JP2001351289A - Cassette-loading device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cassette-loading device which can effectively prevent dropout at removal of a cassette from the device. SOLUTION: A cassette 9L inserted from a loading port 2 is loaded in a body 1. A freely turnable door 3 to close or open the loading port 2 is mounted in the body 1. When the cassette 9L is removed from the loading port 2, the back surface of the cassette 9L abuts on a pawl part 6 formed to an arm part 5, and engages with the cassette 9L. Thereby, the dropout of the cassette 9L from the body 1 is prevented. When the cassette 9L is pulled in the direction of removal, the arm part 5 bends, the engaging of the pawl part 6 comes not, and the cassette 9L can be ejected completely.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cassette loading device for loading a cassette for use, such as a magnetic recording / reproducing device, for example, and more particularly, to an operation of inserting a cassette into a device and removing the cassette from the device. The present invention relates to a cassette loading device that can effectively prevent a cassette from dropping out of the device without deteriorating the performance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a cassette loading apparatus such as a front loading type magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus, when the cassette is ejected from the apparatus, a part of the cassette is protruded from an insertion opening so that the cassette can be easily removed from the apparatus. I have. When this kind of cassette loading device is used in a movable device such as a video camera, if the posture of the device changes, the cassette may fall by its own weight. In a conventional cassette loading device, the cassette is generally prevented from dropping by pressing the cassette with a spring or the like and pressing the cassette against the cassette holder.

[0003]

However, in the conventional structure for preventing the cassette from falling by the cassette loading device,
When the pressing force of the cassette to the cassette holder is increased, the load for inserting and removing the cassette from the apparatus is increased, and the operability is deteriorated. In particular, if an attempt is made to prevent a heavy cassette from falling off, the operability of inserting and removing the cassette will be significantly deteriorated. Conversely, if the pressing force of the cassette against the cassette holder is reduced, the operability of inserting and removing the cassette is improved, but the cassette is easily dropped.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and effectively removes a cassette from a device without removing the cassette from the device without deteriorating the operability of inserting and removing the cassette from the device. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cassette loading device capable of preventing the above problem.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a cassette (9L, 9S) for solving the above-mentioned problems of the prior art.
A main body (1) for loading the cassette inserted from the insertion port, and a rotatable door (3) attached to the main body and closing or opening the insertion port. ), When the cassette is taken out of the insertion slot by the door,
A cassette drop-off prevention mechanism (4 to 8) for preventing the cassette from dropping from the main body by abutting the cassette on the take-out side end and locking the cassette. To provide a cassette loading device.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A cassette loading device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the cassette loading device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the cassette loading device of the present invention.
5 is a cross-sectional view showing the operation of taking out a large cassette by the cassette loading device of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the operation of taking out a large cassette by the cassette loading device of the present invention. FIGS. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing the operation of taking out a small cassette by the apparatus, and FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing the operation of inserting a large / small cassette by the cassette loading apparatus of the present invention.

In FIG. 1 or FIG. 2, an insertion slot 2 for inserting a cassette (not shown) is formed in a main body 1 of the cassette loading device. Note that the cassette refers to a tape cassette and other cassettes.
In the vicinity of the lower end of the insertion slot 2, a door 3 is rotatably mounted. Although the door 3 is pivotally supported by a predetermined portion of the main body 1, illustration of the predetermined portion that pivotally supports the door 3 is omitted here. After the cassette has been loaded into the main body 1, the door 3 automatically rotates, for example, counterclockwise in the figure to close the insertion opening 2. Body 1
A cassette holder 10 is provided inside. The cassette holder 10 holds the cassette and moves it to the recording / reproducing position. Also, when removing the cassette from the main body 1,
The door 3 automatically rotates, for example, clockwise in the figure, and enters the state shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and opens the insertion slot 2.

The door 3 is provided with the following mechanism for preventing the cassette from falling off. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the main body 1 of the door 3
A spring member 4 is attached to the side wall. The spring member 4 is made of a leaf spring. As can be seen from FIG. 2, a substantially U-shaped arm portion 5 is attached to the spring member 4. The tip of the arm 5 (the side from which the cassette is taken out) is bent to form a claw 6. The claw portion 6 includes the main body 1
Of the cassette removed from the cassette (rear)
And a second contact portion 6b with which the end (front surface) of the cassette on the main body 1 side contacts when the cassette is inserted into the main body 1. First contact portion 6a
1 is a wall which is orthogonal to the left-right direction of FIG. 1 which is the direction of taking out the cassette, or the upper end of the first contact portion 6a in FIG. Further, the second contact portion 6b is a wall whose upper end in FIG. 1 is inclined relatively largely toward the main body 1 side.

