Tape cassette

Abstract: A tape cassette adapted such that a plurality of the same are stored in a cassette magazine and adapted, when in use, to be taken out from the cassette magazine by a cassette changer, characterized in that a rack gear portion, with which cassette pull-out means of the cassette changer engages, is formed on a lid attached to the front of a cassette housing.

Description: The present invention relates to a mechanism for taking out a tape cassette from a cassette magazine, the cassette magazine being arranged to store up a plurality of tape cassettes. There have recently been proposed miniature cassettes which are still smaller than tape cassettes generally sold at the market (for example compact cassettes and microcassettes). Since such a miniature cassette is very small in size, the cassette can be lost if it is kept separately. EP-A-0295921, upon which the precharacterising portion of appended claim 1 is based, discloses a cassette magazine for housing a plurality of cassettes. Each cassette has, along the length of its lid, an elongate slot which is offset from the centre of the lid. Each corresponding compartment in the magazine has a corresponding engaging portion to ensure that each cassette is inserted the same way around. Also, a cassette changer system capable of keeping a plurality of tape cassettes together in a cassette magazine has been proposed. In the proposed system, at the time of recording/reproduction, a cassette magazine including tape cassettes is loaded into a recording/reproducing apparatus and, within the recording/reproducing apparatus, a specified tape cassette is automatically taken out from the cassette magazine by a cassette changer and mounted on a drive mechanism to be subjected to the recording or reproducing operation. EP-A-0431898, which forms state of the art by virtue of Article 54(3) EPC only, discloses a system having a cassette magazine and a cassette changer. The cassette changer has a withdrawing member which engages an engaging portion on a cassette through a slot in the magazine. In the conventional tape cassettes and mechanisms for taking out the tape cassette from a cassette magazine, one which achieves the purpose with a simple structure has not yet been proposed, and this has been a problem in realizing an automatic tape cassette loading system by the use of a cassette changer. Accordingly, the present invention provides a tape cassette containing a tape comprising: a lid provided in front of a cassette housing; and characterised by a rack gear portion formed on said lid. The present invention also provides a recording and/or reproduction system comprising: a cassette magazine for storing a plurality of tape cassettes, each of said plurality of tape cassettes having a lid provided in front of its cassette housing and a rack gear portion formed on said lid along its length; the magazine comprising a plurality of store boxes for storing said plurality tape cassettes each said store box being provided, in its bottom, with a groove hole; and a recording and/or reproduction apparatus for receiving said magazine and comprising: a pinion gear adapted to engage with said rack gear portion of said tape cassette to thereby transport said tape cassette to a drive mechanism, said rack gear portion of said tape cassette and said pinion gear of said recording and/or reproduction apparatus being adapted to engage with each other through a respective one of said groove holes provided in the bottom of each said store box. By making it possible to pull out a tape cassette with its rack gear portion engaged with a cassette pull-out means such as a pinion gear arrangement, the tape cassette is made applicable to a cassette changer system and, in addition, it becomes possible to realize the cassette pull-out means in a simple structure. The invention will be further described by way of non-limitative example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tape cassette as an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing relationship between the tape cassette of the present embodiment and a head drum; FIG. 3 is a plan view of the lower half side of the tape cassette of the embodiment; FIG. 4 is a plan view of a tape cassette of the embodiment with the head drum inserted therein; FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a cassette magazine with tape cassettes of the present embodiment stored therein; FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a cassette changer system; and FIG. 7 is an explanatory drawing of operation pulling out a tape cassette of the embodiment from a cassette magazine. An embodiment of a tape cassette according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 7. The tape cassette in the present example is that formed in a miniature size. Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, reference numeral 1 denotes a tape cassette housing as a whole containing a magnetic tape for recording/reproduction for example of a PCM signal. The cassette housing 1 is formed of an upper half 2 and a lower half 3, in confrontation with each other and fastened together by screws 4, and a lid 6 pivotally supported on the cassette housing for rotation fro opening and shutting an opening portion 5 provided on the front side of the two halves 2 and 3. Within the cassette housing 1, i.e., between the upper and lower halves 2 and 3, a pair of hubs 7 and 8 are disposed in positions corresponding to through holes 2a, 2b and 3a, 3b for hub driving shafts as shown in FIG. 3, and a magnetic tape T is wound around the hubs 7 and 8 with a portion thereof exposed to the outside through the opening portion 5 on the front side in a state stretched by means of pinch rollers 9 and 10, which also serve as guide rollers, pivotally supported for rotation on both sides of the front opening portion 5. Further, within the cassette housing 1, there is provided a braking mechanism 11 which acts as a brake for braking the hubs 7 and 8 when they are not in use. Further, on the upper and lower faces of the cassette housing, there are provided erroneous erasing preventing mechanisms 12 and 13 communicating with both the halves 2 and 3 on the left and right sides of the rear portion, reference holes 14, 15 and 16, 17 at the front center and rear center portions-and on both sides of the rear portion, and a required number of inspection holes 18 and 19 arranged sideways at the rear edge portion. Further, there are provided grip portions 20 and 21 formed on both side faces toward the rear. Further, as seen from FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, on the lid 6 for opening and shutting the opening portion 5 on the front side of the cassette housing 1, there is provided a rack 23 along a guide groove 22 formed in the horizontal direction, which rack is used as an engagement means for a later described changer. In the tape cassette arranged as described above, the magnetic tape T housed in the cassette housing 1 is subjected to helical-scan recording and reproduction by means of a rotary head. