JPS58161179A - Adapter of small-sized tape cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To hold securely the reference surface of the lower surface of an adapter body and the top surface of the adapter body including the top surface of an opening and closing lid without any clearance by adding the opening and closing lid for closing the top surface opening of the storage room of a small- sized tape cartridge to the adapter body. CONSTITUTION:When the small-sized tape cartridge 2 is stored in the storage room 25 and the opening and closing lid 35 is closed, the top surface of the small-sized tape cartridge 2 is pressed and held elastically by a plate spring 40. Further, the top surface of the opening and closing lid 35 while closed is held in the same plane with the top surface 30 of the adapter body 20. In this case, when the adapter 1 is pressed and loaded horizontally into a recording and reproducing device, the reference surface of the lower surface of the adapter body 20 is received and held in the recording and reproducing device and the top surface 30 of the adapter body 20 including the top surface of the opening and closing lid 35 is retained correspondingly at several points in the recording and reproducing device to prevent the play of the adapter body 20.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a small tape cartridge adapter that allows a small tape cartridge to be loaded into a recording/reproducing apparatus for large tape cartridges.

This type of adapter has already been proposed, in which a small tape cartridge is inserted from above and stored in a storage chamber provided near the left and right corners of the adapter body. There is no opening/closing lid to cover the top of the opening. Therefore, when the small tape cartridge is stored in the storage chamber of the adapter main body, the top surface of the small tape cartridge is exposed in a stepped manner from the top surface of the adapter main body.

In such a case, 2. When the adapter body, which has substantially the same external shape as a normal large tape cartridge, is pushed into the recording/playback device in a horizontal position, several points on the bottom surface of the adapter body (generally four corners) are used as reference points. The adapter body is supported as a surface, and the top surface of the adapter body is held down by the recording/playback device to hold the adapter body in a horizontal position without wobbling, but since the top surface of the storage chamber is open. There was a problem in that the presser from above the adapter body did not work effectively against the base surface on the bottom surface.

Another drawback is that when the adapter body is left unattended, dust may enter the storage chamber.

In view of this fact, the present invention has provided the adapter body with an opening/closing lid that closes the top surface of the opening of the storage chamber for the small tape cartridge, and when the adapter body is pushed into the recording/playback device and loaded, the recording/playback device can open the adapter body. The purpose is to ensure that the lower reference surface and the upper surface of the adapter body including the upper surface of the opening/closing lid can be held without wobbling.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.The illustrated adapter 1 is designed to allow a small-sized video tape cartridge 2 to be loaded into a normal large-sized tape cartridge video deck.

(1) Structure of a small tape cartridge In FIGS. 1 and 2, the small tape cartridge 2 functions independently, and the upper and lower plastic cases 3a and 3b are connected with tapping screws, etc. Tape reels 5 and 6 with flanges on both sides, on which tape 4 is wound, are rotatably mounted on the left and right sides of the main body case 3, which is connected with the main body case 3.

Tape guide members 7, 7 are arranged on the front left and right sides of the main body case 3, and when viewed from the rear side, the tape 4 is led out from the left delivery reel 5 to the front of the case and wound onto the right take-up reel 6. shall be. however.

The tape reel 5 on the output side is installed on a transparent drive shaft insertion hole in the bottom wall of the case to allow a certain amount of free movement in the radial direction, and the tape reel 6 on the take-up side is fixed in position around a vertical fixed shaft 9. It is supported and rotated.

A gear portion 11 formed on the outer periphery of the lower flange 10 is exposed laterally outwardly through a notch 13 formed across the bottom wall and right side wall 12 of the main body case 3. A transparent window 15 is formed in the left side portion of the upper case 3a for visually confirming the weight of the tape relative to the tape reel 5 on the output side from the outside.

The main body case 3 is provided with a front cover 16 for closing the front side of the main body case 3 and protecting the tape 4 when not in use. In the front cover 16, connecting pieces 18, 18 extend rearward from both left and right ends of the front plate 17, and three connecting pieces 18, 18 fit outward into the front end recessed portions of the left and right side walls 12, 12 of the main body case 3. The bottle is rotatably supported, and when the front 116 is in the closed position with the opening angle of about 45° as the dead center by a U-shaped spring member 19 attached to the right side wall 12, the front 116 can be opened 90° forward. When it is in the upward open position, it is held in the open position.

(2) Basic Structure of Adapter As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the adapter 1 has at least an adapter main body 20 having substantially the same external shape as a large-sized tape cartridge, the so-called VH3 type tape cartridge.

When loaded into a recording and reproducing apparatus for a VH8 type tape cartridge, the recording and reproducing apparatus operates without any trouble.

That is, the adapter main body 20 is made up of upper and lower plastic cases 20a and 20b that are joined together by tapping screws or the like, and has insertion holes 22 and 23 on the left and right sides of the bottom wall 21 for receiving the drive shaft of the recording/reproducing device. A front cover 24, which is provided transparently and which closes the front surface of the adapter body 20, is pivoted to be rotatable to open and close, and is always urged to rotate in the closed position by a spring member (not shown), and a lock that holds the adapter body in the closed position. Equipped with a mechanism.

