JPS60231986A - Tape cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To lock a lid extremely securely and tightly in a lid closed state by arranging a large-sized, strong lock lever. CONSTITUTION:A lock lever 25 and a part 38 to be locked that the lock lever 25 engages are arranged in the inside space 43 (hatched part) of a tape path 8a extended along the front opening 10 of a cassette housing 3. Then, this inside space 43 is a part where there is no influence of variation of the tape path due to variation in the winding diameter of a tape 8 wound around a reel 7. Consequently, the lock lever 25 need not be increased in size and the large-sized, strong lock lever 25 is applicable; and the rear lid 5 is locked extremely securely by the lock lever 25. Further, the lock lever 25 is arranged in the inside space of the tape path 8a, so the cassette housing 3 need not be increased in size to form an arrangement space for the lock lever 25 outside of the tape path 8a, and the tape cassette is reduced in size.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a tape cassette that is most suitable for application to a recording/reproducing device such as a video tape recorder, and in particular, to a tape cassette that can be freely rotated inside the body. A pair of stored reels and both ends of these reels are wound to form the above-mentioned
A tape is passed along a front opening provided in the It body, a lid is rotatably attached to the cassette housing to cover at least the front side of the passed tape, and a lid is rotatably attached to the cassette housing. The present invention relates to a tape cassette comprising an eyelid lever that is attached to a housing and that engages with a locked portion provided on the lid to lock the lid in a closed state.

[Background technology and its problems]

FIG. 1 shows the main parts of a conventional tape cassette for a video tape recorder of this type.

First, a reel 52 is rotatably housed in a cassette FF1 body 51, and a magnetic tape (hereinafter simply referred to as tape) 56 is wound around the reel 52. The tape 56 is then guided by a tape guide 54 that is rotatably arranged vertically within the cassette housing 51, and is further guided by a tape guide 55 and passed along the front opening 56 of the cassette housing 51. ing. On the other hand, Kasetsu) Iti
A front lid 57 is attached to the corporal punishment body 51 so as to be rotatable up and down, and when the lid is closed, the front lid 57 is positioned on the front side of the tape 53 and covers the front opening 56 of the cassette housing 51. It is configured as follows.

Next, between the tape path 53a unwound from the reel 52 and passed along the front opening 56 and the side wall 51a of the cassette housing 51, there is a groove for locking the front lid 57 in the closed state. A lock lever 58 is arranged. This lock lever 58 is rotatably biased toward the side wall 51a by a spring 59, and the lock claw 60 of the lock lever 58 is inserted into an opening 61 provided in the side wall 51a of the cassette housing 51, and the front cover 57 It is engaged with a locked portion 62 consisting of an opening provided in the end portion 57a. As a result, the front lid 57 is configured to be locked in its closed state.

In the conventional tape cassette configured as described above, a space is secured outside the tape path 53a by the tape guide 54 within the cassette housing 51, and the lock lever 58 is disposed within this space. however,
The tape guide 54, which is vertically and rotatably disposed inside the cassette housing 51, has problems such as difficulty in achieving verticality and other precision. is preferred.

However, in a tape cassette that does not have the tape guide 54 inside the cassette housing 51, a problem arises in that it is difficult to arrange the lock lever 58 in the space outside the tape path 55m. That is, when the tape cassette is loaded into the video tape recorder, the front lid 57 is unlocked and opened. And as shown by the imaginary line,
The tape 56 is pulled out from the front opening 56 and guided to a tape guide 66 on the video tape recorder side. At this time, if there is no tape guide 54 inside the cassette housing 51, the tape path inside the cassette housing 51 will change due to the change in the winding diameter of the tape 56 wound around the reel 52.
3a is greatly changed as shown by the imaginary line.

As a result, the space outside the tape path 53a is extremely limited, and it is extremely difficult to arrange the lock lever 58 within this space.

If the cylinder lock lever 58 were to be disposed within this space, it would be necessary to make the lock lever 58 and its related mechanisms considerably smaller, and their strength would be lost.
This poses a problem in that a highly reliable locking mechanism cannot be obtained. Also, if this locking mechanism is made larger and stronger,
Since it is necessary to secure a space outside the tape path 53a, a problem arises in that the cassette housing 51 must be enlarged.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention aims to provide a tape cassette that can solve the above-mentioned problems.

