JPS586220B2 - cassette - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a cassette in which a recording medium such as a magnetic tape, magnetic wire, or projection film is housed in a housing, and is suitable for use in various types of tape recorders, VTRs, tape players, movie projectors, etc. It is suitable for use in recording and reproducing devices.

As is well known, the so-called compact cassette used in conventional cassette-type tape recorders has a plurality of small windows formed on the front of the cassette housing for inserting magnetic heads, pinch rollers, etc. From there, magnetic heads, pinch rollers, etc. are inserted into the cassette housing.

Therefore, conventional recording and reproducing devices using this type of cassette require a mechanical structure to move the magnetic head, tape guide, etc., which may result in a complicated structure. They are difficult to adjust, have low accuracy, and can be unreliable.

In particular, since shocks are easily applied to the magnetic head, the magnetic head is likely to pick up noise due to mechanical shocks during recording.

In order to correct such defects, it is conceivable to fix the magnetic head to the base of the tape recorder.

In this case, the tape inside the cassette housing is pulled out from the cassette housing and brought into contact with the magnetic head, and recording or reproduction is performed by running the tape while maintaining this contact state.

Therefore, it is necessary to form a relatively large horizontally elongated opening on the front surface of the cassette housing for pulling out the tape.

Furthermore, in order to prevent the tape from unnecessarily protruding into the cassette case from this horizontally long opening and to prevent dirt and dust from entering the cassette case from this horizontally long opening when not in use, at least the horizontally long opening should be closed when not in use. Preferably, a partially closed opening/closing lid is provided.

The present invention provides a cassette housing with such an opening/closing lid in an extremely preferable state, and also allows the recording medium to be shifted by the recording medium shifter without damaging the recording medium.
The structure is such that it can be carried out extremely easily and reliably.

Next, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a tape cassette used in a cassette type tape recorder will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 to 5 show a tape cassette 1, and the cassette housing 2 has upper and lower halves 3a, as is conventionally known.
3b.

These upper and lower halves each have wall portions forming the upper and lower walls of the cassette housing 2, and a pair of upper and lower reel holes 6a, 6b are formed in these wall portions.

Also, inside this cassette housing 2, there is a pair of reels 4a4b.
are stored at a predetermined interval on the left and right.

These reels 4 a p 4 b have both upper and lower ends of their reel hubs 5 a and 5 b connected to the reel hole 6 a 6 .
b, and is rotatably supported by the cassette housing 2.

Note that both reels 4a and 4b constitute a so-called single-flange reel, and one reel 4a is provided with a reel flange 7a at the upper end of its reel hub 5a.
Further, the other reel 4b is provided with a reel flange 7b at the lower end of its reel hub 5b.

On the other hand, a magnetic tape (hereinafter simply referred to as tape 8) is wound around the reel hubs 5a and 5b of the reels 4a and 4b, with both ends fixed to the reel hubs 5a and 5b, respectively, as is conventionally known.
This wound state is stored in the cassette housing 2.

Note that the stepped portions 2a, 2 at both left and right ends of the front side of the cassette housing 2
A pair of left and right guide rollers 9a and 9b are rotatably provided between the guide rollers 9a and 9b.

The tape 8 is guided by these guide rollers 9a and 9b within the cassette housing 2, and extends along the front surface of the cassette housing 2.

A horizontally long opening 11 is formed in the front surface 10 of the cassette housing 2, through which the tape 8 can be pulled out from the cassette housing, and through which the magnetic head can also be inserted into the cassette housing.

This horizontally long opening 11 is composed of a long hole formed over the entire front surface 10 of the cassette housing 2, and its vertical width W
1 is sufficiently larger than the vertical width W2 of the tape 8 and also larger than the vertical width of the head, which will be described later.

In addition, a pair of upper and lower notches 12a and 12b for inserting a pinch roller are formed in the wall portions of the upper and lower halves 3a and 3b, which constitute the upper and lower walls of the cassette housing 2, at positions near both left and right ends of the horizontally long opening 11, respectively. has been done.

Note that these notches 12a and 12b are substantially U-shaped, and their front sides 12a' and 12b' are open at the horizontally elongated opening 11 and are continuous therewith.

Further, the diameter D1 of the circular arc portion that is the base of these notches 12a, 12b is sufficiently larger than the diameter of pinch rollers 27a, 27b, which will be described later.

Incidentally, since the diameter of the pinch roller is usually 10 mm or more, the diameter D1 needs to be, for example, 12 mm or more.

Lid bodies 30a, 30 are provided on both left and right sides of the front surface of the horizontally long opening 11.
b is provided so as to be openable and closable, and covers the front surface on both the left and right sides thereof.

These lids 30a, 30b have a support portion 31 having a U-shaped cross section.
a, 31b.