Since these configurations have the same specifications as the standard VH8 type tape cartridge, details will be omitted. however.

The internal structure of the adapter body 20 is different from that of a standard large tape cartridge; there is no tape reel, and the front surface of the adapter body 20 is open.

(3) Storage chamber of adapter A storage chamber 25 with an open top is defined at a left-hand side of the adapter body 20 in the figure, and the small tape cartridge 2 is stored in this storage chamber 25 so as to be freely inserted and removed from above.

In FIGS. 3 to 5, the left and right side walls 2 of the storage chamber 25
The inner wall surface of No. 6 has a stepped surface 27 with a wide left and right width at the upper part, and has a width of m
It is formed into a cross-sectional shape having an inclined guide surface 28 that slopes downward from the material surface 27 and a vertical surface 29 that continues to the inclined guide surface 28 and reaches the bottom wall 21, and stores the height of the one-step surface 27. room 2
5, and set it lower than the upper end of the small tape cartridge 2 when it is stored in the adapter body 20, and make sure that your fingertips are sufficiently close to the vertical drop surface 31 extending from the top surface 30 of the adapter body 20 to the stepped surface 27 and the small tape cartridge 2. Forms enough IlIg to enter the cell. Guide ribs 32 extending from the bottom wall 21 to the height of the stepped surface 27 are provided at rearward positions on the inner wall surfaces of the left and right side walls 26, respectively.

In such a case, insert the small tape cartridge 2 from above into the storage chamber 25 with its front and back orientation aligned with that of the adapter body 20, and cut the vertical grooves 33 in the rearward outer surface of the left and right side walls 12 of the small tape cartridge 2. The guide rib 32
guide and fit into each other. When the small tape cartridge 2 is stored in the storage chamber 25, the left and right side walls 12 of the small tape cartridge 2 are received and supported by the vertical surface 29, and the small tape cartridge 2 is positioned in the left and right direction.
3 and the guide rib 32, positioning in the front-back direction is performed. Therefore, the output tape reel 5 of the small tape cartridge 2 stored in the storage chamber 25 is concentrically aligned with the drive shaft insertion hole 22 of the adapter body 20. Also,
The inner wall surfaces of the left and right side walls 26 of the storage chamber 25 have stepped surfaces 2 at their upper ends.
7 and the inclined guide surface 28 form a finger insertion gap g, as shown in FIG.
The storage room 25 is guided smoothly by the inclined guide surface 28.
It can be stored in In particular, the small tape cartridge 2 is stored with its top surface one step lower than the top surface 30 of the adapter main body 20, but the small tape cartridge 2 can be easily picked out from the storage chamber 25 by inserting a fingertip into the gap 11g. Become.

(4) Opening/closing lid of storage chamber The opening top surface of the storage chamber 25 is closed with an opening/closing lid 35 so as to be openable and closable.

The opening/closing lid 35 has protruding side pieces 36 on the left and right front ends in the closed state.
・36 is pivotally connected to the pivots 37, 37 so as to be able to swing open and close, and a helical spring 38 is fitted to one of the pivots 37.
As shown in FIG. )
is regulated.

The inner surface of the opening/closing lid 35 has reinforcing ribs 39 , 39 protruding from the left and right ends running in the front-rear direction, and these reinforcing ribs 39 , 39 reinforce the thin, flat plastic opening/closing 135 . When closed on the top surface of the storage chamber 25,
The lower end surfaces of the reinforcing ribs 39, 39 are received and supported by the service surfaces 27, 27. Further, leaf springs 40, 40 are fixed near the left and right ends of the inner surface of the opening/closing lid 35, and when the small tape cartridge 2 is stored in the storage chamber 25 and the opening/closing 135 is closed, the leaf springs 40, 40 tape cartridge 2
elastically presses and supports the upper surface of the This pressing point is located on a line connecting the centers of both tape reels 5 and 6 of the small tape cartridge 2, and prevents rattling during rotation of each tape reel 5 and 6.

Now, 3. In this invention, the upper surface of the opening/closing member 135 is flush with the upper surface 1i130 of the adapter body 20 in the closed state.

In such a case, when the adapter 1 is pushed into the recording/reproducing device in a horizontal position and loaded, the reference W on the bottom surface of the adapter body 20
J (usually four corners) are received and supported by the recording/reproducing device, and correspondingly, several locations on the top surface 30 of the adapter body 20, including the top surface of the opening/closing lid 35, are held down by the recording/reproducing device, and the adapter body This means that 20 degrees of wobbling can be prevented.

A transparent window 41 for visually checking the amount of tape winding is formed in a portion near the left end of the opening/closing lid 35 in correspondence with the transparent window 15. Opening/closing 135 itself may be transparent.

Incidentally, although it is desirable that the upper surface of the opening/closing member 135 be flush with the upper surface of the adapter body 20 with or without a label, it does not necessarily have to be flush with the upper surface of the adapter body 20.

(5) Opening/closing mechanism for front lid of small tape cartridge When using the present adapter 1, after storing the small tape cartridge nozzle 2 in the storage chamber 25, the front lid 16 must be opened so that the tape 4 can be pulled out. .

