JPS6316051Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field The present invention is a disk cassette for recording and reproducing various analog and digital signals, and in particular,
A cassette casing consisting of an upper and a lower half, with a head insertion hole formed in at least one of the upper and lower halves, and a magnetic disk comprising a magnetic sheet rotatably housed within the cassette casing. a disk-shaped recording medium, such as a disc-shaped recording medium, a shutter which is movably attached to the cassette housing and opens and closes the head insertion hole, and which moves and energizes the shutter from a position where the head insertion hole is opened to a position where it is closed. A spring, an engaging portion provided on the shutter, and a portion of one of the upper and lower halves, and the shutter is engaged when the shutter is moved to the open position. a locking pawl having elasticity adapted to be engaged with the shutter; and a locking pawl provided on the other of the upper and lower halves at a position near the engaging portion of the shutter when it is moved to the open position. and a lock release protrusion opposed to each other on the inside, and a portion of the upper and lower halves are pressed in a direction toward each other against elasticity, so that the lock release protrusion The lock pawl is removed from the engaging part by pushing up the position near the engaging part of the shutter from the inside, and the shutter is unlocked at the open position, and the shutter is moved by the spring. This invention relates to a recording/reproducing disk cassette configured to be moved to a closed position.

BACKGROUND ART AND PROBLEMS According to the above-mentioned recording/playback disk cassette,
By simply pressing a portion of the upper and lower halves from both sides, the shutter can be moved from the open position to the closed position with a single touch, providing very good operability.

However, when the shutter is locked in the open position, the spring always applies force to the shutter to move it toward the closed position, so the lock release protrusion can be used to lock the shutter at a position near the engagement part of the shutter. When pushing up from the inside to remove the lock pawl from the engaging part, the edge of the engaging part always scrapes off the lock pawl. As a result, it was discovered that after long-term use, the locking pawl became round and chipped off to a large extent, eventually making it impossible to lock the shutter.

Purpose of the invention The present invention attempts to provide something that can correct the above-mentioned deficiencies.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides, in the aforementioned recording/reproducing disk cassette, that when the lock release protrusion pushes up a position near the engaging portion of the shutter from the inside, the shutter is moved against the spring. A recording/reproducing disk cassette, wherein an inclined surface for generating a force to move the disc to the side opposite to the closed position is provided on at least one of the tip of the lock release protrusion or a position near the engagement part of the shutter, When the shutter is unlocked in the open position,
To provide something that can prevent the edge of an engaging part of a shutter from scraping off a lock pawl as much as possible.

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of a recording/reproducing disk cassette to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, in FIG. 1, a cassette housing 1 is constructed as a thin, substantially square housing. This cassette housing 1 is composed of an upper half 2 and a lower half 3, and these upper and lower halves 2 and 3 are fitted together from above and below, and the periphery is glued, or the four corners are welded or screwed together. They are fixed and joined together by an appropriate fixing method. Note that the upper and lower halves 2 and 3 are molded from a synthetic resin having appropriate elasticity, such as ABS resin. A disk-shaped recording medium (hereinafter simply referred to as disk) 4, such as a magnetic disk made of a magnetic sheet, is rotatably housed within the cassette housing 1.
As shown in FIG. 1, the disk 4 is fitted into a circular hole 6 provided in the center of the lower half 3 by a disk 5 made of a magnetic material that is integrally fixed to the center thereof. It is rotatably stored. Further, the upper half 2 and the lower half 3 are provided with pad and head insertion holes 8, respectively. Both of these insertion holes 8 are constituted by long holes extending in the radial direction of the disk 4, and are arranged to face each other from above and below. The recording/reproducing surface of the disk 4 is disposed facing downward so as to face the head insertion hole 8.

Next, a shutter 11 is movably attached to the cassette housing 1. This shutter 11 is made of stainless steel, aluminum, synthetic resin, etc. and is molded into a substantially U-shape, and one end of the rectangular upper piece 11a and lower piece 11b corresponds to the insertion holes 8. A pair of window holes 13 are provided. On the other hand, rectangular recesses 14 are formed in the upper and lower surfaces of the cassette housing 1 on the side of one end 1a. The shutter 11 is arranged so as to straddle the cassette case 1 up and down, and its upper and lower pieces 11a, 1
1b is fitted into both the upper and lower recesses 14, and is mounted so as to be able to reciprocate linearly along one end edge 1a of the cassette housing 1.

