APPARATUS FOR LOADING A RECORD MEDIUM CASSETTE

Abstract: A cassette compartment of a compact type recorder or player comprises an outer cassette holder (10) and an inner cassette holder (11). The cassette (1) is moved from a popped-­ up position to a set position and then to a loading position. The cassette (1) is inserted at the popped-up position into the inner holder (11) which is set down to the set position together with the outer holder (10). The inner holder (11) is then moved straight forward to carry the cassette (1) to the loading posi­ tion. The inner holder (11) is interlocked with the outer holder (10) which is spring-urged to the popped-up position and is releasably locked at the set position.

Description: This invention relates to apparatus for loading a record medium cassette, and more particularly, but not exclusively, to a tape cassette loading apparatus for a video tape recorder (VTR). A slidable loading mechanism for loading a cassette containing a magnetic tape or a magnetic disc sheet into a video or audio recorder is known. In this mechanism, a cassette compartment is arranged on a slidable chassis, and a record medium is loaded to a predetermined recording/reproducing position upon sliding movement of the slidable chassis. In a portable recorder, an outer cover of a cassette compartment, that is, the outer surface of a cassette pocket, is often part of an outer casing of the recorder in order to reduce the size of the recorder. In a cassette loading apparatus with the above arrangement, the outer cover of the cassette compartment is movable together with the slidable chassis. Therefore, if the outer cover is pressed by, for example, a hand, unnecessary external force may be applied to the slidable mechanism, thus damaging part of the mechanism or degrading positioning precision of a cassette. Moreover, a structure in which an aperture appears between the outer cover of the cassette compartment and an outer casing of the recorder upon movement (loading or unloading) of the slidable chassis is to be avoided. This is because the internal mechanism of the recorder is exposed through such an aperture, and this leads to potential problems therewith. A pop-up type cassette loading mechanism is also known. In this mechanism, a cassette holder (pocket) can pivot. The cassette holder pops up to expose a cassette insertion opening. After a cassette has been inserted therein, the cassette holder is pushed down, thus completing the cassette loading operation. When the pop-up type cassette loading mechanism of the general form shown in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings is adopted, a gap as wide as a hand is often formed between a pop-up cassette holder 10 and an outer casing of the recorder. This gap should be made as narrow as possible, but tends to be widened as the recorder becomes compact in size. When the cassette holder 10 is in the pop-up position shown in Figure 1, a cassette positioning pin, a guide pin and the like on a cassette loading plane must be completely disengaged from the cassette. Therefore, as the width of the recorder is decreased, the pop-up angle ϑ of the cassette holder 10 increases accordingly. For this reason, a pop-up height H increases upon increase in tan ϑ, and a gap E between the cassette holder 10 and the outer casing of the recorder increases. In this case, an unskilled operator may try to insert a tape cassette 1 through the gap E, and may thus damage the internal mechanism of the recorder. In a recorder combining a pop-up type cassette holder and a slidable cassette loading mechanism, the gap E is further widened upon backward sliding of the slidable mechanism. UK patent specification GB-A-1 162 682 discloses an apparatus for loading a tape cassette into a cassette player, the apparatus comprising a cassette holder including a first holder and a second holder for receiving the cassette at a first position and holding and loading the cassette at a second position, means for moving the cassette holder from the first position to a third position, and slide means for sliding the second holder from the third position to the second position in a generally horizontal direction. French patent specification FR-A1-2 552 577 (GB-A-2 149 187) discloses a cassette loading apparatus comprising a slidable chassis, and a holder supported by the slidable chassis and which can pivot about a fulcrum movable with the chassis when a cassette compartment of the apparatus is driven out of a player. The cassette compartment of this apparatus moves from a first position inside the player to a second position outside the player in the horizontal direction, and then swings