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the rotary head 41 is adapted to be rotated at a required angle of inclination with respect to the head drum 42, and the head drum 42 is adapted to be partially inserted into the opening portion 5 on the front side of the cassette housing 1, which becomes hollow when the lid 6 is turned up or down, so that the magnetic tape T stretched over the opening portion 5 is allowed to slide along the curved peripheral surface of the inserted head drum 42, and thereby, sloped tracks obliquely crossing the magnetic tape T are formed thereon as the rotary head 41 rotates. To make it sure that the magnetic tape T helically slides on the head drum 42 at that time, there are provided, in the present embodiment, a pair of tape guide members 24 and 25, whose guide members are slanted to opposite directions, disposed in the interior of the guide rollers 9 and 10 within the opening portion 5 of the cassette housing 1, in which the head drum 42 is inserted, so that the magnetic tape opposing the same can swing and travel sideways. Accordingly, by the insertion of the head drum 42 into the opening portion 5 as shown in FIG. 4, the tape guide members 24 and 25 are caused to abut onto the peripheral face of the head drum 42, so that the magnetic tape T is guided by the tape guide members 24 and 25 in a state sandwiched between the same and the peripheral face of the head drum 42. Further, the head drum 42 has side wing guides 43 and 44 provided on its both sides, which are to be inserted between the pinch rollers 9 and 10 and the tape guide members 24 and 25 at both sides of the opening portion 5 of the cassette housing 1. The side wing guides 43 and 44 are provided, at the front ends thereof, with rollers 43a and 44a which are adapted to press the magnetic tape T against the tape guide members 24 and 25. The side wing guides 43 and 44 are adapted to be placed in the opening portion 5 of the cassette housing 1 by being inserted between support pieces 26 and 27 slightly set back from the opening portion 5 and guide projections 28 and 29 for preventing the tape from bulging out, which are positioned between the support pieces 26 and 27 and the pinch rollers 9 and 10. Since the tape cassette of the described structure is formed in a miniature size as described before (for example, the size of the cassette plane is 20 mm long and 30 mm broad, approximately), the tape cassette is possible to be lost when it is kept separately and, hence, a plurality of them are kept in a cassette magazine (described later) when they are not used. The device for storing the tape cassettes into the cassette magazine accurately and taking out one from the cassette magazine easily is provided on the lid 6 for opening and shutting the opening portion 5. More specifically, the guide groove 22 formed in the front face of the lid 6 is arranged sideways and shifted either upward of downward from the center of the lid 6 (downward in the present example). As described later, the direction of insertion of the tape cassette into the cassette magazine is controlled by the guide groove 22. The rack gear 23 formed along the guide groove 22 is used for pulling omit a tape cassette from the cassette magazine. In the present example, the rack is extended sideways between both ends of the lid 6 along the groove 22. FIG. 5 shows an example of a cassette magazine. The cassette magazine 31 has a plurality of store boxes 32 into which tape cassettes are inserted and stored sideways. Each store box 32 is separated from the adjoining one by a wall 33. On the bottom of each store box 32, there is formed an engagement ridge 34 in the direction of the depth. When a tape cassette is inserted into the store box, the guide groove 22 formed in the lid 6 is adapted to be engaged with the engagement ridge 34. At the time of insertion of the tape cassette, when it is attempted to insert the tape cassette in the opposite direction, from its wrong side, the guide groove 22 does not correctly engage with the 34 because there is the guide groove 22 formed in the lid 6 offset from the center and, hence, the insertion in the opposite direction of the tape cassette is prevented. Thus, the side A and side B of the inserted tape cassettes can be controlled to be in the prescribed direction. In the bottom plate of each store box 32, there are formed, along the engagement ridge 34, groove holes 35, in which pull-out pinion gears 40a and 40b of a later described pull-out device 37 are inserted. A plurality of tape cassettes stored in the cassette magazine structured as described above are inserted into a recording/reproduction apparatus as they are placed in the cassette magazine and, within the recording/reproduction apparatus, a specified tape cassette is automatically taken out from the cassette magazine by a cassette changer system and recording/reproduction is performed thereon. FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing the structure of the cassette changer system. Referring to FIG. 5, reference numeral 36 denotes the recording/reproduction apparatus as a whole. When the cassette magazine 31 with a plurality of tape cassettes stored therein is inserted in the recording/reproduction apparatus 36, the cassette magazine 31 is moved by a specific shifting mechanism and one tape cassette is pulled out from a specified store box 32 by the pull-out device 37. The tape cassette taken out from the cassette magazine 31 as described above is then transported by a transport device 38 to a drive mechanism portion 39 and loaded therein with the lid 6 turned up or down and the opening portion 5 with the magnetic tape T stretched over it opened. Then, the rotary head 41 shown in FIG. 2 is inserted into the opening