JPH0629818Y2 - Cassettes - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial application] The present invention relates to a cassette autochanger mounted on a tape recorder and configured to automatically insert and eject a cassette into and from a cassette holder of the tape recorder. is there.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a cassette autochanger has been applied to, for example, a videotape recorder (hereinafter simply referred to as a VTR) for sequentially recording a plurality of cassettes. This autochanger has a transfer unit for inserting and ejecting the cassette so that the cassette faces the cassette holder of the VTR. The conventional device is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 58-140554. Particularly, as shown in FIGS. 9A to 9C of this publication, a plurality of rollers fixed to the main body of the autochanger are provided below, and the rollers are rotationally driven to transfer the cassette.
A pressing roller for elastically pressing the upper surface of the cassette is provided. Therefore, the cassette is transferred while being elastically pressed onto the fixed roller, and is automatically inserted into and ejected from the cassette holder.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, since the autochanger is attached to the VTR, the alignment between the transfer unit and the inlet of the cassette holder requires precision. However, since the rollers on the lower side of the transfer section are fixed, it is difficult to accurately perform the alignment, and there is a possibility that smooth insertion and ejection of the cassette cannot be performed. In order to solve this drawback, it is necessary to perform an exacting work when the autochanger is attached to the VTR, which requires a precise alignment. or,
Since the contact area between the roller and the cassette is small, there is a possibility that a sufficient insertion and ejection force cannot be obtained and a smooth cassette insertion and ejection operation cannot be performed. Further, when the cassette is dropped, the cassette falls and hits the roller, and an impact is applied to the cassette, so that the cassette and the roller are damaged or deteriorated. Further, since a plurality of rollers are arranged side by side, when the cassette moves to the next roller, slipping occurs and the movement operation becomes unstable, and there is a possibility that the cassette cannot be inserted and ejected accurately. Further, there are drawbacks such that a large number of gears are required to rotationally drive a plurality of rollers, the structure is complicated, and the assembling work is troublesome.

Then, this invention aims at providing the cassette auto changer which eliminated the above-mentioned fault.

[Means for solving problems]

The means for achieving the above object in the present invention is to be mounted on a tape recorder, and the transfer section 8 automatically inserts and ejects the cassette 6 into and from the cassette holder 3 through an insertion opening 3a formed on the side surface of the tape recorder. In a cassette autochanger configured to perform the operation, a transfer section 8 provided near the insertion opening 3a is
In addition, a belt 17 which is arranged below the insertion opening 3a and is always elastically biased upward and moves in the horizontal direction, and an upper portion of the transfer unit 8 provided near the insertion opening 3a ,
Also, pressure rollers 18 and 19 arranged above the insertion opening 3a and elastically biased downward always, and a stock portion 7 arranged above the transfer portion 8 for stacking and stocking a plurality of the cassettes 6 , Dropping means 10, 10a, 10b, 1 for sequentially dropping the cassette 6 of the stock section 7 into the transfer section 8.
The present invention relates to a cassette autochanger characterized by including 1a, 11b, 12, and 13 .

[Action]

In the above configuration, a belt that is disposed below the transfer port provided near the insertion port and that is disposed below the insertion port and that is always elastically biased upward and moves in the horizontal direction; The cassette dropped by the dropping means from the stock portion is clamped by the pressing roller which is disposed above the transfer portion and located above the insertion opening and which is elastically biased downward at all times. Transfer to the insertion port,
The cassette ejected from the insertion port is also pinched by the belt and the pressing roller and transferred, and the transfer operation can be performed while the position of the insertion port and the transfer unit are aligned.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view of a cassette autochanger according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view thereof, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a transfer portion without a belt, and FIG. 4 shows a belt and a roller. It is a front view which shows a relationship. 1 is a VTR,
A front loading type cassette holder 3 is arranged on the upper portion of one end of the front panel 2. Reference numeral 4 denotes a cassette auto changer, which is detachably mounted on the top panel 5 of the VTR 1 and arranged in front of the cassette holder 3. In the cassette autochanger 4, a stock section 7 for stacking a plurality of cassettes 6 arranged in the upper part in a vertical direction and stocking them, and a first roll cassette 6 arranged below the stocking section 7 are placed in a cassette holder 3. a transfer section 8 for transferring the direction of discharging inserted and spent cassette 6, the discharge cassette receiving 9 or the like arranged in the front lower portion of the transfer part 8 is provided respectively.