upwards to a third position where a cassette can be either put into or taken out of the holder. According to the present invention there is provided an apparatus for loading a cassette, containing a record medium, the apparatus comprising: a cassette compartment comprising an outer cassette holder pivotably supported by a frame of the apparatus, and an inner cassette holder which can slide relative to the outer cassette holder; and a chassis which is slidable relative to said frame and on which the inner cassette holder is pivotably mounted; wherein opening of said cassette compartment involves two stages, in the first of which said chassis slides relative to said frame carrying with it said inner cassette holder which slides within said outer cassette holder until the pivotal fulcra of the inner and outer cassette holders are substantially coincident, and in the second of which the inner and outer cassette holders pivot together about their pivotal fulcra to bring the cassette compartment to an open position at which a cassette can be loaded or unloaded. The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, throughout which like parts are referred to by like references, and in which: Figure 1 is a sectional view of a VTR having an embodiment of cassette loading apparatus acccording to the present invention, taken along a sliding loading direction of a tape cassette (before the tape cassette has been loaded); Figure 2 is a sectional view of the apparatus after the tape cassette has been loaded; Figures 3 and 4 are plan views of part of the apparatus of Figure 2; Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along a direction perpendicular to the sliding loading direction; Figure 6A is a plan view of a part of the VTR; Figure 6B is a front view of the main part of the VTR; Figure 7 is a perspective view of a concealing plate; Figure 8 is a sectional view taken along a line VIII-VIII in Figure 7; Figure 9 is a sectional view taken along a line IX-IX in Figure 6B; and Figure 10 is a side-sectional view of the VTR when the tape cassette has been loaded. An embodiment of a VTR cassette loading apparatus to which the present invention is applied will now be described with reference to Figures 1 to 5. A tape cassette 1 has a cassette cover 1a, which covers a front aperture of the tape cassette 1 and is automatically opened upon loading thereof. The tape cassette 1 is aligned at a predetermined position with respect to a rotary head drum 2 by sliding movement (in a direction to which the front aperture of the tape cassette 1 faces; to be referred to as horizontal movement hereinafter), and a magnetic tape 5 housed therein is thereby loaded. In this embodiment, a cassette compartment 3 can be pivoted about a fulcrum X from an open position (Figure 1) to a closed position (Figure 2). In the open position, an insertion aperture 4 is presented at a pivotal end face of the cassette compartment 3, and the tape cassette 1 is inserted therein, as shown in Figure 1. When the cassette compartment 3 is pressed towards the closed position, in a direction indicated by an arrow A, a slidable mechanism is operated and the tape cassette 1 is moved forward upon horizontal movement of a slidable chassis 6, in a direction indicated by an arrow B. The magnetic tape 5, exposed at the front aperture of the tape cassette 1, is drawn therefrom by guide pins 7a and 7b upon sliding movement of the tape cassette 1, as shown in Figure 4, and is wound around the rotary drum head 2. A pinch roller 8 is urged against a capstan 9 to sandwich the magnetic tape 5 therebetween. Since the cassette loading mechanism is slidable, the outer size of the VTR can be reduced by a moving distance d of the slidable chassis 6, as shown in Figure 1. The cassette compartment 3 has a double structure, comprising outer and inner cassette holders 10 and 11. The outer cassette holder 10 is pivotally supported by a fixed portion of the VTR, and the inner cassette holder 11 is pivotally supported by the slidable chassis 6 and slides therewith. The outer cassette holder 10 has a channel-like cross-section, as shown in Figure 5, and an upper surface comprising a cover plate (outer cover) 14 having a transparent window. Pivots 10X of the outer cassette holder 10 extend from side plates 13 fixed to a main frame 12, and coil springs 16 are wound around the pivots 10X to bias the outer cassette holder 10 to the open state shown in Figure 1. An upper pivot end of the outer cassette holder 10 is restricted by a bent portion 13a of one of the side plate 13. The inner cassette holder 11 also has a channel-like cross-section, as well as bent portions 11a and 11b at two side ends