Automatically loading mechanism for magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus

An automatically loading and unloading mechanism for a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus. Tape pack detecting element is provided within an area where a tape pack is to be inserted. A cam member is operable by the tape pack detecting element to actuate a second slide member. The second slide member is provided with a gear meshable with a pinion provided on a first slide member, a worm wheel meshable with a gear portion of a rotating lever pivotally connected to a chassis together with a resetting spring, and an attracting portion for holding the second slide member in the actuated position by an electromagnetic mechanism. The rotating lever has a fork portion engageable with a guide formed on a slidable frame member and leading the guide along a bent slot formed on a guide member. An actuating lever is positioned so that it may be operated by the guide led along the bent slot. A motor for driving the pinion is incorporated in a power source circuit in relation with the electromagnetic mechanism. A power switch operated by the second slide member and an ejecting switch operated by an ejection operating portion are connected in the power source circuit.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to an automatically loading mechanism for a magnetic 
recording/reproducing apparatus. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
There have been proposed and practically employed various mechanisms for 
loading and unloading a tape pack into and out of a magnetic 
recording/reproducing apparatus. In general, to load and unload a tape 
pack called "two-real type cassette", it is essential to lower the tape 
pack received through a loading opening into a recording/reproducing 
position to establish a recording/reproducing mode and to raise the tape 
pack out of the recording/reproducing position and push out the tape pack 
from the loading opening to complete a tape pack ejecting operation. To 
attain these operations, generally, a deck member etc. must be operated. 
This operation encounters considerable resistances, and desired smooth 
loading and unloading operation cannot always be expected. 
The inventor of the present invention has therefore proposed a mechanism 
free from the aforesaid disadvantages involved in the known mechanisms and 
capable of automatically loading and unloading the tape pack in Japanese 
Utility Model Application filed on November 21, 1978. This proposal is 
very effective to automatically carry out tape pack loading and unloading. 
However, the mechanism according to this proposal needs a drive mechanism 
operatable through engagement between a rack and a pinion. The rack to be 
employed in the proposed mechanism has a bent formation and the structure 
for operating the pinion along such a bent rack becomes inevitably 
complicated. More particularly, the structure requires special components 
or arrangements such as a T-shaped operating lever, overlapped spring 
arrangement, etc. In addition, the operating load is large and it is 
difficult to attain a stable operation. 
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an 
automatically loading mechanism for a magnetic recording/reproducing 
apparatus, which is capable of automatically loading and unloading a tape 
pack by a light operation and yet capable of carrying out the operation 
accurately. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided an 
automatically loading mechanism for a magnetic recording/reproducing 
apparatus which comprises: a slidable frame member for receiving a tape 
pack therein; means for detecting the tape pack loaded in said slidable 
frame member; cam means actuatable by said detecting means; guide means 
for guiding a sliding movement of said slidable frame member; first 
resetting spring means; a first slide member which is urged by said first 
resetting spring means; second resetting spring means; a second slide 
member which is urged by said second resetting spring means; first switch 
means adapted to close and open upon actuation of said second slide member 
by said cam means; a motor adapted to be controlled by said first switch 
means; first engaging means provided on said first slide member and 
rotatable by said motor; second engaging means provided on said second 
slide member and engageable with said first engaging means upon actuation 
of said second slide member by said cam means; third resetting spring 
means; first rotating means urged by said third resetting spring means and 
engaged with said slidable frame member; third engaging means adapted to 
be driven by said second engaging means and to be engaged with said first 
rotating means for rotating said first rotating means; and holding means 
controllable by said switch means for holding the engagement between said 
first and said second engaging means; said first rotating means being 
adapted to rotate until the tape pack received in said slidable frame 
member reaches a recording/reproducing position of said magnetic 
recording/reproducing apparatus.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION 
Referring now to the drawings, there is illustrated a preferred embodiment 
of the present invention. A pair of guide members 36 each having a 
vertical guide slot 21 and a guide slot 8 crooked into an inverted L-shape 
are fitted to a chassis of a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus at 
opposite positions of an opening for loading a tape pack 1. A support 
member 37 is provided between said pair of guide members 36 and 36 and has 
on opposite outer sides thereof guide pins 22 and 22a, respectively. The 
guide pins 22 and 22a and a guide pin 16 provided on a slidable frame 
member 17 engage with the slot 21 and the slot 8, respectively. The 
support member 37 engages with the slidable frame member 17 through guides 
18 and 18a. At the rear of the slidable frame member 17, a rotatable lever 
2 acting as tape pack detecting means and a cam member 4 are pivotally 
supported at a base portion thereof on the chassis by a pivotal shaft 3. 
