Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
  • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
  • G11B23/00—Record carriers not specific to the method of recording or reproducing; Accessories, e.g. containers, specially adapted for co-operation with the recording or reproducing apparatus ; Intermediate mediums; Apparatus or processes specially adapted for their manufacture
  • G11B23/02—Containers; Storing means both adapted to cooperate with the recording or reproducing means
  • G11B23/023—Containers for magazines or cassettes
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
  • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
  • G11B33/00—Constructional parts, details or accessories not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
  • G11B33/02—Cabinets; Cases; Stands; Disposition of apparatus therein or thereon
  • G11B33/04—Cabinets; Cases; Stands; Disposition of apparatus therein or thereon modified to store record carriers
  • G11B33/0405—Cabinets; Cases; Stands; Disposition of apparatus therein or thereon modified to store record carriers for storing discs
  • G11B33/0433—Multiple disc containers
  • G11B33/0444—Multiple disc containers for discs without cartridge
  • G11B33/045—Multiple disc containers for discs without cartridge comprising centre hole locking means

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a container box having plural containing stands in which storage media such as compact disks (CDs), diskettes, etc. can be inserted.
• storage media such as compact disks (CDs), diskettes, etc.
• a conventional box for containing storage media i.e., floppy disks, is not suitable for accommodating a CD since it holds each diskette without any containing stand. Therefore, it is unreasonable that software CDs or diskettes on which important data is saved should be separately housed and handled.
• a CD is separately housed in an individual CD case, and thus, it is not convenient to handle plural CD cases since the cases are left scattered about.
• the thickness of the CD case is markedly larger than that of the storage medium and thus the CD case occupies a larger space.
• the present invention aims to solve the problems in the prior art as described above.
• the object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for containing storage media, which can also contains plural CDs.
• Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for containing CDs together with other storage media.
• a further object of the present invention is to provide a containing apparatus wherein containing stands thereof have flexing portions of ample width so that the flexing portions can be freely deformed and aligned in accordance with changes in angles of the stands when the stands are turned over or opened, thereby aggregating the stands densely and enhancing spatial efficiency thereof.
• a still further object of the present invention is to eliminate the problem in the prior art that CDs, diskettes and the like should be separately contained and handled, by inserting the storage media, such as CDs, diskettes, etc., into respective stands to contain them in the apparatus.
• a still further object of the present invention is to eliminate inconvenience in that the individual case should be separately opened, or the containing stands of the container box with the plural containing stands should be turned over one by one, in order to confirm the presence or contents of the storage medium therein.
• the present invention provides an apparatus for containing storage media, which comprises containing stands into which the storage media are inserted.
• Each of the containing stands includes an inserting portion, a supporting portion, and a flexing portion.
• the storage media are detachably secured in the inserting portion.
• the flexing portion includes a flexible part for connecting the supporting portion and the inserting portion.
• the flexible part is extended laterally and has ample flexing width.
• the apparatus may further include a body having a supporting device for connecting the supporting portions of the containing stands with each other.
• FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a box for containing plural storage media according to an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the box shown in FIG. 1 , with unit containing stands revealed.
• FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a unit containing stand for compact disks (CDs) to be mounted within the box shown in FIG. 1.
• CDs compact disks
• FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of a CD engaging portion of the unit CD containing stand shown in FIG. 3.
• FIGS. 5 (a), (b) and (c) are enlarged sectional views of various types of flexing portions provided on the unit containing stands shown in FIGS. 3 and 6.
• FIG. 6 (a) is a perspective view of a unit containing stand for a diskette to be mounted within the box shown in FIG. 1.
• FIG. 6 (b) is a perspective view of the diskette containing stand shown in FIG. 6 (a), with the diskette removed from the stand.
• FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view of a diskette engaging portion of the diskette containing stand shown in FIG. 6 (a).
• FIG. 8 (a) is a view illustrating a possible problem arising when in a container box provided with unit containing stands which include flexing portions with small flexing widths, the unit containing stands come in close contact with each other.
