case body, so that the opening / closing stroke of the door is limited to the case body. If it becomes larger than the vertical dimension, the opening and closing stroke of the pair of spring arms becomes insufficient.

When the opening / closing stroke of the door increases, the amount of displacement of the spring arm also increases, and the amount of change in the tension of the spring increases accordingly. Therefore, regarding the opening / closing stroke of the spring arm, even if there is no problem in using the normal form of the torsion coil spring, an extreme difference in tension occurs between when the door is opened and when the door is closed, and the spring deteriorates during long-term use. Cheap. The width of change in tension can be reduced by increasing the number of turns of the coil section. However, as the number of turns increases, the front and rear thickness of the torsion coil spring increases. Therefore, it is necessary to secure a sufficient space inside the case main body only for accommodating the torsion coil spring, and the outer shape of the case main body is correspondingly increased. Incidentally, even if a compression spring or a tension spring having a small coil diameter is used, it is difficult to reduce the accommodation space, and it cannot contribute to downsizing of the case body.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a single reel having a sliding door-like door comprising a door which slides open and close a left and right horizontally long tape pull-out opening, and a torsion coil spring which closes and urges the door. To obtain a magnetic tape cartridge of the type. Another object of the present invention is to further reduce the size of the magnetic tape cartridge by arranging a door spring using a guide groove for slidingly guiding a door. Still another object of the present invention is to reliably prevent the door spring and the door arranged in the guide groove from abutting and interfering with each other when the door is opened, and to reliably operate the compactly structured door structure. It is to guarantee sex.

[0008]

According to the magnetic tape cartridge of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2 or 7, a door 5 for opening and closing a tape outlet 4 provided on the front surface of the case body 1 is provided.
Guide groove 3 provided along the inner surface of front wall 6 of case body 1
The guide spring 1 is slidably guided and supported, and is urged to close by a door spring 20 disposed in the guide groove 31. Door 5
A main surface wall 11 for closing the tape outlet 4 and a side wall 12 protruding from the side of the main surface wall 11 are integrally provided. The door spring 20 includes two coil portions 21 and 21 adjacent to the left and right,
A bridge portion 22 for connecting the two coil portions 21 is integrally provided with two spring arms 23 24 extending from the coil portions 21. One of the spring arms 23 and 24 is relatively slidably engaged with a spring engagement portion 15 provided on the side wall 12 and the other is engaged with a spring engagement portion 17 provided on the case body 1. When the door is opened, a cutout portion for receiving both coil portions is cut out in the side wall. Side wall 12
Between the notch 14 and the side end of the notch 1
A guide surface 30 for guiding the transition to 4 is provided.

The guide groove 31 is formed on the front wall 6 of the case body 1.
And a guide wall 16 provided on the inner surface of the front wall 6.
Spring hooks 15.1 provided on guide wall 16 and side wall 12
Numeral 7 is formed by long grooves in the vertical direction, and hooks 25 and 26 that engage with both spring hooks 15 and 17 are formed at the tips of the spring arms 23 and 24.

[0010]

When the door spring 20 is formed by a torsion coil spring having a unique structure having two coil portions 21 and 21, a pair of spring arms 23 is formed as compared with a normal torsion coil type spring.
-24 expansion / contraction displacement strokes can be sufficiently secured. In particular, as shown in FIG. 4, when the pair of spring arms 23 and 24 are elastically deformed symmetrically when the door is opened, the expansion and contraction strokes of both spring arms 23 and 24 can be maximized. In addition, the two coil portions 21 can ensure a necessary and sufficient number of coil turns, and the two coil portions 21.
Since the 21 is disposed adjacent to the left and right, the front and rear thickness of the door spring 20 can be reduced, so that the door spring 20 can be disposed without hindrance in the guide groove 31 for slidingly guiding the thin door 5.

