JPH04206082A - Tape cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To absorb and alleviate impact force applied on a front cover by forming a plurality of projections at the inner side of the lug piece of the front cover as a unitary body, and providing a gap which is smaller than the inserting region of a front-cover opening member between the projections and the second- step surface of a cassette cabinet. CONSTITUTION:A pair of pivoting shafts 7b of a front cover 7 are engaged with engaging holes provided in a cassette cabinet 3. The cover is closed with a coil spring 10. Pivoting holes are provided in a pair of brackets 7h at the inner side of the front cover 7. A pair of supporting pins 8a of a rear cover 8 are inserted into the holes so that the cover is freely turned around 8a. A plurality of projections 15 are further formed on the surface constituting the pivoting shafts at the inner side of lug pieces 7a at one side or both sides of the front cover 7. A region S for inserting a cover closing member on the side of a VTR is secured. The moving amount of the front cover 7 is regulated within the range of a gap T which is provided between a plurality of the projections 15 and the cassette cabinet 3. Thus, impact force is absorbed and with a plurality of the projections 15, and the breakdown and cracks of the front cover 7 - the rear cover 8 are prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a tape cassette that is most suitable for application to recording and reproducing apparatuses such as video tape recorders and other various information processing apparatuses. A tape comprising a front cover that is rotatably attached to the front side and protects the surface of the magnetic tape, and a back cover that is pivoted subordinately to the front cover and covers the back side of the magnetic tape as the front cover opens and closes. It concerns cassettes.

Conventional technology This type of tape cassette has a structure in which a magnetic tape stretched over the front of the case body is sandwiched between a front cover and a rear cover that are provided on the front of the case body so as to be rotatable and openable. was. (See, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application No. 194787/1987.) Hereinafter, a conventional tape cassette as described above will be described with reference to the drawings. Conventionally, this type of tape cassette has a structure as shown in FIGS. 9 to 12, 14, and 15.

In FIGS. 9 and 10, the cassette housing 3 consists of an upper case 1 and a lower case 2, and houses a pair of tape reels 48 and 4T wound with magnetic tape 5. and front lid 7
, a pair of first fulcrum pins 7b are integrally formed as pivot shafts on the inside of left and right end pieces 7a, which have a substantially U-shaped planar shape and face each other in parallel, facing inward on the same axis. .

Also, a pair of bracket parts 7h are located at the center of the upper surface of the front lid 7.
A pair of pin holes 70 are formed below the bracket on substantially the same axis. A pair of support pins 8a provided at both left and right ends of the rear cover 8 are inserted into the pair of pin holes 7o, respectively.
The rear cover 8 is rotatable around a support pin 8a.

Front lid formed as described above 7. (The rear lid 8) engages the fulcrum pins 7b on both sides with a pair of pin engagement holes 2g and 1f provided in the left and right side walls 2h of the cassette housing 3, respectively, and A pair of pins 8b integrally formed on the second substantially same axis are provided, and the pair of pins 8b are vertically slidably engaged with the guide groove 11, and the cassette is rotated as the front cover rotates. The magnetic tape stretched on the front side of the casing is configured so that the front and back sides can be closed/opened almost simultaneously.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 11, the engagement hole of the cassette housing with which the pivot shaft 7b of the front cover engages is located approximately at the upper and lower joint portions of the left and right side walls 1e and 2f of the upper and lower halves 1.2. The locking member storage wall 15, which is composed of semicircular holes 1f and 2i and has a cylindrical shape, is attached to the half lower 2 located at the rear upper end of the front lid.
A hole 2g provided near one or both side walls and engaged with the pivot shaft 9a of the locking member 9 is formed in a U-shape toward the upper edge of the storage wall portion 15. The locking member 9 is rotatably mounted within the space of the storage wall 15 described above, and has a pair of pivot shafts 9a at the upper end of the locking member 9, a lock claw 9 at the front of the lower end, and a pair of pivot shafts 9a at the front of the lower end. A lock release protrusion 9h is integrally formed at the lower end, and a pivot shaft is engaged with the pin engagement hole 2g of the cassette housing described above, so that the lock release protrusion 9h can be freely rotated in the front-rear direction.