Next, FIGS. 2A and 2B show the opening and closing states of both insertion holes 8 by the shutter 11,
When the shutter 11 is moved to the open position on one side as shown in FIG. 2A, the window holes 13 are superimposed on the insertion holes 8, and the insertion holes 8 are opened. Further, when the shutter 11 is moved to the closed position on the other side as shown in FIG.
a and 11b.

As shown in FIG. 1, there is a locking part 15 formed by bending or the like on a part of the vertical piece 11c located in the middle between the upper and lower pieces 11a and 11b of the shutter 11, and the cassette case. One edge 1a of body 1
A spring 17 is disposed within the shutter 11 and has both ends locked with a locking portion 16 provided in a portion of the spring 17 . And shutter 11 is spring 1
7 from the open position to the closed position (direction of arrow a)
It has been energized to move to. When the shutter 11 is moved to the open position (in the direction of arrow b), the spring 17 is pulled. Note that the shutter 11 is locked in the open position by a lock structure described later, but when the lock is released, the shutter 11
is configured to be automatically moved to the closed position by the tensile force of a spring 17 and held in the closed state. Also, the lower piece 11b of the shutter 11
A plurality of protrusions 18 formed by bending or the like on the inner side of a pair of guide grooves 1 parallel to the one end edge 1a provided in the recess 14 portion of the lower half 3
9, and the shutter 11 is configured to be guided by the guide groove 19 and slid between an open position and a closed position.

Further, this recording/reproducing disk cassette is installed in a recording/reproducing apparatus by locking it with the shutter 11 moved to the open position as shown in FIG. 2A, for example. Note that it is also possible to open the shutter 11 by using the operation of inserting a cassette into the recording/reproducing apparatus. Then, the disk 4 is magnetically attracted by the disk 5 and positioned on a disk drive rotary table provided in the recording/reproducing apparatus. Then, a recording/reproducing head, such as a magnetic head, inserted into the cassette case 1 through the head insertion hole 8 comes into contact with the recording/reproducing surface of the disk 4, and is inserted into the cassette case 1 through the pad insertion hole 8. The top side of the disk 4 is held down by the pad. In this state, the disk 4 is rotated and the recording/reproducing head scans the disk 4 in the radial direction, thereby performing a desired recording/reproducing operation.

Next, a locking and unlocking structure for locking the shutter 11 in the open position described above will be explained.

First, FIGS. 3A to 6 show a first embodiment of the locking and unlocking structure. First, as shown in FIG.
An engaging portion 29 formed by a square hole is provided at the corner portion of the lower piece 11b and the vertical piece 11c at the end opposite to the third side. Next, the lock pawl 30 with which the engaging portion 29 is engaged is attached to the cassette case 1.
It is integrally molded and provided on the lower surface side of the edge portion of the lower half 3. At this time, the lock pawl 30 is located at the corner 3a on the shutter open position side shown in FIG. 2A.
It is located near the side. A slit 31 having a predetermined length l ₁ and width l 2 is formed between the corner 3a of the lower half 3 and the corner 2a of the upper half ₂ opposite thereto, as shown in FIG. 3A. ing. Therefore, the corner portions 2a of the upper and lower halves 2, 3,
3a is thinner than other parts and is configured to be able to bend against elasticity in the directions of arrows c and d in FIGS. 4B and 5B. As shown in FIG. 4A, the locking pawl 30 is formed into a vertical surface such that its locking surface 30a can engage with the engaging portion 29 at right angles, and its locking surface 30a
The end surface opposite to 0a is formed into a slope 30b.

On the other hand, the edge 29a of the engaging portion 29 that is engaged with the locking surface 30a of the locking pawl 30 has a
A notch 32 is provided biased to one side of 0. A pin-shaped unlocking protrusion 33 is pressed from the inside against the edge 32a of the notch 32.
is integrally formed inside the upper half 2 at a position near the lock pawl 30 and perpendicular to the upper half 2. Note that the tip of this lock release projection 33 is inserted into a through hole 34 provided in the lower half 3. The distal end surface of this lock release protrusion 33 has an inclined surface 35 for generating a force to move the shutter 11 against the spring 17 to the side opposite to the closed position when the shutter 11 is unlocked, which will be described later. is formed.

