JPS6316064Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a magnetic tape cassette, and in particular to miniaturizing a video cassette.

In recent years, especially as the performance of magnetic tapes and magnetic recording and reproducing devices has improved, portable video systems have been developed that are more mobile than conventional stationary video systems and can be used outdoors. desired. Therefore, there has been a need to downsize not only magnetic recording/reproducing devices and video cameras but also magnetic tape cassettes.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a conventional miniaturized video magnetic tape cassette (hereinafter referred to as cassette).

When the cassette is loaded into the magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus, the guard panel 3 covering the front side of the opening 2 provided at the front of the cassette housing 1 is opened, and the cassette is wound around a pair of hubs 4 and is wrapped around a plurality of guide pins 5. The magnetic tape T guided by the magnetic tape T is pulled out from the opening 2 to perform recording and reproduction.

The guard panel 3 is provided to protect the magnetic tape T from dust, etc., and is pivotally supported on both side walls of the cassette housing 1, and is always biased by a spring in the direction of closing the opening 2 (in the figure). , the part indicated by A) and the locking means (the part indicated by B in the figure).
It was locked in the closed position by the part indicated by .

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the conventional guard panel biasing means shown in section A in FIG. , one end of the spring 8 is brought into contact with the inner upper surface 9 of the cassette housing 1,
The other end was engaged with a protrusion 10 protruding from the cylindrical surface of the shaft 7 to apply a biasing force.

However, because the shaft 7 has a protrusion 10 protruding from its cylindrical surface and the winding width of the torsion spring 8 is large, the length l of the shaft 7 that projects inward of the housing is quite long, and therefore a large space is required. was needed.

FIG. 3 is a plan view illustrating the locking means used in the conventional guard panel shown in section B in FIG. A movable L-shaped lock member 13 is constantly urged by a coil spring 14 with its side surface facing the side wall 6 of the guard panel 3, and the tip 15 of the lock member is inserted into an engagement hole 16 transparently provided in the guard panel 13. and the guard panel 3 was locked in the closed position.

To open the guard panel 3, a pusher (not shown) placed on a recording/reproducing device inserted from the outside pushes the locking member 13 against the coil spring 14.
This was achieved by pressing against the urging force of the locking member 13, swinging the distal end 15 of the locking member 13 to the position shown by the broken line, and separating it from the engagement hole 16.

However, the above-mentioned locking means requires a large space in order to allow the locking member 13 to swing and displace inwardly of the cassette housing 1 and to arrange the coil spring 14 in parallel inside the cassette housing 1.

The conventional guard panel biasing means and locking means can be implemented only in cases where there is relatively sufficient space inside the cassette. In cassettes that aim to be more compact, it is difficult to secure space, and the above-mentioned biasing means and locking means cannot be used. Furthermore, since the biasing means and the locking means described above are arranged at different positions, they each require the space they occupy.In addition to increasing the space, the means for biasing the guard panel in the closing direction and the locking means are It was also extremely difficult to assemble them while maintaining both in a stable state.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a simple structure in which the means for biasing the guard panel in the closing direction and the means for locking the guard panel in the closed position are arranged in one place, and the space occupied by these means can be reduced. The present invention provides a magnetic tape cassette, and the cassette can be assembled extremely easily while maintaining the above-mentioned means in a stable state.

The object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic tape cassette comprising a cassette housing and a magnetic tape wound around a pair of hubs disposed within the cassette housing, the tape cassette having a tape drawer opening provided on the front surface of the cassette. A guard panel for opening and closing the opening is swingably supported on a side wall of the cassette, and is biased by a coil spring in a direction to close the opening, and includes a locking member for locking the guard panel in a closed position. In this case, the cassette side wall is formed double on the front side of the cassette, and includes a first leg for locking the guard panel in the closed position and a second leg for releasing the locked state. A locking member is swingably supported between the double walls, and is attached to the front side of the cassette by a leaf spring such that the first leg of the locking member locks into the guard panel. The coil spring, which is biased and pivotally supported by the guard panel, has one end engaged with the guard panel and the other end held by a spring engaging portion provided on the lock member. This is achieved by a magnetic tape cassette with special features.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the cassette according to the present invention will be described in detail based on the attached drawings.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the main parts of the cassette according to the present invention.

In Fig. 4, the cassette 2 is made of a substantially flat rectangular parallelepiped.
0 is a guard panel 2 that covers an upper cassette half (hereinafter referred to as the upper half) 21, a lower cassette half (hereinafter referred to as the lower half) 22, and a tape drawer opening surface 23 provided in front thereof.
It consists of 4.

The guard panel 24 has a side wall 26 extending perpendicularly from both ends of a wall surface 25 covering the front surface of the tape drawer opening surface 23, and the side wall 26 has a relatively short support shaft 27 projecting inward. It is provided. The guard panel 24 is attached to the upper and lower halves 2 when the upper and lower halves 21 and 22 are combined.
The support shaft 27 is swingably supported in a shaft hole 29 defined in a position close to the front of the cassette in the side walls 28 of Nos. 1 and 22.

On the side wall 28 on one side of the cassette 20, there is a double wall with an extremely narrow wall spacing, for example, about 1 mm, at a rear position behind the shaft hole 29 and adjacent to the pivotally supported guard panel 24. A wall is formed in some places to form a space 32 for accommodating the locking member 31. Said lower half 22
protrudes upward from the upper edge of the space 32 by a height necessary for storing the lock member 31;
Further, a notch 33 is provided on the lower side of the outer wall of the double wall forming the space 32, through which one end of the locking member 31 can be moved.

5 and 6 are an enlarged perspective view and a plan view illustrating the arrangement of the coil spring 30 for constantly biasing the guard panel in the closing direction and the locking member 31 for locking it in the closed position.

