Patent ID: 7815140

Claim:
A magnetic tape cartridge comprising: a substantially rectangular cartridge case formed by upper and lower case halves joined together, said cartridge case having an opening formed between said upper and lower case halves in one corner thereof; a tape reel assembly with a magnetic tape wound thereto, said tape reel assembly being rotatably enclosed in said cartridge case; a leader pin comprising having end collars at opposite ends thereof, respectively, said leader pin being attached to a leading end of said magnetic tape and being pulled in and out through said opening; a retainer member having a pair of resilient arms separated in parallel with each other, each said resilient arm having a tail end portion; support means for supporting said retainer member including said resilient arms except said tail end portions; and leader pin socket means, provided adjacent to said opening in said cartridge case for holding said leader pin in a predetermined position and having upper and lower front aprons, formed in said upper and lower case halves, respectively, for clearing the way for insertion of said leader pin into said leader pin socket means, each said front apron having a bearing surface so as to bear said end collar thereon; wherein said support means comprises a support groove, formed in each of said upper and lower case halves, in which at least each said resilient arm is received, urging means, provided in said support groove, for urging and bending said resilient arm so as to charge said resilient arm with resilience, and a recessed apron continued from said support groove, said recessed apron lying between said bearing surface of each said front apron and each said support groove and being depressed below said bearing surface of said front apron and partly extending into said front apron so as to admit movement of each said tail end portion of said resilient arm; wherein said supporting means resiliently urges and bends each of said resilient arms of said retainer member so as to place said tail end portion of said each resilient arm in a pathway of said end collar of said leader pin while charging said resilient arm with resilience, thereby retaining said end collars of said leader pin by said tail end portions of said resilient arms, respectively.