Therefore, in the illustrated example, an engager 42 made of a plate spring extends from near one pivot joint of the opening/closing lid 35 in the closed state of the opening/closing lid 35, and extends forward of the pivot shaft 37 when the opening/closing lid 35 is opened. The small tape cartridge 2 is stored in the storage chamber 25.
As shown in FIG. The engaging pawl 42a of the engaging claw 42a engages with the engaging claw 42a. In this case, when the opening/closing lid 35 is closed against the upper surface of the storage chamber 25 against the helical spring 38, the front lid 16 is automatically moved against the spring member 19 by the engaging claw 42a of the engaging element 42. When the opening angle of about 45° is exceeded, the front cover 1 is lifted up by the spring member 19.
6 assumes an open position by itself, and when the opening/closing lid 35 is closed, the engaging claw 42a serves as a support and absorbs external force from a finger or the like applied to the front lid 16, thereby maintaining the front lid 16 in the open position.

Next, when removing the small tape cartridge 2 from the storage chamber 25, the front edge 35a of the opening/closing lid 35 comes into contact with the front lid 16 as shown in FIG. Closed automatically.

(6) Closing lid locking mechanism for opening/closing lid Opening/closing lid 3 swing-biased to open position by helical spring 38
5 must be locked so that it does not open when closed.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, L-shaped locking protrusions 44 are provided protruding from the left and right front ends of the inner surface of the opening 11i135, and a sliding knob 45 extending from the upper surface 30 is provided on the upper case 20a of the adapter body 20. In addition to the equipment shown in Figures 3 and 4.
As shown in FIG.

A lock plate 4 that slides left and right together with the knob 45
The locking pieces 47 provided in 6 are connected to each of the aforementioned locking protrusions
44, and this locks the opening/closing lid 35 in the closed position. If the knob 45 is slid in the left and right opposite directions, the opening/closing lid 35 will be unlocked and automatically opened. The engagement surfaces of each of the locking protrusions 44 and each of the thick pieces 47 are formed into tapered surfaces in order to maintain the opening/closing I 35 in a closed position without wobbling against the pressing force of the leaf spring 40. The lock plate 46 is held in the locked position and the unlocked position by a pair of elastically deformable locking arms 48, 48 which will be connected from now on, and a stopper <49 provided on the inner surface of the upper case 20a, which comes into contact with and crosses over and engages. be done.

(7) Mechanism for preventing erroneous erasure of the tape built into the small tape cartridge The small tape cartridge 2 has a built-in tape 4 that can be folded off at a position near the left end in the figure of the rear wall 51 to prevent the tape 4 built into it from being erroneously erased. An erasure prevention piece 52 is provided. Therefore, even when the small tape cartridge 2 is stored in the storage chamber 25, it is desirable that the outer shape of the adapter body 20 indicate whether or not the accidental erasure prevention piece 52 is broken off.

Therefore, a window 54 is provided in the rear wall 53 of the adapter main body 20 at a place where a piece to prevent accidental erasure in a large (VH3 type) tape cartridge similar to Hast should be located, that is, at a position near the left end in the figure, so as to penetrate through the inside and outside.

A detection member 55 that detects the presence or absence of the erroneous erasure prevention piece 52 of the small tape cartridge 2 and displays it on a window 54 is incorporated into the adapter body 20.

In FIGS. 10 to 14, the detection member 55 consists of a slide member 56 and a swing member 57.

The slide member 56 is attached to the lower case 20 of the adapter body 20.
The lower case 20b is guided by left and right rib-shaped guides 59, 59 protruding from the inner surface of the lower case 20b, and is slidable back and forth on the inner surface of the lower case 20b.

The spring member 60, which is a helical spring supported along the lower case 20b, is biased in the direction of retraction into the adapter body 20, and the recessed nitrogen field is prevented by stoppers 61, 61 connected from the guides 59, 59. Contact is regulated. Note that the stopper 61 also serves as a receiver for the spring member 60, and
0 restricts the lifting of the slide member 56. The slide member 56 has protrusions 62, 62 extending from side to side on the lower surface and running back and forth in contact with the inner surface of the lower case 20b to reduce sliding resistance. This protrusion 62 may be provided on the lower case 20b side.

The upper end of the swinging member 57 connects to the adapter body 2 via the support shaft 63.
0 is suspended and supported on the inner surface of the upper case 20a, and the support shaft 6
3 as a fulcrum, and a contact terminal 64 protruding from the front side of the lower part faces the position of the erroneous erasure prevention piece 52 of the small tape cartridge 2 in the storage chamber 25 from the rear.

An operating arm 65 is cantilevered in the lateral direction from the swinging member 57 and comes into contact with the rear end of the slide member 56 . In addition,! ! The support shaft 63 of the moving member 57 is attached to the case bottom wall 21
It is supported by a plate member 5B that stands upright from the top.

Assume now that the erroneous erasure prevention piece 52 of the small tape cartridge 2 has been broken off. That time.

Since the contact terminal 64 of the swinging member 57 engages in the recess 66 for breaking off the accidental erasure prevention piece of the small tape cartridge 2,
The slide member 56, which is interlocked with the J1 moving member 57 via the operating arm 65, is completely retracted.

The window 54 of the adapter main body 20 is in a folded-off state without the erroneous erasure prevention piece.