thereof, thus defining a substantially rectangular cassette housing space, as shown in Figure 5. A bent portion 11c, as a stopper for the tape cassette 1 in its insertion direction, is formed at a front end of the inner cassette holder 11, so that the tape cassette 1 is inserted up to the bent portion 1c, as shown in Figure 1. Pivots 11X of the inner cassette holder 11 extend from side plates 17 fixed to the slidable chassis 6, as shown in Figure 3. When the cassette compartment 3 is in the open position shown in Figure 1, the pivots 10X and 11X of the outer and inner cassette holders 10 and 11 are coaxial with each other. In other words, the inner cassette holder 11 can be pivoted virtually coaxially with the outer cassette holder 10. Engaging pins 18 extend from inner surfaces of two side surfaces 10b of the outer cassette holder 10, and are inserted below an upper plate 11d of the inner cassette holder 11. Therefore, the inner cassette holder 11 is interlocked with the outer cassette holder 10 in its pivoting direction, and is pivoted upon pivotal movement of the outer cassette holder 10. However, the engaging pins 18 do not engage the inner cassette holder 11 in its sliding direction. Thus, as shown in Figure 2, the inner cassette holder 11 can slide to a cassette loading position upon horizontal movement of the slidable chassis 6 during the cassette loading operation. A pair of leaf springs 19, which act as urging members, are arranged on a lower surface of an upper plate 10a of the outer cassette holder 10 to bias the upper plate 11d of the inner cassette holder 11 towards the tape cassette 1. The engaging pins 18 act as pivot stoppers of the inner cassette holder 11 in its urged direction. In addition, as shown in Figure 1, a pair of pressing arms 20 are mounted on two side surfaces 11e of the inner cassette holder 11 to be biased by coil springs 22 wound around shafts 21. When the tape cassette 1 is inserted in the inner cassette holder 11, round pivot ends 20a of the pressing arms 20 press the upper surface of the tape cassette 1 downwards, thereby temporarily holding the tape cassette 1 in the inner cassette holder 11. Projections 20b extend from the pivot ends 20a of the pressing arms 20 through holes 11f formed in the side surfaces 11e of the inner cassette holder 11, and act as pivot limiters of the pressing arms 20. When the cassette compartment 3 housing the tape cassette 1 is pressed downwards, a lock pawl 24 mounted on a side surface 10b of the outer cassette holder 10 is engaged with a lock roller 25 arranged on the side surface of the main frame 12, thus holding the cassette compartment 3 in a horizontal position, as indicated by alternate long and dashed lines in Figure 1. The lock roller 25 is mounted on a pivoting free end of a lock lever 26, and is biased in an engaging direction by a coil spring 28 wound around a pivot shaft 27 of the lock lever 26. After the lock pawl 24 has engaged with the lock roller 25, a limit switch (not shown) engaged with the lock lever 26 is operated to energize a motor (not shown) for moving the slidable chassis 6. Although not shown, a sliding movement mechanism may comprise a cam mechanism or a rack and pinion mechanism provided between the slidable chassis 6 and the mainframe 12. The slidable chassis 6 is slidably guided by guide pins 34 extending from the main frame 12 and guide holes 35 formed in the slidable chassis 6. Upon completion of the sliding movement, the tape cassette 1 is moved forward to a position shown in Figures 2 and 4, and the loading operation of the magnetic tape 5 is performed as previously described. When the cassette compartment 3 is pressed downwards from the open state of Figure 1, the cassette cover 1a is opened by a cover push-up pin 36 extending from the upper end of the side plate 17 of the slidable chassis 6, as shown in Figure 2. The magnetic tape 5 is thus exposed at the front aperture of the tape cassette 1 to be drawn therefrom for the loading operation. When the cassette compartment 3 is pressed downwards, reel drive shafts 30 extending from the slidable chassis 6 are inserted in a pair of reel holes of the tape cassette 1. A pair of positioning pins 31 mounted on the slidable chassis 6 are inserted in reference holes formed in the bottom surface of the tape cassette 1, thereby accurately positioning the tape cassette 1 in its vertical and horizontal directions. In addition, a pair of height restricting pins 32 extend from rear ends of the slidable chassis 6, so that the distal ends thereof abut against the bottom surface of the tape cassette 1 to restrict the height thereof. When the tape cassette 1 has been loaded in the horizontal