• FIG. 8 (b) is a view showing gaps generated between the unit containing stands for solving the problem issued from the case shown in FIG. 8 (a).
• a box 10 for containing storage media comprises a lid 12 and a body 13 in appearance and has plural unit containing stands 20 for CDs as storage media for a computer in the box, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
• FIGS. 1 and 2 show the unit containing stands for CDs, some of them may be unit containing stands 40 for diskettes as shown in FIG. 6.
• plural unit containing stands 20, 40 are fixed in close contact with each other at their lower portions by a supporting shaft 14 installed on a fixing stand 15.
• FIG. 2 shows only several containing stands for the purpose of clarity, the containing stands are installed throughout the supporting shaft 14.
• FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the CD containing stand 20 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
• the containing stand 20 includes a CD inserting portion 21. a flexing portion 22, and a supporting portion 23.
• the supporting portion 23 is provided with two through-holes 24 into which the supporting shaft 14 mounted on a lower portion of the body 13 of the container box 10 is inserted to be fixedly coupled with the containing stands. It is preferred that outward thickness tl of the supporting portion 23 be identical with thickness t2 of the inserting portion 21 to be described later.
• the flexing portion 22 serves as a connecting portion of the supporting portion 23 with the CD inserting portion 21 or a diskette inserting portion 41 to be described later.
• the inserting portion 21 can be flexed at an arbitrary angle with respect to the supporting portion 23.
• the flexing portion 22 is made of flexible plastic resin material.
• the flexing portion it may be constructed to have a plurality of thinned flexing points 22a, 22a' so that the flexing portion 22, 22' can be flexed only at the thinned flexing points (inferior goods can be reduced upon injection molding), as shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and (b). Otherwise, it may be constructed in the form of thin and flexible sheet having constant thickness without pleats, like the flexing portion 22" shown in FIG. 5 (c).
• the flexing points 22a, 22a' extend over the entire width of the containing stand, i.e., entire lateral width thereof.
• the plural containing stands can be installed in close contact with each other, since the flexing portions can be freely deformed in accordance with changes in angles when the containing stands are turned over or opened.
• FIG. 2 if auxiliary supporting cells 230 are placed sporadically between the plural containing stands, overlap or interference therewith can be further reduced so that the containing stands 20, 40 can be freely tilted.
• the flexing width means the distance between the flexing points or the entire width of the flexible part. If the containing stands 120 have flexing portions 122 of narrower width and come in close contact with each other as shown in FIG. 8 (a), they cannot be tilted at a large angle. This results from the overlap of inserting portions 121, as well shown in FIG. 8 (a). In order to avoid the overlap, supporting portions 123 should be spaced at a constant interval as shown in FIG. 8 (b), which also gives rise to a problem that it is difficult to install a large number of containing stands 120 within the container box.
• the CD inserting portion 21 has a central plate 25 serving as a backing plate, an upper brim 26 and side brims 27 for reinforcing the central plate 25, and a CD hooking portion 28 located slightly above the center of the central plate 25.
• the CD hooking portion 28 is constructed such that central holes of respective CDs are fitted over the CD hooking portion 28 on either side of the central plate 25 as shown in the sectional view of FIG. 4.
• the hooking portion 28 has a hub 28a connected to the central plate 25.
• the hub is provided integrally with catching projections 29 in the form of snap-fit elements.
• the snap-fit type catching projections 29 are deformed when the CDs are initially fitted over them, and then resiliently restored after the CDs have been completely fitted over them, so that the CDs are maintained in a state that they are hooked on the containing stand.
• Such catching projections 29 are constructed such that each CD can be hooked through the hub on either side of the central plate 25.
• the constitution of the hooking portion 28 may be a conventional one.
• the CD hooking portion 28 is placed at such a position that some portion of the CD can extend outside of the central plate 25 beyond a top portion of the central plate 25 when the CD is hooked thereon.
• the upper brim 26 is provided outside of the top portion of the central plate 25 and is constructed to have an opened middle portion through which the CD extends beyond the central plate 25.
• an index wing 30 is provided on one side of the upper brim 26.
• the contents of the CD may be recorded on the index wing 30.
• the index wing 30 may be used as a grip for turning over or opening the CD containing stand 20.
• the CD containing stands 20 or the diskette containing stands 40 are arranged within the box 10 as shown in FIG. 1, it is preferred that they be arranged with the index wings 30 positioned alternately on the right and left sides in the figure in order to easily confirm the contents recorded on the index wings.