portion 5 as shown in FIG. 4 and a predetermined recording or reproducing operation is performed. In the cassette changer system, the pull-out device 37 for taking out the tape cassette from the cassette magazine is formed of two units of pinion gears 40a and 40b rotationally driven for example by a rotational drive mechanism, not shown, and the two pinion gears 40a and 40b are associated with each other, for example, with a band passed around them and driven to rotate at equal speed. When a tape cassette is to be pulled out from a specified store box, the pinion gears 40a and 40b engage with the rack gear 23 formed on the lid 6 of the tape cassette from below the store box 32, i.e., through the groove holes 35 as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 7. As the pinion gears 40a and 40b are rotationally driven by the drive mechanism, the tape cassette is pulled out as indicated by the one-dot chain line in FIG. 7 and let out for example to be placed on a rail 37a for transporting the tape cassette. The tape cassette thus pulled out from the cassette magazine is transported by a transport device 38 of the cassette changer system to the drive mechanism portion 39 as described above and a recording or reproducing operation is performed thereon. Since, as described above, the tape cassette of the present embodiment is provided on the front face of the lid 6 with a rack gear 23, with which the pinion gears 40a and 40b as the pull-out device of the cassette changer engages, the tape cassette can be easily taken out of the cassette magazine and thereby made applicable to the cassette changer system. Especially when the tape cassette of the present embodiment is used, the pull-out device on the cassette changer side can be provided only by a mechanism which causes the pinion gears 40a and 40b to rotate while they are abutting on the rack gear 23. Therefore, such advantages are obtained that the structure of the pull-out device can be much simplified and high-speed pull-out operation can be achieved. Further, even when tape cassettes according to the present embodiment are stored for example in a cassette changer system designed to pull out a tape cassette using an arm member provided with an engagement claw for pulling out the tape cassette, the rack gear 23 can engage with the engagement claw of the arm member and, therefore, the present tape cassette can be satisfactorily applied to such cassette changer system. Further, since the rack gear 23 is arranged to be formed on the lid 6 for the tape cassette of the present embodiment, the arrangement can be realized on conventional tape cassettes without making a large change in design. More specifically, when it is attempted to provide the rack gear 23 on the side of the cassette housing 1, since space in the cassette housing 1 is extremely limited, it becomes necessary to make great changes in design of the space for receiving the magnetic tape T, the arrangement of the various inspection holes, and so on, and to carry out very difficult designing work. However, since the arrangement in the present example is provided only by formation of the rack gear 23 on the front face of the lid 6, or, so to say, in vacant space, what is required is only to process the lid 6 as required and no change is required in the design of the cassette housing 1. The present invention is not limited to the structure of the above described embodiment but can be widely applied to various cassettes other than miniature cassettes for PCM recording, such as video tape cassettes, DAT cassettes, etc. having a lid structure. The tape cassette of the present invention as described in the foregoing has the rack gear, with which the pull-out means of the cassette changer engages, formed on the lid in front of the cassette housing, and therefore, such an effect can be obtained that it is applicable to a cassette changer system and facilitates pulling out of a tape. Such an effect can also be obtained that a very simple structure such as a pinion gear arrangement can be used as the pull-out means in the cassette changer system.

Claims: A tape cassette (1) containing a tape (7) comprising: a lid (6) provided in front of a cassette housing (1); and characterised by a rack gear portion (23) formed on said lid (6). A tape cassette according to claim 1, wherein said rack gear portion (23) is formed along the length of said lid (6). A tape cassette according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a guide groove (22) is formed in said lid (6) along its length. A tape cassette according to claim 3, wherein said guide groove (22) is offset from the centre of said lid (6). A tape cassette according to claim 3 or 4 wherein said rack gear portion (23) is formed along said guide groove (22). A recording and/or reproduction system comprising: a cassette magazine (31) for storing a plurality of tape cassettes, each of said plurality of tape cassettes having a lid (6) provided in front of its cassette housing (1) and a rack gear portion (23) formed on said lid (6) along its length; the magazine comprising a plurality of store boxes (32) for storing said plurality tape cassettes each said store box (32) being provided, in its bottom, with a groove hole (35); and a recording and/or reproduction apparatus for receiving said magazine and comprising: a pinion gear (40a) adapted to engage with said rack gear portion (23) of said tape cassette to thereby transport said tape cassette to a drive mechanism, said rack gear portion (23) of said tape cassette and said pinion gear (40a) of said recording and/or reproduction apparatus being adapted to engage with each other through a respective one of said groove holes (35) provided in the bottom of each said store box (32). A reproducing and/or reproduction system according to claim 6 wherein the cassette magazine (31) is for storing tape cassettes additionally having a guide groove (22) formed in said lid (6) along its length and offset from its center, the cassette magazine having an engagement projection (34) formed on the bottom of each store box (32), said engagement projection (34) being adapted to engage with said guide groove (22) of said tape cassette when said tape cassette is stored into said store box (32).

Inventors: TANAKA MASATO, TANAKA, MASATO
Applicants: SONY CORP, SONY CORPORATION
Application year: 1992
Main classification: G11B23
IPC codes: G11B23, G11B15