The step portions 2a and 2b at both left and right ends of the cassette housing 2
Axial pins 32a, 3 integrally provided on the upper surface of the
2b is fitted into the holes formed in the support parts 31a and 31b, so that these support parts and, by extension, the lid body 3
0a and 30b are rotatably supported by the cassette housing 2.

The returning linear springs 33a, 33b are inserted into the gaps between the step portions 2a, 2b at both left and right ends and the supporting portions 31a, 31b, and are wound around the shaft pins 32a, 32b, so that the returning The lids 30a, 30b are biased in the closing direction by the linear springs 33a, 33b, respectively.

In addition, protrusions such as protrusions 15a and 15b are formed on the upper and lower edges of the inner surface of the lids 30a and 30b, which cover the horizontally long openings 11, respectively. As clearly shown in FIG. 7, the cross-sectional shape of the cover portions of the cover bodies 30a, 30b is approximately U-shaped, although it is flat.

Note that the left and right notches 12a,
In the center between 12b, there is an opening 13a for inserting a tape pad, etc., and on both sides of this insertion opening 13a, there are openings 13b for inserting a positioning pin, etc.
, 13c are formed, respectively.

These notches 12a, 12b and openings 13a, 1
A partition wall 14 is provided on the back side of the upper and lower halves 3b and 13c.
a, 3b are each integrally formed.

Next, a cassette type tape recorder for using the tape cassette 1 constructed as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 10.

6 to 8 show a tape recorder in which a tape 8 is pulled out from inside the cassette housing 2 to the front during recording or playback, and shows the cassette housing 2 mounted in the cassette mounting section of the tape recorder main body 210. At the front, an erasing head 22, a recording head 23, and a reproducing head 24 are arranged, respectively.

In addition, since this case shows a dual capstan type tape recorder, the above head groups 22, 23, 2
4, a pair of gear stamps 25a,
25b are arranged respectively.

Furthermore, a tape guide 2 is installed near the capstan 25b.
5b is placed.

Note that the cassette 1 is inserted into the cassette mounting portion of the tape recorder main body 21 from above to below (that is, from above to below in FIG. 7).
When mounted face to face, a pair of left and right pinch rollers 27a,
27b are relatively inserted into the pair of left and right notches 12a and 12b from the lower half 3b side of the cassette housing 2.

Therefore, these pinch rollers are located inside the tape 8 in the state shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 6 within the cassette housing 2.

The pinch rollers 27a and 27b may be rotatably supported by pinch levers 28a and 28b which are rotatably supported on the tape recorder main body 21 by fulcrums 29a and 29b.

The tips of the pinch levers 28a, 28b are slightly extended and bent, and tape shift pins 34a, 34b are protruded from these tips.

Note that these tape shift pins 34a and 34b are
As shown in the figure, the portion in contact with the tape 8 may be made medium-thin, and this portion may be used as tape guides 35a and 35b.

After the cassette is loaded as described above, for example, when a recording or playback operation is performed, the pair of pinch levers 28
a, 28b is connected to the fulcrum 2 by its drive mechanism (not shown).
9a) They are each rotated around 29b, so
One lever 28a rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 6, and the other lever 28b rotates clockwise in FIG. 6.

When the pinch levers 28a, 28b rotate in this manner, the pair of pinch rollers 27a, 27b and the pair of tape shift pins 34a, 34b, which are attached near the tips of these levers, also rotate in the same way.

Note that when the tape shift pins 34a and 34b rotate,
These pins push the lids 30a, 30b against the elasticity of the returning linear springs 33a, 33b.

For this purpose, these lids rotate around the supporting points A of their supports 31a and 31b and open from the position shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 6 to the position shown by the solid line.

At the same time, as mentioned above, the pair of pinch rollers 27a
, 27b rotate, these pinch rollers 27a
, [27b are extracted from the pair of notches 12a and 12b to the front of the cassette housing 2 through the horizontally long opening 11 portion.

These pinch rollers 27a, 27b are connected to a pair of capstans 25a, 25b as shown by solid lines in FIG.
Crimp each.

At this time, the tape 8 is attached to the pair of pinch rollers 27aν27
b, the cassette housing 2 is pulled out from the horizontally elongated opening 11 to the front of the cassette housing 2 in the state shown by the solid line in FIG. contact each.

Also, the tape 8 is connected to the tape shift pin 3 4 a t 3
4b, so these shift pins 34a and 34b connect the capstan 25a.
>25b The winding angle of the tape 8 is regulated.

Also, at this time, as shown in FIG. 8, the tape shift pin 34
a, 34b (only pin 34a is shown in Figure 8)
Even if the tape guide portions 35a, 35b are not formed in the tape guide portions 35a, 35b, the convex strips 1
5 a t 1 5 b Tape shift hinge 3 4 a
, 34b contact, the tape 8 is pushed by these tape shift pins and the lid body 30a) 30
There is no contact with b.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the tape 8 from being damaged due to friction between the tape 8 and the lid body 30a>30b, or from interfering with the running of the tape 80.