When the small-sized tape cartridge 2 has the eraser prevention piece 52, the contact terminal 64 is pushed back toward the rear by contact with the eraser prevention piece 52, so that the slide member 56
is forcibly moved rearward against the spring member 60, and the rear end surface 56a of the slide member 56 extends into the window 54 and becomes substantially flush with the outer surface of the rear wall 53 of the adapter body 20.

In other words, the sliding member 56 is 20 degrees from the adapter body.
It fulfills the following. Therefore, when the adapter 1 is loaded into the recording/reproducing apparatus, when the rear end surface 56a of the slide member 56 is exposed to the window 54 and the detector on the recording/reproducing apparatus side comes into contact with the rear end surface 56a, the small tape cartridge 2
It is detected that the built-in tape 4 is correctly in the erasable state. In addition, when the rear end t156a of the slide member 56 is retracted into the adapter main body 20 and the detector on the recording/reproducing device side comes into blank contact with the slide member 56, the tape 4 of the small tape cartridge 2 is correctly erased. Detect the state.

Note that the front end upper surface 64a of the contact terminal 64 is as follows.

The swinging member 57 is formed into a recessed arcuate surface so that when the small tape cartridge 2 is inserted into the storage chamber 25 from above, the swinging member 57 is pushed back without prying when it comes into contact with the lower edge of the rear end of the small tape cartridge 2. Further, the lower surface 64b of the front end of the contact terminal 64 is connected to the small tape cartridge 2 from the storage chamber 25.
It is formed into a convex arcuate surface with a smaller curvature than the curvature of the upper surface 64M so that the swinging member 64 can be pushed back smoothly when taken out.

(8) Mechanism for drawing out the tape from the small tape cartridge to the front of the adapter body As already mentioned, when the small tape cartridge 2 is stored in the storage chamber 25 of the nine-prong adapter 1 and the opening/closing lid 35 is closed, the small tape cartridge 2 However, the front lid 16 is set in the open state.

Before loading the adapter 1 into the recording/reproducing apparatus, the tape 4 must be pulled out from the small tape cartridge 2 to the front of the adapter main body 20 to set the tape in the same state as in a standard large tape cartridge.

The tape drawing mechanism will be explained next.

Figure 15 shows the small tape cartridge 2 attached to the adapter body 2.
0, and at this stage, the tape 4 built into the small tape cartridge 2 is stretched between the front left and right tape guide members 7.

Inside the adapter body 20, round pin-shaped tape pull-out members 70 and 71 are waiting in a vertical position on the front left and right sides of the storage chamber 25, and when the small tape cartridge 2 is inserted into the storage chamber 25 from above, the tape The drawer members 70 and 71 are relatively connected to the recesses 72 and 7 at the front end of the small tape cartridge 2.
3 from below and enters inside the tape 4 stretched between the tape guide members 7 and 7.

The tape drawer member 70 on the left side is vertically fixed to the tip of a tape drawer arm 76 that swings horizontally about a fixed fulcrum 75 at the base end. The small tape cartridge 2 is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.

The lower surface of the bottom wall of the case is recessed in the front part in the left and right width direction, and the downward tip of the tape pull-out arm 76 is between the bottom wall 21 of the case of the adapter body 20 and the bottom wall of the case of the small tape cartridge 2. to be inserted into.

This tape pull-out arm 76 is connected via a link 77 and a relay link 78 to a slide link 79 that slides in the left-right direction. A bell crank 81 that can be horizontally swung around a fulcrum 80 is supported on the inner surface of the upper case 20a in the right lateral space in the adapter body 20, and the base end of the slide link 79 is attached to the short side of the bell crank 81 through a long hole. are connected by engagement with the bottle.

In addition, the upper case 20 is located in the right side space of the adapter body 20.
A horizontal cam plate 82 along the inner surface of a is fixed. This cam plate 82 has two rows of curved elongated holes 84 running in the front and rear directions.
85, and as shown in FIG. 21, slide links 88 and 89 are arranged in an integrally connected state on the upper and lower sides of the cam plate 82 via pins 86 and 87 passing through the respective long holes 84 and 85,
The upper slide link 88 and the tip of the long side of the bell crank 81 are connected by a link 90. On the other hand, another tape pull-out arm 93 is connected to the bin 91 provided on the lower slide link 89 through a dogleg-shaped long hole 92, and the tape pull-out member 71 on the right side is connected to the lower end of this arm 93. is installed vertically. Then, a tension spring 94 is mounted across the arm 93 and the lower slide link 89,
The tape drawer arm 93 is drawn toward the lower slide link 89 and biased. Further, a notch 95 is provided on the side edge of the tape pull-out arm 93 to engage from the side with one of the bins 86 connecting the upper and lower slide links 88 and 89.

A manual operation lever 96 is attached to the fulcrum 80 of the bell crank 81.
The lever 96 and the bell crank 81 are flexibly connected to each other by engagement with the elongated hole 97 and the pin 98 to allow relative rotation within a certain small angle. #181
and 96, a tension spring 99 biases them in the direction of mutual attraction.
Attach. The tip of the operating lever 96 is connected to the adapter body 2o.
The adapter body 20 is inserted through horizontally long slits 100 formed on the joint surfaces of the upper and lower cases 20a and 20b.
It protrudes outward from the rear wall 53, and a knob lO1 is fixed to the protruding end.

