The present invention relates to a magnetic tape cassette such as digital video cassette (DVC).
With a technical revolution in recent years that high density of magnetic recording medium has been realized, the magnetic tape cassettes and video tape recorders (VTR) have become compact. There are many occasions where the VTR is used outdoors to take pictures of landscapes and portraits. In order to obtain dust proofing property enough to withstand such outdoor uses, some magnetic tape cassettes have lids of two panel type or three panel type for covering a front face and a back face of the magnetic tape. There are various types of the magnetic tape cassettes and, the DVC for example includes a small size (S type), a medium size (M type), and a large size (L type).
The flat plate of the lower cassette half 312 is formed with reel holding holes 313 on which a pair of reels 319 are mounted having a magnetic tape T wound around them. Reel driving shafts provided in a hardware such as VTR and so on are adapted to be inserted into the reel holding holes 313. At a center of a forward end of the cassette case (a side opposed to a head of the hardware when the magnetic tape cassette has been loaded in the hardware), there is formed an opening 314. The flat plate of the lower cassette half 312 is provided with tape guides 318 at both sides of the opening 314. The surrounding walls of the lower cassette half 312 are provided with cutouts 317 for enabling the magnetic tape T which is wound around the reels 319 to pass into and out from the opening 314 at the other sides of the tape guides 318 opposite to the opening 314. At a center of a forward end of the flat plate of the lower cassette 312 and behind the opening 314, there is provided a central part 315 of a front wall which projects toward the upper cassette half 311. The flat plate of the lower cassette half 312 is further provided, at both sides of the central part 315, with lower walls 315a which constitute both side parts of the front wall in combination with upper walls 315b of the upper cassette half 311. The opening 314 is defined by this front wall and the tape guides 318.
To the cassette case composed of the upper cassette half 311 and the lower cassette half 312 assembled together, is attached an open/close lid 320 so as to cover the magnetic tape T which is stretched between the tape guides 318 (over the opening 314). This open/close lid 320 consists of an outer lid (a front lid) 321, a top lid (an upper lid), and an inner lid (a back lid) 323.
The outer lid 321 includes a front lid plate 321a covering a front face of the magnetic tape T which is stretched over the opening 314, and side plates 321b which extend backward from both sides of the front lid plate 321a. Pivotal pins 321c having distal end flanges are provided so as to project from inner faces of the side plates 321b. These pivotal pins 321c are rotatably held by pin holding cutouts 324a which are formed in pin supporting pieces 338a provided at front sides of both lateral walls 311a of the upper cassette half 311. The pivotal pins 321c are rotatably engaged and held in pin holding holes which are defined by the pin holding cutouts 324a in the pin supporting pieces 338a of the upper cassette half 311 and by pin supporting pieces 338b of the lower cassette half 312. The outer lid 321 can rotate around the pivotal pins 321c. The outer lid 321 is always urged by a lid spring 327 in a closing direction.
The top lid 322 includes an upper lid plate 322a covering an upper edge of the magnetic tape T which is stretched over the opening 314, and side plates 322b which extend downward from both sides of the upper lid plate 322a. At forward sides of inner faces of the side plates 322b, there are provided front lid connecting pins 322c adapted to rotatably connect the upper lid plate 322a to connecting holes 321d of the front lid plate 321a. At backward sides of the inner faces of the side plates 322b, there are provided slide pins 322d which are adapted to be slidably engaged with cam grooves 325 for the upper lid which are formed in both side walls 311a of the upper cassette half 311. When the outer lid 321 is opened, the top lid 322 moves backward of the cassette case while the slide pins 322d are moved along the cam grooves 325 for the upper lid, and the upper lid plate 322a is maintained in substantially parallel to an upper face of the cassette.
The inner lid 323 includes a back lid plate 323a covering a back face of the magnetic tape T which is stretched over the opening 314. From both ends of an upper edge of the back lid plate 323a, are projected upper lid connecting pins 323b adapted to rotatably connect the back lid plate 323a to the upper lid plate 322a. From both ends of a lower edge of the back lid plate 323a, are projected slide pins 323c adapted to be slidably engaged with S-shaped cam grooves 326 for the inner lid which are formed on opposed faces (inner faces) of a pair of the tape guides 318 provided on the lower cassette half 312. The upper lid connecting pins 323b follow the movement of the top lid 322 when the outer lid 321 is opened. Along with the movement of the upper lid connecting pins 323b, the slide pins 323c are caused to slide inside the cam grooves 326 for the inner lid.