[Summary of the invention]

According to the present invention, a lock lever is disposed in the inner space of a tape path that extends along the front opening of a cassette casing between a pair of left and right reels, and a locked portion of a lid is engaged with the lock lever. is arranged in a space inside the tape path, and the lock lever is engaged with the locked portion in the space inside the tape path to lock the lid in a closed state, and the recording/reproducing apparatus Since the tape is sometimes configured to run within the space outside the tape path, there is no effect of changes in the tape path due to changes in the winding diameter of the tape wound on the reel, and the tape path is wide and has plenty of room to move. A lock lever can be placed within the space. Therefore, a large and strong locking lever can be applied without increasing the size of the tape cassette, and the lid can be locked extremely reliably and firmly in the closed state, significantly improving reliability. .

[Embodiment] An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a tape cassette for a video tape recorder will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, as shown in FIG. 2, the body 6, the upper and lower cassettes 71 and 2, and the front lid 4 and rear lid 5 are each molded from synthetic resin. And a pair of left and right reels 6
．． A tape 8 having both ends wrapped around a tape 7 is housed in the upper and lower halves 1.2, and these upper and lower halves 1.2 are fitted into each other from above and below and joined together by a plurality of screws (not shown). A cassette housing 6 is constructed. A front opening 10 is provided on the front surface of the cassette housing 6 over its entire length in the left and right direction, and a pair of front openings 10 are formed integrally within the cassette housing 3 at positions near both left and right ends of the front opening 10. The tape 8 is guided by a tape guide 11a and passed along the front opening 10 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Inside the bookmark set housing 6, a pair of tape guides 11b are integrally molded to face the pair of tape guides 11a. This tape cassette does not have a rotatable tape guide inside the cassette housing 6.

Further, a recess 12 is formed in the cassette housing 3 on the rear side of the front opening 10 inside the pair of tape guides 11a, and this recess 12 has a planar shape integrally molded inside the cassette housing 3. Both reels 6 and 7 in the cassette housing 6 are separated from each other by a U-shaped partition wall 16.

Note that both the top and bottom of this recess 12 are open.

Next, the front cover 4 has a substantially U-shaped planar shape as shown in FIG. 2, and a pair of fulcrum pins 15 are integrally molded on the inside of both left and right ends 4a so as to be coaxial with each other.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 4, the front cover 4 has a front opening 1.
In order to cover the front side of the tape 8 that is passed along the tape 8, the pair of fulcrum pins 15 are connected to a pair of pins provided on the front end sides of the left and right side walls 6a of the cassette housing 6 so as to be coaxial with each other. The front cover 4 is attached to the cassette housing 6 by being inserted into the insertion hole 16, and the front cover 4 is attached to the cassette housing 6 so as to be movable up and down about both fulcrum bins 15.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2, an upper lid 17 is integrally molded along the upper edge of the rear lid 5, and a pair of fulcrum pins 18 are provided at approximately the center of the left and right edges of the rear lid 5 in the vertical direction. are integrally molded with each other on the same axis. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 4, the rear cover 5 is arranged parallel to the front cover 4 in the recess 12 to cover the rear side of the tape 8 which is passed along the front opening 10. There is. The rear lid 5 has a pair of fulcrum pins 18 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4.
It is installed by being inserted from the inside into a pair of pin insertion holes 20 of a pair of protrusions 19 that are integrally molded near the left and right end portions 4a on the rear surface of the front lid 4. It is attached to the front cover 4 so as to be able to rotate up and down about 18. The upper lid 17 is arranged to cover the upper surface of the recess 12 as shown in FIG.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the left and right ends 13a and 13b of the partition wall 16 are opposed in parallel from the left and right directions, and the lower ends of the opposite surfaces of the left and right ends 13a and 15b are gently curved. A pair of bent guide grooves 2 that are approximately J-shaped.
1 is provided. Also, the upper end 21a of both guide grooves 21
are open upwards. A pair of protrusions 22 are provided below both fulcrum pins 18 on the rear surface of both left and right edges of the rear cover 5.
are integrally molded, and a pair of guided pins 26 are integrally molded on the outside of both projecting pieces 22 so as to be coaxial with each other.
is loosely fitted into the double-edged slot 21.

By the way, the front cover 4 is rotated and biased by a spring (not shown) in the direction of arrow a in FIG.
When the rear lid 5 is closed, the rear lid 5 is also closed. The rear lid 5 is configured to be locked in the closed position.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 6 to 5, a lock lever is installed on the back side of one end 13b of the partition wall 16 within the inner space of the tape path 8a that is passed along the front opening 10 of the cassette housing 6. 25 are arranged.

