JPS58164066A - Tape cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the entry of dust and wrong engagement, by installing a front cover to be installed to the front of a cassette housing and a cover locking piece which locks the front cover when this tape cassette is not used. CONSTITUTION:A lock spring 14 has a bent part 14a at one end and is smoothly lowered into a recessed part 26 while it is bent more stronger than the inserting and containing condition of the recessed part 26, and then, gives force to a cover locking piece 13 so that the piece 13 is forced to rotate in the direction of the thickness of a cassette housing 1 (in the direction of an arrow 29) and the piece 13 is brought into contact with a projection 30 at the side plate section 9 of the case of the upper half 1a of the housing 1. The side plate part 8 of a front cover 7 having a front cover spring 12 is moved in the direction shown by an arrow 31 while the side plate part 8 is widened by bending it in the direction of width of the tape cassette, and a rotary shaft section 5 is inserted into a recessed part 16 inserted into and held by the upper and lower halves 1a and 1b. When the shaft section 5 is inserted, the detaining condition of one end of the front cover spring 12 to the 2nd projected part 22 which is a part of the front cover 7 is maintained under the same condition, but the detaining condition of the other end to the 1st projected part 23 is released and the other end is engaged with the projection 30 of the side plate section 9 of the case of the upper half 1a and rotates the front cover 7 in the direction shown by an arrow 32.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a tape cassette used for audio, video, data recorders, etc., and particularly to a front cover that covers a tape stretched along an opening provided in the front of a cassette housing; The present invention relates to a tape cassette having a front lid locking piece for preventing the front lid from opening when the tape cassette is not in use.

Conventionally, this type of tape cassette includes, for example, the well-known VH8 tape cassette.
There are tape cassettes used in , β-type VTRs.

In each of these tape cassettes, a front lid spring is provided to rotate the front lid in a direction to cover the three pages of tape stretched along the front opening, and when the tape cassette is not in use, A lid lock piece that prevents opening of the front lid and rotates in the width direction of the tape cassette, and a lock spring that engages the lid lock piece with the front lid and biases the front lid in a direction to prevent opening of the front lid are provided. ing.

These front lids.

If you try to apply the functions of the lid lock piece and their respective tensions to a smaller tape cassette, there will be problems with the space to install the biasing spring, and the rotation direction of the lid lock piece when unlocking will be different from the tape cassette. It is taken in the width direction of
There are problems such as requiring a large dimension in the width direction.

However, the biasing spring still has the inconvenience that it may become dislodged and untwisted when assembling the tape cassette, making it difficult to assemble it automatically using a machine.

On the other hand, for example, as used in VH9 type VTRs, transparent tape is provided at the beginning and end of the tape, and one of the light-emitting and light-receiving detection means is inserted into the cassette from the bottom of the cassette. When adopting a start/end detection method for a light-transmissive tape in which one tape is placed in the tape cassette and the other is provided outside the tape cassette, it is necessary to provide an optical path hole in the side surface of the tape cassette.

This optical path hole is normally placed on the side plate of the case of the tape cassette, and can be covered by the side plate of the front cover that is pivotally supported by the side plate of the case. A front cover spring that biases the front cover in the direction of closing the front cover, or a cover lock that prevents the front cover from opening is provided in that space with a predetermined distance between the front cover and the case side plate. It is also necessary to configure the width direction dimension to be as small as possible, and in that case, the optical path hole will be covered at a predetermined distance even when the front cover is closed.

This optical path hole, like other tape cassette openings,
Dust enters through this opening and adheres to the tape in the tape cassette, causing a drop alert. This is especially a problem in the case of small tape cassettes that use short wavelength high-density recording, since they have 5 pages, which means that they may be carried in, for example, clothes pockets.