A knob storage notch 102 is formed on the outer surface of the rear wall 53 of the adapter body 20 at approximately the center in the left-right direction, and the rear wall 53 and the right lateral wall 1 are formed at the rear right corner of the adapter body 20.
A knob storage notch 104 is formed that straddles the virtual ridge line with 03, and the knob 101 is accommodated in the notches 102 and 104, respectively, at the swing end of the 81-operation lever 96. On the other hand, since the notch 104 is open at the corner across the rear side wall 53 and the right side wall 103, it is easy to touch the knob 101 with your fingertips from the right side, especially when swinging the operating lever 96 from right to left in the figure. It can be applied to.

Next, to explain its operation, in the state before the tape is pulled out from the small tape cartridge 2 stored in the adapter main body 20, as shown in FIG. are located at the front ends of the curved elongated holes 84 and 85, respectively. When the operating lever 96 is rotated clockwise from this state, the bell crank 81 rotates in the same direction as shown in FIG. 16, and the slide link 79 moves to the left. The drawer arm 76 is the fulcrum 75
The hour hand swings horizontally in the counterclockwise direction.

First, the tape 4 is pulled out forward by the left tape drawer member 70.

Further, as the bell crank 81 rotates in the direction of the hour hand, the upper and lower slide links 8B and 89 are guided by the long holes 84 and 85 and slide rearward thereof, which also causes the tape pull-out arm 93 to horizontally swing. Then, the tape 4 is drawn out forward by the right tape drawing member 71.

At this time, the two elongated holes 84 and 85 have different centers of curvature, and the slide links 88 and 89 change their posture dually within the sliding plane.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 17, the trajectory P of the tape guide member 71 at the tip of the tape pull-out arm 93 follows an intermediate curved curve with a large curvature at the beginning and a small curvature at the latter half. In the early stage of the withdrawal movement, the forward movement component is large, and in the latter half, the movement component in the right lateral direction is large. Therefore, while the front cover 24 of the adapter main body 20 remains in the closed position, Even if the space is small, the tape 4 can be pulled out to a large extent laterally and outwardly. Being able to pull out the tape with the front cover 24 closed is extremely effective in preventing the tape 4 from coming into contact with other objects and being damaged before the adapter 1 is loaded into the recording/playback device. That's an advantage.

Next, one connecting pin 86 of the slide links 88 and 89 is connected to the rear end of the long hole 84, and the other connecting pin 87 is connected to the long hole 85.
When the tape reaches the bending point, the small-diameter upper and lower end portions of the right tape pull-out member 71 are received and supported by the L-shaped insertion portion 106a of the member 106 by the receiver fixed at a position near the right corner of the front end inside the adapter body 20. . 11! When the operating lever 96 is swung, the vertical slide link 8 is moved as shown in FIG.
8 and 89 rotate clockwise around the bin 86, and the other bin 87 moves to the rear end of the elongated hole 85.

Then, as the link rotates, the bin 91 moves toward the rear end of the dogleg-shaped elongated hole 92, so that the tape pull-out arm 93 relatively moves between the tape guide member 71 and the engaging portion 106.
It is forcibly rotated counterclockwise around the locking point with a. The engaging recess 107 formed on the outer edge of the distal end of the arm 93 is connected to the locking protrusion 10 protruding from the member 106.
B is fitted, and thereby the tape drawer arm 93 is connected to the bin 91, and the receiver is connected to the member 106 and the locking protrusion 108.
It is fixed in a point supported state, and the accumulated backlash of the link mechanism is absorbed, and the tape drawer member 71 is reliably positioned and supported by the receiver member 106.

The tape drawer member 70 on the left side has its upper and lower ends at the tape drawer limit, and the receiver disposed at the left corner of the front end inside the adapter body 20 is supported by the L-shaped insertion portion 109a of the member 109 at its upper and lower ends. . Both ends of a click spring 115 having a loop portion in the middle are latched and connected to the upper wall of the adapter body 20 and the tape pull-out arm 76, respectively.

This spring 115 urges the tape pull-out arm 76 to move toward the front pull-out position and the rear retraction position, with the intermediate movement position being the dead center. Therefore, the tape drawer member 70 absorbs the accumulated backlash of the link mechanism, and the receiver is pressed against the engaging portion 109a of the member 109 to be reliably positioned and held at the drawer position, and is well held at the retracted position.

As described above, when the left and right tape drawer members 70 and 71 are moved diagonally to their forward movement limits and fixed,
This position corresponds to the position 1 of the front left and right tape guide members in a standard large tape cartridge, and the tape 4 is stretched between the left and right tape pull-out members 70 and 71. When the adapter 1 is loaded into the recording/reproducing apparatus from this state, the front 124 of the adapter body 1 opens and the tape 4 is pulled out toward the front rotary head in the tape loading bin of the recording/reproducing apparatus.

