A DEVICE FOR OPENING A STORAGE RECEPTACLE CONTAINING A CASSETTE

Abstract: Device for opening a storage receptacle containing a cassette, such as a tape cassette, said receptacle (1) consisting of two parts, one (2) of which has a front and a rear wall (4, 5) and a bottom wall (6) joining these walls to form a cassette chamber, while the other part (3) forms a lid for closing the receptacle, said parts being hingedly interconnected at said bottom wall. The device comprises a base plate (31), a supporting flange (32) protruding from said base plate, and at least one lug means (33, 34) protruding from said base plate and having such an extent that the plane which is normal to the supporting flange and extends through the connection line between the base plate and the supporting flange, is tangent to said lug means.

Description: A DEVICE FOR OPENING A STORAGE RECEPTACLE CONTAINING A CASSETTE The present invention relates to a device for open¬ ing a storage receptacle containing a cassette, such as a tape cassette, said receptacle consisting of two parts, one of which has a front and a rear wall and a bottom wall joining these walls to form a cassette • chamber, while the other part forms a lid for closing the receptacle, said parts being hingedly interconnected at said bottom wall. Tape cassette storage receptacles are so designed that both hands are required for opening the receptacle and removing the cassette. Opening the receptacle and - removing the cassette with one hand is difficult. The increased use of cassette players in vehicles has made the handling of the cassette storage receptacle a danger to traffic when the driver of a moving vehicle removes the cassette from its receptacle and then, as is fre¬ quently the case, takes his eyes off the road. Consequently, there is need of a device which can be mounted in the vehicle and by which the driver can open the receptacle and remove the cassette with one hand without taking his eyes off the road. U.S. 3,743,374 discloses a cassette storage re¬ ceptacle consisting of two telescoping parts. By com¬ pressing the parts, a lid hingedly mounted on one part can be swung out for removal of the cassette. This com¬ pression can be made with one hand, but the two tele¬ scoping parts are not interconnected and may come apart if the. receptacle is put aside. The present invention has for its object to pro- vide a device of the above-mentioned type for opening the storage receptacle containing a cassette, which device firmly retains -the receptacle in open position after removal of the cassette, and whose distinctive O PI 2 features will appear from the characterising clauses of the appended claims. A further object of the invention is to provide a device. of the said type, which may be used for all present-day storage receptacles for standard tape cas¬ settes. The base plate of the device according to the inven¬ tion can be screwed to, for example, the dashboard of a motor vehicle to facilitate the handling of tape cas- settes by the driver. Moreover, the device according to the invention may be used as an aid to disabled per¬ sons which merely have the use of one hand. The invention will be described in more detail below, reference being had to the embodiments illustrat- ed in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a ' perspective front view of a device according to the invention, a cassette storage receptacle being shown in open position with dash-dot lines; in which Fig. 2 is a perspective rear view of the device shown in Fig. lj in which Fig. 3 is a section along line III-III in Fig. 1, the cassette storage receptacle having been removed in Figs. 2 and 3j and in which Fig. 4 shows a modified embodiment of the device shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 1 shows with dash-dot lines a cassette stor- age receptacle which is inserted in the device accord¬ ing to the invention. The receptacle consists of a first part 2 comprising a front wall 4 and a rear wall 5. These walls are interconnected by a bottom wall 6 and side walls 22. The walls of the first receptacle part form a chamber in which a cassette is inserted. The other receptacle parts 3 forms a lid for closing the first receptacle part 2 and is hingedly connected to said first part at the side walls 22. Furthermore, the second part has an edge 23 which, when the receptacle is closed, connects onto the rear wall 5 of the first part. The cassette storage receptacle is of conventional type and therefore constitutes no part of this inven¬ tion. OMPI 3 The device as shown in Fig. 1 consists of a sub¬ stantially triangular base plate 7 which may be secur¬ ed, for instance by means of screws, to a vertical sup¬ porting surface in, for example, a vehicle. The lower end of the base plate has a protruding inclined sup¬ porting flange 12 on wich the bottom wall 6 of the re¬ ceptacle is placed for opening the receptacle. A wedge 8, the tapered side of which is facing downwardly, is provided above the