Since the recording or playback state is obtained by the above operation,
The tape 8 drawn out in this manner is driven by the rotation of one reel 4b and a pair of capstans 25a and 25b, which are appropriately driven, as is conventionally known, and runs at a predetermined speed in the direction of the arrow in FIG. , during this run, head group 2
2, 23, and 24 are performed as desired.

In this case, if the cassette housing 2 is mounted upside down, that is, with the upper half 3a facing downward, the pair of reels 4a and 4b are in opposite positions, that is, the other reel 4a
is replaced so that it is located on the right side of FIG.

Therefore, during recording or reproduction, the tape 8 runs in the opposite direction to the pair of reels 4a, 4b in order to be wound onto the other reel 4a.

Incidentally, when the tape 8 is fast-forwarded or rewound, the pair of pinch rollers 27a and 27b naturally return to the positions shown by the imaginary lines in FIG. 6, and the lid body 30a30b is also closed at the position shown by the imaginary lines. Then, the tape 8 is returned to the state shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 6, and the pair of guide rollers 9a, 9
The vehicle travels between points b in exactly the same way as in the conventional case.

Furthermore, in the case of a single capstan type rather than a dual capstan type, one of the cab stans 25a and the pinch roller 27a is naturally unnecessary.

However, in order to obtain an appropriate wrap angle of the tape 8 with respect to the head etc., a tape shifter which also serves as a tape guide, for example, may be provided in place of the pinch roller 27a.

In this embodiment, the tape guide 26b is fixedly attached to the mechanical chassis of the tape recorder main body 21, and the tape 8 pulled out from the cassette housing 2 is guided to the tape guide 26b.
6b for guiding.

On the other hand, the height of the pair of guide rollers 9a and 9b inside the cassette case 2 is regulated, for example, by a height regulation guide on the mechanical chassis, and these guide rollers 9a and 9b also serve as the tape guide 26b. The structure of
This can be considered as shown in Figure 0.

However, if this is done, the structure will become more complicated, making adjustment difficult and potentially reducing accuracy.

FIG. 9 shows another example of the tape shift pin 34b, in which the tip of the shift pin 34b is bent toward the cassette 1 side.

In this way, when the cassette 1 is installed from above, the tape 8 is guided by the bent portion 36b of the shift pin 34b, and the tape 8 can be prevented from being caught on the tip of the shift pin 34b.

Note that the shift pin 34a is also the same as the shift pin 34 described above.
Of course, the same structure as in case b can be used.

FIG. 10 shows another example of the mounting structure for the guide roller 9b.

Holes 37a, 37b are provided in the step portions 2a, 2b at the right end of the cassette housing 2, penetrating vertically.

The pin 38b to which the guide roller 9b is fixed is rotatably supported by the cassette housing 2 through these holes 37a and 37b.

The pin 38b can be raised and lowered by a certain distance in the axial direction so as to be able to protrude from the outer surfaces of the stepped portions 2a and 2b.

On the other hand, a pressing plate 40 for pressing the pin 38b is provided on the upper wall 39 of the cassette mounting portion of the tape recorder main body 21 and is urged downward by a spring 41, and on the lower wall 42, A height reference pin 43 is provided.

Note that the upper wall 39 may be provided on the lid of the cassette mounting section or the like.

According to the configuration shown in FIG. 10, when the cassette 1 is installed and its position is regulated with respect to the tape recorder main body 21, the pin 38b is also placed on the height reference pin 43 and its position is regulated in the vertical direction. be done.

Moreover, since this pin 38b is elastically pressed by the pressing plate 40, the position of the guide roller 9b is also regulated with respect to the tape recorder main body 21.

Conventionally, when the cassette 1 was positionally regulated with respect to the tape recorder main body 21, the internal guide roller was indirectly regulated in position with respect to the tape recorder main body 21 via the cassette housing 2.

However, according to the configuration shown in FIG. 10, both the guide roller 9b and the cassette 1 are positionally regulated directly to the cassette mounting section, so the positional relationship of the tape with respect to the head and other mechanisms is accurately regulated, and therefore the tape Good running conditions can be obtained.

Note that the guide roller 9a can also have exactly the same structure as the guide roller 9b.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, further modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention.

For example, the present invention is not limited to tape recorders;
It is applicable to cassettes used in TRs, tape players, movie projectors, and other various recording and/or reproducing devices.

Further, as the recording medium, a magnetic tape, a magnetic wire, a tape-like body such as a projection film, a linear body, and various other members can be used.

Further, the number of reels provided within the cassette housing does not necessarily have to be two (that is, a pair of left and right reels); for example, a cassette in which the recording medium is wound around one reel may be used.