According to the first embodiment of the locking and unlocking structure constructed as described above, first, the shutter 11 in the closed position shown in FIG. 3A is moved by the spring 17.
When the shutter 11 is moved in the direction of arrow b to the open position shown in FIG. 3B, the end of the lower piece 11b of the shutter 11 comes into contact with the lock pawl 30,
Due to the guiding action of the slope 30b, the lock pawl 30
is bent in the direction of arrow c in FIG. 4A against the elasticity of the engaging portion 2 as shown in FIGS. 3B and 4A.
9. The locking surface 30a of the locking pawl 30 and the edge 29a of the engaging portion 29 are engaged at right angles, and the shutter 11 is automatically locked in the open position.

Note that when the shutter 11 is in the locked state, the fifth
As shown in Figure A, the edge 32a of the notch 32 provided in the lower piece 11b of the shutter 11 is located directly above the inclined surface 35 of the lock release projection 33.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 4B and 5B, pinch the corners 2a and 3a of the upper and lower halves 2 and 3 from above and below with your fingertips, press the corners 2a and 3a in the directions of arrows c and d, and The parts 2a and 3a are bent in a direction toward each other against their elasticity. At the same time, the lock pawl 30 is bent, and at the same time, the inclined surface 35 of the lock release protrusion 33 pushes up the lower piece 11b of the shutter 11 near the engaging portion 29 in the direction of arrow d, as shown in FIG. 4B. The engaging portion 29 is removed from the lock pawl 30. As a result, the shutter 11 is unlocked at the open position, and the shutter 11 is pulled in the direction of arrow a by the tensile force of the spring 17 and automatically moved to the closed position.

However, when the shutter 11 is unlocked,
As shown in FIG. 6, the lock release protrusion 33 pushes up the edge 32a of the notch 32 of the lower piece 11b in the direction of the arrow d with its inclined surface 35, thereby causing the lower piece 11b to move upward in the direction of the arrow d. It will be pushed up in the direction. At this time, due to the guiding action of the inclined surface 35, a moving force is generated in the shutter 11 against the spring in the direction of arrow b, which is the opposite side from the closed position, and as a result, the lower piece 11b is moved to the closed position. It will be pushed up in the direction of arrow e, which is the diagonal direction opposite to the direction of arrow e.

As a result of the above, the end edge 29a of the engaging portion 29 that was engaged with the locking surface 30a of the locking pawl 30 is
In Figure B, it is moved in the direction of arrow b to move away from the lock surface 30a, and then pushed up in the direction of arrow d, and is removed from the lock surface 30a. In reality, since the shutter 11 is given a force to move in the direction of the arrow a by the spring 17, the moment the edge 29a of the engaging portion 29 comes off the lock surface 30a, the edge 29a
is in a direction substantially parallel to the locking surface 30a, as shown by the arrow d.
It seems to be moving in the direction.

Therefore, at the moment when the engaging part 29 is removed from the lock pawl 30, the tip of the lock surface 30a of the lock pawl 30 is rubbed by the edge of the end edge 29a of the engaging part 29, as in the conventional case. , its locking surface 30a
It is possible to prevent the tip from being rounded off as much as possible.

Next, FIGS. 7A to 8B show a second embodiment of the locking and unlocking structure, and in this case, in the notch 32 provided in the lower piece 11b of the shutter 11, An inclined piece 37 that is substantially parallel to the inclined surface 35 of the lock release projection 33 is integrally formed by bending.

In this case, when the shutter 11 is unlocked, the inclined surface 35 of the unlocking protrusion 33 comes into contact with the inclined piece 37 of the lower piece 11b and pushes it up, as shown in FIG. 8B. At this time, due to the mutual guiding action of the inclined surface 35 and the inclined piece 37, the lower piece 11b can be smoothly pushed up in the direction of the arrow e in FIG. 6.

Next, FIGS. 9A and 9B show a third embodiment of the locking and unlocking structure, and in this case, the sloped surface 3 of the locking protrusion 33 is
A stepped portion 39 is provided at the lower end of the slant of 5.

