JPH0528633Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a tape cassette suitable for use in, for example, a video tape recorder.

[Summary of the idea]

The present invention provides a tape cassette for a video tape recorder, for example, in which guide grooves are provided in two directions in a substantially T-shape on the bottom surface of the cassette cassette, and by providing a difference in depth between the two guide grooves, the video tape The tape cassette can be inserted and positioned into a recorder or the like from any of two directions, vertically and horizontally, and is also effective in preventing erroneous insertion when the tape cassette is inserted.

[Conventional technology]

An example of an earlier application filed by the applicant of the present invention is Japanese Patent Application No. 148214/1982.

This prior application allows two cassettes of different sizes to be shared (selectively used) in one video tape recorder.

That is, the cassette holder of the video tape recorder is configured to have a large inner diameter corresponding to the outer diameter of the large cassette, and an insertion guide is provided at the center position in the horizontal direction on the upper part of the bottom plate of the cassette holder, so that A guide groove is provided at the center of each. When cassettes of different sizes are selectively inserted into the cassette holder, the guide grooves on the bottom of the cassettes can be inserted into the insertion guides on the bottom plate of the cassette holder. It is configured to be positioned at the center position in the left and right direction within the cassette holder.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

However, in the large and small cassettes of this prior application, the ends of the guide grooves provided on the bottom surfaces of these cassettes on the opposite side to the insertion direction with respect to the insertion guide, that is, the so-called rear ends, were closed. For this reason, shavings, dirt, etc. on the bottom surface of the cassette scraped by the insertion guide due to repeated insertion operations are likely to be compacted by the insertion guide at the rear end of the guide groove. When the amount of shavings and dirt that is compacted increases, the insertion depth of the large and small cassettes into the cassette holder becomes shallow, making it impossible to accurately attach the large and small cassettes to the pair of left and right reel stands. It will cause inconvenience.

The present invention can prevent the inconvenience of shavings, dirt, etc. being compacted at the rear end of the guide groove, and also allows the tape cassette to be placed inside the cassette holder etc. from both the vertical and horizontal directions. To provide a tape cassette which can be inserted and positioned even when the tape cassette is inserted, and which also has the effect of preventing erroneous insertion when inserting the tape cassette.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention provides a front cover that can be opened and closed freely on the front of a cassette housing in which a pair of left and right tape reels are housed, and a reel stand for driving the pair of left and right tape reels on the bottom of the cassette housing. In the tape cassette, the pair of left and right reel base insertion holes are formed in the bottom surface of the cassette housing, and the opening for inserting the tape loading means is formed at the rear of the front lid. A shallow guide groove is formed at the rear of the cassette housing, and a deep guide groove is formed that extends from the opening for inserting the tape loading means to the pair of left and right reel stand insertion holes and bites into the shallow guide groove. The tape cassette is provided with two vertical and horizontal guide grooves formed into a substantially T-shape by the shallow guide groove and the deep guide groove.

[Effect]

The tape cassette of the present invention has guide grooves in the vertical and horizontal directions provided on the bottom that intersect in a substantially T-shape, so that any shavings, dirt, etc. that have reached the rear end of one guide groove can be removed from the other guide groove. It can be easily discharged out of the groove. Therefore, unlike the large and small cassettes of the prior application, there is no problem such as shavings, dirt, etc. being compressed at the rear end of the guide groove.

Furthermore, by using the guide grooves in two directions, vertical and horizontal, the tape cassette can be inserted and positioned inside the cassette holder etc. from any of the two directions.

Furthermore, the present invention has deep guide grooves in the front-rear direction and shallow guide grooves in the left-right direction. In this case, it is not possible to insert a guide groove in the horizontal direction with a shallow groove depth, and it is possible to prevent incorrect insertion of the tape cassette in the wrong insertion direction by 90 degrees.

Furthermore, in the present invention, the rear end of the deep front-to-back guide groove is cut into the shallow left-right guide groove, so the insertion guide can be securely inserted to the rear end of the front-to-back guide groove. In addition, it is possible to prevent the insertion guide that has reached the rear end from accidentally entering the guide groove in the left and right direction and become unable to remove the tape cassette. The tape cassette can be positioned well using the guide groove.

〔Example〕

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 the drawings.

First, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, this type of tape cassette 1 has a pair of left and right reels 3 on which magnetic tape (not shown) is wound inside a cassette housing 2.
is rotatably stored, both reels 3 are exposed to a pair of left and right reel stand insertion holes 4 provided on the bottom surface 2a of the cassette housing 2, and a front opening 5 for drawing out the magnetic tape is rotatably attached. It can be opened and closed with a lid 6, and a substantially trapezoidal bottom opening 7 for inserting a tape loading means is opened in a substantially central portion of the front end side of the bottom 2a so as to be continuous with the front opening 5.

Next, in the present invention, guide grooves 8 and 9 are provided in the bottom surface 2a of the cassette housing 2 in two vertical and horizontal directions, ie, the front-rear direction and the left-right direction, and these guide grooves 8 and 9 are made to intersect with each other (orthogonal to each other). It is something. Note that one guide groove 8 is a vertical guide groove formed in the front-rear direction along the center position of the bottom surface 1a in the left-right direction, and its front end 8a is connected to the bottom opening 7, and its rear end 8b is connected to the other side. It is connected to the center portion of the guide groove 9 in the left-right direction. Further, the other guide groove 9 is a horizontal guide groove formed in the left-right direction along the rear end position of the bottom surface 1a (a position offset rearward with respect to the center of the bottom surface 2a in the front-rear direction). Both ends 9a in the left and right direction are open.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the groove depth H ₁ of the front-rear guide groove 8 is deep, the groove depth H ₂ of the left-right guide groove 9 is shallow, and The rear end 8b of the guide groove 8 is cut into the shallow guide groove 9 to form a step G in the guide groove 9.

Next, FIGS. 4 and 5 show a cassette holder 14 of a video tape recorder that allows three cassettes 11, 12, 13 of different sizes, small, medium and large, to be shared (selectively used).
This figure shows a method for selectively inserting the small, medium, and large cassettes 11, 12, and 13 into the cassette. These small, medium, and large cassettes 11, 12, and 13 have substantially similar shapes to each other, and have guide grooves 8, 9 in the vertical and horizontal directions shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 on their bottom surfaces, respectively. It is provided.

The cassette holder 14 holds the large cassette 1.
It is configured with a large inner diameter that matches the outer diameter of 3.
Three pin-shaped insertion guides 15 are provided along the center position in the left and right direction at the top of the bottom plate 14a.
a, 15b, and 15c are provided. Note that these three pin-shaped insertion guides 15a, 15b, 15
According to c, the friction with the cassette case 2 is small;
This is preferable because less shavings, which will be described later, are generated.

And these small, medium and large cassettes 11, 12, 1
3 are selectively inserted into the cassette holder 14 from the front ends 11a, 12a, 13a of these cassettes in the direction of arrow a. Insert the groove 8 into the insertion guides 15a, 15 on the bottom plate 14a.
By inserting the small, medium and large cassettes 11, 12 and 13 into the cassettes b and 15c, these small, medium and large cassettes 11, 12 and 13 are positioned at the center position _P1 in the left and right direction within the cassette holder 14. Note that when these small, medium, and large cassettes 11, 12, and 13 are completely inserted into the cassette holder 14, these small, medium, and large cassettes 1
The front ends 11a, 12a, 13a of 1, 12, 13 are brought into contact with the insertion stopper 16 provided on the front edge of the bottom plate 14a, so that these front ends 11a,
12a and 13a are positioned at the same reference position _P2 in the front-rear direction. At this time, for example, for the small cassette 11, the insertion guides 15a, 15
b, 15c are completely inserted deep into the guide groove 8. Note that the insertion guides 15a, 15b, 1
If the entire longitudinal length l of the cassette 5c is not long enough, the small, medium and large cassettes 11, 12 and 13 cannot be accurately positioned in the left and right direction. Note that 17 is a pair of left and right reel stands whose spacing is adjusted according to the small, medium, and large cassettes 11, 12, and 13, and the cassette holder 1
Small, medium and large cassettes 11 selectively inserted into 4.
12 and 13 are moved to the cassette mounting position by the cassette holder 14, and both reels 2 are selectively mounted on both reel stands 17.