Further, a ring 10 arranged on the side surface corresponding to the cassette holder 3 close to the stock portion 7, and the stopper 11a of the stopper 11a and 2 tum cassette 6 the cassette 6 in 1 tum decor on the side surface of the opposite side , These stoppers 1
Drop-in means including a stack base 12 and a dropper 13 arranged below 1a and 11b is provided.
The ring 10 projects into the stock portion 7 and the first cassette
It is composed of one end 10a that supports 6 and the other end 10b that is retracted from the stock portion 7 and is located at a position where the distance from the one end 10a is slightly smaller than the thickness of the cassette 6 , and is rotationally driven by a motor 14. Therefore, when the ring 10 rotates and one end 10a retracts from the stock portion 7 , the supporting state is released, and the other end 10b projects into the stock portion 7 and
Abut on the end face of the cassette 6 of the roll and use this as the stopper 1
It is retracted until it comes into contact with 1a. Further, the other end 10b is located below the second cassette, and by supporting this, the stacked cassettes are separated and dropped. Reference numeral 15 is an optical sensor for determining the presence / absence of the lowermost cassette 6, and 16 is an operation push button switch, and the dropped cassette 6 is automatically inserted into the cassette holder 3 by the transfer unit 8 and ejected. On the contrary, the other is controlled so as to be transferred to the discharge cassette receiver 9.

The transfer unit 8 is a feature of the present invention, and is below the transfer unit 8 provided in the vicinity of the tapered insertion port 3a of the cassette holder 3 and below the insertion port 3a . The belt 17 is arranged so that it is always elastically biased upward and moves in the horizontal direction. The belt 17 is mounted on rollers 18 and 19, but the width of the belt 17 is wider than that of the rollers 18 and 19, as is apparent from FIG. Further, the belts 17 are juxtaposed so as to stably receive the cassette 6 . Reference numeral 20 denotes a frame of the transfer unit 8 , and the shaft 2 is provided near the insertion port 3a of the frame 20.
A guide groove 22 for guiding 1 in the vertical direction is formed. One roller 18 is attached to the shaft 21. On the other hand, a drive shaft 24 is rotatably attached to the side frame 23 so as to face the shaft 21. This drive shaft 24
The other roller 19 and the frame 20 are attached to the. Reference numeral 25 is a motor for rotating the drive shaft 24 in a reciprocating direction.
7 reciprocates in the inserting and ejecting directions as shown by arrows A and A '. Reference numeral 26 is a pair of arms, one end of which is attached to the drive shaft 24 and the other end of which is attached to the shaft 21, and which rotatably supports the shafts 21 and 24. Therefore, the shaft 21
Can move in an arc around the drive shaft 24 and moves up and down substantially.

Reference numeral 27 is a leaf spring attached to the main body of the automatic changer 4 for contacting the free end portion with the shaft 21 and elastically biasing the free end portion upward as indicated by arrow B. The rotational force of the motor 25 is transmitted to the drive shaft 24 via the pulley 28, the belt 29, and the gear 30. Reference numeral 31 is a guide for integrally guiding the cassette 6 formed laterally with the frame 20 to a fixed position.

On the other hand, at the top of the transfer unit 8 provided in the vicinity of the insertion opening 3a, and the pressing roller 32 is disposed above the insertion opening 3a, which is resiliently biased constantly downwards. A shaft 33 of the pressing roller 32 is vertically guided by a guide groove 34 formed in the side frame 23. 35
Is a coil spring for elastically biasing the shaft 33 downward as shown by arrow C.