Further, a protruding piece 7 protrudes from an intermediate portion of the substantially U-shaped arm portion 5 in an inclined state. Projection piece 7
Is integrated with the arm 5. The arm unit 5 is movable in the left-right direction in FIG. An inclined surface 8 is formed at the end of the door 3 on the front end side (the cassette take-out side). The protruding piece 7 and the inclined surface 8 have an inclination whose upper end in FIG. 1 is inclined toward the main body 1, and the inclinations of the two are almost the same. The spring member 4, the arm portion 5 having the claw portion 6 and the protruding piece 7, and the inclined surface 8 constitute a cassette falling prevention mechanism. As will be described later, this cassette falling-off prevention mechanism prevents the cassette from falling off from the main body 1 and, when inserting the cassette into the main body 1,
The insertion is allowed without any hindrance.

In the cassette loading device provided with the above-described cassette falling-off prevention mechanism, first, the operation for removing the cassette will be described. There are cases where a plurality of types of cassettes having different sizes are loaded in the cassette loading device. In this embodiment, a larger cassette (also referred to as a large cassette) having a normal size and also referred to as a full cassette or a standard cassette is used, and a smaller cassette is also used as a mini cassette or a compact cassette. Both cases where a small cassette (called a small cassette) is used will be described.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show a large cassette 9L in the main body 1. FIG.
Are loaded, and the operation for removing the large cassette 9L is shown. In FIGS. 3 and 4, when the cassette holder 10 is moved in the direction of the opening 2 by an ejection mechanism (not shown) to start the ejection operation (ejection) of the large cassette 9L, the door 3 turns to the state shown in FIG. The large cassette 9L jumps out of the insertion slot 2. Then
The back surface of the large cassette 9L contacts the first contact portion 6a of the claw portion 6. When the large cassette 9L is further fed in the removal direction, the large cassette 9L moves in the removal direction together with the arm 5 while being in contact with the first contact portion 6a of the claw portion 6.

Then, the protruding piece 7 moves to the vicinity of the inclined surface 8, and the large cassette 9L stops with the claw portion 6 pressing the rear surface of the large cassette 9L. At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, the intermediate portion of the spring member 4 is displaced in the removing direction,
A force in the direction of arrow A acts. As a result, the arm portion 5 is pulled in the direction of arrow A, and a pressing force in the direction of arrow B is applied to the large cassette 9L. The spring member 4 serves as a pressing force applying unit that applies a pressing force to the large cassette 9L in the direction of arrow B (the direction of the main body 1). At this time, the pressing force in the direction of arrow B applied to the large cassette 9L is set to be smaller than the force required to load (pull) the large cassette 9L into the main body 1. Therefore, the arm 5
The large cassette 9L is not loaded into the main body 1 by the force of the (claw portion 6) pressing the large cassette 9L.

As described above, since the large cassette 9L is locked by the claw portion 6 of the arm 5, even if the posture of the apparatus changes and the insertion slot 2 faces downward, the large cassette 9L is It does not fall off from the main body 1 by its own weight.

Then, as shown in FIG.
In order to completely remove L from the main body 1, when the large cassette 9 </ b> L is pulled in the removal direction D, the arm 5
Moves further in the take-out direction, and the protruding piece 7 contacts the inclined surface 8. This state is a state in which the arm unit 5 has moved the large cassette 9L to the maximum in the take-out direction. When the large cassette 9L is further pulled in the direction D, the protruding piece 7 attempts to move downward along the inclined surface 8, and the arm portion 5 has flexibility as a whole. The arm 5 is bent in the direction of arrow C. As a result, the engagement of the claw portion 6 with the large cassette 9L is released, and the large cassette 9L can be easily taken out without any difficulty. After the large cassette 9L is taken out, the claw portion 6 is pulled toward the apparatus by the spring member 4, and thus returns to the original position shown in FIGS.

As described above, the arm 5 is provided with the large cassette 9
With the movement of L in the take-out direction, it is displaced in the direction away from the large cassette 9L (the direction of arrow C in FIG. 5).
The operability of taking out of the main body 1 from the main body 1 does not deteriorate. In this embodiment, the arm unit 5 is made flexible by moving the arm unit 5 away from the large cassette 9L by providing flexibility. However, the arm unit 5 may be made freely displaceable by rotating the arm unit 5. Good. When rotating the arm part 5, it is not necessary to have flexibility.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show that the main unit 1 has a small cassette 9S.
Are loaded, and the operation when the small cassette 9S is taken out is shown. When removing the small cassette 9S, the same operation as that of the large cassette 9L is performed. In both the large cassette 9L and the small cassette 9S, the positions and intervals of the claw portions 6 are set to be within the width of the small cassette 9S so as to achieve the above-described effect of preventing the falling-off. Of course, a claw portion 6 dedicated to the small cassette 9S may be provided, but it is preferable to use both the large cassette 9L and the small cassette 9S. The pressing force applied to the large cassette 9L or the small cassette 9S in the direction of arrow B is equal to the large cassette 9L and the small cassette 9S.
A preferred strength is selected for both S.

