JPS6316066Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field 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 is particularly applicable to a cassette housing having an opening on the front surface. a front cover that is rotatably attached to the cassette housing in the vertical direction to open and close the opening; a lock lever that engages with the front cover and locks the front cover in the closed state; and a lock lever that is pressed from the rear side to engage the front cover with the front cover so as to move the lock lever toward the front side of the cassette housing. This invention relates to a tape cassette consisting of a linear spring that is rotationally energized.

BACKGROUND ART AND PROBLEMS A conventional tape cassette for a video tape recorder of this type is constructed as shown in FIGS. 1 to 5.

First, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a front lid 1,
The upper and lower halves 3 and 4 constituting the cassette housing 2 are each molded from synthetic resin. The front lid 1 has a substantially U-shaped planar shape, and a pair of fulcrum pins 5 are integrally formed with the same axis on the inside of both left and right ends 1a facing each other in parallel. There is. Further, the upper and lower halves 3 and 4 are fitted from above and below and are integrally connected by a plurality of screws (not shown) to form the cassette housing 2. Inside the cassette housing 2, there are a pair of left and right halves. reel 6,7
The magnetic tape 8 and the like wound around them are stored.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG.
It is engaged with a pair of pin engagement holes 9 provided in the left and right side walls 2a of the body and is rotatably mounted. The front lid 1 moves approximately 90 degrees between the closed lid position shown by the solid line and the open lid position shown by the imaginary line in FIG.
It is configured to be freely rotatable in the vertical direction indicated by a', and is configured such that the front opening 10 of the cassette housing 2 is opened and closed by rotation of the front cover 1.
Then, due to the repulsive force of the torsion coil spring 12 attached to the outer periphery of one of the fulcrum pins 5 within the gap 11 between the one end 1a of the front lid 1 and one side wall 2a of the cassette housing 2, the front lid is opened. 1 is rotatably biased in the direction of closing the lid, which is the direction of arrow a' in FIG. Note that the torsion coil spring 12 is inserted into the outer periphery of the fulcrum pin 5 by means of a coil portion 12a formed in the center thereof.
Among the front and rear ends 12b and 12c, the front end 1
2b is pressed against elasticity onto a spring locking portion 13 that is integrally formed inside one end portion 1a of the front cover 1 at a position in front of the fulcrum pin 5.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the cassette housing 2
A lock lever 15 is rotatably attached to one side wall 2a. This lock lever 15 has a fulcrum pin 16 provided on the front side near its upper end 15a, a lock pawl 17 provided in the front of its lower end 15b, and a lock release lever provided on its lower end 15b. The fulcrum pin 16 is engaged with a pin engagement hole 19 provided in the side wall 2a as shown by arrows b and b' in FIG. It is configured to be freely rotatable in the front and rear directions. The torsion coil spring 12 is extended rearward and brought into contact with the upper end 15a of the lock lever 15, and then bent downward, so that the rear end 12c of the torsion coil spring 12 is elastically pressed against the lower end 15b of the lock lever 15. being pushed against. As a result, the lock lever 15 is urged to rotate forward in the direction of arrow b' by the repulsive force of the torsion coil spring 12. Therefore, the torsion coil spring 12 rotationally urges the front cover 1 in the direction of arrow a', which is the direction of closing the lid, and also urges the lock lever 15 to rotate in the direction of arrow b', which is the locking direction. Then, as shown by the solid line in FIG. 3, with the front lid 1 in the closed state,
The lock pawl 17 of the lock lever 15 is engaged from below with a protrusion 20 integrally formed near the rear of the fulcrum pin 5 inside one end 1a of the front cover 1, and the front cover 1 is locked in the closed state. is configured to be

As shown in FIG. 2, both pin engagement holes 9 are recesses 2 formed in a substantially semicircular shape provided in the upper and lower connecting surfaces of the left and right side walls 3a, 4a of the upper and lower halves 3, 4.
5 and 26, and the pin engagement hole 19 is formed in a U shape at the upper end edge of a substantially U-shaped wall portion 21 provided on one side wall 4a of the lower half 4. It is integrally molded. Note that a slit 22 is formed inside the U-shaped wall portion 21 and is open in three directions: top, bottom, and front. Then, both fulcrum pins 5 of the front cover 1 are fitted into these recesses 25 and 26, and the lock lever 15 is housed in the slit 22, and both left and right ends of the fulcrum pin 16 are fitted into the pin engagement hole 19. By connecting the upper and lower halves 3 and 4 from above and below in this state, these fulcrum pins 5 and 16 are sandwiched between the upper and lower halves 3 and 4, and the torsion coil spring is 12
A predetermined initial stress is applied to the front cover 1 and the lock lever 15, respectively, so that the front cover 1 and the lock lever 15 are urged to rotate as described above.