supporting flange on the base plate. The front surface 10 of the wedge is approximately per¬ pendicular to the supporting flange. The outer end of the supporting flange is folded upwardly to retain the receptacle, and the width of the supporting flange cor¬ responds substantially to the thickness of the recep- tacle, whereby the rear wall 5 engages the front surface 10 of the wedge 8. Owing to the right angle between the supporting flange and the front surface of the wedge, the front and rear walls 4 , 5 of the first re¬ ceptacle part are parallel to the front surface of the wedge. The end surface 11 of the wedge 8, which faces away from the tapered side of the wedge, has a notch 15 formed adjacent the base plate 7 and extending along the entire length of the wedge. When the receptacle 1 has been placed upon the supporting flange 12, it is possible, for instance with the thumb and the middle finger, to push the second receptacle part 3 inwardly towards the base plate. The upper end of the base plate 7 has a holder flange 24 extending at right angles from the base plate. The underside of the holder flange is provided with a guide lug 13 engaging with the upper longitudinal side edge surface 16 of the second receptacle part 3 and pressing the lower longitudinal side edge 23 of the lid down into the notch 15 in order to retain the receptacle against the base plate. To safely retain the receptacle against the base plate and to facilitate removal of the receptacle, a catch and release mechanism 17 is mounted on the hol¬ der flange 24. The catch and release mechanism compris¬ es an elongate arm, one of end of which has a catch lug 19 for retaining the receptacle, while the other end of said arm has a release lug 20 for releasing the receptacle from the base plate. The arm is hingedly mounted in its central portion on the other side of the ' holder flange 24 by means of two lugs 26 protrud- ing from the holder flange and a hinge pin 27 extend¬ ing between said lugs. The arm is spring-biased by means of a spring 21 (Figs. 2 and 3) such that the end of the arm which carries the catch lug 19, is urged against the holder flange 24. The catch lug 19 which is wedge-shaped, permits - the lid 3 to snap behind the catch lug against the ac¬ tion of the spring 21. The end of the arm which car¬ ries the catch lug also has a guide rib 14 which is shown in Fig. 3 and which, via a recess 28 provided in the holder flange, assists in pressing down the lower longitudinal side edge 23 of the lid into the notch 15 in the wedge 8, after the lid has snapped behind the catch lug. To remove the receptacle, the end of the arm which carries the release lug is pressed downwardly against the holder flange against the action of the spring 21, whereby the release lug is moved, via a recess 29 in the holder flange, in between the base plate 7 and the lid 3, while at the same time the catch lug is lifted out of the range of movement of the lid. By further depressing the release lug, the receptacle is pushed away from the base plate. It is, of course, not necessary to use a catch mechanism of the above type. In many cases, it may suf- fice to use wedge-shaped ribs provided on the under¬ side of the holder flange and guiding the lid 3 down into the notch 15 in the wedge 8. The rear wall 5 of the first receptacle part may be of varying height in different receptacle types, and it may therefore be useful to make the wedge ver¬ tically movable on the base plate. To facilitate alignment of the receptacle on the supporting flange 12 and the base plate 7, light- emitting diodes 30 can be mounted in the end surface 11 of the wedge 8. These diodes give two parallel light beams on the base plate to facilitate the said align- ment. The light-emitting diodes can be supplied with electric current from the electric system of the vehicle via electrical components mounted on the rear side of the base plate or in the wedge 8, if this is hollow. Fig. 4 shows a second embodiment of the device according to the invention. This device comprises a rectangular base plate 31 and a supporting flange 32 protruding therefrom. As in the embodiment according to Figs. 1-3, a wedge 33 is mounted on the base plate 31. In this case, the wedge is screwed to the base plate by means of screws 43, 44. The wedge has a recess 45 for accommodating a bar 34 formed in one piece with the base plate 31. The rod may have any desired cross- sectional shape, for instance circular or polygonal shape. The bar 34 must not, however, extend beyond the front wedge surface 35 of the wedge 33. If desired, the wedge may be omitted, in which case the bar 34 preferably is made longer. Instead of the bar and/or the wedge, it is pos¬ sible to use two or more spaced apart and preferably aligned pins on the base plate. Naturally, also the wedge may be in one piece with the base plate. The part 46 of the base plate which lies between the wedge and the supporting flange has a bevelled sur- face lying in the same plane as the front