The support member 37 is pivotally connected intermediate the ends thereof 
to a connecting rod 24 by a pivot 26. The base end of the connecting rod 
24 is pivotally supported on the chassis by a pivotal shaft 38. The 
connecting rod 24 is thus adapted to be lowered and raised conjointly with 
the slidable frame member 17 and the tape pack received therein. A first 
slide member 5 is provided under the guide members 36 and slidable 
relative to the guide members 36. The slide member 5 has a spring 35 
provided between the member 5 and the chassis so that the member 5 is 
urged or biased leftwardly as viewed in the figures. The slide member 5 
further has a lock pin 20 provided at the rear and side portion thereof. 
The pin 20 engages with one end of an L-shaped actuating lever 29 
pivotally supported at 30 by the chassis. Another end of the actuating 
lever 29 is normally positioned in the vicinity of a lower end portion of 
the slot 8. 
On the other hand, a second slide member 31 is arranged so that the upper 
end thereof may be located in a position where it is engageable with the 
cam member 4. A spring 33 is provided between the slide member 31 and the 
chassis so that the slide member 31 is urged or biased leftwardly as 
viewed in the figures. The second slide member 31 has a gear 14 and a worm 
wheel 15 mounted coaxially thereon. The gear 14 is meshable with a pinion 
13 mounted on the first slide member 5. The pinion 13 is rotatable by a 
pulley 12 which is coaxial with the pinion 13 and rotatable by a motor 23. 
However, when the slidable frame member 17 is in its raised position, the 
pinion 13 is disengaged from the gear 14 through locking of the actuating 
lever 29 with the lock pin 20 as illustrated in FIG. 1. The second slide 
member 31 has, at a forward vertical portion thereof, an attractable 
member 25 and has, at a rear portion thereof, a switch operating portion 
28. The attractable member 25 and the switch operating portion 28 are 
isolated from an electromagnetic mechanism 9 and a power source 11, 
respectively, when the slidable member 17 is in its raised position as 
illustrated in FIG. 1. A rotating lever 7 is rotatably mounted on the 
chassis by a shaft 6. A spiral spring 27 for resetting the rotating lever 
7 is fitted on the rotating lever 7. The rotating lever 7 has at the base 
end portion thereof a geared periphery 7b and at the tip end portion 
thereof a fork portion 7a. The fork portion 7a is so shaped that it may 
receive the guide pin 16 therein. In relation with the electromagnetic 
mechanism 9 provided oppositely to the attractable member 25, a power 
source circuit 40 and a motor circuit 41 are connected with each other as 
illustrated in the figures. The normally open power source switch 11 and a 
normally closed ejecting switch 32 are incorporated in the power source 
circuit 40. The switch 32 has an operating button 43 provided on the 
chassis so that the switch 32 may be opened by depressing the operating 
button 43. 
A spring is provided for the connecting portion of the rotating lever 2 so 
that the lever 2 is urged to return to its original position. As the lever 
2 is required to be displaced out of a space where the slidable frame 
member 17 and the tape pack 1 occupy when they are lowered, the spring is 
preferred to be a coil spring for pressing the rotating lever 2 
horizontally outwardly. The lever 2 has, at the inside thereof, a cam 
portion which is engageable with a projection 44 formed at the rear end of 
the slidable frame member 17 to displace the lever 2 sidewardly. A stopper 
10 is provided at the rear of the loading space of the tape pack 1. 
In the arrangement as mentioned above, it will be seen that in the course 
of loading of the tape pack 1 into the slidable frame member 17 in a 
direction of a, the slidable frame member 17 is not moved while the tape 
pack alone is being moved inwardly. When the rear end of the tape pack 1 
is further moved inwardly from a position as illustrated in FIG. 1, it is 
brought into engagement with the rotating lever 2 to rotate the lever 2 
with the cam member 4 around the shaft 3 in a direction of b. At this 
time, the cam member 4 is brought into engagement with an upper end 
portion of the second slide member 31 to displace the second slide member 
31 in a direction of c. Thus, the gear 14 is caused to engage with the 
pinion 13 and the worm wheel 15 is also caused to engage with the gear 7b. 