The tape cassette is constructed as described above.
When this is attached to a video tape recorder (not shown), a protrusion 18 for unlocking the lock lever 15 is attached to the lock release member 23 provided on the video tape recorder side, as shown by the imaginary line in FIG.
is pressed, and this lock lever 15 is rotated in the direction of arrow b against the torsion coil spring 12. As a result, the lock pawl 17 comes off the protrusion 20, and the front cover 1 is unlocked in the closed state. At about the same time, the front cover 1 is opened in the direction of arrow a in FIG. 3 against the torsion coil spring 12 by the opening member 24 provided on the video tape recorder side, and the cassette case is opened. The front opening 10 of No. 2 is configured to be opened.

However, the conventional tape cassette constructed and operated as described above has the following defects.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, since the rear end 12c of the torsion coil spring 12 merely presses the lower end 15b of the lock lever 15, it may be twisted due to vibration or impact during operation. coil spring 12
The rear end portion 12c of the rear end portion 12c was likely to be misaligned in the left-right direction within the slit 22. On the other hand, the inner width W ₁ of the slit 22 is made larger than the width W ₂ of the lock lever 15 in order to allow the lock lever 15 to rotate smoothly, and a gap is created between both side surfaces 22a of the slit 22 and the lock lever 15. ing. Therefore, the rear end 1 of the torsion coil spring 12 has become misaligned.
2c is the slit 22 as shown by the phantom line in FIG.
It easily gets into the gap between the lock lever 15 and both sides 22a of the lock lever 15, making it impossible to press the lock lever 15 into the locked state. In some cases, the lock lever 15 could not be rotated.

Purpose of the invention The present invention aims to provide a tape cassette capable of correcting the above-mentioned defects.

Summary of the invention The invention is based on the above-mentioned tape cassette.
The lower end of the lock lever is formed into a substantially inverted T-shape, and the lower end of the lock lever is integrally provided with a protrusion extending in the left-right direction perpendicular to the slit;
A tape cassette in which an end of the linear spring that is pressed against the rear surface of the lock lever extends below the slit and is pressed against the protrusion, the end of the linear spring being pressed against the protrusion on both sides of the slit. It can be prevented from entering the gap between the lock lever and the lock lever, and it can completely prevent the lock lever from becoming impossible to rotate.

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 FIGS. 6 to 8. Note that the same structural parts as those of the conventional example shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 are given the same reference numerals, and the explanation thereof will be omitted.

First, as shown in Figures 6 and 7, the lower half 4
The lock lever 15 is rotatably housed in a slit 22 in a U-shaped wall portion 21 provided on one side wall 4a of the lock lever 15, and its lower end 15b is shaped like an inverted T. It is formed into a letter shape,
A protrusion 30 extending in the left-right direction and perpendicular to the slit 22 is integrally formed on the lower end portion 15b. Note that the width W ₃ of the protrusion 30 is larger than the inner width W ₁ of the slit 22 . The rear end 12c of the torsion coil spring 12 has a slit 2.
The protrusion 3 of the lock lever 15 extends downward from the protrusion 3 of the lock lever 15.
It is pressed to 0. Note that this protrusion 30 is for unlocking, and is pressed against the unlocking member 23 on the video tape recorder side, as shown in the conventional example. On the other hand, in the lower part of the slit 22 and the side wall 4a of the lower half 4, a stepped portion 31 is provided to allow the protrusion 30 to escape when the lock lever 15 rotates.

According to the tape cassette of the present invention constructed as described above, the protrusion 30 having a width W ₃ larger than the inner width W ₁ of the slit 22 is formed on the lower end 15 a of the lock lever 15 . Rear end 12c of torsion coil spring 12 being pressed
As shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 7, even if the slit 22 is displaced laterally within the slit 22, the rear end 12c of the torsion coil spring 12 is always pressed against the protrusion 30. Therefore, the rear end 12c of the torsion coil spring 12 is connected to both sides 2 of the slit 22.
It can be prevented from entering the gap between the lock lever 2a and the lock lever 15, and it is possible to completely prevent the lock lever 15 from becoming impossible to rotate.