In FIGS. 5 and 6, the locking member 31 is held in the locked position by engaging with a locking portion 44 provided on the inner surface of the side wall 26 of the guard panel 24 at a position close to the locking member 31. Engagement leg 34 and lock release leg 35 for releasing the locked state
It has a substantially Y-shape, and is provided with a rotation support shaft 36 at the base above the legs 34, 35. The rotation support shaft 36 of the locking member 31 is fitted into a notch 37 provided at the upper edge of the lower half 22 constituting the double wall and is held by the combination of the upper half 21. It is provided so as to be swingable along the side wall 28 of the cassette 20.

The locking member 31 has its unlocking leg 35
The rear surface of the lower half 22 is pressed toward the front of the cassette by a U-shaped leaf spring 39 that is fitted across a partition wall 38 provided to partition the rear of the double wall of the lower half 22, and the rotating support shaft 36 is pushed toward the front of the cassette. The lock release leg 35 is biased to rotate about the center, and a pusher (not shown) inserted from the outside in order to release the lock state is attached to the lower part of the lock release leg 35. A contact portion 40 that is pressed is provided. As described above, the abutting portion 40 is provided movably within the notch 33 defined on the lower side of the outer wall of the double wall. The locking member 31 further includes engagement protrusions 41 and 42 arranged on the upper surface of the rotational support shaft 36 with a slight gap in the axial direction of the rotational support shaft and slightly shifted in the circumferential direction. We are prepared.

The coil spring 30 that biases the guard panel 24 is pivotally supported by a support shaft 27 of the guard panel 24, and one end thereof is connected to the inner surface of the side wall surface 26 having the support shaft 27 and is connected to the tape drawer from the support shaft 27. It is engaged with an engaging protrusion 43 provided near the wall surface 25 covering the opening, and the other end is fitted between the engaging protrusions 41 and 42 of the locking member 31 to be supported and close the opening. A biasing force is applied in the direction of

When the cassette 20 configured as described above is loaded into a magnetic recording/reproducing device (not shown),
A presser (not shown) of the device presses the contact portion 40 provided at the lower end of the lock release leg 35 into the U
The cassette 2 is moved against the biasing force of the letter-shaped plate spring 39.
By pushing in the direction after 0 (in the direction of arrow X in FIG. 5), the locking member 31 is pivoted along the side wall 28 of the cassette. When the locking member 31 swings, the engaging leg portion 34 disengages from the locking portion 44 provided on the guard panel 24, opening the lock and making the guard panel 24 openable and closable. The locking portion 44 is located on the inner surface of the side wall surface 26 of the guard panel 24 and on the support shaft 27.
It is provided closer to the lock member 31. Thereafter, the guard panel 24, which has always been biased in the closing direction, is opened by a hook rod (not shown) of the recording/reproducing device, and the magnetic tape (not shown) is removed from the tape drawer opening 23. be drawn out.

The coil spring 30 is activated during the rotation of the lock member 31 or the opening/closing movement of the guard panel 24.
The engaging protrusions 41, 4 always provided on the circumferential surface
Since the coil spring 30 is supported between the coil springs 2 and 2, the coil spring 30 does not fall off, and a constant biasing force can always be applied.

In a modification according to the present invention, a notch groove in the circumferential direction is provided in the upper surface of the rotational support shaft 36 of the locking member 31 instead of the engaging protrusions 41 and 42, and one end of the coil spring is dropped into the groove. The coil spring 30 can be stably supported by locking the coil spring 30 in such a manner that the coil spring 30 is locked.

As mentioned above, the present invention is a small cassette in which the space inside the cassette is extremely limited, and the biasing means and locking means are formed on the side wall 28 of the cassette 20 so as not to impede the running of the tape. The coil springs 30 are arranged in one place in a small space 32 of the wall, have no part protruding inward from the space 32, and one end of the coil spring 30 is oscillated along the side wall 28. By being locked to the locking member 31 and having an integral structure, further miniaturization is advantageous.

In particular, the coil spring 30
1, 42 or the notched groove, there is no risk of the cassette 2 falling off due to impact, etc., and a constant biasing force can be applied to the cassette 2.
This also brings about favorable results in terms of loading of zero.

Further, during the cassette assembly work, the coil spring 30 and the lock member 31 can be maintained in a stable state, so that the assembly workability can be extremely improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing the inside of a conventional small cassette, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the main structure of the conventional biasing means shown in section A in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is B in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the main part structure of the cassette of the present invention, and Fig. 5 shows the locking member and attachment of the cassette of the present invention. a perspective view showing the arrangement of the force means;
FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the arrangement of the locking member and biasing means shown in FIG. 5. 20...cassette, 21...upper half, 22...
... lower half, 24 ... guard panel, 30 ... coil spring, 31 ... lock member, 32 ... space, 39 ... U-shaped plate spring, 41, 42 ... engagement protrusion.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] A magnetic tape cassette consisting of a cassette housing and a magnetic tape wound around a pair of hubs disposed within the cassette housing, the tape drawer opening provided on the front surface of the cassette. A guard panel that covers the opening in an openable and closable manner is pivotably supported on a side wall of the cassette, and is biased by a coil spring in a direction to close the opening.
In the device equipped with a locking member for locking the guard panel in the closed position, the cassette side wall is formed double on the front side of the cassette, and is in a locked state with the first leg for locking the guard panel in the closed position. A locking member having a second leg for releasing the guard panel is swingably supported between the double walls, and a first leg of the locking member locks and engages the guard panel. The coil spring is urged toward the front side of the cassette by a leaf spring, and is pivotally supported by the guard panel. One end of the coil spring engages with the guard panel, and the other end is attached to the lock member. A magnetic tape cassette, characterized in that the magnetic tape cassette is held by a spring engaging part.