JPS6316072Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field The present invention is a tape cassette that is most suitable for application to a recording/reproducing device such as a video tape recorder, and is particularly suitable for passing a stored tape along a front opening. a cassette housing, a front lid rotatably attached to the cassette housing to cover the front side of the passed tape, and a front lid rotatably attached to the front lid to cover the rear side of the passed tape. It has a rear cover rotatably attached, a guided pin provided on the rear cover, and a guide groove provided on the cassette casing for guiding the guided pin, and the front cover is opened when the front cover is opened. When rotating in the direction of the lid, the guided pin is guided by the guide groove, so that the rear lid is moved away from the front lid while being rotated relative to the front lid, and then the lid is opened together with the front lid. This invention relates to a tape cassette configured to be rotated toward the lid.

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 FIG. 1, a cassette housing 3 composed of upper and lower halves 1 and 2, a front lid 4, and a rear lid 5 are each molded from synthetic resin. Then, the magnetic tape 8 is wound around a pair of left and right reels 6 and 7.
are housed in upper and lower halves 1 and 2, and these upper and lower halves 1 and 2 are fitted into each other from above and below and are integrally connected by a plurality of screws 9 to form a cassette housing 3. A front opening 10 is provided on the front surface of the cassette housing 3 over its entire length in the left and right direction, and a pair of tape guides integrally formed on the lower half 2 are located near both left and right ends of the front opening 10. 11, the magnetic tape 8 is passed along the front opening 10 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. Furthermore, 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 11, and this recess 12 is integrally molded into the upper and lower halves 1 and 2 together with both tape guides 11. It is separated from the inside of the cassette housing 3 by a partition wall 13 having a substantially U-shaped planar shape. Note that both the top and bottom of this recess are open.

Next, the front cover 4 has a substantially U-shaped planar shape as shown in FIG. 1, 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. 2 to 4, the front cover 4 is attached to the left and right side walls of the cassette housing 3 by its pair of fulcrum pins 15 in order to cover the front side of the magnetic tape 8 that is being passed along the front opening 10. 3
The front cover 4 is installed by being inserted into a pair of pin insertion holes 16 that are provided on the front end side of the cassette case so that they can be rotated up and down about both fulcrum pins 15. It is attached to body 3.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, the rear lid 5 has an upper lid 17 integrally molded along its upper edge, and a pair of fulcrum pins are provided at approximately the center of the left and right edges of the rear lid 5 in the vertical direction. 18 are integrally molded with each other on the same axis. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the rear cover 5 is disposed in a recess 12 parallel to the front cover 4 to cover the rear side of the magnetic tape 8 that is passed along the front opening 10. . In addition, this rear lid 5
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the pair of fulcrum pins 18 are inserted into the pair of pin insertion holes 20 of a pair of protrusions 19 that are integrally molded near the left and right ends 4a on the rear surface of the front cover 4. The rear cover 5 is attached to the front cover 4 so as to be able to rotate up and down about both fulcrum pins 18. In addition, the top lid 1
7 is arranged to cover the upper surface of the recess 12 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the left and right end portions 13a of the partition wall 13 are opposed in parallel from the left and right directions, and the opposing surfaces of the left and right end portions 13a have a gentle S-shape. A pair of bent guide grooves 21 are provided. A pair of protrusions 22 are integrally molded on the rear surface of both left and right edges of the rear cover 5 below both fulcrum pins 18, and a pair of protrusions 22 are integrally molded on the outside of both protrusions 22 so as to be coaxial with each other. A guided pin 23 is loosely fitted into both guide grooves 21. Further, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, one end 4a of the front cover 4 is connected to the outer periphery of one fulcrum pin 15.
A torsion coil spring 25 is wound between the torsion coil spring 25 and one side wall 3a of the cassette housing 3, and both front and rear ends 25a, 25b of the torsion coil spring 25 are connected to the end 4a.
and are engaged with protrusions 26 and 27 integrally formed on the side wall 3a, respectively. Therefore, the torsion coil spring 25 biases the front lid 4 to rotate in the direction of the arrow a in FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a fulcrum pin 29 with a lock lever 28 integrally formed on one side wall 3a of the cassette housing 3 is provided.
It is attached so that it can freely rotate back and forth through the . The lock lever 28 is rotated in the direction of arrow b by a spring 30 attached to the side wall 3a, and is engaged with a protrusion 31 integrally formed inside one end 4a of the front cover 4. The front cover 4 is configured to be locked in the closed position.