Furthermore, since the width _W3 of the protrusion 30 of the lock lever 15 is formed to be large, even if the lock release member 23 and the lock lever 15 are slightly misaligned in the left-right direction when installed in a video tape recorder,
The lock release member 23 is always in extremely reliable contact with the protrusion 30 of the lock lever 15 within the large width W ₃ , and malfunctions caused by unlocking when the front cover 1 is closed is also prevented. I can do it.

Note that the linear spring referred to in the present invention is not limited to a spring that serves both as a spring for urging the front lid to close and for urging the lock lever to rotate, as described above, and may also be used as a modified example shown in FIG. The torsion coil spring 32 for biasing the lid to close and the linear spring 33 for biasing the rotation of the lock lever 15 may be configured separately.

That is, in FIG. 8, the torsion coil spring 32 is inserted into the outer periphery of the fulcrum pin 5 by means of the central coil portion 32a, and the front end portion 32b is inserted into the outer circumference of the fulcrum pin 5, and the front end portion 32b is connected to one end portion 1a of the front cover 1.
The rear end portion 32c is locked to a spring locking portion 34 integrally formed on one side wall 2a of the cassette housing 2. On the other hand, a linear spring 33 for biasing the rotation of the lock lever 15 has a substantially inverted U shape and is inserted into the slit 22 at the rear of the lock lever 15. And both ends 33a of the linear spring 33,
33b are respectively engaged with the protrusion 30 of the lock lever 15 and a spring engaging portion 35 consisting of a stepped portion provided at the lower part of the rear wall within the slit 22. Also in this modification, the front end 33a of the linear spring 33
Even if the front end 33a of the linear spring 33 is displaced because it is always pressed by the protrusion 30 of the lock lever 15, the front end 33a of the linear spring 33 may be displaced.
can be prevented from entering the gap between both side surfaces 22a of the slit 22 and the lock lever 15.

Application Example Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention can be applied to tape cassettes for various recording and reproducing devices other than video tape recorders and various other information processing devices.

Effects of the invention As described above, the present invention forms the lower end of the lock lever in a substantially inverted T-shape, and integrally provides the lower end of the lock lever with a protrusion extending in the left-right direction perpendicular to the slit, and the rear surface of the lock lever Since the end of the linear spring to be pressed extends below the slit and is pressed against the protruding part, the end of the linear spring may be displaced in the left and right direction, causing contact with both sides of the slit and the lock lever. It can be prevented from entering the gap between the lock lever and the lock lever, and it can completely prevent the lock lever from becoming impossible to rotate. Further, the lock release member is brought into contact with the protrusion of the lock lever very reliably, and it is possible to prevent malfunctions caused by unlocking the front cover in the closed state.

Therefore, locking and unlocking of the front cover becomes extremely reliable, and the reliability of the tape cassette can be significantly improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing a conventional example of a tape cassette for a video tape recorder, Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the main parts, Fig. 3 is an enlarged partially cutaway side view of the main parts, and Fig. 4 is the main parts. FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line V-V in FIG. 3. 6 to 8 show an embodiment of a tape cassette for a video tape recorder to which the present invention is applied, in which FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the main part, and FIG. The sectional view and FIG. 8 are partially cutaway enlarged side views of essential parts showing a modification of the linear spring. In addition, in the symbols used in the drawings, 1...front lid, 2...cassette housing, 2a...left and right side walls,
5... Fulcrum pin, 6, 7... Reel, 8... Magnetic tape, 9... Pin engagement hole, 10... Front opening,
12...Torsion coil spring, 12c...Rear end, 1
5...Lock lever, 15b...Lower end, 22...
...Slit, 22a...Both sides, 23...Lock release member, 30...Protrusion.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model claims] A cassette casing with an opening on the front, a front cover attached to the cassette casing so as to be vertically rotatable to open and close the opening, and a slit provided in a side wall of the cassette casing. a lock lever that is rotatably attached in the front-rear direction and engages with the front cover to lock the front cover in a closed state; and a lock lever that is pressed from the rear side to engage the front cover with the front cover. In the tape cassette, the lower end of the lock lever is formed into a substantially inverted T-shape, and the lower end of the lock lever is fitted with the slit so that the lower end of the lock lever is shaped like an inverted T. It is characterized by integrally providing a protrusion extending orthogonally in the left-right direction, and an end of the linear spring that is pressed against the rear surface of the lock lever extends below the slit and is pressed against the protrusion. tape cassette.