Recording or reproducing apparatus having cassette lid opening device

A cassette lid opening device for moving a lid of a cassette toward an open position, comprises a holder for holding the cassette inserted into the holder, an opening member arranged to come in contact with a lid of the cassette in association with a downward movement of the holder and to move the lid of the cassette to the open position, the opening member including a first contact part arranged to come in contact with a front end of the cassette inserted into the holder and a second contact part arranged to come in contact with a lower end of the lid of the cassette during the downward movement of the holder, and an urging member for urging the opening member in a direction opposite to a direction in which the cassette is inserted.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to a device for opening a cassette lid by 
means of rotating movement when a cassette is moved from an upper position 
to a lower position in an apparatus such as a cassette video tape recorder 
(VTR). 
2. Description of the Related Art 
In conventional techniques of cassette VTRs, as shown in FIG. 1, a cassette 
202 inserted in a cassette holder 201 is moved downward from an upper 
position (insertion position) to a lower position (loaded position). 
During this lowering operation, a cassette lid 203, which is disposed on 
the front side of the cassette 202 in such a manner that it can be rotated 
freely, is opened and a part of a tape is pulled out from the cassette 
202. In FIG. 1, reference numerals 204 and 205 denote arms for moving the 
cassette holder 201 up and down, and reference numeral 206 denotes an 
up-spring for urging the cassette holder 201 toward the upper position. 
In the above arrangement, an opening member 207 for opening the cassette 
lid 203 is fixed to a chassis 208 of the main body of the VTR so that when 
the cassette 202 is moved downward the lower end 203a of the cassette lid 
203 comes in contact with the opening member 207 and thus the opening 
member 207 pushes the cassette lid 203 upward thereby rotating the 
cassette lid 203 toward an open position. When the cassette 202 has 
reached the lowest position, the cassette lid 203 is fully opened. 
In the conventional arrangement described above, however, since the opening 
member 207 is positioned relative to the chassis 208, if a cassette 202 
has a thin cassette lid 203 (that is, the thickness of the lid in the 
direction from the front side to the back side of the cassette is small) 
and thus only a small portion can come in contact with the opening member 
207, a contact failure between the lid opening member and the cassette lid 
often occurs owing to variations or clearances in dimensions of a cassette 
loading mechanism, or owing to insufficient insertion of the cassette 202 
into the cassette holder 201, which results in an opening failure of the 
cassette lid. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a 
cassette lid opening device for moving a lid of a cassette toward an open 
position, comprising: a holder for holding the cassette inserted into the 
holder; an opening member arranged to come in contact with the lid of the 
cassette in association with a downward movement of the holder and to move 
the lid of the cassette to the open position, the opening member 
including: a first contact part arranged to come in contact with a front 
end of the cassette inserted into the holder; and a second contact part 
arranged to come in contact with a lower end of the lid of the cassette 
during the downward movement of the holder; and an urging member for 
urging the opening member in a direction opposite to a direction in which 
the cassette is inserted. 
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an 
apparatus for recording or reproducing information on or from a recording 
medium accommodated in a cassette, comprising: a head for recording or 
reproducing information on or from the recording medium; a holder for 
holding the cassette inserted into the holder; an opening member arranged 
to come in contact with a lid of the cassette in association with a 
downward movement of the holder and to move the lid of the cassette to an 
open position, the opening member including: a first contact part arranged 
to come in contact with a front end of the cassette inserted into the 
holder; and a second contact part arranged to come in contact with a lower 
end of the lid of the cassette during the downward movement of the holder; 
and an urging member for urging the opening member in a direction opposite 
to a direction in which the cassette is inserted. 
Other objects and aspects of the invention will become apparent from the 
following description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying 
drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Preferred embodiments of cassette lid opening devices for use in cassette 
VTRs according to the present invention will be described in detail below 
referring to the accompanying drawings. 
FIGS. 2-8 illustrate a first embodiment of the invention. 