• the containing stand may be a unitary part integrally injection-molded with plastic resin such as ABS, PVC, etc.
• FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the diskette containing stand 40 according to another embodiment of the present invention.
• the diskette containing stand 40 comprises the diskette inserting portion 41, a flexing portion 42, and a supporting portion 43.
• the flexing portion 42 and the supporting portion 43 are identical to those of the CD containing stand 20.
• the diskette inserting portion 41 includes an inserting plate 45 which has identical outward thickness as that of the CD containing stand 20 as shown in FIGS. 6 (b) and 7.
• An upper brim 48 of the inserting plate 45 is provided with an index wing 50 which has the same shape and use as the CD containing stand 20 shown in FIG. 3.
• the index wings 50 be positioned alternately on the right and left sides in the figure since it is inconvenient to use the diskette containing stand disposed in an inverted state thereof unlike the CD containing stand 20.
• the central portion of the inserting plate 45 is provided with an inserting section 46 that is made slightly larger than the diskette, and receives the diskette with the diagonal line of it directed in a vertical direction.
• a lower portion of the inserting section 46 is provided with a closed blocking wall 45a for preventing the diskette containing portion 40 from moving horizontally.
• a rear plate 49 is provided with an opening portion 49a which is opened to such a degree that a corner of the diskette can previously enter it when the diskette is put in the inserting section as shown in FIG. 7.
• the container boxes have been described as having containing stands capable of holding CDs and/or 3.5" floppy disks as storage media for a computer.
• a person having an ordinary skill in the prior art can understand that such a container box may possess containing stands for housing flash memory apparatus such as smart cards, or the other storage media besides the aforementioned, and that this container box also falls within the scope of the present invention.
• the numerous embodiments have been described as mainly being used for storage media for the computer. However, they may be embodied as container boxes for general music CDs. Further, although the embodiments have been described as the container boxes having the plural containing stands, the present invention is not limited only to the container box having the lid and the body below the lid.
• the present invention may also be embodied as a shelf (containing shelf) insofar as it has a structure (e.g., the supporting shaft 14 shown in FIG. 2) for fixedly sustaining the supporting portion of the containing stand.
• This shelf can be utilized for accommodating a great number of CDs at a broadcasting station or the like.
• the containing stand 20 shown in FIG. 3 has been described as being used for the container box or shelf.
• the unit containing stand 20 may also be applied to a conventionally sold CD case which comprises transparent upper and lower covers and a containing frame coupled with the lower cover.
• the upper cover and the lower covers are hinged for opening and closing.
• the containing frame is typically fixed to the lower cover, and a CD is detachably mounted to the containing frame by fitting the central hole of the CD over the CD hooking portion at the center of the containing frame.
• This conventional CD containing frame may be replaced with the unit containing stand 20 according to the present invention.
• the containing stand can be removed from the CD case and be used for the container box or shelf of the present invention by inserting itself into the box or shelf. This results in convenient use and prevents the waste of materials.
• the purport of the present invention is to provide the containing apparatus including the containing stands for containing the storage media having the ample flexing width. A structure for meeting the purport falls within the scope of the present invention defined in the appended claims.
• the flexing portion which has ample flexing width, is provided between the supporting portion and the inserting portion of the storage media containing stand, such as the CD or diskette containing stand.
• the stands can be tilted for easy insertion and removal of the storage media.
• the index wings are provided on the stands, the storage media can also be distinguished without the inconvenience of turning over or opening the stands one by one in order to confirm the contents of the storage media.
• the index wing can also be used as a grip for turning over or opening the stands which contributes to easy and convenient handling.
• many kinds of storage media can be housed in one container box.
• Body of box for containing storage media 14 Support shaft

Landscapes

• Packaging For Recording Disks (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=19637012

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Cited By (1)

Citations (3)

• 2000
  • 2000-01-11 KR KR2020000000662U patent/KR200186910Y1/ko not_active IP Right Cessation
• 2001
  • 2001-01-11 WO PCT/KR2001/000038 patent/WO2001052262A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2001-01-11 AU AU2001227133A patent/AU2001227133A1/en not_active Abandoned

Patent Citations (3)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events