When this magnetic tape cassette 310 has been loaded in the hardware, the side plates 321b of the outer lid 321 are pushed upward against an urge of the lid spring 327 by means of lid opening pins (not shown) provided on the hardware. In association with the lid opening motion of the outer lid 321, on this occasion, the top lid 322 and the inner lid 323 perform their lid opening motions. When the magnetic tape cassette 310 has been taken out from the hardware, the lids 321, 322 and 323 will perform the lid closing motions by the urge of the lid spring 327.
By the way, the upper cassette half 311 and the lower cassette half 312 of this magnetic tape cassette are formed by injection molding. In order to prevent occurrence of molding sinks on a guide face 318a of the tape guide 318 on occasion of the injection molding, molding sink preventing recesses must be formed on a back face (the inner face) 318b of the guide face 318a. In the tape guide 318 having such a shape as shown in
Because of existence of the three molding sink preventing recesses and the cam groove 326 for the inner lid as described above, high friction resistance will be created in molds (slide cores) for forming these three molding sink preventing recesses and the cam groove 326 for the inner lid, when they slide. In a manufacturing process of the lower cassette half 312, a number of the lower cassette halves must be molded by employing these slide cores, and therefore, the slide cores will be subjected to the high friction resistance repeatedly. It has been found that these repeated loads lead to the following problems of the slide cores.
A first object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic tape cassette in which durability of the molds can be enhanced.
Meanwhile, as shown in
In order to assemble the magnetic tape cassette 310 employing the open/close lid 320 of the three panel type as shown in
By the way, when the upper cassette half 311 is assembled to the lower cassette half 312 through manual operation, there may be some occasions where the upper cassette half 311 is happened to be assembled to the lower cassette half 312 while the upper cassette half 311 is not in parallel to a support face of the lower cassette half 312. In this case, because the inner lid 323 is rotatably connected to the top lid 322 only by means of the upper lid connecting pins 323b, the inner lid 323 often tends to be displaced from a proper position around the upper lid connecting pins 323b. As the results, the slide pins 323c of the inner lid 323 are moved and cannot be inserted into the cam grooves 326 for the inner lid, so that the upper cassette half 311 may not be accurately assembled to the lower cassette half 312.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic tape cassette in which assembling performance of the open/close lid can be enhanced.
As shown in
The lid spring 327 is mounted on the side plate 321b of the outer lid 321. The lid spring 327 includes a multiplied coil portion 327c which is idly mounted around the pivotal pin 321c, one leg portion 327a which is locked on a spring hook projection 336 provided on the side plate 321b, and the other leg portion 327b which is locked on a spring hook projection 337 provided on the side wall of the upper cassette half 311. In other words, the lid spring 327 is locked with the side plate 321b of the outer lid 321 at its one leg portion 327a, and locked with the side wall of the upper cassette half 311 at its other leg portion 327b. With biasing force in a direction toward a bottom face of the cassette (a direction D) generated by the leg portions 327a, 327b of this lid spring 327, the outer lid 321 is urged in a closing direction (a direction C). Meanwhile, the leg portion 327b of the lid spring 327 is engaged with an upper face of the lid lock member 335a (See
When the open/close lid 320 is opened or closed, the slide pins 323c of the inner lid 323 are guided by the cam grooves 326 for the inner lid which are formed on the tape guides 318 of the lower cassette half 312 so as to move the inner lid 323 along the inner faces 318b of the tape guides 318 as shown in
However, since the upper cassette half 311, the lower cassette half 312, and the lids are separately molded, there exist manufacturing errors between the components. In case where the inner lid 323 is offset to one side due to a manufacturing error when assembled, a portion of the inner face 318b (an area having a knitted pattern) of each of the tape guides 318 interferes with the side face of the inner lid 323. This will hinder smooth opening and closing motions of the open/close lid, and an occurrence of abrasion powder by the interference will result in errors such as a drop out and so on. Moreover, a force for opening and closing the open/close lid may rise with the interference, or the force for opening and closing the open/close lid may vary with the interference.