In FIG. 2, reference numeral 2 denotes a cassette having a cassette lid 12 
that can rotate about a pin 11 in directions denoted by arrows "a" and 
"b". In a normal state, the cassette lid 12 is urged by a lid closing 
spring (not shown) in the direction denoted by the arrow "a" to a closed 
position. 
Reference numeral 2 denotes a cassette holder for holding the cassette 1 
wherein the cassette holder 2 is composed of an upper plate 21, a lower 
plate 22, and side plates 23. The cassette 1 is inserted into the cassette 
holder 2 in the direction denoted by the arrow "c" until the front end 1a 
(refer to FIG. 5) of the cassette 1 comes in contact with a stopper 24 
disposed at the front end of the lower plate 22 and stops there. The 
cassette 1 is pressed downward by a leaf spring 25 fixed to the inner 
surface of the upper plate 21. 
In FIG. 2, reference numeral 3 denotes a chassis of the main body of the 
VTR, reference numeral 4 denotes an arm wherein one end of the arm 4 is 
fitted rotatably to a supporting part 26 of the cassette holder 2 and the 
other end is fitted into a long guide hole 31 formed in the chassis 3 in 
such a manner that the end portion can slide along the guide hole 31, 
reference numeral 5 denotes an arm wherein one end of the arm 5 is fitted 
rotatably to a supporting part 32 of the chassis 3, the other end is 
fitted into a long guide hole 27 of the cassette holder 2 in such a manner 
that the end portion can slide along the guide hole 27. The arms 4 and 5 
are fitted to each other via a pin 51 in such a manner that the arms 4 and 
5 can rotate around the pin 51. Furthermore, an up-spring 6 is stretched 
between a hook 52 of the arm 5 and a hook 41 of the arm 4 so that the 
cassette holder 2 is urged upward. 
Reference numeral 7 denotes an opener (cassette lid opening member) having 
one of the important features of the present invention. The opener 7 is 
disposed on the chassis 3 in such a manner that the opener 7 can rotate 
about the pin 71. At the upper end portion, the opener 7 has a U-shaped 
part formed in an integral fashion wherein one branch portion of the 
U-shaped part serves as a lid lower end contact part 72 that can come in 
contact with the lower end 12a of the cassette lid 12, and the other 
branch portion serves as a lid front end contact part 73 that can come in 
contact with the front end 12b of the cassette lid 12. 
Reference numeral 8 denotes a limiting plate disposed between the guide 
hole 31 of the chassis 3 and the arm 4 in such a manner that the limiting 
plate 8 can rotate about the hinge pin 42 of the arm 4 wherein a 
projecting hinge pin 81 disposed at the other end of the limiting plate 8 
is fitted, in a slidable fashion, to a guide hole 33 formed in the chassis 
3. The upper end portion 82 partially projecting from the limiting plate 8 
can come in contact with the pins 74 and 75 projecting from the opener 7. 
An open spring 9 is stretched between a hook 83 of the limiting plate 8 
and a hook 76 of the opener 7. 
In this arrangement shown in FIG. 2, the opener 7 is urged by the open 
spring 9 in the circumferential direction denoted by the arrow "d" wherein 
the pin 74 of the opener 7 comes in contact with the upper end portion 82 
of the limiting plate 8 so that the opener 7 is stopped against the above 
urging force. In this position, the lid front end contact part 73 of the 
opener 7 is located at a position behind a stopper 24 of the cassette 
holder 2 in the cassette inserting direction indicated by the arrow "c". 
In this state shown in FIG. 2, if the cassette 1 is inserted further in the 
cassette holder 2 in the direction denoted by the arrow "c", the front end 
12b of the cassette lid 12 comes in contact with the lid front end contact 
part 73 of the opener 7 as shown in FIG. 3. As a result, the opener 7 is 
rotated in the direction denoted by the arrow "e" until the front end 1a 
of the cassette 1 (refer to FIG. 5) has come in contact with the stopper 
24 of the cassette holder 2 and stops at that position. In this state, the 
open spring 9 is in a compressed state in which the torque applied to the 
opener 7 in the direction denoted by the arrow "d" is not so strong to 
push back the cassette 1, and therefore the cassette 1 is held in a 
stationary state between the leaf spring 25 of the cassette holder 2 and 
the lower plate 22. 