position at a predetermined reference level, the bottom surface thereof is separated from the lowermost bent portions 11a and 11b of the inner cassette holder 11 by a small gap 37, as shown in Figure 2 on Figure 5. Therefore, the inner cassette holder 11 does not interfere with positioning of the tape cassette 1 in the vertical direction. The inner cassette holder 11 is pressed by the leaf springs 19 of the outer cassette holder 10 into contact with the upper surface of the slidable chassis 6. The tape cassette 1 is pressed against reference end faces of the positioning pins 31 and the height restricting pins 32 by the pivotal ends 20a of the pressing arms 20, as previously described. The separation of the tape cassette 1 from the bent portions 11a and 11b corresponds to an upward movement of the pivot ends 20a of the pressing arms 20. When the cassette compartment 3 is pressed downwards and the tape cassette 1 is held at the horizontal position, as described above, the outer and inner cassette holders 10 and 11 have no restricting force with respect to the tape cassette 1, except the biasing force of the leaf springs 19. Therefore, the tape cassette 1 is moved forwards to the tape loading position upon horizontal movement of the slidable chassis 6. As previously described, the inner cassette holder 11 is horizontally moved with the slidable chassis 6. However, since the outer cassette holder 10 is fixed in the horizontal direction, the leaf springs 19 slide along the upper plate 11d of the inner cassette holder 11, and the relative positions of the cassette holders 10 and 11 are thus changed. When an external force is applied on the cover plate 14 of the cassette compartment 3 in the loading completion state shown in Figure 2, the outer cassette holder 10 is displaced below its locked position. This displacement is absorbed by flexure of the leaf springs 19, and the external force will not be transmitted to the inner cassette holder 11, the tape cassette 1, or the slidable chassis 6. Therefore, damage to the slidable mechanism or degradation in positioning precision of the tape cassette 1 due to deformation of the positioning mechanism can be prevented. Even if the cover plate 14 is pressed by a hand during the loading operation, return movement of the slidable chassis 6 can be performed without any problem. When an external force is applied to the cover plate 14 of the outer cassette holder 10, its displacement is restricted such that distal ends of the two side surfaces 10b abut against a pair of stoppers 38 mounted on the side surfaces of the main frame 12, as shown in Figure 5. Therefore, the outer cassette holder 10 is no longer displaced. An unloading (cassette eject) operation is performed in a reverse manner to the loading operation described above. First, the slidable chassis 6 is moved backward, and the lock lever 26 is pivoted by a backward-moving end thereof, thus disengaging the lock roller 25 from the lock pawl 24. Then, the outer cassette holder 10 is urged upwards by the biasing force of the coil springs 16 to the position shown in Figure 1. The inner cassette holder 11 is then moved upwards and pivoted by the engaging pins 18 together with the outer cassette holder 10. A rack gear 39 having an axis corresponding to the pivots 10X is mounted on one side surface of the outer cassette holder 10. The rack gear 39 is meshed with a gear 41 of a damper 40 to apply a braking force which allows the cassette compartment 3 to pivot upwards slowly. Since the cassette compartment 3 pivots about the pivot X as described above, when it is at the position shown in Figure 1, an aperture portion E of an outer casing 15 is widened, as shown in Figures 1, 6A and 6B, when it is viewed from the side, above and front, respectively. Therefore, a counter-measure for preventing erroneous insertion of the tape cassette 1 into the aperture portion E is necessary. A concealing plate 50 is provided to conceal the aperture portion E, as shown in Figure 7. An elongated thin plate is bent to provide a channel-like cross-section, so that its web portion acts as a front concealing portion 52, and flange portions act as a pair of side concealing portions 53. In addition, a rectangular plate is mounted on an upper end of the front concealing portion 52 through a hinge 55 to serve as an upper concealing portion 54. Four bearings 58, 59, 60 and 61 are formed by bending the upper edge portion of the front concealing portion 52, and three bearings 62, 63 and 64 are formed by bending the lower edge portions thereof. Shaft members 67 and 68 extend through these upper and lower bearings 58 to 64, respectively. Members 69 having a channel-like