Next, the operation of the above-described embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. First, as shown in FIG. 1, in the autochanger 4 mounted on the VTR 1, the cassette 6 stocked in the stock section 7 is dropped into the transfer section 8 . The operation is such that one end 10a of the ring 10 projects into the stock portion 7 and supports the cassette 6 of the first roll, and then the ring 10 is rotated clockwise by the motor 14 to move the other end 10b to the stock portion.
7 , the upper end surface of the cassette of the first roll is pressed and moved until it comes into contact with the stopper 11a, and is separated from the cassette 6 of the second roll. At the same time, the one end 10a retracts from the stock unit 7 and drops the first cassette 6 into the transfer unit 8 . The cassette 6 of the second roll is supported by the ring 10, and finally the position is detected while being supported by the one end 10a and the motor 14 is stopped to maintain this state. Then, in the transfer unit 8 , the motor 2
5 operates to rotate the drive shaft 24 to move the belt 17 to the arrow A
Move in the direction. By this movement, the cassette 6 moves to the insertion port 3a , and is conveyed while being sandwiched between the belt 17 and the pressing roller 32. Even if the heights of the cassette holder 3 and the transfer portion 8 are slightly deviated, the front end of the cassette 6 is guided by the tapered insertion opening 3a , and this deviation is elastically biased upward by the leaf spring 27. The cassette 6 is smoothly inserted into the cassette holder 3 by being absorbed by the vertical movement of the belt 17 near the insertion port 3a and the pressing roller 32 which is elastically biased downward by the coil spring 35. The used cassette 6 recorded by the VTR 1 is discharged from the cassette holder 3. In this case, the motor 25 reverses and moves the belt 17 in the arrow A'direction. The cassette 6 is sandwiched between the belt 17 and the pressing roller 32. At this time, the shift is absorbed and smoothly ejected and transferred to the ejection cassette receiver 9 as described above. Then, this time, the second cassette 6 is dropped into the transfer section 7 as described above,
The automatic change operation is sequentially performed. Also, the belt 1
The tension of 7 acts as a bending stress between the shaft 21 and the drive shaft 24, but the deformation of the shaft 21 and the drive shaft 24 due to the action of this stress is prevented by the arm 26 . Further, since the width of the belt 17 is wider than that of the rollers 18 and 19, the belt 17 does not come off due to the difference in tension between the central portion and the ends.

The above-described one embodiment of the present invention has been described with respect to the cassette auto-changer applied to the VTR, but the present invention is not limited to this and is applied to the auto-changer of various tape recorders for audio and digital signals. it can.

[Effect of device]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, since the cassette is vertically sandwiched and moved by the belt elastically biased upward and the roller elastically biased downward, It is possible to provide an automatic changer capable of absorbing the positional displacement between the cassette holder and the transfer unit and smoothly inserting and ejecting the positional displacement. In addition, since a slight positional deviation can be allowed, it is possible to eliminate the drawback of having to perform accurate positioning when mounting the VTR.

Further, since the cassette is transferred by the belt, the close contact with the cassette does not occur and slipping does not occur, and there is an effect that a smoother insertion and ejection operation can be performed. In addition, the dropped cassette is received by the belt, and the impact is absorbed to prevent the damage from occurring. Moreover, there is an effect that the structure is simple as a whole.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a side view of a cassette autochanger according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a transfer portion according to an embodiment of the present invention without a belt, FIG. 4 is a front view showing the relationship between the belt and the roller in one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory view for explaining the operation in one embodiment of the present invention. 1 ... VTR 3 ... Cassette holder 6 ... Cassette 7 ... Stock section 8 ... Transfer section 9 ... Ejection cassette receiver 10 ... Ring (dropping means) 17 ... Belts 18, 19 ... Rollers 20 ... … Frame 21 …… Shaft 22 …… Guide groove 24 …… Drive shaft 26 …… Arm 27 …… Leaf spring 32 …… Pressing roller 34 …… Guide groove 35 …… Coil spring

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A transfer unit 8 which is mounted on a tape recorder and which inserts and ejects a cassette 6 into and from a cassette holder 3 through an insertion opening 3a formed in the side surface of the tape recorder.
In a cassette autochanger configured to be automatically performed by the following, in a lower portion of the transfer unit 8 provided near the insertion opening 3a,
And, a belt 17 which is arranged below the insertion opening 3a and is always elastically biased upward and moves in the horizontal direction, and an upper portion of the transfer portion 8 provided near the insertion opening 3a,
Also, pressure rollers 18 and 19 arranged above the insertion opening 3a and elastically biased downward always, and a stock portion 7 arranged above the transfer portion 8 for stacking and stocking a plurality of the cassettes 6, Dropping means 10, 10a, 10b, 1 for sequentially dropping the cassette 6 of the stock section 7 into the transfer section 8.
1. A cassette autochanger comprising: 1a, 11b, 12, 13.