In view of these disadvantages, the present invention covers the optical path hole even in a downsized tape cassette to prevent dust from entering when the tape cassette is not in use, and at the same time prevents the engagement of the front cover screw when assembling the cassette. This improves ease of assembly while preventing dislodgement, and allows these front lids to function as a front lid spring, lid lock piece, etc. with an extremely simple structure.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway schematic plan view showing an embodiment of a tape cassette 1 according to the present invention, in which a pair of reels 2,
The tape 4 is wound around the upper and lower nozzles 1a', 1 and stretched along the opening provided on the front surface of the cassette case.
'b (see Fig. 2) The front cover 7 is pivotally supported on the side surface of the tape cassette housing 1 by rotating shafts 5 and 6.
The tape cassette is covered when not in use. A space 11 is provided at a predetermined distance between one side plate part 8 of the front cover 7 and the case side plate part 9 of the tape case/gutter housing, and between the case outer plate part 1o. In this space 11, as will be explained below, there are a front cover spring 12, a cover lock piece 13°, and a lock spring 14, which bias the front cover 7 to rotate. 1st. A second projection 23.22 is provided. Still, an opening 36 is provided approximately in the center of the tape cassette housing 1, through which a light emitting element or light receiving/detecting means (not shown) enters into the inside of the tape cassette 1. An optical path hole 33 is provided through the case side plate 9 shown in a perspective view in FIG. 2 to form an optical path shown by a dashed line. Then, the passage of the transparent tape (not shown) provided at the beginning and end of the tape 4 is detected by the light emitting and light receiving detection means (not shown) located inside the opening 36 and outside the tape cassette 1, Controls the running mode of the tape 4.

In Fig. 3, the main parts are shown in an exploded perspective view, and are tape ducks. The upper half 1a and the lower half 1b constituting the tape cassette 1" (Fig. 1) have seven panels that pivotally support the lid lock piece 13 in the thickness direction of the tape cassette, a case side plate part 9, and a case outer plate. 4 parts 1 on part 1o
5, and recesses 16 are respectively provided on the side plate portions 9 of the upper half 1a in order to pivotally support the front lid 7. The concave and convex portions are arranged to be held in correspondence with each other at mutually corresponding positions, and each is pivotally supported.

The lid 7 has a notch 19 that allows a lid opening member 17 (FIG. 7) to be described later to enter, and a lid locking piece 13 that enters the space 11 from the outside of the front surface of the tape cassette 1 as shown in FIG. The lock release member 18 (Fig. 7) is allowed to enter at some positions, and the tape cassette 1 is
In order to attach the cassette holder to a cassette holder (not shown), a notch 21 is provided that exposes the abutting part 20 for positioning the insertion direction into a cassette holder (not shown). Furthermore, as shown in FIG.
A first protrusion 23. A second protrusion 22 is provided, and before the front cover 7 is assembled to the cassette case, the center part of the front cover spring 12 is inserted into the rotation shaft 5 of the front cover 7, and both ends thereof are inserted into the rotation shaft 5 of the front cover 7. The first protrusion 23 has a locking shape.
．． It is locked to the second protrusion 22 . On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, a four part 26 consisting of guide walls 24 and 25 is provided between the case side plate part 9 and the case outer plate part 1o of the upper half 1a, and the lock spring 14 is attached thereto. The lock spring 14 is locked by being inserted and retracted in the direction of arrow 27 against the spring force.

And upper and lower halves 1a, 1b and front lid 7 (Fig. 3)
When assembling, proceed as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the lid lock piece 13 of the lower half 1b is temporarily pivoted in the recess 15 (FIG. 3) and placed on the stand 27, and then the lock spring 14 is inserted and stored in the four parts 26 and then the arrow 28 direction to join the upper and lower halves 1a and 1b. At this time, there is a bent part 14a at one end of the lock spring 14, and the lock spring 14 is bent further than the state in which it is inserted into the recess 26 and is smoothly lowered to rotate the lid lock piece 13 in the thickness direction of the cassette case 1 (in the direction of arrow 29). The protrusion 9 provided on the case side plate 9 of the upper half 1a is brought into contact with the bevel f3o. After that, as shown in FIG. 7, the side plate part 8 of the front cover 7 with the front cover spring 12 is bent and expanded in the width direction of the tape cassette, and in this state, it is moved in the direction of arrow 31, and the upper and lower corners are -71. , a, and 1b, the rotation shaft portion 5 is inserted into the fourth portion 16 (FIG. 3). At that time, one end of the front lid spring 12 is attached to a second protrusion 22 which is a part of the front lid 7.
However, the other end is not locked to the first protrusion 23 and engages with a protrusion 30 provided on the case side plate 9 of the upper half 1a, causing the front cover 7 to move in the direction indicated by the arrow 32. It rotates and energizes in the direction.

Here, the height of the first projection 23 is set to be slightly smaller than the distance between the side plate 8 of the front lid 7 and the case side plate 9. As is clear from FIG. 7, the first protrusion 23 not only locks the front lid spring 12 to the front lid 7 but also serves as an engaging portion for the lid lock piece 13, and also serves as an engaging portion for the lid lock piece 13. ), the optical path hole 33 (10th
・ Cover the optical path hole 3 when the tape cassette is not used.
3 prevents dust from entering the inside of the tape cassette. Further, the side plate 8 of the front lid 7 is provided with a hole 34 that allows light to pass through when the front lid 7 is opened.