Therefore, as shown by the solid lines in FIGS. 4 and 5,
For the small cassette 11, insert the insertion guide 1 at the rear end.
5c reaches the rear end 8b of the guide groove 8. By this repeated insertion operation, the insertion guide 15
The shavings and dirt on the bottom of the cassette are removed by the insertion guide 15c from the rear end 8b of the guide groove 8.
Trying to be pressed down.

However, at this time, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, since the rear end 8b of one guide groove 8 is connected to the center of the other guide groove 9, the insertion guide 15a The shavings and dirt pushed in the direction of the arrow a enter the other guide groove 9 from the rear end 8b of the guide groove 8 and are easily discharged in the direction of the arrow b. It is possible to prevent dust and the like from being unexpectedly compacted at the rear end 8b of the guide groove 8.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the insertion guide 15a can be completely inserted deep into one of the guide grooves 8 of the small cassette 11 regardless of shavings, dirt, etc. The front end 11a of the cassette 11 is always brought into accurate contact with the insertion stopper 16, and the front end 11a is moved to the reference position.
_P2 can always be accurately positioned.

By the way, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the insertion guide 15c enters into the other guide groove 9 at the rear end 8b of one guide groove 8. Therefore, if the small cassette 11 wobbles in the left-right direction due to variations in the dimensional accuracy between the diameters of the insertion guides 15a, 15b, and 15c and the inner width of the guide groove 8, the insertion guide 15c will not move as shown in FIG. The insertion guide 15c moves from the rear end 8b of one guide groove 8 to the other guide groove 9 by relatively shifting in the direction of arrow b.
The small cassette 11 may not be removed from the cassette holder 14.

However, as shown in FIG. 1, the step G provided in both guide grooves 8 and 9 prevents the insertion guide 15c from accidentally entering from the rear end 8b of one guide groove 8 into the other guide groove 9. is prevented from occurring.

Next, FIG. 6 shows a cassette storage shelf of an automatic cassette loading device for a video tape recorder, as seen in, for example, an earlier application filed by the applicant of the present invention (Japanese Patent Application No. 59-36374). This figure shows a method for inserting and positioning, for example, a small cassette 11 into the cassette 19.

That is, by providing the insertion guide 20 along the upper part of the cassette storage shelf 19 at a position offset to one side, the small cassette 11 can be placed on the cassette storage shelf 19 on either side of its left and right ends 11b and 11c. When inserting in the direction of arrow c or d, the other guide groove 9 on the bottom surface can be inserted into the insertion guide 20 for positioning. And the small cassette 1 of the other guide groove 9 and insertion guide 20
Due to the biased arrangement with respect to the longitudinal center of 1,
It is possible to prevent incorrect insertion of the small cassette 11 during insertion in the direction of arrow c or d.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 1, the groove depth H ₁ of one guide groove 8 is configured to be deeper than the groove depth H ₂ of the other guide groove 9. Insertion guides 15a, 15b, 15
The height _H3 of c is configured to be high in accordance with the groove depth _H1 . Note that the groove depth H ₁ of the guide groove 8 is increased, and the height H ₃ of the insertion guides 15a, 15b, and 15c is increased.
The higher the height is, the more accurately and reliably the tape cassette 1 can be positioned by the guide groove 8 and the insertion guides 15a, 15b, 15c.

Therefore, in FIG. 4, small, medium and large cassettes 1
1, 12, and ₁₃ are connected to a high insertion guide 15a with a height _H3 by the other guide groove 9 with a shallow groove depth H2,
15b, 15c from the direction of arrow b, and it is possible to prevent the small, medium and large cassettes 11, 12, 13 from being erroneously inserted into the cassette holder 14 by 90° in the wrong direction.

Note that, as shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, one guide groove 8 can be arranged in the gap 22 between adjacent lower flanges 3a of both reels 3 housed in the cassette housing 2. On the other hand, the other guide groove 9 can only be placed at a position where it overlaps the lower flanges 3a of both reels 3. Therefore, for the other guide groove 9, the ninth
As shown in the figure, unless the wall thickness _T1 of the bottom wall 2b of the cassette housing 2 is increased, the groove depth _H2 cannot be increased. Thus, the rib 23 is integrally formed on the bottom wall 2b using the gap 22, and the groove depth _H1 can be easily increased by using _the thickness T2 of the rib 23. .