In this state, if the cassette holder 2 is moved downward against the force 
of the up-spring 6, the position of the lid lower end contact part 72 of 
the opener 7 is limited directly by the front end 12b of the cassette lid 
12 as shown in FIG. 4 and thus the lid lower end contact part 72 
inevitably comes in contact with the lower end 12a of the lid 12 of the 
cassette 1. As a result, the lid front end contact part 73 of the opener 7 
is pushed by the front end portion 12b of the cassette lid 12 and the 
opener 7 rotates in the direction denoted by the arrow "e" against the 
force of the open spring 9. Thus, the cassette lid 12 of the cassette 
rotates in the direction denoted by the arrow "b" toward an open position 
as shown in FIG. 5. 
If the cassette holder 2 is moved downward until it reaches the position 
shown in FIG. 6, then the cassette holder 2 is held on the chassis 3 by 
lock means (not shown). In this state, the pin 74 of the opener 7 is 
released from the contact with the upper end portion 82 of the limiting 
plate 8. On the other hand, the pin 75 of the opener 7 comes in contact 
with the upper end portion 82 of the limiting plate 8. As a result, the 
opener 7 is limited in its position in the direction denoted by the arrow 
"d" and the lid 12 of the cassette 1 is maintained at the fully open 
position. 
A part of a tape 150 accommodated in the cassette 1 is then pulled out by a 
guide member 152 and wrapped around a rotary drum 154 so that a head 156 
attached to the rotary drum 154 can reproduce or record information from 
or on the tape 150. 
If the cassette holder 2 is released from the holding state shown in FIG. 
6, the cassette holder 2 is driven by the up-spring 6 and starts to move 
upward. The pin 75 of the opener 7 is released from the contact with the 
upper end portion 82 of the limiting plate 8. 
As the cassette holder 2 moves upward, the expansion of the open spring 9 
decreases and the torque of the opener 7 in the direction denoted by the 
arrow "d" also decreases as shown in FIG. 5. The distance between the lid 
lower end contact part 72 of the opener 7 and the rotation center 11 of 
the cassette lid 12 decreases, and the torque due to the self-closing 
force of the cassette lid 12 applied to the opener 7 in the direction 
denoted by the arrow "e" increases. Furthermore, the front end portion 12b 
of the cassette lid 12 comes in contact with the lid front end contact 
part 73 of the opener 7. As a result, the upward movement of the cassette 
holder 2 forces the opener 7 to rotate in the direction denoted by the 
arrow "e". 
In this way, the opener 7 rotates in the direction denoted by the arrow "e" 
while maintaining the contact with the cassette lid 12. As a result, the 
cassette lid 12 is closed. The cassette holder 2 moves further upward via 
the position shown in FIG. 4 to the highest position shown in FIG. 3. In 
this state, it becomes possible to remove the cassette 1 from the cassette 
holder 2. 
In the state where the cassette 1 is in the position shown in FIG. 3, if 
the cassette 1 is not inserted until it comes in contact with the stopper 
24 of the cassette holder 2 as shown in FIG. 7, the conventional 
fixed-type opener 207 will not come in contact with the lower end 203a of 
the cassette lid 203 or the slanted end portion of the opener will come in 
contact with the lower end portion 203a of the cassette lid 203. In either 
case, the cassette lid 203 will not be opened as described earlier 
referring to FIG. 1. 
In contrast, when the opener 7 according to the present invention is 
employed, the lid lower end contact part 72 of the opener 7 is positioned 
relative to the front end 12b of the cassette lid 12 as shown in FIG. 7, 
and therefore it is possible to open the cassette lid 12 as shown in FIG. 
8. 