(9) Mechanism for fixing the small tape cartridge in the adapter storage chamber When the small tape cartridge 2 is stored and the adapter 1 is loaded into the recording/playback device, one drive shaft on the recording/playback device side is attached to the bottom wall 21 of the adapter body 20. The tape reel 5 is fitted into the hub hole of the tape reel 5 on the feeding side of the small tape cartridge 2 through the drive shaft insertion hole 22 provided therethrough, and the tape reel 5 is pushed up.

At this time, it is necessary to prevent the small tape cartridge 2 from floating up within the storage chamber 25.

To this end, the bin 110 is erected on the slide link 79 for moving the left tape drawer arm 76, and the base end of the lock arm 111 is rotatably supported on the inner surface of the upper case 20a of the adapter body 20.

The two prongs at the tip of the lock arm 111 are connected to the bottle 110, and the lock piece 112 is connected to the base end of the lock arm 1.11.
are installed in succession. In the state before the tape is pulled out by the lever 96, the lock piece 1 is
12 does not face the storage chamber 25, but as the link 79 slides to the left as the tape is pulled out, the lock piece 112 enters and rotates into the storage chamber 25 as shown in FIGS. 16 and 17. A lock piece 112 engages in a semicircular recess 113 formed on the outer surface of the rear wall 51 of the small tape cartridge 2 to fix the small tape cartridge 2.

(10) Mechanism control lever 9 to prevent forgetting to operate the tape drawer
If the user forgets to pull out the tape in step 6 and loads the adapter 1 into the recording/playback device, the tape 4 cannot be pulled out from the front of the adapter 1, and the recording/playback device will not operate.Therefore, the user may miss a long-awaited recording opportunity. Therefore, it is necessary to notify the user as soon as possible that the tape withdrawal operation is being performed. Furthermore, it is necessary to clearly identify the cause of the inoperation of the recording/reproducing device.

Furthermore, in the adapter 1 shown in the third example, a lamp insertion hole 116 into which a tape end detection lamp is inserted is provided in the front right and left center portion of the bottom wall 21, and the tape 4 is inserted into the lamp before the tape draw operation. Since it runs above the hole 116, if the adapter 1 is loaded into the recording/reproducing apparatus as it is, the lamp inserted into the lamp insertion hole 116 will hit the tape 4 and damage the tape 4. Therefore, in this respect as well, it is desirable to prevent the adapter l from being loaded into the recording/reproducing apparatus when the tape ejecting operation is forgotten.

Therefore, in the first proposal, 1 wI is attached to the bottom wall 21 of the adapter body 20.
A misloading prevention groove 117 is cut in a straight line from the front edge 21a of the bottom wall 21 to the lamp insertion hole 116, and the concave portion 11 is formed at the lower end of the front cover 24 on the extension line of the groove 117.
form 8. Originally, when the adapter 1 is correctly loaded into the recording and reproducing device, the detector on the recording and reproducing device side slides into the groove 117 to allow the adapter 1 to be loaded. This is to prevent the adapter 1 from being completely loaded into the recording/reproducing apparatus when it is loaded with the front and back or top and bottom sides reversed.

Then, the movable member 11 is placed on the inner surface of the bottom wall 21 at a position forward of the storage chamber 25 in the adapter main body 20.
9 is guided by a guide 120 and is equipped with a spring member 121 that urges it to slide in the left and right direction.

The upright piece 122 erected at the left end of the movable member 119 is positioned so as to interfere with the swing locus of the tip of the left tape pull-out arm 76 . In the state shown in FIG. 15 before the tape drawing operation, the movable member 119 is shifted to the right against the spring member 121 due to the contact between the arm 76 and the upright piece 122, and the right end 119m of the movable member 119 is erroneously moved. The loading prevention groove 117 is closed. Therefore, under this condition, even if the adapter l is loaded into the recording/reproducing apparatus in the correct orientation, the detector on the recording/reproducing apparatus side interferes with the right end 119a of the movable member 119, so the adapter l cannot be installed in the front-back or upside-down orientation. The adapter L cannot be completely pushed into the recording/playback device in the same way as when it was loaded into the 17th
When the tape pull-out operation is performed as shown in the figure, the movable member 119 is shifted to the left by the spring member 121 and the erroneous loading prevention groove 117 is opened, so that in this case, the adapter l can be pushed into the recording/reproducing apparatus and loaded.

(11) Driving mechanism for the tape reel of a small tape cartridge by a recording/playback device 'When the adapter 1 is loaded into the recording/playback device, the drive shaft on the side of the recording/playback device is driven by the left and right drives provided transparently in the bottom wall 21 of the adapter body 2o. The drive shaft that has entered the shaft insertion holes 22 and 23, respectively, and the drive shaft insertion hole 22 on the left side engages with the hub hole of the tape reel 5 on the feeding side of the small tape cartridge 2. However, the take-up side tape reel 6 of the small tape cartridge 2 and the drive shaft insertion hole 23 on the right side are separated, and a mechanism for rotationally driving the S-take side tape reel 6 is required.