The pair of spring arms 23 and 24 are
The guide grooves 3 are respectively slidably engaged with spring engaging portions 15 and 17 provided on the side wall 12 of the door 5 and the guide grooves 3.
1, the door spring 20 can be displaced up and down. This is to absorb a vertical dimensional change when the spring arms 23 and 24 expand and contract, and to secure a larger expansion and contraction stroke of the spring arms 23 and 24. In such a spring retaining structure, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, when the door spring 20 slides down to the lower side of the guide groove 31, the side wall 12 when the door is opened comes into contact with the coil portions 21. As a result, the coil portions 21 may be deformed so as to be crushed. Therefore, the notch 1 is formed in the side wall 12.
4 is formed in a notch, and a guide surface 30 is further provided at a side end of the notch 14, and the coil portion 2 is formed by the guide surface 30 when the door is opened.
1, 21 can be guided to the notch 14 to prevent interference between the door spring 20 and the door 5.

[0012]

1 to 7 show an embodiment of a single reel type magnetic tape cartridge according to the present invention. In FIG. 2, the magnetic tape cartridge has a square box-shaped case main body 1 in which upper and lower cases 1a and 1b are joined together in a lid-like manner.
The tape 3 is wound around one reel 2 disposed inside the case body 1. At one end of the front wall 6 of the case body 1, a tape outlet 4 is opened. The tape outlet 4 can be opened and closed by a door 5 which can be slidably opened and closed. At the front end of the case side wall facing the tape outlet 4, a notch 18 for receiving the receiving portion 13 of the door 5 is provided as shown in FIG.

In order to pull out the tape 3 wound around the reel 2 to the outside of the case, a tape pull-out tool 7 is connected to a pay-out end of the tape 3. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, after winding the end of the tape 3 in a loop shape around the upper and lower portions of the pin-shaped tape puller 7, a buffer and a clip 8 having a C-shaped cross section are wound around the loop portion. The tape pull-out tool 7 is connected to the end of the tape 3 by sequentially fitting the tape 3 to the outside. A holding portion 9 that is elastically deformable integrally with the upper and lower cases 1a and 1b is provided inside the tape pull-out opening 4 near the side wall. By holding them together, the tape puller 7 can be held in a vertical posture. The loading member provided in the tape drive captures the shaft portion between the clip 8 and the upper and lower holding portions 9 and pulls out the tape puller 7 out of the case, or pulls the tape 3 in parallel with the rewinding of the tape 3. The ejector 7 is engaged with the holding portion 9 in a press-fitting manner and returned into the case. In order to allow the loading member to enter and exit, the tape outlet 4 has a large left and right opening.

In FIG. 7, the door 5 is made of a thin plate-shaped plastic molded product integrally formed with a main surface wall 11 for opening and closing the tape outlet 4 and a side wall 12 protruding from the side of the main surface wall 11. A receiving portion 13 which is relatively slid by an operation protrusion on the tape drive side protrudes from a side edge outer surface of the main surface wall 11 on a closing start end (right end in the drawing) side. Door 5
Side wall 1 located at the opening start end (left end in the figure)
The upper edge of 2 is recessed in a stepped manner with respect to the upper edge of the main surface wall 11 to form a cutout portion 14, and a downwardly inclined guide surface 30 is provided continuously at the side end. The wall surface on the back surface side of the notch portion 14 is provided so as to be slightly stepped down from the back surface of the main surface wall 11, and a spring hook portion 15 formed by a vertically long groove is provided substantially in the center of the paragraph surface in a penetrating manner. The paragraph surface is provided to receive one spring arm 24 of the door spring 20 described later. When the door is opened, a cutout portion 14 is provided to prevent the coil portion 21 of the door spring 20 from abuttingly interfering with the door 5.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the door 5 slides right and left along a guide groove 31 defined by a front wall 6 of the case main body 1 and a guide wall 16 disposed opposite to the inner surface of the front wall 6. It is freely guided and supported, and opens and closes the tape outlet 4. The front wall 6 and the guide wall 16 are formed integrally with the upper and lower cases 1a and 1b, respectively.
The side wall 12 and the main surface wall 11 are slid and guided successively up and down on the joint surface 1b. However, tape outlet 4
, The guide groove 31 guides only the upper and lower ends of the main surface wall 11. The distance between the guide grooves 31 is set slightly larger than the thickness of the main surface wall 11 of the door 5. In order to hook one spring arm 23 of the door spring 20, a spring hooking portion 17 composed of a vertically long groove is provided on the guide wall 16 on the lower case 1b side. The upper end opening of the spring hook 17 is closed by the guide wall 16 on the upper case 1a side.