In this case, even if the cassette 1 is not perfectly positioned relative 
to the chassis 3, the position of cassette 1 relative to the chassis 3 is 
corrected by conical positioning pins disposed on the chassis 3 when the 
cassette 1 is moved downward. The deviation in the position of the 
cassette 1 occurs inevitably, to a greater or less extent, also owing to 
variations or clearances in the dimensions of a cassette attaching 
mechanism. 
In the first embodiment described above, since the opener 7 is disposed on 
the chassis 8 of the main body of the VTR, it is possible to simplify the 
structure of the cassette holder 2 and related mechanisms for moving the 
cassette holder 2 for example up and down. 
Now, a second embodiment of the invention will be described below referring 
to FIGS. 9-12. Unlike the first embodiment in which the opener is disposed 
on the chassis, an opener is disposed on a cassette holder in the second 
embodiment. 
A cassette 1, a cassette holder 2, and a mechanism for moving the cassette 
holder up and down employed in the second embodiment are all essentially 
the same as those in the first embodiment, and therefore these elements 
will not be described here again. 
In the second embodiment, one end of the arm 4 is fitted, in a slidable 
fashion, to a long guide hole 27 of the cassette holder 2, and the other 
end is fitted, in a rotatable fashion, to a supporting part 32 of the 
chassis 3. One end of the arm 5 is fitted, in a slidable fashion, to a 
long guide hole 31 of the chassis 3, and the other end is fitted, in a 
rotatable fashion, to a supporting part 26 of the cassette holder 2. 
Reference numeral 10 denotes an opener which is one of the important 
features of the present invention. The opener 10 is disposed on a side 
face of the cassette holder 2 wherein pins 28 and 29 having a flange are 
disposed on a side plate 23 of the cassette holder 23 and these pins 28 
and 29 are fitted into guide holes 101 and 102 of the opener 10 in such a 
manner that the opener 10 can move in a plane parallel to the side face of 
the cassette holder 2. The front end portion of the opener 10 extends 
exceeding the front end of the cassette holder 2. The opener 10 has a lid 
front end contact pin 103 which can come in contact with the front end 12b 
of the cassette lid 12 and also has a lid lower end contact pin 104 which 
can come in contact with the lower end 12a of the cassette lid 12 (refer 
to FIG. 11). 
The lower end 105 of the opener 10 is in contact with the pin 53 projecting 
from the arm 5. An open spring 90 is stretched between a hook 43 formed at 
one end of the arm 4 and a hook 106 formed at the rear end of the opener 
10. 
In this arrangement shown in FIG. 9, the opener 10 is urged by the open 
spring 90 in the direction denoted by the arrow "f" wherein the right end 
of the guide hole 101 of the opener 10 is in contact with the pin 28 of 
the cassette holder 2 whereby the opener 10 is stopped against the 
above-described urging force. The lid front end contact pin 103 of the 
opener 10 is located at the back of the stopper 24 of the cassette holder 
2 in the cassette inserting direction indicated by the arrow "c". 
In this state, if the cassette 1 is inserted further in the cassette holder 
2 in the direction denoted by the arrow "c", the front end 12b of the 
cassette lid 12 comes in contact with the lid front end contact pin 103 of 
the opener 10 as shown in FIG. 10. As a result, the opener 10 is moved in 
the direction denoted by the arrow "g" until the front end 1a of the 
cassette 1 (refer to FIG. 11) has come in contact with the stopper 24 of 
the cassette holder 2 and stops at that position. In this state, the open 
spring 90 is in a compressed state in which the force applied to the 
opener 10 in the direction denoted by the arrow "f" is not so strong to 
push back the cassette 1, and therefore the cassette 1 is held in a 
stationary state between the leaf spring 25 of the cassette holder 2 and 
the lower plate 22. 
In this state, if the cassette holder 2 is moved downward as shown in FIG. 
11, the pin 53 of the arm 5 pushes up the lower end 105 of the opener 10. 
