JPH0330936B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a cassette-type tape player,
This invention relates to an eject mechanism for ejecting a cassette installed at the playback position.

[Technical Background of the Invention] A cassette-type tape player is brought into play mode for playback, recording, etc. by inserting two reel shafts that stand upright on its base plate into the shaft holes of the cassette. As a means of installing the cassette,
Various types are known depending on the direction in which the cassette is inserted into the tape player. One of these is a so-called horizontal roll, in which the cassette is inserted horizontally into the pack guide through the insertion opening on the front of the tape player, the entire pack guide is then lowered onto the reel base, and the reel shaft is inserted into the cassette. There is a deing type of thing.

In this type of tape player, the back guide cannot be lowered until the cassette is completely inserted into the back guide. The reason for this is that the reel shaft does not fit into the shaft hole of the cassette and comes into contact with the lower surface of the cassette, which prevents the cassette and pack guide from descending. However, since the insertion slot formed on the front surface of the tape player is matched to the cross-sectional dimensions of the cassette, it is difficult to insert a finger through the slot and push the cassette into the pack guide.
Furthermore, even if a finger is inserted into the pack guide, there is a risk that the finger may be caught when the pack guide with the cassette attached descends.

For this reason, conventional means have been developed in which, when the cassette is pushed halfway into the pack guide, the tape player's loading/eject mechanism automatically pulls the cassette to the back of the pack guide. There are two types of loading mechanisms, one using the driving force of a motor and the other using the traction force of a spring. There is one that does this with a single reversing spring.

As shown in FIG. 1, this reversal spring type loading/eject mechanism includes a pack stopper 3 that is slidably provided in a guide groove 2 provided in the front and back direction of the pack guide 1 and engages with the cassette.
A shaft 4 on the pack stopper 3 and the tip of a link 5 provided on the pack guide 1 are connected by a torsion spring 6. The tip of the torsion spring 6 is annular so that it can rotate around the shaft 4, while the base is also connected to the link 5.
It is rotatably inserted into the hole at the tip. The link 5 is attached to a support shaft 7 at its base, and an operating rod 9 is provided between the center of the link 5 and the eject lever 8 to connect the two. Further, a return spring 11 is disposed between the eject lever 8 and a protrusion 10 provided on the outer frame.

In this mechanism, when a cassette is inserted into the pack guide 1, the pack stopper 3 moves to the rear side due to its pushing force, and is pressed by it, so that the torsion spring 6 is tightened so that the distance between both arms is narrowed. This state is shown in FIG. When the pack stopper 3 goes beyond the position where the tips of both arms of the torsion spring 6 are lined up, that is, when the shaft 4 of the pack stopper 3 moves deeper than the tip of the link 5, the force of the torsion spring 6 to spread increases. acts from the tip of the stopped link 5 toward the back of the tape player, thereby pushing the pack stopper 3 to the back of the pack guide 1, and the cassette engaged with the pack stopper 3 also moves to the back of the pack guide 1. automatically drawn into the section.

On the other hand, during the eject operation, when the eject lever 8 is pushed as shown in FIG.
It rotates to the back while compressing it, and its tip comes to the back side of the shaft 4 of the pack stopper 3.
As a result, the pack stopper 3 is moved forward by the repulsive force of the torsion spring 6 compressed by the eject lever 8, and the cassette is thereby pushed in front of the pack guide 1. Thereafter, due to the action of the return spring 11, the eject lever 8 moves toward the front, and the link 5 and the pack stopper 3 connected to the tip of the link 5 via the torsion spring 6 move toward the front. The cassette is pulled out from inside the pack guide 1.

[Problems in the Background Art] As described above, the loading/eject mechanism using a reversing spring compresses the reversing spring during the eject operation and pushes the tip of the link 5 further back than the shaft 4 of the pack stopper 3. There is a need. Therefore, the lever pushing force required for the eject operation is greater than that of other loading/eject mechanisms. Therefore, if a tapered plate cam, which has conventionally been used to control the elevation of the pack guide 1, is used, there is a drawback that the operability is further deteriorated.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4A, the tapered cam 12 is formed on the side surface of the eject lever 8, and the guide pin 13 on the pack guide 1 side is in sliding contact therewith. When the plate cam 12 moves forward as the eject lever 8 is pushed in as shown in FIG. while rising. However, at this time, the pushing force of the eject lever 8 is not entirely converted into a lifting force, but a considerable portion is consumed by the frictional resistance between the plate cam 12 and the guide pin 13. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5, of the force F applied from the surface of the plate cam 12 to the guide pin 13, the horizontal component force F ₁ becomes a loss, so the lifting force F ₂ required to lift the pack guide In order to obtain this, it is necessary to increase the pushing force of the eject lever by that amount.