cross-section are fitted to two edge portions of the front concealing portion 52, so that their web portions are in surface contact with the rear surface of the front concealing portion 52. The shaft members 67 and 68 extend through upper and lower portions of the members 69. End portions of the shaft members 68 are received by brackets 70 extending from lower edges of the side concealing portions 53. The hinge 55 is constituted such that the shaft member 67 is inserted alternately through the bearings 58 to 61 of the front concealing portion 52 and three separated bearings 73, 74 and 75 formed by bending a front edge portion of the upper concealing portion 54. A return spring 76 is wound aound a portion of the shaft member 67 between the bearing 74 of the upper concealing portion 54 and the bearing 60 of the front concealing portion 53, and spring ends thereof abut against the bearings 74 and 60 for biasing the upper concealing portion 54 to pivot in a direction indicated by an arrow C in Figure 7 (that is, upwards). A pair of stopper mechanisms 79 and 80, each comprising a pair of projections, are formed between the bearing 73 of the upper concealing portion 54 and the bearing 59 of the front concealing portion 52, and between the bearing 60 of the front concealing portion 52 and the bearing 75 of the upper concealing portion 54, respectively, so as to set an open angle α (see Figure 8) a substantially right angle between the front and upper concealing portions 52 and 54 by the biasing force of the return spring 76. More specifically, a left stopper 80a of the right stopper mechanism 80 in Figure 7 will be exemplified with reference to Figure 8. When the open angle α between the front and upper concealing portions 52 and 54 is a right angle, an end face of the upper concealing portion 54 abuts against a side surface of a projection 81 extending from the front concealing portion 52, thus preventing the angle α from being increased. Similarly for a right stopper 80b of the stopper mechanism 80, since a projection 82 extends from the upper concealing portion 54, an end face of the front concealing plate 52 abuts against the side surface of the projection 82, thus preventing the angle α from being increased. The concealing plate 50 with the above structure is coupled to the inner cassette holder 11 at proximal end portions of the side concealing portions 53 by pins 83, as shown in Figure 9. Oblique guide holds 87, which are slightly angled upward at their intermediate portions, are formed in frames 86 extending from two front side edge portions of the slidable chassis 6, and the end portions of the shaft member 68 are movably inserted in the guide holes 87. The above mechanism is a slider-crank linkage in which the slidable chassis 6, part of the inner cassette holder 11, and the side concealing portion 53 of the concealing plate 50 are used as a link. When the inner cassette holder 11 reaches the position shown in Figure 2, a sum of lengths of the part of the inner cassette holder 11 and the side concealing portion 53 of the concealing plate 50 corresponds to a length of the slidable chassis 6, which is substantially equal to that between the pivots 11X and the front end 1b of the tape cassette 1 when the tape cassette 1 is inserted in the inner cassette holder 11. Since the tape cassette loading apparatus has the arrangement described above, when the cassette compartment 3 reaches the position shown in Figure 9, side portions of the aperture portion E shown in Figure 6A are concealed by the side concealing portions 53 of the concealing plate 50, and a front portion of the aperture portion E shown in Figure 6A is concealed by the front concealing portion 52 of the plate 50. Therefore, the interior of the VTR casing is not unnecessarily exposed. Due to the presence of the upper concealing portion 54, the tape cassette 1 will not be erroneously inserted in the aperture portion E. Stoppers 88 are formed at the proximal end portions of the side concealing portions 53. The stoppers 88 abut against projections 89 of the inner cassette holder 11, which defines a cross angle of the concealing plate 50 with respect to the inner cassette holder 11. In the position shown in Figure 9, the tape cassette 1 is inserted in the inner cassette holder 11. When the inner cassette holder 11 begins to pivot about the pivots 11X in the direction indicated by the arrow A, the concealing plate 50 also begins to pivot clockwise about the pins 83, and the lower front end thereof begins to move downward while being guided along the guide holes 87 by the shaft member 68. When the concealing plate 50 is moved to a certain extent, a front end face 