Disc loading mechanism for disc player

Herein disclosed is a disc loading mechanism for use with a disc player such as a video or compact disc player of slot-in type including: disc playing means for playing a disc recorded with data when the disc is brought to a play position; and a casing accommodating the disc playing means therein and formed in its front side with a disc slot through which the disc is inserted directly into the casing. The disc loading mechanism comprises: a pair of guide rails extending in the casing of the disc player from near the two ends of the disc slot of the casing and juxtaposed to each other at a spacing slightly larger than the diameter of the disc for guiding the disc inbetween; a loading roller interposed between the disc slot of the casing and the guide rails and made rotatable and reciprocally movable in parallel with the front side of the casing for engaging with the circumferential edge of the disc to drive the disc inwardly of the casing until the disc arrives at the play position; and drive means for driving the loading roller back and forth.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to a disc player such as a video or compact 
disc player of slot-in type and, more particularly, a disc loading 
mechanism for loading the disc player with a disc. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
In the disc player of this type according to the prior art, there is widely 
used a system, in which a turntable can be so brought into and out of a 
casing having a built-in mechanism body such as playing means that the 
player is loaded with a disc recorded with data by first bringing the 
turntable out of the casing, by placing the disc on the turntable, and by 
bring the turntable again into the casing so as to play the disc. However, 
that system is required to have a wide operating space in front of the 
player and to conduct the two actions of bring the turntable into and out 
of the player, when the player is to be loaded with the disc, so that it 
has a disadvantage that the disc loading operation is troublesome. 
In order to solve the aforementioned problems in the practical use, 
attention is being paid in recent years to the so-called "slot-in system", 
in which the casing accommodating the mechanism body of the disc player is 
formed in its front side with a horizontally elongated disc slot for 
inserting the disc directly therethrough into the casing and for taking 
out the disc directly therethrough after the disc playing operation. The 
disc player adopting that slot-in system is freed from the troublesome 
bringing actions of the turntable when it is to be used, as is different 
from the prior art. As a result, the disc player of the slot-in type has 
its disc loading and unloading actions facilitated to improve its 
operability and can be dispensed with any mechanism for bringing the 
turntable into and out of the player. Therefore, the disc player of the 
slot-in type is expected to have its sized reduced. 
However, the compact disc or the video disc is difficult to handle partly 
because the disc has no surface space to be clamped and partly because the 
disc is liable to have its surface damaged if it is subjected to a 
mechanical frictional force or the like. If the slot-in system is adopted, 
therefore, there arises to the contrary a technical difficulty that the 
disc loading mechanism is liable to be complicated and large-sized. From 
the background of the prior art thus far described, there has not been 
provided yet a disc player of slot-in type which is sufficiently 
practical. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a disc 
loading mechanism which can solve the aforementioned problems of the prior 
art and which can make the disc player simple and compact in construction. 
In order to achieve this object, according to the present invention, a pair 
of guide rails are disposed in the casing of a disc player and at 
positions to face a slot disc formed in the front side of the casing and 
are juxtaposed to each other at a spacing slightly larger than the 
diameter of a disc to be loaded, and a loading roller is interposed 
between the disc slot and the guide rails and are made reciprocally 
movable in parallel with the front side of the casing so that it may bring 
the disc to a play position in the casing. 
In a disc player of slot-in type including: disc playing means for playing 
a disc recorded with data when said disc is brought to a play position; 
and a casing accommodating said disc playing means therein and formed in 
its front side with a disc slot through which said disc is inserted 
directly into said casing, according to a major feature of the present 
invention, there is provided a disc loading mechanism comprising: a pair 
of guide rails extending in the casing of said disc player from near the 
two ends of the disc slot of said casing and juxtaposed to each other at a 
spacing slightly larger than the diameter of said disc for guiding said 
disc inbetween; a loading roller interposed between the disc slot of said 
casing and said guide rails and made rotatable and reciprocally movable in 
parallel with the front side of said casing for engaging with the 
circumferential edge of said disc to driving said disc inwardly of said 
casing until said disc comes to said play position; and drive means for 
driving said loading roller back and forth.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
In the accompanying drawings, reference numeral 1 indicates a casing which 
accommodates therein a mechanism body such as the disc playing mechanism 
of a disc player, and numeral 2 indicates a disc slot which is formed to 
extend horizontally in the front side of the casing 1. Indicated at 
numerals 3 and 3a are a pair of guide rollers which are so disposed in the 
casing 1 as to face the disc slot 2. As better seen from FIG. 2, the 
paired guide rollers 3 and 3a are juxtaposed vertically to each other at a 
spacing slightly larger than the thickness of a disc A to be loaded. 
Indicated at numerals 4 and 4a are a pair of disc guides or guide rails 
which are shaped to have a generally c-shaped section, as better seen from 
FIG. 3, and which are juxtaposed to have their openings facing each other 
and at a spacing slightly larger than the diameter of the disc A to be 
loaded. Indicated at numeral 5 is a loading roller which is interposed 
between the guide rollers 3 and 3a and the guide rails 4 and 4a. The 
loading roller 5 is carried rotatably on a moving member 9 which is made 
reciprocally movable by a later-described drive mechanism in directions 
(as indicated at arrows 7 and 8) parallel to the front side of the casing 
1 having the disc slot 2. Indicated at numeral 10 is an eject roller which 
is arranged at the rear end portion of the casing 1. The eject roller 10 
is carried rotatably on the leading end portion of a turning member 12 
which is enabled to turn on a fulcrum 11. Indicated at numeral 13 is a 
moving member which is connected to the rear end portion of the turning 
member 12. The moving member 13 is formed in its inner side with a rack 14 
so that it can be moved reciprocally in the longitudinal directions (as 
indicated at arrows 15 and 16) of the casing by the action of a 
later-described drive mechanism. Indicated at numeral 17 is a motor for 
driving the aforementioned two moving members 9 and 13. Indicated at 
numeral 18 is a worm which is fixed to the drive shaft of the motor 17. 