To this end, a drive gear 124 is provided within the adapter body 2o, which has a hub hole 123 that is substantially the same as the hub hole of the tape reel in the large tape cartridge, as shown in FIG. is installed freely in the radial direction, and the small tape cartridge 2
An idle gear 12 having upper and lower gear parts 125a and 125b between the gear part 11 formed on the outer periphery of the lower flange 1o of the take-up side tape reel 6 and the drive gear 124.
5, and the upper gear part 125 of the idle gear 125
a to the drive gear 124 in a freely thrusting manner, and the lower gear part 1
25b are respectively engaged with the gear portion 11 of the tape reel 6 on the winding side.

The idle gear 125 is suspended from the lower side of a movable bracket 126 attached to the inner surface of the upper case of the adapter body 20 via a support shaft 127 so as to be able to move up and down within a certain range, and is biased upward by a compression coil spring 128. It is. Therefore, when the small tape cartridge 2 is inserted into the storage chamber 25 of the adapter main body 20 from above, even if the reel gear part 11 does not mesh well with the lower gear part 125b of the idle gear 125, the idle gear 125 is temporarily connected to the spring 128. It resists and escapes downward, and when the occlusal phase matches when the idle gear 125 starts driving, the idle gear 125 is automatically pulled up and the normal occlusal state is achieved.

As shown in FIG. 15, the placket 126 is rotatable around the axis W of the tape reel 6 on the take-up side within a certain angular range by engaging the bin 129 and the elongated hole 130.
It is supported by 0a and is urged to move by a tension spring 132 so as to cut into the drive gear 124 and the reel gear portion 11 in a pattern. Therefore, the idle gear 12
5 is always engaged with the reel gear part 11, and then the drive gear 1
Following the free movement of gear 24, the gear 124 always absorbs play and engages.

(12) Mechanism for winding the tape pulled out onto the tape reel of the small tape reel stringer by operating the lever The tape 4 pulled out from the small tape cartridge 2 moves the tape drawer members 70 and 71 from the front position to the original position by operating the lever. To do this, the tape must be wound onto the tape reel of the small tape cartridge 2. For this purpose, a mechanism is provided to take up and rotate the take-up side tape reel 6 only when the operating lever 96 is returned to the counterclockwise direction.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 22 and 23, a lever fulcrum 8 is integrally provided on the distal end side of the operating lever 96.
A bracket 13 fixes a fan-shaped gear 134 that rotates around 0, a rotating shaft 135 is erected at a predetermined position in the adapter body 20, and the upper end of the rotating shaft 135 is fixed to the upper case 20a.
6, the lower ends are rotatably supported by bearings 137 of the lower case 20b, and a sector gear 134 is mounted on the upper part of the rotating shaft 135.
′ is fixed, and the pinion gear 13B that is always engaged with IEf is fixed.
A large diameter gear 139 is fixed to the lower end of the rotating shaft 135.

A swinging arm 140 is supported by a loose fit between the upper and lower sides of the rotating shaft 135, a support shaft 141 is fixed downward to the tip of the arm 140, and large and small gears 142 and 143 are supported by a loose fit in the upper and lower directions of the support shaft 141, respectively. do. The upper large gear 142 engages with the drive gear 124 in a detachable manner, and the lower small gear 143
is arranged so that it always meshes with the large diameter gear 139.

A friction plate 145 made of synthetic resin is interposed between the upper and lower large and small gears 142 and 143, and a compression spring 146 attached to the lower end of the support shaft 141 elastically clamps the friction plate 145 between the large and small gears 142 and 1431a. This constitutes a friction clutch 147 that transmits power only with the torque of .

On the lower surface of the fan-shaped gear 134, small diameter arcuate concave cam surfaces 149, 150. A circular arc cam surface 151 concentric with the gear center is formed in the middle.

A cam follower 152 that contacts these cam surfaces is loosely fitted and supported on the rotating shaft 135, and a helical spring 153 is interposed between the cam follower 152 and the arm 140, and a weak spring 155 that pulls the arm 140 outward. Attach.

In such a case, as shown in FIG.
Since the cam follower 152 is allowed to freely move with one end of the fan-shaped gear 134 facing the concave input face 149, the swing arm 140 is pulled by the tension spring 155 and the gear 14 is pulled by the tension spring 155.
2 is removed from the drive gear 124.

Next, in order to pull out the tape, the operating lever 96 is swung clockwise as shown in FIG. 25.

Since the sector gear 134 also rotates in the same direction, the cam follower 1
52 rides on the arcuate cam surface 151 and rotates in the counterclockwise direction. At this time, the swing arm 140 is prevented from swinging outward any further by a stopper (not shown).

When the operating lever 96 is swung to the tape withdrawal end position, the cam follower 152 is disengaged from the arcuate cam surface 151 and rotates back clockwise along the other concave input upper surface 150, as shown in FIG. Swinging arm 140 even in the state
does not move, and gear 142 is disengaged from drive gear 124. Therefore, even if the adapter 1 is loaded into the recording/reproducing apparatus and the drive shaft of the recording/reproducing apparatus rotates the drive gear 124, no power is transmitted to the gear 142.

However, after use, if you remove the adapter 1 from the recording/reproducing device and swing the operating lever 96 counterclockwise,
As shown in FIG. 27, the cam follower 152 is forcibly rotated in the direction of the hour hand and rides on the arcuate cam surface 151 in the opposite direction, so that the swinging arm 140 swings against the spring 155 due to the tensile force of the helical spring 153. Then, the gear 142 at the tip of the swing arm 140 engages with the drive gear 124.