The front lid 7 and the locking member 9 are always biased by a coil spring 10 to rotate the front lid 7 toward the closing direction and the locking member 9 toward the front of the cassette case. As shown in FIG. 7, when the front lid 7 is in the closed state, a protrusion 7d integrally formed at the rear lower end of the pivot shaft 7b engages with the lock pawl 9k of the locking member 9 from the rear lower side and the front lid 7 is closed. The lid 7 is configured to be locked in a substantially closed state. In the above condition, upper and lower halves 1,
By fastening 2 with screws or the like, the front cover 7 and lock member 9 will not come off (they are each rotatably attached).

When the tape cassette configured as described above is attached to a VTR (not shown), the lock release member 14 that can protrude from the VTR side is inserted into the lock release protrusion 9h (9j) of the lock member 9 as shown in FIG. The locking member 9 is in contact with the engagement shaft 9a.
As it rotates back to the center, the lock claw 9k engages the protrusion 7 on the front cover.
After detaching and unlocking from d, insert the space 13 provided between the front cover 7 and the side wall stepped surfaces 1g and 2j of the cassette case using a cover opening member (not shown) provided from the VTR side. , the end face 7p of the front cover 7 is pushed up against the biasing torsion coil spring 10, the opening is opened, and a magnetic tape is loaded.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, such conventional tape cassettes have the following problems. That is, as shown in Figures 7 and 8.
In a conventional tape cassette, when inserted into a VTR, the lock release member 14 is connected to the release protrusion 9h (9j) of the lock member.
After coming into contact with and releasing the lock, the opening member provided from the VTR side opens the front cover of the tape cassette in space area 1.
3 and the opening surface 7b are required, and the cassette housing 3 and the front lid 7 are required.
A gap S is required between them.

As shown in FIG. 10, when an impact load in the W direction is applied to the corner of the front cover 7 (for example, during a drop impact) to the above-mentioned tape cassette, the surface 7a forming the pivot axis of the front cover opens into a gap. Along with the elastic deformation between S, the corner of the front lid lug 7a cracks or the lug 7a breaks from the corner, making it impossible to open and close, exposing the surface of the magnetic tape, causing a powder layer from the outside, fingerprints, etc. The recorded information was lost due to humidity, smoke, etc., resulting in a fatal flaw in the cassette.

Also, when a load in the W direction is applied to the corner of the front cover 7 and the pivot ring forming surface 7a is elastically deformed within the S region, if the corner is strong enough not to crack, the pivot of the front cover will be removed by the reaction force. The shaft 7b was detached from the cassette housing 3, or the pivot shaft 7b was broken, making the front cover itself unable to open and close, and the surface of the magnetic tape was exposed, leading to the same fatal defect as described above.

Furthermore, a load in the W direction is applied to the front lid 7 and the corner, and the pivot ring forming surface 7a of the front lid is elastically deformed within the gap S region, causing the front lid corner to engage with the pivot shaft 7b and the cassette housing. If the holes if and 2i have impact resistance, as shown in Fig. Since the guide shaft 8b holds and restricts the movement, the impact force is propagated to the bracket 7h that pivotally supports the rotation shaft 8a of the rear lid inside the front lid 7, causing the bracket 7h to break and damage the rear lid 8. When the rear cover 8 separates from the tape cassette, it damages the tape 5 and exposes the back side of the magnetic tape, causing the recorded and retained information to be lost and fatal. It had become a flaw.

The present invention aims to solve such problems, and is designed to ensure a gap S for the front cover opening member on the VTR side in the tape cassette, and to restrict the movement of the front cover and absorb shocks from the outside. , to provide a tape cassette with improved reliability.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides a wall on one side or both sides of the cassette housing 3 with a groove corresponding to the wall thickness of the lug 7a forming the pivot axis of the front cover 7. 1 step surfaces 1e and 2f are provided, and second step surfaces 1g and 2j are formed in a tapered shape toward the front of the cassette casing from the step surfaces 1e and 2f, and the front lid lug piece 7a and the above-mentioned second VTR1 is placed between the stepped surfaces 1g and 2j.
A gap S for insertion of the front lid opening member is provided at the lower end of the front lid 7, and a step surface 7p for contacting the opening member is provided at the lower end of the front lid 7, and a surface forming the pivot shaft 7b of the front lid. As shown in Fig. 1.2.4.5, a plurality of protrusions 15 are integrally formed at a position where the lid opening member does not come into contact with the lid opening member during the lid opening operation.
5, a second stepped surface 1g provided on the cassette housing 3,
As shown in Figure 1.2.4, a gap T is formed between the tape cassette and the tape cassette, which is much smaller than the gap S, so that even if an unexpected impact force is applied to the tape cassette, the front cover 7 will be slightly displaced and The present invention provides a highly reliable tape cassette that suppresses the impact on the magnetic tape 5 by absorbing impact.