Concurrently, the operating portion 28 closes the switch 11 to make the 
power source circuit 40 and the motor circuit 41 operate the motor 23. 
More specifically, upon making the power supply circuit, the 
electromagnetic mechanism 9 attracts the attractable member 25 to hold the 
slide member 31 in a position where the engagement between the gear 14 and 
the pinion 13 and the engagement between the gear 7b and the worm wheel 15 
are established. In addition, as the motor 23 operates, the pinion 13 is 
rotated through the pulley 12 and the gear 7b is driven to rotate the 
rotating lever 7, so that the slidable frame member 17 holding the tape 
pack therein is further transported inwardly. When the slidable frame 
member 17 is thus transported, the rear end of the tape pack 1 is brought 
into contact with the stopper 10 and further retreat of the tape pack 1 is 
prevented. However, since the slidable frame member 17 continues to be 
subjected to a pushing operation by the motor 23 after the retreat of the 
tape pack 1 is stopped by the stopper 10, the slidable frame member 17 is 
caused to be lowered according to the rotation of the rotating lever 7 
after it reaches a corner of the slot 8 as illustrated by a phantom line 
in FIG. 2. At the last stage of the lowering of the slidable frame member 
17, the engaging pin 16 engages with the L-shaped lever 29 and rotate the 
same to displace the first slide member 5 in a direction of an arrow g as 
illustrated in FIG. 3. As a result, the engagement between the pinion 13 
and the gear 14 is released, but the worm wheel 15 and the gear 7b are 
still in mesh with each other so that the slidable frame member 17 and the 
tape pack 1 are held in the lowered position. This lowered position is a 
recording/reproducing position, and recording/reproducing operation is 
performed in the position by bringing a tape in the tape pack 1 to a head 
by operating a capstan and a pinch roller in a conventional manner. 
An ejecting operation after completion of the recording/reproducing 
operation is carried out by operating the ejection operating button 43. 
More specifically, upon depression of the button 43, the switch 32 is 
opened so that the attractable member 25 is released from the 
electromagnetic mechanism 9. As a result, the second slide member 31 
returns to a position as illustrated in FIG. 1 by the resetting action of 
the spring 33 and the gear 7b is disengaged from the worm wheel 15. At the 
same time, the switch 11 is opened. Thus, the tape pack 1 and the slidable 
frame member 17 are no longer held in the recording/reproducing position. 
The rotating lever 7 is reset by the action of the spring 27, the pins 22 
and 22a of the support member 37 and the pin 16 of the slidable frame 
member 17 are pulled upwardly relative to the vertical portions of the 
slots 21 and 8, respectively, and the slidable frame member 17 is moved 
horizontally along a horizontal portion of the slot 8 after the pins have 
reached at their respective uppermost position. 
Although a pair of guide members 36 are provided on opposite sides of the 
tape pack loading opening and various components related to the guide 
members 36 are provided for each of the guide members 36 in the embodiment 
as illustrated, one guide member and components associated therewith will 
suffice to attain the object of the present invention. 
As mentioned above, according to the present invention, the loading of the 
tape pack 1 can be carried out by such a small force as required only for 
operating the rotating lever 2 and the cam member 4 to slightly displace 
the second slide member 31 because the tape pack 1 and the slidable frame 
member 17 are automatically fed to the recording/reproducing position by 
the motor after the second slide member 31 has been displaced. The 
ejecting operating can also be automatically carried out after the button 
43 is depressed to break the power source circuit. Furthermore, as can be 
understood from the foregoing description that the aforesaid automatic 
loading and ejecting are attained essentially by moving the guide pin 16 
of the slidable frame member 17 along the slot 8 by using the rotating 
lever 7 with the gear 7b to lower and pull upwardly the slidable frame 
member, the structure of the automatically loading mechanism of the 
present invention is simple in structure and accurate and stable in 
operation.