wedge surface 35 of the wedge 33. Guide pins 36, 37 are provided on the part 46 of the base plate on either side of the supporting flange 32 and form a guide for the receptacle when this is placed on the supporting flange. Locking of the receptacle in the longitudinal di¬ rection of the supporting flange is effected by swinging the lid 3 inwardly towards the base plate 31 by engage¬ ment between the lid and the supporting flange edges 47, 48 protruding from said base plate. Guide and catch flanges 38 and 39 are provided on the base plate 31 to guide the inward movement of the lid towards the base plate. These guide and catch flanges are provided with pins or beads 40 (only one is shown in Fig. 4) frictionally engaging with the lid when this is swung inwardly towards the base plate. To prevent upward movement of the receptacle, the guide and catch flanges 38 and 40 are provided each with one fixing flange 41 and 42, respectively, facing one another. The supporting flange 32, the guide pins 36, 37, the guide and catch flanges 38, 39 and the fixing flanges 41, 42 form an edging which surrounds and firmly re¬ tains the receptacle in open position.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A device for opening a storage receptacle con¬ taining a cassette, such as a tape cassette, said re¬ ceptacle (1) consisting of two parts, one (Z) of which has a front and a rear wall (4, 5) and a bottom wall (6) joining these walls to form a cassette chamber, while the other part (3) forms a lid for closing the receptacle, said parts being hingedly interconnected at said bottom wall, c h a r a c t e r i s e d by a base plate (7; 31), a supporting flange (12; 32) pro- truding from said base plate, and at least one lug means (8; 33, 34) protruding from said base plate and having such an extent that the plane which is normal to the supporting flange and extends through the connection line between the base plate and the supporting flange, is tangent to said lug means. 2. A device as claimed in claim 1, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i s e d in that said lug means is a rib (8; 33, 34) extending parallel to said supporting flange (12; 32) . 3. A device as claimed in claim 2, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i s e d in that said rib (8; 33) is wedge-shaped, that the rear wedge surface of the wedge abuts the base plate (7; 31), and that the front wedge surface (10; 35) of the wedge lies in the said normal plane. 4. A device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c e r i s e d by guide pins (36, 37) provided cn the base plate (31) on either side of the supporting flange (32) and adapted together to guide the receptacle (1) when this is placed on said support- ing flange. 5. A device as claimed in any one of the preced¬ ing claims, c h a r a c t e r i s e d by a means for fixing the receptacle in a first direction which is parallel to the base plate (7; 31) and the supporting flange (12; 32) , said means being formed by the engage¬ ment of the edges of the supporting flange protruding from the base plate with the lid (3) of the receptacle (1) when said lid has been swung inwardly towards said base plate. 6. A device as claimed in any one of the preced¬ ing claims, c h a r a c t e r i s e d by a pair of guide and catch flanges (38, 39) protruding from the base plate (31) and adapted on one hand to guide the lid (3) of the receptacle (1), when the lid is swung inwardly towards the base plate, and on the other hand to retain the lid against the base plate by frictional engagement between the lid and catch pins (40) formed on the guide and catch flanges. 7. A device as claimed in claim 6, c h a r a c — t e r i s e d by at least one fixing flange (41, 42) protruding from the base plate (31) and adapted to pre¬ vent lifting of the receptacle (1) from the supporting • flange. 8. A device as claimed in claim 3, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i s e d by at least one guide lug (13, 14) pro¬ truding from that part of the base plate (7) which faces away from the tapered side of the wedge (8), the wedge end surface (11) interconnecting the wedge surfaces having a notch (15) in which an edge (23) of the lid (3) is pressed down by the guide lug. 9. A device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i s e d by a plate- shaped catch and release means (17) actuated by a spring (21) and being hingedly connected, at its central portion, to the base plate (7) , one end of said means having a catch lug (19) for engaging the lid (3) and retain¬ ing it against the base plate, while the other end of said means has a release lug (20) which, against the action of said spring, can be pressed in between the lid and the base plate for pushing out the lid from said base plate, simulteneously as the catch lug is disengaged from the lid.

Inventors: LOEFGREN KENT ROLAND BOERJE
Applicants: LOEFGREN KENT ROLAND BOERJE
Application year: 1982
Main classification: G11B1
IPC codes: G11B23, G11B33