JPS6317087Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a tape cassette used in a recording and reproducing apparatus for recording audio or video signals, and in particular to an improvement in the reel lock mechanism.

A reel locking mechanism for a tape cassette containing a pair of reels for winding a tape-shaped recording medium, such as a magnetic tape, is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 55-128287. The same publication states that when a tape cassette is installed in a recording/reproducing device, a pin provided on the A device side at a position equidistant from the two take-up reels allows the tape to be moved between the take-up reel braking position and the non-braking position. A brake lever mounting member is provided so as to be movable, and two brake levers are provided on both sides of the lever mounting member, the brake levers being rotatable and spring-loaded so as to respectively engage the respective take-up reels. The configuration is shown. In the braking position, two brake levers act on the outer periphery of each corresponding take-up reel, causing the take-up reel to rotate in the direction of winding the magnetic tape, and to prevent rotation in the direction of unwinding the magnetic tape. act to prevent it. In addition, in the non-braking position, the movement of the lever mounting member causes a portion of the brake lever to come into contact with a control surface provided on the rear wall of the cassette body, causing the brake lever to rotate and causing the take-up reel to engage with the brake lever. The configuration is such that the connection is canceled at the same time.

However, in such a reel lock mechanism, one lever mounting member is provided with two rotatable brake levers, one end of the brake lever engages with the take-up reel, and the other end engages with the cassette body. Since it is a configuration that performs decoupling, there are many components.
This not only increases costs but also increases the space required, making it difficult to realize a more compact tape cassette.

Furthermore, in order to regulate the position of the lever attachment member in the thickness direction of the tape cassette, if a height regulation portion is formed in the upper half of the cassette so as to come into contact with the lever attachment member, force in the thickness direction is applied to the cassette. There is also the problem that when the lever is turned, the lever mounting member is pinched between the upper half and the lower half and cannot slide smoothly.

Therefore, the present invention provides a tape cassette that reduces the number of components of the reel lock mechanism, occupies a smaller space, and ensures smooth operation of the reel lock mechanism even when the tape cassette is subjected to a force in the thickness direction. The purpose is to

Embodiments of the tape cassette according to the present invention are shown in FIGS. 1 to 5. FIG. 1 shows a cassette main body, which is composed of an upper half 13 and a lower half 14 shown in FIG. 3, a front door 2 rotatably connected thereto, and the like. Reference numerals 3 and 4 designate a pair of tape reels on which magnetic tape 19 is wound and rotatably held at predetermined positions in the cassette body 1. Reference numeral 5 denotes teeth formed on the outer peripheries of the tape reels 4 and 5, which are toothed on the outer peripheries of the reels 3 and 4 with respect to the central axis of the cassette.
They are arranged symmetrically to each other. Reference numeral 6 denotes a post provided on the cassette body 1, and the magnetic tape 19 is attached to the front door 2 and the front wall 1 of the cassette body 1.
It extends over the drawer part 7 formed by 8 and 8. When a tape cassette is attached to the main body of a device such as a video tape recorder (VTR), a drawer post (not shown) provided on the main body of the device pulls out the magnetic tape from the drawer section 7. This is the sliding plane regulating guide section. This sliding plane regulating guide section 8 includes a guide section 27 that guides the lock member 9, as shown in detail in FIGS. 3 and 4.
and a receiving portion 29 provided to abut and engage with a locking portion 28 provided on the upper half 13, and is formed integrally with the lower half. Reference numeral 10 shown in FIG. 2, which is an enlarged view of the reel locking mechanism in FIG. 4 and prevents the tape reels 3 and 4 from rotating in the magnetic tape feeding direction shown by arrow a. 11 is the lower half of the cassette 14
One end of a stopper 12 for regulating the movement of the lock member 9 provided therein is locked to the lock member 9,
A spring for urging the lock member whose other end is locked to the rear wall 17 of the lower half 14 of the cassette, 15 and 16 in FIG.
and a horizontal wall provided on the lower half 14, respectively. Reference numeral 20 shown in FIG. 3 is an engagement hole formed in the lock member 9 facing the insertion hole 22 provided in the lower half 14. Although not shown, the release pin from the main unit is inserted into this engagement hole. 20 and is engaged with the locking member. In order to facilitate engagement with the release pin, the lock member 9 is provided with an engagement hole 20 that is larger than the cross-sectional shape of the release pin. As shown in FIG.
An engaging part 25 located between the parts and having an engaging hole 20 in a part thereof, and a guide provided facing the upper surface of the guide part 27 of the sliding plane regulating guide part 8 so as to cover the engaging part 25. It is composed of a reinforcing part 21 and the flexible claw 10 formed at the tip of the engaging part 25. The engaging portion 25 is formed primarily to engage with the release pin, and the guide reinforcing portion 21 is formed primarily to maintain the strength of the locking member 9.
It is located approximately in the middle between the pair of sliding plane regulating guide parts 8, the stopper 11, and the pair of guide parts 8, and is regulated by the height regulating guide part 26 provided on the upper half 13. It is held in a state where it can be slid within a certain range. Reference numeral 23 indicates an end receiving portion provided at the rear of the lock member 9 for receiving the spring 12, and 24 indicates an end receiving portion provided on the lower half 14. When the cassette is not installed, the end receiving portions 23 and 2
The locking member 9 is pressed toward the tape reels 3 and 4 by a spring 12 held by the tape reel 4.