As shown in FIG. 6, this lock lever 25 includes a boss portion 26 at the rear end, a locking pawl 27 protruding from one side of the tip,
The unlocking slope 28 provided at the lower part of the tip is integrally molded with synthetic resin. A wide guide portion 29 is formed at the lower end of the lock lever 25, and a slope 27a is formed at the upper surface of the lock pawl 27. On the other hand, in the lower half 2, a shaft pin 61 is integrally molded on the back side of one end 13b of the partition wall 16, and an opening 62 is formed in the lower part of the one end 13b of the partition wall 16.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 6-6, the lock lever 25 is inserted through the shaft pin 61 by its boss portion 26, and is rotatably disposed on the inner surface of the lower half 2. And boss part 2
A torsion coil spring 66 is inserted through the shaft pin 61 at the top of the 6.
One end of the torsion coil spring 66 is secured to the back surface of the partition wall 16, and the other vertically bent end is secured to a groove 64 formed on the other side of the lock lever 25, respectively. As a result, the lock lever 25 is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. be done. When the upper and lower halves 1.2 are fitted together, the upper part of the shaft pin 61 is inserted into the boss part 35 integrally molded on the upper half 1, as shown in FIG. The upward movement of the spring 66 is restricted. Further, the guide portion 29 at the lower end of the lock lever 25 slides within the four portions 36 formed on the lower half 2.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 6 to 5, the protruding piece 22 on which the guided pin 23 is provided at both left and right edges of the rear cover 5 has a stepped portion facing one end 13b of the partition wall 16. A locked portion 68 is provided. And this locked part 3
The lock claw 27 of the lock lever 25 is engaged with the lock lever 8 .

According to the tape cassette constructed as described above, first, when the cassette is not in use, the front cover 4 and the rear cover 5 are in the closed state as shown by the solid line in FIG. The tape 8 being passed is covered from the front and back by a front cover 4 and a rear cover 5, forming a so-called completely sealed tape cassette.

However, at this time, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 5, the four levers 25 are urged to rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. Locked part 68 of the rear lid 5 with 27 in the closed state
is engaged with. As a result, the rear lid 5 is restricted from rotating in the closing direction in its closed state and is locked. When the rear lid 5 is locked in the closed state, the front lid 4 is also restricted from rotating and locked in the closed state.

Next, when the tape cassette is installed in the video tape recorder, the lock release member 40 on the video tape recorder side is positioned below the lock lever 25 on the bottom front end side of the lower half 2, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 4. Notch 41 provided
inserted relatively within. Then, this unlocking member 4o releases the four levers 250 and the unlocking slope 28.
is pressed, and by the guiding action of the unlocking slope 28, the lock lever 25 is rotated in the direction of arrow b' as shown by the imaginary line in FIG. With this, the lock lever 25
The lock claw 27 is removed from the locked part 68 of the rear cover 5,
The sun protection with the rear cover 5 in the closed state is released. Then, the rear lid 5 is unlocked, and the front lid 4 is rotated approximately 90 degrees in the opening direction, which is the direction of arrow a' in FIG. 4, and the front opening 10 is opened. And the front cover 4 has both fulcrum pins 15
Both fulcrum bins 18 of the rear lid 5 are also rotated approximately 90° in the direction of arrow a' from the closed lid position shown by solid lines in FIG. 4 to the open lid position shown by imaginary lines about Since the rear cover 5 is rotated in the same direction and at the same angle, the rear cover 5 is also rotated together with the front cover 4 from a closed position shown by a solid line in FIG. 4 to an open position shown by a phantom line. At this time, by rotating both fulcrum pins 18 in the direction of arrow a', both guided pins 2
6 is guided by both guide grooves 21 and moved in the direction of arrow C', and by the guiding action of both guide grooves 21, rear cover 5 moves in the direction of arrow d' with respect to front cover 4 around both fulcrum pins 18.
The lid is opened in the direction of arrow a' while being rotated in the direction of moving away from the rear of the front lid 4.

Next, when closing the lid, the front lid 4 is rotated in the direction of arrow a in FIG.
The guided pin 26 is rotated in the direction of the arrow d and returned in the direction of the arrow a, and the guided pin 26 also moves in the direction of the arrow C within the guide groove 21 to reach the lower end of the guide groove 21 shown by the solid line in FIG. It will be returned to Japan.

When the rear lid 5 returns to the closed state, the protruding piece 22 of the rear lid 5 comes into contact with the lock pawl 27 of the lock lever 25, but the slope 27a formed on the upper surface of the lock pawl 27 Due to the guiding action of the lock lever 25, the lock lever 25 is moved once in the direction indicated by the arrow b' in FIG.
be forced to flee in the direction When the rear lid 5 is completely closed, the lock lever 25 is rotated in the direction of the arrow by the torsion coil spring 36, and the opening claw 2 of the lock lever 25 is rotated by the torsion coil spring 36.
7 is engaged with the locked portion 68 of the rear lid 5, and the rear lid 5 is locked in the closed state again.