When the operation lever 96 is returned and swung as it is, the rotation of the pinion gear 138 meshing with the fan-shaped gear 134 is transmitted to the drive gear 124 via each gear group, and the tape reel 6 on the 1st winding side moves the tape via the fluid gear 125. Rotates in the winding direction. In reality, the tape reel 6 rotates approximately five times due to the combination of large and small gears. As a result, as the left and right tape drawer members 70 and 71 move in and out, the adapter body 2
The tape 4 pulled out to the front of the tape 0 is wound onto the tape reel 6 without slack.

however,! @If the tape reel 6 on the take-off side is fully wound with tape 4, for example, the amount of tape winding will be greater than the amount of tape being pulled out. In such a case, the aforementioned friction clutch 147 is activated to prevent undue tension from being applied to the tape 4.

In addition, the operation lever 96 should be moved slightly before reaching the return end (approximately 7
°), the tape pull-out link mechanism reaches its operating limit, but since the bell crank 81 and the operating lever 96 are flexible by engaging with the elongated hole 97 and the bin 9B, the operating lever 96 is moved by the spring 99. The winding operation can be performed even after the tape drawer members 70 and 71 are set in and out.

The take-up tape reel 6 is rotated approximately half a turn. Therefore, the tape 4 is wound and tightened with a tension that corresponds to the set torque of the friction clutch 147.

According to the present invention as described above, after the small tape cartridge 2 is inserted from above into the storage chamber 25 of the adapter main body 20 and stored, the opening/closing lid 35 is opened on the top of the opening of the storage chamber 25.
When the adapter main body 20 is loaded into the recording/reproducing apparatus by closing them together, the reference plane set on the lower surface of the adapter main body 20 is supported by the recording/reproducing apparatus side, and the reference plane is also placed on the upper surface of the opening/closing lid 35. Since the presser foot on the recording/playback device side works effectively in response to the
0 can be set reliably without wobbling. Further, it is also possible to effectively prevent dust from entering the storage chamber 25 when not in use.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 shows the appearance of the proposed adapter and small tape cartridge viewed from the rear side! ll, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of them from the front side. Figure 3 is a plan view mainly showing the storage chamber for the adapter;
The figure is a sectional view taken along the line A-A in Fig. 3, Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line B-B in Fig. 3, and Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line C-C in Fig. 3.
A line sectional view, FIG. 7 is a DD line sectional view in FIG. 3, No. 8'Il! 11 is a partially cutaway side view of the storage chamber with the opening/closing lid open, and FIG. 9 is a line sectional view showing the procedure for extracting the small tape cartridge from the storage chamber. 10 to 14 illustrate an example of a tape erase prevention mechanism built into a small tape cartridge, with FIG. 10 being a perspective view and FIG. 11 being a plan view thereof. Fig. 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line E-E in Fig. 11, Fig. 13 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line F-F in Fig. 11, and Fig. 14 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line F-F in Fig. 11.
It is a longitudinal side view corresponding to the figure. 15 to 20 show the tape drawer mechanism, FIG. 15 is a plan view showing the state before the tape drawer operation, FIG. 16 is a plan view showing the state in the middle of the tape drawer operation, and FIG. 17 is a plan view showing the state before the tape drawer operation. A plan view showing the state after the tape drawer operation,
Fig. 18 is a sectional view taken along the line G-C in Fig. 17, and Fig. 19 is a sectional view of Fig. 17I! 1, FIG. 20 is a schematic perspective view of the tape drawer link mechanism, and FIG. 21 is an exploded perspective view showing a part of the tape drawer link mechanism. Figures 22 to 27 show the tape winding mechanism. Figure 22 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the main parts, Figure 23 is a perspective view of the main parts, and Figures 24 to 27 are the operation levers. FIG. 24 is a plan view illustrating the relationship between movement and the tape monitoring mechanism over time, and FIG. 24 shows the tape before being drawn out, FIG. 25 shows the tape being drawn out in the middle, FIG. 26 shows the tape drawing being completed, and FIG. 27 shows the operation. Each figure shows the state in the middle of tape winding after the lever is moved back to MIWA. 1...Adapter. 2...Small tape force/-tridge. 4...Tape. 20...Adapter body. 25...Storage room. 27...Membrane surface. 30...Top surface of the adapter body. 35...Opening/closing lid. 40... Leaf spring. 41...Transparent window. 42... Engagement element. Figure 24 Figure 25 Figure 26 Figure 27

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) The adapter main body 20 having substantially the same external shape as the large tape cartridge has a storage chamber 25 in which the small tape cartridge 2 is stored from above, and the tape 4 is transferred from the small tape cartridge 2 to the front of the adapter main body 20. In an adapter for a small tape cartridge configured to be able to be pulled out. The adapter body 20 is provided with an opening/closing lid 35 that closes the upper surface of the opening of the storage chamber 25, and the adapter body 2 is connected to a recording/reproducing device.
An adapter for a small tape cartridge characterized in that the upper surface of the opening/closing lid 35 is a support surface for a recording/reproducing device in correspondence with the contact reference surface of the lower surface of the adapter.