In this case, when the shutter 11 is unlocked, the inclined surface 35 of the unlocking protrusion 33 is first pressed against the edge 32a of the lower piece 11b as shown in FIG. 9A.
The lower piece 11b is moved in the direction of the arrow b, and then the lower piece 11b is moved in the direction of the arrow d using the stepped portion 39 of the lock release protrusion 33 as shown in FIG. 9B.
The above-mentioned lock release is performed by pushing up the lock in the above-mentioned direction, and in this case, the above-mentioned engaging portion 2
There is no possibility that the edge of the end edge 29a of the locking surface 30a will accidentally scrape off the tip of the locking surface 30a. In this case, the moment the engaging portion 29 is disengaged from the locking pawl 30, the lower piece 1 is moved by the tensile force of the spring 17.
1b climbs over the slope 35 and points to arrow a in FIG. 9B.
In order to be able to move in the direction, the angle of inclination of the inclined surface 35 needs to be relatively small.

In the first to third embodiments of the lock structure described above, the lock release operation when the shutter 11 is in the open position is performed by locking the corners 2a of the upper and lower halves 2, 3,
Although we have explained the method of pinching and pressing the corner portions 2a and 3a from above and below with your fingertips, for example, there is also a method of mechanically pressing the corners 2a and 3a from above and below when automatically taking out this recording/reproducing disk cassette from the recording/reproducing device. It is possible.

Effects of the invention As described above, the present invention uses the lock release protrusion to push up the position near the engaging part of the shutter from the inside, and when the engaging part is removed from the lock pawl of the cassette case, the lock release protrusion is used to release the shutter. The inclined surface provided on at least one of the tip of the protrusion or a position near the engaging portion of the shutter is configured to generate a force that moves the shutter in the opposite direction from the closed position against the spring. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the edge of the engaging portion from scraping the locking pawl as much as possible at the moment the engaging portion is removed from the locking pawl. Therefore, the shutter can always be reliably locked even after long-term use, and durability is significantly improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of a recording/reproducing disk cassette to which the present invention is applied, in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the cassette housing with the shutter disassembled, and FIGS. 2A and 2B are views of the shutter. FIGS. 3A and 3B are a bottom view of the main parts explaining the opening/closing situation of the head insertion hole of the cassette case, and FIGS. Perspective view, Figures 4A and 4B are sectional views taken along line 3B, Figure 5A
The figure and FIG. 5B are cross-sectional views taken along the line of FIG. 3B,
FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the main parts to explain the direction of the force applied to the shutter when the lock is released, and FIGS. 7A and 7B are second views of the lock and unlocking structure.
FIGS. 8A and 8B are sectional views taken along the line 7B, and FIGS. 9A and 9B are the third part of the locking and unlocking structure.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part explaining an example. In addition, in the symbols used in the drawings, 1...Cassette housing, 2...Upper half, 3...Lower half,
2a, 3a...corner, 4...disc-shaped recording medium, 11...shutter, 11a...top piece, 11
b...lower piece, 13...window hole, 17...spring, 29...engaging portion, 29a...edge, 30...
Lock pawl, 30a... lock surface, 31... slit, 33... lock release projection, 35... inclined surface, 37... inclined piece.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A cassette casing comprising an upper and a lower half and having a head insertion hole formed in at least one of the upper and lower halves, a disk-shaped recording medium rotatably housed in the cassette casing, and the cassette casing. A shutter that is movably attached to the body and opens and closes the head insertion hole, a spring that moves and biases the shutter from a position where the head insertion hole is opened to a position where it is closed, and an engaging portion provided on the shutter. and an elastic member provided in a part of one of the upper and lower halves so as to be engaged with the engaging portion when the shutter is moved to the open position. and a lock release protrusion provided on the other half of the upper and lower halves and facing inside a position near the engaging portion of the shutter moved to the open position. let me,
By pressing a portion of the upper and lower halves toward each other against elasticity, the lock release protrusion pushes up a position near the engaging portion of the shutter from the inside. for recording and reproducing, wherein the locking pawl is removed from the engaging portion to release the lock of the shutter at the open position, and the shutter is moved to the closed position by the spring. In the disk cassette, when the lock release protrusion pushes up a position near the engaging portion of the shutter from the inside, a force is generated to move the shutter in a direction opposite to the closed position against the spring. 1. A recording/reproducing disk cassette, characterized in that an inclined surface is provided on at least one of the tip of the lock release protrusion and a position near the engaging portion of the shutter.