Next, the tape reels 3 and 4 and the lock member 9
The engagement with will be explained.

When the cassette is not attached to the VTR body,
As shown in FIG. 2, a pair of flexible claws 10 of the locking member 9 pressed by a spring 12 engages with the teeth 5 on the outer periphery of the tape reels 3 and 4, and the magnetic tape of the tape reels 3 and 4 is fed out. Rotation in the direction (arrow a) is prevented, and rotational force is applied in the winding direction (arrow d), thereby preventing the magnetic tape from loosening.

When the cassette is attached to the VTR main body in this state, the release pin of the main unit engages with the engagement hole 20 of the locking member 9, and in conjunction with the reel lock release operation or recording/playback operation, the cassette is moved in the direction of arrow b. When the lock member 9 is moved to
moves while being guided by the guide portion 27 of the sliding plane regulating guide portion 8, and the flexible pawl 10 provided on the locking member 9 is separated from the tape reels 3 and 4, and their engagement is severed. This enables operations such as recording, normal playback, and special playback of the main unit. At this time, the spring 12 is in a compressed state.

Next, the operation of locking the tape reels 3 and 4 again from this state will be explained.

When the release pin is moved in the direction of arrow c in conjunction with the reel lock operation or cassette ejection operation of the main unit, the lock member 9 follows the movement of the release pin due to the elastic force of the compressed spring 12. Then, the flexible pawl 10 of the locking member 9 begins to engage with the teeth 5 of the tape reels 3 and 4, and while rotating the tape reels 3 and 4 in the direction of arrow d, the flexible pawl 10 itself elastically deforms. It moves to a predetermined position while coming into contact with the stopper 11 and stops.

In this configuration, the locking portion 28 integrally formed on the upper half 13 and the receiving portion 29 formed on the lower half 14 are designed to cross each other and abut. Therefore, even when a strong force is applied to the cassette main body 1 from the thickness direction, the distance between the upper half 13 and the lower half 14 is maintained, and the guides of the height regulating guide section 26 and the sliding plane regulating guide section 8 are maintained. Since the lock member 9 is not clamped by the portion 27, smooth sliding of the lock member 9 is ensured. Further, since the locking portion 28 and the receiving portion 29 are configured to cross each other, positional and dimensional accuracy is not required.

In this embodiment, the lock member 9 is moved by the movement of the release pin provided on the main body device. By making the portion tapered or by making the release pin tapered, the locking member 9 may be configured to be moved simultaneously with the tape cassette mounting operation without moving the release pin.

As is clear from the above description, according to the tape cassette of the present invention, the rotation of the tape reel in the tape feeding direction is prevented by the flexible pawl fixed to or integrally formed with the locking member biased by the spring. At the same time, it is possible to prevent the tape from loosening, and damage to the tape during recording and reproduction due to tape slack can be prevented. According to this configuration, since the number of parts is small and there are no rotating parts, it is possible to realize a small tape cassette at low cost. In addition, the lower half of the cassette main body has a receiving part that together with a pair of guide parts constitutes a sliding plane regulating guide part, and the upper half is provided with a locking part that comes into contact with the receiving part. Even when a force is applied, the distance between the upper halves is kept constant, and smooth movement of the locking member is ensured between the guide part and the height regulating guide part.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of the tape cassette according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the main part of Fig. 1 showing details of the reel lock mechanism which is the main part of the invention, and Fig. 3 is 2 is a sectional view taken along the line X-X' in FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the structure of the lower half in the same essential part, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the structure of the locking member in the same essential part. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Cassette body, 3, 4...Tape reel, 9...Lock member, 10...Flexible claw, 12...
...Spring, 13...Top half, 14...Bottom half,
22... Release pin insertion hole, 25... Engaging portion, 26
... Height regulation guide section, 27 ... Guide section, 28
...Locking part, 29...Receiving part.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] (1) A cassette body having an upper half and a lower half, and a cassette body rotatably held by this body.
a pair of tape reels; acting on the pair of tape reels to prevent rotation of the tape reel in the tape-shaped recording medium feeding direction; and to prevent rotation of the tape-shaped recording medium in the feeding direction; A pair of flexible claws provided to apply rotational force in the winding direction of the medium, and an engagement provided facing an insertion hole provided in the lower half to engage with a release pin from the device. a locking member having a portion and sliding movement within a predetermined range;
a spring having one end locked to the locking member and the other end locked to the rear wall of the lower cassette half;
a pair of guide parts provided on the lower half for guiding the movement of the locking member; a pair of receiving parts provided on the lower half; and a pair of guide parts provided on the upper half approximately at the center of the pair of guide parts provided on the lower half. A tape cassette comprising a height regulating guide portion of a positioned lock member, and a pair of locking portions provided on the upper half and abutting on a pair of receiving portions of the lower half. (2) The tape cassette according to claim 1, wherein the guide portion and the receiving portion are integrally formed with the lower half. (3) The tape cassette according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the receiving part and the locking part are formed so as to abut each other in a cross relation.