According to the tape cassette constructed as described above, first, when the cassette is not in use, the front lid 4 is locked in the closed state by the lock lever 28 as shown by the solid line in FIG. In this lid closed state, the magnetic tape 8 passing along the front opening 10 is covered by the front lid 4 and the rear lid 5 from the front and back, as shown by the solid line in FIG. It is a so-called completely sealed tape cassette.

Next, when the tape cassette is installed in the video tape recorder, the lock lever 28 is rotated in the direction of arrow b' by the lock release member 33 against the spring 30, as shown by the imaginary line in FIG. , front lid 4
When the lock is released, the front lid 4 is pushed up by the lid opening member 34, and the front lid 4 is pushed up approximately 90 degrees in the lid opening direction, which is the direction of arrow a', against the torsion coil spring 25. The front opening 10 is opened by being rotated by . The front cover 4 is then rotated about 90 degrees in the direction of arrow a' from the closed position shown by solid lines in FIG. 4 to the open position shown by phantom lines about both fulcrum pins 15. Therefore, since both fulcrum pins 18 of the rear lid 5 are also rotated in the same direction and at the same angle, the rear lid 5 also rotates in the same angle as the front lid 4.
At the same time, the lid is rotated 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 23 are aligned with both guide grooves 2.
1 and moved in the direction of arrow c, and by the guiding action of both guide grooves 21, the rear cover 5 moves in the direction of arrow d with respect to the front cover 4 around both fulcrum pins 18. The lid is opened in the direction of arrow a' while being rotated in a direction to move away from the rear. Note that when the rear cover 5 is opened, the guided pin 23 is drawn toward the front side surface 36, which is the side surface of the guide groove 21 on the side of both fulcrum pins 18, and moves inside the guide groove 21 in the direction of arrow c. will be moved to Furthermore, when the lid is closed, the front lid 4 is rotated in the direction of arrow a in FIG. The guided pin 23 also moves within the guide groove 21 in the direction of arrow c' and is moved back to the lower end 21a of the guide groove 21 shown by the solid line in FIG. 4. . Note that when the rear cover 5 is closed, the guided pin 23 is pressed against the rear side surface 37 of the guide groove 21, which is the side surface opposite to both fulcrum pins 18, and moves inside the guide groove 21. It is moved in the direction of arrow c'.

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

That is, as described above, when the rear cover 5 is rotated,
In order to prevent the rear cover 5 from wobbling in the left-right direction, which is its longitudinal direction, the tip surfaces 38 of both guided pins 23 of the rear cover 5 are slid in contact with the groove bottom surfaces 39 of both guide grooves 21, as shown in Fig. 5. Therefore, when the tip surfaces 38 of the guided pins 23 slide against the groove bottom surfaces 39 extending in the vertical direction of the guide grooves 21, the frictional resistance may prevent the rear cover 5 from rotating smoothly, and in some cases the guided pins 23 may get caught in the guide grooves 21, causing the rotation of the rear cover 5 to be unexpectedly stopped midway. In addition, the sliding between the tip surfaces 38 of the guided pins 23 and the groove bottom surfaces 39 of the guide grooves 21 generates resin shavings, which may adhere to the magnetic tape 8 or become mixed into the mechanism of the video tape recorder, causing a defect in which recording and playback using this tape cassette is adversely affected.

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.
When the tip end surface of the guided pin slides against the bottom surface of the groove extending in the vertical direction of the guide groove, the sliding friction between the tip surface and the bottom surface of the groove is reduced. This tape cassette has an arcuate surface portion on one side, and the rear cover can be rotated extremely smoothly, and reliability can be increased.

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. In addition, both ends 13 of the partition wall 13 are shown here.
a. Only one of the pair of left and right fulcrum pins 18, guide grooves 21, protrusions 22, and guided pins 23 will be explained, but the same applies to the other one.