In this way, the pack guide lifting means using a tapered plate cam requires a large operating force for the eject lever, so it is used in combination with an eject mechanism using a reversing spring, which also has a large operating force. It was an unpleasant thing to do.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been proposed in order to solve the problems of the prior art as described above.The purpose of the present invention is to use a reversing spring as a means for drawing in and ejecting a cassette, but to prevent the eject lever from being pushed in. To provide an eject mechanism for a tape player that requires light operation force.

[Summary of the Invention] The eject mechanism of the present invention includes a link having no sliding resistance such as when a tapered plate cam is used between the eject arm and the pack guide.
The ratio of the eject arm extending from the center of rotation of this link to the arm on the pack guide side is appropriately selected, and the rotation direction of the arm on the pack guide side is aligned with the rising direction of the pack guide to reduce the operating force. The aim is to reduce the amount of damage and eliminate losses.

[Embodiment of the Invention] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 6A to 6C. Incidentally, individual members in this example are shown in FIGS. 8 and 9.

In this embodiment, the guide arm 21 for raising and lowering the pack guide has its tip movable up and down about a shaft 22 at the rear thereof. This arm 2
At the tip of 1, there is an L that moves in a fan shape via a pin 23.
The glyph links 24 are linked.

The L-shaped link 24 has an inverted L-shape as a whole, and has a U-shaped recess 25 at the tip of the arm on the guide arm side, with the pin 23 sandwiched therebetween, and a support shaft 26 at the center of the corner. and is rotatably attached to the frame 27. Further, a pin-shaped abutment portion 28 for contacting an eject lever is fixed to the end of the arm extending downward from the L-shaped link 24, and this abutment portion 28 passes through an opening 29 provided in the frame 27. , protrudes inside the frame.
The opening 29 of the frame 27 has a shape that allows the abutting part 28 to move in a fan shape, and is located at the lower right of the front of the frame. On the other hand, a spring mounting part 30 is provided on the upper part of the frame 27 on the opposite side of the contact part 28 with the support shaft 26 of the L-shaped link 24 in between, and this and a contact part protruding from the opening 29 28, and a coil spring 31 is stretched. Here, the rotation range of the L-shaped link 24 is such that when the cassette is in the ejected state, the abutting part 28 is located on the back side of the tape player with respect to the line l connecting the mounting part 30 and the support shaft 26, and the cassette is in the ejected state. In this state, the contact portion 28 is set to be located on the front side of the line 1.

There are three guide pins 3 on the front side of the frame.
2 is fixed, and an eject lever 33 is attached via this so as to be movable back and forth. The eject lever 33 is a long strip-shaped plate, and three elongated holes 34 into which guide pins 32 of the frame are inserted are laterally formed in the center. This eject lever 33 is connected to a return spring 35.
is always biased toward the front side of the tape player. Further, a protruding pressing part 36 is provided at the lower end of the eject lever 33, and a protruding locking part 37, which is the same as the pressing part 36, is formed on the distal end side at a constant distance. ing.

In the eject mechanism of this embodiment having such a configuration, when the pack guide is lowered onto the reel base and is in a play state such as playback or recording, the L-shaped link is closed as shown in FIG. 6A. The contact portion 28 provided at the tape player frame 27 is located on the front side of the arc-shaped opening 29 formed in the frame 27 of the tape player, and the concave portion 25 formed at the other end of the L-shaped link 24 accordingly. is facing downward,
The pin 23 disposed within the recess 25 is also pushed downward, allowing the pack guide 1 to be fixed on the reel base. Also, at this time, the coil spring provided between the contact portion 28 of the L-shaped link 24 and the frame 27 of the tape player comes in front of the line l, so this coil spring 31 biases the L-shaped link 24 clockwise. do. Therefore, the downward pressing force exerted by the concave portion 25 of the L-shaped link becomes stronger, and the pack guide 1 can be more firmly fixed on the reel base, thereby preventing the cassette from wobbling during recording and playback. .

On the other hand, during the eject operation, Fig. 6B
When the eject lever 33 is pressed as shown in FIG. It moves inside the arc-shaped opening 29. Accordingly, the L-shaped link 24 rotates counterclockwise about the support shaft 26, the recess 25 moves upward, the pin 23 rises, and the guide arm 21 and pack guide are also pulled upward.