Next, the operation of inserting the large cassette 9L or the small cassette 9S into the main body 1 will be described with reference to FIG. Although FIG. 8 shows both the large cassette 9L and the small cassette 9S, this means that only one of them is inserted, but not that both are inserted at the same time. As shown in FIG. 8, when the large cassette 9L or the small cassette 9S is moved in the direction of the arrow E from the near side (the take-out side) of the door 3 in order to insert the large cassette 9L or the small cassette 9S into the insertion slot 2 of the main body 1, The front surface of the cassette 9S contacts the second contact portion 6b of the claw portion 6.

Since the second contact portion 6b is inclined as described above, the arm portion 5 bends in the direction of arrow C as in the case of taking out, and the arm portion 5 separates from the large cassette 9L or the small cassette 9S. Escape in the direction. Therefore, the cassette drop-off prevention mechanism such as the claw portion 6 does not prevent the insertion of the large cassette 9L and the small cassette 9S into the main body 1.

In the cassette drop-off prevention mechanism according to the structure of the present invention described above, the large cassette 9L and the small cassette 9S are pressed by the rear faces of the large cassette 9L and the small cassette 9S in the direction in which they fall off. A sufficient drop-out prevention effect can be obtained simply by doing. Further, the cassette falling-off prevention mechanism including the spring member 4, the arm portion 5, and the inclined surface 8 according to this embodiment can be configured extremely simply and at low cost.

[0020]

As described in detail above, the cassette loading device of the present invention has a cassette insertion slot, a main body for loading the cassette inserted through the insertion slot, and a main body mounted on the main body and inserted. A rotatable door that closes and opens the mouth, and when the cassette is taken out of the insertion slot, the door comes into contact with the end of the cassette on the take-out side and locks the cassette, so that the Since the cassette is provided with a mechanism for preventing the cassette from falling off from the main body, the cassette can be effectively prevented from falling off when the cassette is removed from the apparatus.

The cassette falling-off preventing mechanism is provided with a first end for holding the cassette by abutting the end on the take-out side of the cassette.
After the arm portion is formed with a claw portion having an abutting portion, the arm portion is movable in the cassette removal direction, and after the maximum movement in the cassette removal direction, the cassette removal is performed. The cassette can be displaced in a direction away from the cassette in accordance with the movement in the direction, so that it is possible to prevent the cassette from falling off without deteriorating the operability of taking out the cassette from the device.

Further, a second contact portion inclined with respect to the direction of movement of the cassette is formed in the claw portion, the second contact portion being in contact with the end of the cassette body when the cassette is inserted into the insertion slot,
By configuring the arm to escape in the direction away from the cassette as the cassette moves toward the main body, it is possible to prevent the cassette from falling off without deteriorating the operability of inserting the cassette into the device. Become.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a large cassette removing operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a large cassette removal operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a large cassette removal operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a small cassette removal operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a small cassette removal operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing a large / small cassette insertion operation according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body 2 Insertion opening 3 Door 4 Spring member 5 Arm part 6 Claw part 6a 1st contact part 6b 2nd contact part 7 Projection piece 8 Inclined surface 9L Large cassette 9S Small cassette 10 Cassette holder

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A main body having an insertion slot for a cassette, into which the cassette inserted from the insertion slot is loaded, and a rotatable door attached to the main body for closing and opening the insertion slot. In the cassette loading device provided, when the cassette is taken out from the insertion opening, the door is brought into contact with an end portion on the take-out side of the cassette, and the cassette is locked, so that the cassette is removed from the main body of the cassette. A cassette loading device comprising a cassette falling-off prevention mechanism for preventing the cassette from falling off. 2. The cassette drop-off prevention mechanism includes an arm portion having a claw portion having a first contact portion that abuts an end of the cassette on the take-out side and locks the cassette. The part is movable in the cassette removal direction, and after being moved to the maximum in the cassette removal direction, is displaceable in the direction away from the cassette with the movement in the cassette removal direction. The cassette loading device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The claw portion is a second abutment that is inclined with respect to the direction of movement of the cassette, the end abutting on the main body side of the cassette when the cassette is inserted into the insertion slot. 3. The cassette loading device according to claim 2, further comprising a portion, wherein the arm portion moves away from the cassette in accordance with the movement of the cassette in the main body direction.