Operation According to the above-mentioned technical invention, a plurality of protrusions 15 are provided inside the front cover tab 7a in the space 13 between the front cover tab 7a and the second stepped surfaces 1g and 2j of the cassette housing 3. It is integrally formed to secure the insertion area S of the front cover opening member, and also to create a gap T smaller than the gap S between the plurality of protrusions 15 of the front cover and the second stepped surfaces 1g and 2j of the cassette case. The movement of the front cover 7 is controlled within the range of the gap T when an external impact is applied to the tape cassette.
The bracket 7h, the pivot shaft 7b, the ear piece 7a, and eventually the pivot shafts 8a and 8b of the rear lid 8
The information recorded and held on the magnetic tape 5 will not be lost due to the prevention of damage, cracks, etc.

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments in which the present invention is applied to a tape cassette for a video tape recorder will be described with reference to the drawings. The overall structure of the tape cassette of this example is as described in Section 9.11.14.1.
This embodiment is partially the same as the conventional example shown in FIG. 5, and the main parts will be explained in this embodiment, and the same structural parts as in the conventional example will be given the same reference numerals and the explanation will be omitted.

In the tape cassette of the present invention, the pair of pivot shafts 7b of the front cover 7 are engaged with the engagement holes provided in the cassette housing 3, as shown in FIG. At the same time, a pivot hole 70 is provided in a pair of brackets 7h on the inside of the front lid 7, and a pair of support pins 8a of the rear lid 8 are inserted through each so that the support pins 8a can be freely rotated around the 8a. A second pair of support pins 8b are provided in the cassette housing 3, and by engaging with the guide grooves of the cassette housing 3, the lid is closed from the back side of the magnetic tape, protecting the front and back sides of the magnetic tape 5, and one side of the front lid 7 is closed. Alternatively, a plurality of protrusions 15 may be formed on the surfaces forming the pivot shafts on the inner side of the ear pieces 7a on both sides, thereby securing the area S for inserting the opening member on the VTR side, and at the same time securing the area S for inserting the opening member on the VTR side. The amount of movement is regulated within the range of the gap T provided between the plurality of protrusions 15 and the cassette housing 3.

Alternatively, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, an L-shaped rib is integrally formed from the inside of the lug 7a of the front cover 7 to the magnetic tape protection surface 7u, and the L-shaped sub and cassette housing are connected as described above. 3, a gap T is provided between them. L-shaped sub 15
c is the pivot shaft forming surface, the tape protection surface 7u, and the front lid top surface 7v.
By installing each between the three sides, the rigidity against the impact load in the W direction is increased, the amount of displacement is suppressed within the T range, the impact is absorbed and alleviated by the rib effect, and damage and cracking of the front cover 7 and rear cover 8 is prevented. At the same time, the magnetic tape 5 is completely protected, and there are no fatal defects such as loss of recorded/held information.

It is also effective to increase the rigidity of the bracket part 7h by providing seven reinforcing ribs on the bracket part 7h of the front lid 7, as shown in FIG. It is more effective to raise it.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment (and various effective changes can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention).

For example, the plurality of protrusions 15 on the inside of the lug 7a of the front lid 7 may be integrally formed in the cassette thickness direction, or may be integrally formed in the cassette width direction, and are not limited to the L-shape. It may also be composed of C-shaped ribs.

Note that the present invention is not limited to tape cassettes for video tape recorders, but can be applied to tape cassettes for various recording and reproducing devices that record and reproduce various types of information using various recording and reproducing methods.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the tape cassette has a VT
While securing the insertion area S and space 13 for the front cover opening member on the R side, even if an unexpected impact load is applied to the tape cassette, especially the front cover 7, the amount of displacement of the front cover 7 can be controlled by the plurality of protrusions 15. The front lid 7 is regulated within the gap T provided between the cassette casings 3, and the plurality of protrusions 15 absorb and alleviate the impact force.
- Since the rear cover 8 can be prevented from being damaged or cracked, the magnetic tape 5 and recorded information can be completely protected, and there are no fatal defects.