1b of the bottom surface of the tape cassette 1 abuts against the upper concealing portion 54 of the concealing plate 50, and pivots the portion 54 clockwise against the biasing force of the return spring 76. In this case, since the front concealing portion 52 of the concealing plate 50 is inclined in the direction shown in Figure 9, the front end 1b of the cassette 1 can be easily housed behind the rear surface of the front concealing portion 52, without being blocked. After the tape cassette 1 has been loaded in the VTR, the concealing plate 50 is folded and housed in the outer casing 15, as shown in Figure 10. More specifically, the concealing plate 50 is housed in a gap between a front cover 6a of the slidable chassis 6 and the tape cassette 1, so that the front and upper concealing portions 52 and 54 overlay each other. The end portions of the shaft member 68 are located at the lower ends of the guide holes 87. When the cassette compartment 3 pivots from the position shown in Figure 2 to that in Figure 9 in order to eject the tape cassette 1, the concealing plate 50 is operated in a reverse manner to that described above. The concealing plate 50 pivots counter-clockwise about the pins 83 upon pivoting movement of the inner cassette holder 11, from the position shown in Figure 2 in a direction indicated by an arrow D in Figure 9, and the shaft member 68 is guided along the guide holes 87 to move upwards. The upper concealing portion 54 of the concealing plate 50 is gradually released from the front end 1b of the tape cassette 1, and is pivoted counterclockwise by the biasing force of the return spring 76. The aperture portion E, which is gradually extended upon pivoting movement of the inner cassette holder 11, is thus concealed by the concealing plate 50, and finally presents the state shown in Figure 9, as previously described. In the embodiment described above, a cassette holder has a double-structure, and an outer holder is movable with respect to a fixed portion of a recorder, and an inner holder is movable with respect to a slidable portion. Even if the outer cassette holder is exposed as part of an outer casing of the recorder, an external force applied thereto cannot be transmitted to the inner cassette holder, a tape cassette, or the slidable portion. Therefore, damage to the slidable mechanism and degradation in cassette position precision can be prevented, and high-performance can be maintained for a long period of time. The total size of the VTR can be rendered compact and thin due to a sliding loading operation. In addition, since the outer cassette holder is not slidable, a gap (aperture) communicating with the interior of the VTR is not formed in a portion of the outer casing upon cassette loading. In this way, a compact, portable recorder can be provided. With the above arrangement, when the cassette holder is popped up, an aperture portion formed upon movement thereof can be sufficiently concealedby a concealing plate. Therefore, the interior of the VTR is not unnecessarily exposed, and damage thereto caused by erroneous insertion of a tape cassette can be prevented.

Claims: 1. An apparatus for loading a cassette (1) containing a record medium (5), the apparatus comprising: a cassette compartment (3) comprising an outer cassette holder (10) pivotably supported by a frame (12) of the apparatus, and an inner cassette holder (11) which can slide relative to the outer cassette holder (10); and a chassis (6) which is slidable relative to said frame (12) and on which the inner cassette holder (11) is pivotably mounted; wherein opening of said cassette compartment (3) involves two stages, in the first of which said chassis (6) slides relative to said frame (12) carrying with it said inner cassette holder (11) which slides within said outer cassette holder (10) until the pivotal fulcra (10X, 11X) of the inner and outer cassette holders (10, 11) are substantially coincident, and in the second of which the inner and outer cassette holders pivot together about their pivotal fulcra (10X, 11X) to bring the cassette compartment (3) to an open position at which a cassette (1) can be loaded or unloaded. 2. Apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising concealing means (50) for concealing an aperture formed in a casing of said apparatus during the motion of said cassette compartment (3). 3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said concealing means (50) is a plate (50).

Inventors: KUSUI, YOSHIO C/O PATENTS DIVISION, OHSHIMA, EIJI C/O PATENTS DIVISION, YOSHIDA, SHUJI C/O PATENTS DIVISION
Applicants: SONY CORPORATION
Application year: 1986
Main classification: G11B15
IPC codes: G11B15