As described above, the rear cover 5 is locked and unlocked by the lock lever 25.

Thus, the lock lever 25 and its lock lever in the tape cassette constructed and operated as described above.
25 is engaged with, as shown in FIG. ing. This inner space 43 is a portion that is completely unaffected by changes in the tape path due to changes in the diameter of the tape 80 wound on the reel 7. That is, when the tape cassette is installed in the video tape recorder, the rear cover 5 is opened as described above.
is unlocked, and then the front lid 4 and the lid 5 are opened. Then, the tape 8 is pulled out from the front opening 10 as shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 7, and the tape 8 is guided to the O-tape guide 44 on the video tape recorder side. On this occasion,
By changing the winding diameter of the tape 8 wound on the reel 7, the tape path 8a within the cassette housing 6 is varied within a variation space 45 shown by a hatched area. However, this variable space 45 is limited to the lock lever 25 and its lock lever 25.
An inner space 46 in which a locked portion 68 to be engaged is arranged.
It is a completely separate part.

Therefore, the lock lever 25 is completely unaffected by variations in the tape path 8a due to changes in the diameter of the tape 80 wound on the reel 7, and is disposed in a spacious and spacious space. Therefore, there is no need to downsize the lock lever 25, and a large and strong lock lever 25 can be used, and the lock lever 25 can lock the rear cover 5 extremely reliably. Furthermore, since the lock lever 25 is arranged in the space inside the tape path 8a, there is no need to enlarge the cassette housing 6 to create a space for the lock lever 25 outside the tape path 8a, resulting in a smaller tape cassette. It is possible to aim for

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, various effective modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention.

For example, in the embodiment, the lid is composed of the front lid 4 and the rear lid 5, and the rear lid 5 is locked by the eyelid lever 25, but the present invention is applicable even if the lid is only the front lid 4. be. In this case, the locked portion 38 may be formed directly on the front lid 4.

In addition, the lock lever 25 and the locked portion 5 referred to in the present invention
8 is not limited to the shape shown in the embodiment, and various effective modifications are possible.

[Application example]

The present invention is applicable to tape cassettes for various recording and reproducing devices other than video tape recorders and various other information processing devices.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, there is no influence of changes in the tape path due to changes in the winding diameter of the tape wound on the reel, and the lock lever can be placed in a large and spacious space. A lock lever can be applied,
It becomes possible to lock the lid extremely reliably and firmly in the closed state, and reliability is significantly improved. Furthermore, since there is no need to enlarge the cassette housing in order to secure space outside the tape path, the tape cassette can be made smaller.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the main parts of a conventional tape cassette for a video tape recorder. 2 to 7 show an embodiment of a tape cassette for a video tape recorder to which the present invention is applied,
Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the whole, Figure 3 is a plan view of the main parts, Figure 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV--IV in Figure 3, and Figure 5 is a cross-section taken along line ■-■ in Figure 6. FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of a portion of the lock lever, and FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view of the main part illustrating the inner space of the tape path. In addition, in the symbols used in the drawings, 6...Cassette case 4...
・・・・・・Front lid 5・・・・・・・・・Rear cover 6.7 ・・・・・・ Reel 8・・・・・・・・・Tape 8a・・......Tape path 10...Front opening 12...
・・・・・・・・・ l! ! ] Location 16...
...Partition walls 13a, 13b...Both left and right ends 15.18...River/fulcrum pin 21...Guide groove 22...
...... Protruding piece 23 ...... Guided bin 25 ...
・・・・・・・・・Lock lever-27・・・・・・・
...... Lock claw 32 ...... Opening hole 63 ...... Twist coil spring 38 ...
......Locked part 46...
...It is an inner space. Agent Ueya Yoshio Tsuneko Figure 6 Figure 7

Claims (1)

[Claims] a pair of reels rotatably housed in a cassette housing; a tape with both ends wound around the reels and passed along a front opening provided in the cassette housing;
This hook engages with a lid that is rotatably attached to the cassette housing to cover at least the front side of the passed tape, and a locked part that is attached inside the cassette housing and provided on the lid. and a lock lever for locking the lid in the closed state, wherein the lock lever is disposed within the inner space of the tape path that runs along the front opening between the two reels; A locked portion of the lid to which the lock lever is engaged is placed within the space inside the tape path, and the lock lever is engaged with the locked portion within the space inside the tape path to close the lid. A tape cassette, characterized in that it is configured to be locked in a lid state, and configured to run the tape in a space outside the tape path during recording and reproduction.