As a result, the opener 10 rotates about the pin 28 of the cassette holder 
2 in the direction denoted by the arrow "h" against the force of the open 
spring 90. Since the position of the lid lower end contact pin 104 of the 
opener 10 is limited directly by the front end 12b of the cassette lid 12, 
and thus the lid lower end contact pin 104 inevitably comes in contact 
with the lower end 12a of the cassette lid 12 of the cassette 1. As a 
result, the lid front end contact pin 103 of the opener 10 is pushed by 
the front end portion 12b of the cassette lid 12 and the opener 10 escapes 
in the direction denoted by the arrow "g" against the force of the open 
spring 90. Thus, the lid 12 of the cassette 1 rotates in the direction 
denoted by the arrow "b" toward an open position. 
The cassette holder 2 moves further downward to a position shown in FIG. 
12. In this position, the cassette holder 2 is held on the chassis 3 by 
lock means (not shown). In this state, the movement of the opener 10 in 
the right and left directions is limited by the pin 29 of the cassette 
holder 2 wherein the pin 29 is fitted into the guide hole 102 of the 
opener 10. As a result, the lid lower end contact pin 104 is fixed to a 
predetermined position, and thus the cassette lid 12 comes to the fully 
open position. A part of a tape 150 accommodated in the cassette 1 is then 
pulled out by a guide member 152 in a similar manner to the first 
embodiment and wrapped around a rotary drum 154 so that information can be 
reproduced or recorded from or on the tape 150. 
After the operation described above, if the cassette holder 2 is moved 
upward, the cassette lid 12 will be closed according to the steps opposite 
to those described above. 
In this second embodiment, since the opener 10 is disposed on the side of 
the cassette holder 2, the space for installing the opener 10 on the 
chassis 3 of the main body of the VTR is no longer required. 
While the present invention has been described with reference to specific 
embodiments, the description is illustrative of the invention and is not 
to be construed as limiting the invention. Various modifications and 
applications are possible without departing from the true spirit and scope 
of the invention. 
For example, in the first and second embodiments, the lid front end contact 
part 73 or pin 103 of the opener 7 or 10 is in contact with the front end 
12b of the cassette lid 12. Alternatively, if the cassette 1 has a proper 
structure, the lid front end contact part 73 or pin 103 of the opener 7 or 
10 may be in contact with the front end 1a of the cassette 1. 
Furthermore, in the embodiments described above, the position of lid lower 
end contact part 72 or pin 104 of the opener 7 or 10 in the lowest 
position of the cassette 1 is limited by the combination of the pin 75 of 
the opener 7 and the upper end portion 82 of the limiting plate 8 or the 
combination of the lower part of the guide hole 102 of the opener 10 and 
the pin 29 of the cassette holder 2. However, the lid 12 can also be 
opened only by the force of the open spring 9 or 90. 
In the above embodiments, a cassette holder of the pop-up type is employed 
to move a cassette up and down. Alternatively, the present invention may 
also be applied to a cassette holder of the front loading type. In this 
case, a cassette is loaded into the cassette holder in a horizontal 
direction, and the cassette holder moves downward. 
In these embodiments, as described above, a cassette lid opening member has 
a lid contact part which comes in contact with the lower end of a cassette 
lid when the cassette moves downward thereby opening the cassette lid and 
also has a cassette contact part which comes in contact with the front end 
of the cassette when the cassette is inserted into the cassette holder 
wherein the lid contact part and the cassette contact part are formed as 
integral parts of the cassette lid opening member. The cassette lid 
opening member is disposed in such a manner the member is urged in the 
direction opposite to the cassette insertion direction whereby the 
position of the lid contact part can be determined not by the chassis or 
the cassette holder but directly by the front end of the cassette. This 
arrangement of the invention prevents a contact failure between the lid 
opening member and the cassette lid, which may otherwise occur due to 
variations in dimensions of a cassette loading mechanism, clearances, 
deformation caused by external force, or insufficient insertion of the 
cassette into the cassette holder. Thus, a great improvement in 
reliability in the lid opening operation has been achieved.