Furthermore, integrally forming the plurality of protrusions 15 on the inside of the lug 7a of the front lid 7 can be easily molded using a mold with a simple structure, resulting in extremely low cost and reliable effects.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are sectional views of essential parts showing the structure of a tape cassette according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the structure of a tape cassette according to a second embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4 is a sectional view showing the configuration of the tape cassette, Figure 5(a)
, (b) and (C) are a perspective view of a main part and a view taken from arrow A showing the structure of the tape cassette, FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the structure of a tape cassette according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of main parts showing the structure of a conventional tape cassette, FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of main parts showing the structure of the conventional example, FIG. 10 is a sectional view of main parts showing the structure of the conventional example, and FIG. FIG. 11 is an exploded perspective view of the main part showing the configuration of the conventional example, FIGS. 12 and 13 are exploded perspective views of the main part of the conventional example, FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the main part of the conventional example, and FIG. 14 FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the configuration of the conventional example. 1.2...Case top/bottom, 3...Cassette housing, 4a, 47...Tape reel, 5.
...Magnetic tape, 7...Front cover, 7a...
...Ear piece part, 7b...Pivot (rotation) shaft, 7
d... Protrusion for locking, 7e... Force spring hook, 7h... Back cover mounting bracket, 7o... Back cover pivot. Hole, 7p...Lid opening member contact surface, 7r...Pivot shaft stepped portion, 7u...
...Magnetic tape protection surface, 7v...Top surface, 8
... Rear cover 5, 8a ... Rotation pivot shaft, 8
b...Guide shaft, 9...Lock member,
10...Torsion coil (biasing spring), 11...
... Rear cover movement regulation guide, 13S, old... Lid opening member insertion space/area, 14... Lock release member (V
TR), 15...Multiple protruding ribs, T...
- Front cover movement restriction area, 16... Tape guide. Agent's name: Patent attorney Haruaki Koebi, 2 postcards, 1 award, 1 person, 1 story, 1, 117, 117, ys, 117, ys, 7S r, 6 Figure 12 T h

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A cassette housing consisting of an upper half and a lower half, and having an opening and a transmission window penetrated by the tape end light source on the front surface, and a pair of rotatably wound magnetic tapes inside the cassette housing. A reel, a pair of fulcrum pins inside the left and right end pieces of the front lid, which has a nearly U-shaped planar shape,
A large transparent hole is provided that engages with the transparent window when the front cover is opened, and the pair of fulcrum pins are engaged and rotatably attached to a pair of pin insertion holes provided in the left and right side walls of the cassette housing. , the opening can be opened and closed by rotation of the front lid, and a locking member for locking the front lid when the lid is closed is installed in the cassette housing so as to be rotatable in the front and back direction, and the locking member and A locking protrusion that contacts is provided integrally on the inside of one or both of the left and right pieces of the front lid, and a spring is attached that biases the front lid to close and the locking member to rotate in the cassette forward direction. A pivot shaft hole is provided in a pair of protruding pieces from the inner center of the front cover, the second shaft is engaged and rotated in the pivot shaft hole, and is inserted into the guide groove of the cassette housing, and the front cover is rotated. The cassette is equipped with a rear lid that moves according to the rotation of the front lid, and a plurality of protruding ribs are integrally formed on one or both side wall surfaces forming a pivot shaft for opening and closing the front lid. A tape cassette, characterized in that a slight gap is provided between the plurality of protruding ribs and the cassette housing. (2) On the front side of the cassette case, there is a front cover that has a substantially U-shaped planar shape and has a pair of rotatable fulcrum pins integrated inside both left and right ends, and the front cover is locked when the cover is closed. a spring that always biases the lock member in the forward direction of the cassette case; and a second fulcrum pin that is pivotally supported by the front cover and engages with a guide groove provided in the cassette case. The cassette is equipped with a rear lid that opens and closes following the opening/closing operation of the front lid, and the tape is protected from one or both side wall surfaces forming the opening/closing pivot of the front lid. 2. The tape cassette according to claim 1, further comprising a substantially L-shaped or C-shaped protruding rib integrally formed over the surface, and a slight gap provided between the protruding rib and the cassette housing. (3) A gap is provided between the cassette casing and the protruding rib formed integrally on one side or both side wall surfaces that constitute the opening/closing pivot shaft of the front cover, and the gap is set to 0 to 3 mm. 3. The tape cassette according to claim 1, wherein the tape cassette is set to .