First, FIG. 6 shows a first embodiment, in which a hemispherical surface 41 is provided on a portion of the guided pin 23 that corresponds to the tip end surface 38 in the conventional example.
On the other hand, along the center of the groove bottom surface 39 of the guide groove 21, a protrusion 42 having a substantially semicircular cross-sectional shape is provided extending in the vertical direction. Further, in the conventional example of the guide groove 21, portions corresponding to the side surfaces 36 and 37 are formed into tapered surfaces 43 and 44 that are expanded toward the groove bottom surface 39, respectively.

According to the tape cassette of the present invention constructed as described above, the guided pin 23 and the guide groove 21 come into contact with each other through point contact between the hemispherical surface 41 and the protrusion 42, which is different from the conventional example. Guided pin 2 mentioned above
Frictional resistance due to sliding between the tip end surface 38 of the guide groove 3 and the groove bottom surface 39 of the guide groove 21 is reduced. Further, a tapered surface 43 formed in the guide groove 21,
44 also reduces the frictional resistance between the circumferential surface of the guided pin 23 and the guide groove 21 in the front-rear direction. Therefore, the rear cover 5 can be rotated extremely smoothly without causing rattling.

In addition, since no resin shavings are generated due to sliding between the guided pin 23 and the guide groove 21,
It is also possible to prevent the recording and reproduction in this tape cassette from being adversely affected due to the shavings being attached to the magnetic tape 8 or mixed into the mechanism of the video tape recorder.

Next, FIG. 7 shows a second embodiment, in which a hemispherical surface 41 is only provided on a portion corresponding to the tip end surface 38 of the conventional example of the guided pin 23.

Next, FIG. 8 shows a third embodiment, in which a protrusion 42 having a substantially semicircular cross section is vertically extended along the center of the groove bottom surface 39 of the guide groove 21. It is just a set-up.

Note that the hemispherical surface and the protrusion having a substantially semicircular cross-sectional shape shown in the embodiments are shown as an example of the arcuate surface referred to in the present invention, and various other modifications are possible.

Application Examples Although the embodiments of the present invention have 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, in the present invention, an arcuate surface portion is provided on at least one of the tip end surface of the guided pin and the groove bottom surface of the guide groove. The frictional resistance caused by sliding with the bottom surface is reduced without rattling the rear lid, allowing the rear lid to rotate extremely smoothly. Further, since no scraps are generated due to sliding, the reliability of the tape cassette can be improved without adversely affecting the magnetic tape or the recording/reproducing device.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a conventional example of a tape cassette for a video tape recorder, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same completed assembly, and Fig. 3 is Fig. 2-
FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the lines of FIG. 2, and FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the lines of FIG. 4. 6 to 8 show an embodiment of a tape cassette for a video tape recorder to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 5 showing the first embodiment; FIG. 7 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 5 showing the second embodiment, and FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the third embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 5 showing the embodiment. In addition, in the symbols used in the drawings, 3...cassette housing, 4...front cover, 5...rear cover, 8...magnetic tape, 10...front opening, 21...guide groove, 23...cover Guide pin, 38... Tip surface, 3
9... Groove bottom surface, 41... Hemispherical surface, 42... Projection.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A cassette housing in which a stored tape is passed along a front opening; a front lid rotatably attached to the cassette housing to cover the front side of the passed tape; and a front lid rotatably attached to the cassette housing to cover the front side of the passed tape; A rear lid rotatably attached to the front lid to cover the rear side, a guided pin provided on the rear lid, and a guide groove provided on the cassette housing to guide the guided pin. The front cover is rotated relative to the front cover in order to separate the rear cover to the rear of the front cover by guiding the guided pin in the guide groove when the front cover is rotated in the opening direction. In the tape cassette, the tip surface of the guided pin slides against the bottom surface of the groove extending in the vertical direction of the guide groove. A tape cassette characterized in that an arcuate surface portion is provided on at least one of the tip end surface and the groove bottom surface in order to reduce sliding friction between the tip end surface and the groove bottom surface.