As described above, the present invention forms an opening on the front surface of the cassette housing that can be at least partially covered by the opening/closing lid.
This opening can be made horizontally long, so that it is possible to pull out the recording medium from this opening to the outside of the cassette housing and perform recording or reproduction.

Therefore, it is possible to use a recording/playback device in which the heads necessary for recording or playback and the guides necessary for running the recording medium are fixed to the main body of the recording/playback device, which improves the accuracy and reliability of recording or playback. can be improved.

In particular, since it is possible to prevent mechanical shock from being applied to the head, it is possible to eliminate the possibility that the recording head will pick up noise due to mechanical shock.

Furthermore, since there is an opening on the front of the cassette case, it is possible to record or play back by inserting the head into the cassette case, just like in the case of conventional compact cassettes. Monotona 4.

Further, the opening/closing lid is configured to be able to be opened and closed in the plane direction by reciprocating around a rotation fulcrum extending in a direction perpendicular to the plane direction of the upper and lower walls of the cassette housing,
In addition, a return spring is provided that constantly biases the opening/closing lid in the direction of its backward rotation.

Therefore, when pulling out the recording medium using the tape shifting means, the opening/closing lid can be opened simply by pushing the opening/closing lid with the tape shifting means against the biasing force of the return spring, and the recording medium can be pulled out by moving the tape shifting means back. Since the opening/closing lid can be closed simply by returning the opening/closing lid with the biasing force of the return spring, it is relatively easy to pull out and pull out the recording medium and open/close the opening/closing lid, and the operation is reliable and smooth. Moreover, the space factor is good.

Moreover, even if the cassette is configured so that it can be used by turning it upside down, it is relatively easy to create a configuration in which there is no need to particularly increase the space in the cassette mounting section of the main body of the recording/reproducing apparatus.

Further, an opening/closing lid is provided to at least partially close the opening formed on the front surface of the cassette housing.

Therefore, it is possible to effectively prevent the recording medium from unnecessarily protruding out of the cassette casing through the opening when not in use, and to prevent dirt and dust from entering the cassette casing through the opening.

Further, a cutout is formed in the upper wall and/or the lower wall of the housing in the vicinity of the opening, and this cutout is connected to the opening.

Therefore, the recording medium can be pulled out or pulled back from the cassette housing simply by inserting the recording medium shifter into this cutout and moving it to the front of the cassette housing, or by performing the reverse operation. Therefore, the shifting of the recording medium can be performed very easily.

In addition, a pair of upper and lower protrusions are provided on the upper and lower edges of the inner surface of the cover of the opening/closing lid, so that the cross-sectional shape of the cover of the opening/closing lid is shaped like a flat U-shape. did.

Therefore, even if you do not use specially shaped tape shifting means,
There is no risk of the recording medium being pinched between the tape shifting means and the lid and being damaged, or that its running is obstructed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a tape cassette used in a cassette-type tape recorder, and FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway plan view of the tape cassette, and FIG. 2 is a front view of the cassette. Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in Figure 1, Figure 4 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in Figure 1, and Figure 5 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in Figure 1.
6 is a plan view of the main parts of the cassette tape recorder with a part of the cassette cut away, showing the state in which the tape cassette shown in FIG. 1 is used in the cassette tape recorder; Fig. 7 is a front view seen from the line ■-■ in Fig. 6, Fig. 8 is a front view of the main parts showing the relationship between the lid and the tape shift pin, and Fig. 9 shows another example of the tape shift pin. FIG. 10 is a side view corresponding to the state seen from line 2--2 in FIG. 6, and FIG. 10 is a sectional view corresponding to the state seen from line 2--2 in FIG. 1, showing another example of the guide roller. Also, in the symbols used in the drawings, 1 is a cassette, 2 is a cassette,
is a cassette case, 3a, 3b are upper and lower halves, 4a, 4b
8 is a reel, 8 is a magnetic tape, 10 is a front surface of a cassette housing, 11 is an oblong opening, 12a, 12b are notches, 15a,
15b is a convex strip, 27a and 27b are pinch rollers, and 30
a, 30b are lid bodies, 28a, 28b are pinch levers, 3
4a and 34b are tape shift pins.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a cassette in which a recording medium is housed in a housing, (a) an opening formed in the front surface of the housing; (b)
) a cutout provided in the upper wall and 7 or the lower wall of the housing in the vicinity of the opening and connected to the opening; (e) a rotation extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface direction of the upper and lower walls; (d) an opening/closing lid configured to be able to be opened and closed in the plane direction by reciprocating around a fulcrum, and at least partially covering the opening with its cover in the closed state; (e) a return spring that is always energized in the backward rotation direction; A cassette comprising a pair of upper and lower protrusions, each of which is provided so as to slightly protrude from its edge.