Furthermore, when formed in this manner, even though the groove depths _H1 and _H2 of the two guide grooves 8 and 9 are different from each other, the wall thicknesses T3 _{and T4} directly above each guide groove 8 and 9 of the bottom wall 2b can be formed to be approximately equal to each other, and no molding distortion due to the difference between these wall thicknesses _T3 and _T4 occurs, making forming extremely easy.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments, and various effective changes can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention.

Further, the present invention is not limited to tape cassettes for video tape recorders, but can be applied to various other tape cassettes for recording and reproducing.

[Effect of idea]

The tape cassette of the present invention has guide grooves in the vertical and horizontal directions provided on the bottom that intersect in a substantially T-shape, so that any shavings, dirt, etc. that have reached the rear end of one guide groove can be removed from the other guide groove. It can be easily discharged out of the groove. Therefore, as with the large and small cassettes of the prior application, shavings, dirt, etc. are compressed at the rear end of the guide groove, and as a result, the insertion depth of the tape cassette into the cassette holder etc. becomes shallow. The tape cassette can always be accurately inserted into the cassette holder, etc., and the tape cassette can always be accurately mounted on the reel stand without any inconveniences such as bending.

Moreover, the tape cassette can be inserted and positioned inside the cassette holder etc. from either the vertical or horizontal directions by using the guide grooves in the vertical and horizontal directions. Tape cassettes can be used in various types of equipment, such as automatic loading devices, in which the tape cassettes can be inserted in various different directions.

Furthermore, the difference in groove depth between the front and rear guide grooves and the left and right guide grooves prevents the tape cassette from being inserted incorrectly by 90 degrees. It is extremely safe to use for different types of equipment.

Furthermore, since the rear end of the deep front-to-back guide groove is cut into the shallow left-right guide groove, the insertion guide can be inserted securely to the rear end of the front-to-back guide groove. In addition, it is possible to prevent the insertion guide that has reached the rear end from accidentally entering the guide groove in the left and right direction and become unable to remove the tape cassette. The tape cassette can be positioned well using the tape cassette.

In addition, since a deep guide groove is provided between the pair of left and right reel base insertion holes, the wall thickness between the left and right pair of reel base insertion holes on the bottom of the cassette case can be partially reduced by the deep guide groove. By increasing the thickness and forming deep guide grooves there, it does not affect the thickness of the cassette housing, and the thickness of the cassette housing can be evened out, reducing molding distortion due to differences in wall thickness. does not occur.

Furthermore, since a deep guide groove is provided between the pair of left and right reel stand insertion holes, if tape cassettes of different sizes are configured based on this deep guide groove, a common insertion point can be used for tape cassettes of different sizes. The guide can be used, and the wobbling of both left and right ends of the tape cassette relative to the insertion guide can be minimized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a sectional view taken along the line shown in FIG. 2, showing the main parts.
Figure 2 is a bottom view of the main parts, Figure 3 is a perspective view of the whole,
Fig. 4 is a plan view showing the method of inserting the cassette into the cassette holder, Fig. 5 is a view taken from Fig. 4 - line arrows,
Fig. 6 is a plan view showing how to insert a cassette into a cassette storage shelf, Fig. 7 is a plan view of the inside of the tape cassette, Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line shown in Fig. 7, and Fig. 9 is a sectional view taken along the line taken in Fig. 7. FIG. In addition, in the symbols used in the drawings, 1... Tape cassette, 2... Cassette housing, 2a... Bottom surface of cassette housing, 8... Guide groove, 8b... Rear end of guide groove, 9... Guide Groove, H ₁ ... the groove depth of the guide groove 8, H ₂ ... the groove depth of the guide groove 9.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] A front cover that can be opened and closed is provided on the front of a cassette housing in which a pair of left and right tape reels are housed, and the pair of left and right tape reels is driven on the bottom of the cassette housing. A tape cassette is provided with a pair of left and right reel stand insertion holes into which reel stands can be inserted, and an opening for inserting a tape loading means at the rear of the front lid. Behind the reel table insertion hole, there is a shallow guide groove that extends from both left and right ends of the cassette housing, and a deep guide that cuts into the shallow guide groove from the opening for inserting the tape loading means, passing between the pair of left and right reel table insertion holes. A tape cassette comprising guide grooves in two directions, vertically and horizontally, and formed into a substantially T-shape by the shallow guide groove and the deep guide groove.