Indicated at numeral 19 is a worm wheel which is in meshing engagement 
with that worm 18. Indicated at numerals 20 and 21 which are made coaxial 
and rotatable with that worm wheel 19. Indicated at numeral 22 is a worm 
wheel which is in meshing engagement with one 20 of those worms. Indicated 
at numeral 23 is a worm wheel which is made coaxial and rotatable with 
that worm wheel 22. Indicated at numeral 24 is a worm wheel which is in 
meshing engagement with the other 21 of those two coaxial worms 20 and 21. 
Indicated at numeral 25 is a worm wheel which is made coaxial and 
rotatable with that worm wheel 24. The aforementioned worm wheel 23 is in 
meshing engagement with the rack 6 which is formed in the aforementioned 
transversely moving member 9, whereas the aforementioned worm wheel 25 is 
in meshing engagement with the rack 14 which is formed in the 
aforementioned longitudinally moving member 13. 
Next, the operations of the disc player having the disc loading mechanism 
according to the present embodiment will be described in the following. 
First of all, in the state wherein the loading roller 5 is positioned at 
the righthand end of FIG. 5 whereas the eject roller 10 is positioned at 
the foremost end of its moving stroke, the operator inserts the disc A 
into the disc slot 2 of the casing 1. When the disc A is inserted to reach 
a predetermined position, a not-shown motor operating switch is turned on 
to turn the motor 17 forward so that the loading roller 5 starts to move 
in the direction of arrow 7 of FIG. 4 through the worm 18, the worm wheel 
19, the worm 20, the worm wheels 22 and 23 and the transversely moving 
member 9. Simultaneously with this, the eject roller 10 starts to move in 
the direction of arrow 15 of FIG. 4 through the worm 18, the worm wheel 
19, the worm 21, the worm wheels 24 and 25, the longitudinally moving 
member 13 and the turning member 12. When the loading roller 5 comes into 
abutment against the circumferential edge of the disc A and moves further 
in the direction of arrow 7, the disc A is forced into the inside of the 
casing 1 by the pushing force of the loading roller 5. In this meanwhile, 
the eject roller 10 is carried to the rear end side of the casing 1 
progressively in accordance with the revolutions of the motor 17. When the 
disc A is transferred to a predetermined play position, a not-shown motor 
stopping switch operates to interrupt the motor 17. Next, a not-shown 
vertical moving mechanism operates to place the disc A on a not-shown 
turntable, and a not-shown player operates to reproduce the record which 
is stored in the disc A. 
In case the disc A is to be unloaded from the casing 1, on the contrary, 
the operator depresses a not-shown unloading button. Then, the not-shown 
vertically moving mechanism operates to lift the disc A from the turntable 
to the level of the disc slot 2. Subsequently, a not-shown motor reversing 
switch is turned on to turn the motor 17 backward. Then, the eject roller 
10 starts to advance toward the disc slot 2 (i.e., in the direction of 
arrow 16) through the worm 18, the worm wheel 19, the worm 21, the worm 
wheels 24 and 25, the moving member 13 and the turning member 12. 
Simultaneously with this, the loading roller 5 starts to move in the 
direction of arrow 8 of FIG. 4 through the worm 18, the worm wheels 19, 
the worm 20, the worm wheel 19, the worm 20, the worm wheels 22 and 23 and 
the moving member 9. As a result, the eject roller 8 comes into abutment 
against the circumferential edge of the disc A to push out the disc A 
until the disc A is halted at the initial position before the loading 
operation. Then, the operator can take out the disc A directly from the 
disc player. 
Incidentally, the gist of the present invention resides in the loading 
mechanism for driving the disc into the casing 1 as well as in the 
ejecting mechanism for driving the disc out of the casing 1. Therefore, 
the mechanism for placing the disc in the play position on the turntable 
in the casing 1 will not be described in detail. 
On the other hand, the foregoing embodiment corresponds to the case in 
which only the loading roller 5 of the two rollers 5 and 10 is made 
movable reciprocally in parallel with the front side of the casing 1 
whereas the remaining eject roller 10 is made movable reciprocally in the 
longitudinal directions (as indicated at arrows 15 and 16) of the casing 
1. Despite of this fact, the gist of the present invention should not be 
limited to the construction of the embodiment. The eject roller 10 may 
also be constructed such that it can move reciprocally in parallel with 
the front side of the casing 1 like the loading roller 5. According to 
this modification, the depth of the disc player can be further shortened. 
As has been described hereinbefore, in the disc loading mechanism of the 
disc player according to the present invention, the disc is moved 
longitudinally of the casing by moving the loading roller in parallel with 
the front side of the casing while restricting the transverse movements of 
the disc by means of the disc guides. As a result, it is possible to 
reduce the depthwise size of the casing in which those mechanisms are 
mounted. Since the disc loading and unloading operations can be effected 
by means of the single motor, moreover, it is possible to provide the disc 
player which is simple in its construction and low at its production cost. 
Since both the loading roller and the eject roller are brought while 
revolving into abutting contact with the circumferential edge of the disc, 
still moreover, there arises no fear that the disc does not have its 
surface damaged.