Next, the release operation of the lid lock piece 13 and the opening operation of the front lid 7 will be explained using FIG. 7. (not shown), the cassette holder is provided by cutting and raising a sheet metal material, etc.
The lock release member 18 enters into the space 11 (FIG. 1) through the notch 21 on the front surface of the front cover 7 described above to the position shown by the dashed line, and locks the lock spring 14 of the cover lock piece 13. The lid lock piece 13 is rotated in the opposite direction to the arrow 29, that is, in the direction that releases the engagement with the first protrusion 23 of the front lid 7 and allows the front lid 7 to be opened (as shown by the dashed dotted line). (shows the position after rotation.) Then, with the cassette holder (not shown)
Insert the tape cassette 1 toward the main unit, that is, in the direction of arrow 3.
By pushing down in the direction of 6, the cassette holder, which is fixed to the main unit or movable to the cassette holder, can be opened.
The front lid opening member 17 relatively enters in a range including the space 11 shown in the figure and the thickness of the side plate portion 8 of the front lid 7,
It has a shape corresponding to the notch 19 and enters into the bottom surface of the tape cassette, and when installation is completed, the front lid 7 is opened to the position shown by the dashed line.

Although not shown, the tape cassette is biased in the direction of arrow 34 with sufficient force in the cassette holder to withstand the forces of these front cover springs 12, lock springs 14, etc., and prevents these movements. It is self-evident that it is structured in such a way that

Note that the recess 26 of the upper half 1a (Fig. 6, Fig. 7)
The lock spring 14 inserted and housed in the figure) is not limited to the torsion coil spring shown in the example, but may be a plate spring or the like, for example.

Alternatively, the other end of the front lid spring 12 after the front lid 7 is assembled may be engaged with the lid lock 13 instead of the protrusion 3o to indirectly engage the cassette case. In this case, the lock spring 1
4 can be removed.

As described above, according to the present invention, even in a downsized tape cassette, the optical path hole is covered when the tape cassette is not in use, preventing dust from entering through the optical path hole, and at the same time, it is possible to prevent dust from entering through the optical path hole. This prevents misalignment, improves ease of assembly, and enables functions of the front lid, front lid spring, lid lock, etc., with an extremely simple structure.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic partially cutaway plan view showing one embodiment of the tape cassette according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the essential parts,
Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the main parts, Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the main parts, Fig. 6 is a perspective view of parts related to the main parts, and Fig. 6 is a schematic side view showing the assembly process. Figure 7 is a schematic side view showing the operation of the same essential parts ■7A6・
jl...fist/s11 tape cassette,
1a...aIJ/upper half, 1b,,-,,,lower half, 4111111111111 tape, No. 7 m*
**a Front lid, 12...Front lid spring, 13...
... Lid lock 13 Page 22 ... Second protrusion, 23 ... First protrusion. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person No. 1
figure! Figure 2, Figure 5, Figure 6, Figure 9, Figure 7□!

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A cassette casing consisting of an upper and a lower half, and a cassette cassette that is pivotally supported on the case side plate at the front of the cassette casing, and that is suspended in an opening provided in the front of the cassette casing. a front cover that rotates to cover the tape to be stored, an optical path hole provided in the case side plate, and a side plate surface of the front cover that faces the case side plate at a predetermined distance. a first protrusion provided at a position that covers the optical path hole only when the tape is in a rotational position covering the tape; and a second protrusion provided on a side plate surface of the front cover facing the case side plate part. ,
When the front cover is separated from the cassette housing, it is inserted into the rotating shaft of the front cover, one end is locked to the second protrusion, the other end is locked to the first protrusion, and the front cover However, when it is assembled into the cassette housing, one end maintains the engagement with the first protrusion, and the other end remains engaged with the second protrusion, directly or indirectly. Said force 2,
- Tape cassette 02, cassette casing, characterized in that it has a front lid spring that engages with the center casing and rotates and urges the front lid in a direction to cover the tape stretched on the front surface of the cassette cassette. It is characterized by having a lid lock piece that is pivotally supported by the body and rotates in the thickness direction of the cassette housing to engage with the first protrusion of the front lid and prevent the front lid from rotating. A tape cassette according to claim 1.