When the eject lever 33 is pushed in to the deepest position in this manner, a state as shown in FIG. 6C is obtained. That is, the contact portion 28 reaches the innermost part of the arc-shaped opening 29 by the pressing portion 36 formed at the tip of the eject lever 33, and at this time, the L-shaped link 24
The guide pin 23 is also pushed up to the highest position by the recess 25, and the guide arm 21 is moved to the support shaft 22.
It rotates around and is fixed in a horizontal position. At this time, the contact portion 28 is connected to the support shaft 26 of the link and the attachment portion 30.
The force of the coil spring 31 acts as a force to push the pin 23 upwards from the point at which it is located on the back side of the line l connecting the pins 23 and 23, thereby making the guide arm 21 and the pack guide rise more smoothly.

When the guide arm and the pack guide are completely raised, they are held in the raised position by a lock mechanism (not shown) and are in the ejected state.
When the pushing force on the eject lever 33 is released, the eject lever 33 moves forward by the force of the spring 35, but the guide arm and the L-shaped link interlocked with it are fixed by the lock mechanism. Therefore, the locking part 37 stops at the position where it contacts the contact part 28, that is, at the position where it is pulled out approximately halfway. When the lock mechanism is released as the cassette is inserted into the pack guide,
The L-shaped link of the guide arm is in a free state,
The eject lever 33 is further pulled out toward the front by the spring 35, and at the same time, the link and guide arm are also rotated to be in the installed state as shown in FIG. 6A.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the pressing portion 36 formed at the tip of the eject lever 33 is a contact portion provided on the L-shaped link 24 as shown in FIG. It may have an opening large enough to fit 28. Further, the lengths of both arms of the L-shaped link 24 can be set as appropriate depending on the pushing force of the eject lever and the height of the tape player.

[Effect of the invention] As shown in the above examples, according to the present invention, L
By using a shape link, setting the length of the two arms so that the guide arm can be raised with a light pressing force, and aligning the moving direction of the arm on the guide arm side with the rising direction of the pack guide, Frictional resistance and loss of force as in conventional tapered cams are eliminated, and the pushing force of the eject lever works efficiently as a force for lifting the pack guide. As a result, even if a reversing spring is used as the cassette retracting and ejecting means, it is possible to provide an eject mechanism for a tape player in which the pushing operation force of the eject lever is significantly reduced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing the state before the cassette is inserted in a conventional reversing spring type loading/eject mechanism, Fig. 2 is a plan view showing the state when the cassette is inserted, and Fig. 3 is the same when the eject operation is performed. Fig. 4 is a side view showing the engaged state of the tapered plate cam formed on the eject plate and the guide pin;
During playback, B is a side view showing the force acting on the tapered plate cam and the guide pin during the eject operation, and FIG. Fig. 6 is a side view showing the eject mechanism of the present invention, A is during play such as recording and playback, B and C are during eject operation, and Fig. 7 is a side view showing another embodiment of the eject mechanism of the present invention. It is a diagram. FIG. 8 is a side view of the frame 27 in the embodiment of FIG. 6;
FIG. 9 is a side view of the eject lever 33 as well. 1... Pack guide, 2... Guide groove, 3...
Pack stop, 4... axis, 5... link, 6...
... Torsion spring, 7 ... Support shaft, 8 ... Eject lever, 9 ... Operation rod, 10 ... Protrusion, 11 ... Return spring, 12 ... Tapered plate cam, 13 ... Guide pin, 14...Spindle, 21
... Guide arm, 22 ... Guide arm support shaft, 23 ... Pin, 24 ... L-shaped link, 25
...Recessed portion, 26... L-shaped link support shaft, 27...
... Frame, 28 ... Contact portion, 29 ... Opening,
30...Mounting part, 31...Coil spring, 32...
Guide, 33... Eject lever, 34... Elongated hole, 35... Return spring, 36... Pressing part, 37... Locking part.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 In a tape player using a reversing spring 6 as a means for drawing in and ejecting a cassette into the pack guide 1, an L-shaped link 24 having two arms extending toward the eject lever 33 and the pack guide 1 is attached to the center. The L-shaped link 24 is rotatably attached to the frame of the tape player at a support shaft 26, and a contact portion 28 is provided at the tip of one arm of the L-shaped link 24, and the eject lever 33 is provided with an abutment portion 28 at the tip of the eject lever 33. An eject mechanism for a tape player characterized in that a pressing part 36 is provided to press the contact part 28, and the tip of the other arm of the L-shaped link 24 is connected to the pack guide 1 side.