In order to close and urge the door 5 to move freely,
The door spring 20 is arranged inside the guide groove 31. In FIG. 7, the door spring 20 includes two coil portions 21, 21 adjacent to the left and right, a bridge portion 22 connecting the front ends of the two coil portions 21, 21, and a rear end of each coil portion 21. It consists of a kind of a torsion coil spring made of a spring wire in which the two left and right spring arms 23 and 24 are integrally formed, and generates a spring force in a direction in which the pair of spring arms 23 and 24 expands. It is habitual. At the protruding ends of the pair of spring arms 23 and 24, hooking pieces 25 and 26, which are opposite to each other, are formed by bending. One hook 26 engages the spring hook 15 of the door 5, and the other hook 25 engages the spring hook 17 of the guide wall 16. The front-rear thickness dimension of the coil portion 21 is slightly smaller than the front-rear spacing between the front wall 6 and the guide wall 16.

As shown in FIG. 5, the door 5 in the non-use state is urged to move toward the closing side by receiving the spring force of the door spring 20, and the tape outlet 4 is closed. The coil part 21 of the door spring 20 in this state is received by the upper wall of the guide groove 31. When the magnetic tape cartridge is loaded into the tape drive, the receiving portion 13 provided at the right end of the door 5 comes into contact with the operation protrusion on the tape drive side, so that the door 5 is opened against the urging force of the door spring 20. . During this time, the door spring 20 is elastically deformed so that the spring arms 23 and 24 come closer to each other.
Each of the latch pieces 25 and 26 slides downward along the spring latches 15 and 17 to absorb the dimensional change. When the door 5 is completely opened, the pair of coil portions 21 move to the innermost portion of the guide groove 31 as shown in FIG. In this state, the coil portions 21 and 21 have the notch 14 and the guide groove 31.
The side wall 12 is housed between the coil section 21 and the upper wall.
It enters into the space below 21. Thereafter, the tape pull-out tool 7 is captured by the loading member and pulled out of the case.

Since the spring hooks 15 and 17 are formed by vertically long grooves, when the door is closed, the hook pieces 25 and 26 are connected to the lower ends of the grooves of the spring hooks 15 and 17 as shown in FIG. May be located at If the door 5 is opened in such a case, the coil portions 21 may be crushed by the side wall 12, or the door 5 may not be completely opened and operated. To avoid this kind of trouble, the side wall 12
The guide surface 30 is provided between the side end of the notch and the notch 14. When the guide surface 30 abuts on the lower peripheral surface of the coil portion 21, the entire door spring 20 gradually slides upward by receiving an upward component force. Therefore, the coil part 21 rides on the notch part 14 while relatively moving along the guide surface 30. Therefore, no matter where the door spring 20 is in the vertical direction within the guide groove 31, the coil portions 21 can be accommodated in the cutout portion 14 when the door 5 is completely opened.

When assembling the magnetic tape cartridge, the engaging piece 26 of one spring arm 24 is engaged with the spring engaging portion 15 from the back side of the side wall 12, and then the door 5 is inserted into the guide groove 31 and loaded. , The hook 25 of the other spring arm 23
The door 5 and the door spring 20 can be easily assembled simply by inserting the door 5 into the spring hook 17 on the lower case 1b side. Further, the door spring 20 hooked on both spring hooks 15 and 17 is
When the door 5 is closed, the door is in the expanded and deformed state, which is easily stabilized. Therefore, when the upper case 1a is assembled to the lower case 1b at the final stage of the assembling process, the door spring 20 may jump out of the lower case 1b. And assembly can be facilitated.

In addition to the above embodiment, the notch 14 can be formed by cutting the lower edge of the side wall 12 so that the door spring 20 can be arranged upside down. The spring hooks 15 and 17
Instead of being formed by grooves, they can be formed by pin-shaped protrusions or arc-shaped ribs. Door spring 20 in this case
The hook pieces 25 and 26 can be omitted. Door 5 if necessary
Can be formed of a metal plate. The guide wall 16 can be formed so as to protrude from one of the lower case 1b and the upper case 1a.

[0021]

According to the present invention, since the tape outlet 4 is opened and closed by the sliding door type door 5, the door 5 protrudes greatly from the outer surface of the case body 1 when the tape outlet 4 is opened. Can be eliminated. As a result, the degree of freedom in designing the device on the tape drive side can be improved. A door spring 20 for closing and urging the door 5 is provided with two coil portions 21.
Since it is formed by a torsion coil spring having a unique structure provided with 21, the number of turns of the coil portion 21 can be required and sufficiently secured while ensuring a sufficient expansion and contraction stroke of the pair of spring arms 23 and 24. Therefore, in spite of the fact that the opening / closing stroke of the door 5 is set to be large in accordance with the tape pull-out mode peculiar to this type of magnetic tape cartridge, the door 5 can of course be reliably closed and operated. 5 can be reduced, the durability of the door spring 20 can be improved, and the reliability of the magnetic tape cartridge can be improved.

By arranging the pair of coil portions 21 adjacent to each other on the left and right, the guide groove 31 of the thin door 5 is formed.
, The door spring 20 can be disposed in the inside thereof, whereby the case body 1 can be made smaller and the magnetic tape cartridge can be made more compact. While the door 5 is opened, the coil portion 2 is guided by the guide surface 30 provided on the side wall 12.
1 and 21 are forcibly transferred to the notch 14 side, and the door 5
Is reliably prevented from contacting with the door spring 20, so that the door 5 can be opened and closed without any trouble even though the door spring 20 is housed in the guide groove 31 for the door 5.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially broken front view showing a state in which a door is being opened.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a magnetic tape cartridge.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional plan view showing a holding structure of the tape pull-out tool.

FIG. 4 is a partially broken front view in a state where a door is opened.

FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway front view with the door closed.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of a door structure.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Case main body 4 Tape pull-out 5 Door 6 Front wall 11 Main surface wall 12 Side wall 15.17 Spring hook part 20 Door spring 21 Coil part 22 Bridge part 23.24 Spring arm 30 Guide surface 31 Guide groove

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A door 5 for opening and closing a tape outlet 4 provided on a front surface of a case body 1 is slidably guided and supported by a guide groove 31 provided along an inner surface of a front wall 6 of the case body 1. A single reel type magnetic tape cartridge closed and urged by a door spring 20 disposed in a guide groove 31, wherein the door 5 has a main surface wall 11 for closing the tape outlet 4 and a side surface of the main surface wall 11. The door spring 20 is integrally provided with the protruding side wall 12, and the two coil portions 21.
21 and a bridging portion 22 connecting the two coil portions 21
And two spring arms 2 protruding from each coil portion 21
3 and 24 are integrally provided. One of the two spring arms 23 and 24 is slidably movable relative to a spring hook 15 provided on the side wall 12 and the other is spring slidable relative to a spring hook 17 provided on the case body 1. A notch 14 for receiving the two coil portions 21 when the door is opened is formed in the side wall 12 by notching, and a coil is provided between the side end of the side wall 12 and the notch 14. Part 21
A single reel type magnetic tape cartridge provided with a guide surface 30 for guiding the transfer to the notch portion 14. 2. The guide groove 31 is provided on the front wall 6 of the case body 1.
And a guide wall 16 provided on the inner surface of the front wall 6, and a spring hook 15. 1 provided on the guide wall 16 and the side wall 12.
7 are formed with vertically long grooves, respectively, and the engaging pieces 25 and 26 that engage with the two spring engaging portions 15 and 17 are
2. A single reel type magnetic tape cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said single reel type magnetic tape cartridge is formed at the tip of each of said spring arms.