A third object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic tape cassette in which opening and closing motions of the open/close lid can be performed smoothly, and errors such as a drop out and so on can be prevented, and damage caused by a shock of falling down can be reduced.
By the way, the spring hook projection 336 provided on each of the side plates 321b of the outer lid 321 as shown in
However, because the upper cassette half 311 and the lower cassette half 312 are separately molded and assembled, these outer faces 339a, 339b of the pin supporting pieces 338a, 338b are not always made flush, but in some cases, a step-like difference E may be formed between these outer faces as shown in
A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic tape cassette in which opening and closing motions of the open/close lid can be performed smoothly, and errors such as a drop out and so on can be prevented.
As shown in
The cam groove 326 for the inner lid which is provided on each of the tape guides 318 is formed in a curved shape at its front side and in a shape of a straight line at its back side as shown in
However, while the opening and closing motions of the open/close lid 320 are repeated, abrasion may occur between the cam groove 325 for the upper lid and the slide pin 322d of the top lid 322. Conventionally, a width of the cam groove 325 for the upper lid has been made constant from the curved portion to the straight portion so as to smoothly guide the slid pin 322d inside the cam groove 325 for the upper lid. A gap between the cam groove 325 for the upper lid and an outer peripheral face of the slide pin 322d has been conventionally set to be 0.1 mm so that the slide pin 322d may not rattle in the cam groove 325 for the upper lid. Nevertheless, abrasion has occurred between the cam groove 325 for the upper lid and the slide pin 322d. Abrasion powder generated from the abrasion will be a cause of the drop out and so on.
A fifth object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic tape cassette which is free from abrasion between the cam grooves and the slide pins.
As shown in
The ID board 350 is a component for identifying kind and use of the magnetic tape T. The ID board 350 is assembled to a corner area at the back side of the lower cassette half 312. According to cases, an ID board incorporating an integrated circuit (IC) for storing managing information of recorded contents, which may be called as an IC board, may be assembled.
A space for containing the ID board is formed at a position in the lower cassette half 312 adjacent to the back wall. The back wall is provided with openings 312a which are defined by frames, at positions corresponding to the contacts 351a to 351d on the back face of the ID board 350. When the ID board 350 has been assembled in the ID board containing space, the contacts 351a to 351d are respectively exposed to the exterior of the cassette case through the openings 312a.
When the magnetic tape cassette provided with the ID board has been loaded in a hard ware which is not shown, terminals of the hardware get in touch with the contacts 351a to 351d on the back face of the ID board 350 and read out resistance values between the determined two contacts. On the basis of these resistance values, the hardware identifies the type and use of the magnetic tape. Similarly, when the magnetic tape cassette provided with the IC board has been loaded in the hardware, although not shown, terminals of the hardware get in touch with the contacts on the back face of the IC board to provide required information to the hardware.
By the way, the thin and small mounting board is generally manufactured, for the purpose of saving manufacturing cost, by making a plurality of electric circuits having the same structure on a large sized board sheet, and then, by dividing the board sheet. A plurality of the ID boards 350 can be taken out from an ID board sheet 360 as shown in
Steps of taking a plurality of the ID boards 350 from this ID board sheet 360 will be described. As a first step, the ID board sheet 360 is carried to a mounting section which is not shown, with the face having the contacts 351a to 351d directed downward, and the determined chip resistors are mounted on its upper face, that is, a face opposite to the face provided with the contacts 351a to 351d.
Then, the ID board sheet 360 is carried to a measuring section which is not shown, in a state where the face having the contacts 351a to 351d is still directed downward. Then, measuring terminals are brought in touch with the contacts 351a to 351d from the underneath of the ID board sheet 360, thus measuring resistance between the two determined contacts.
Then, the ID board sheet 360 is carried to a press section which is not shown, in a state where the face having the contacts 351a to 351d is still directed downward, and a cutting edge is applied to the ID board sheet 360 from the above of the relevant ID board sheet to cut off the ID boards 350 from the connecting members 361.
Recently, in order to improve productivity of the slim electric circuit board, it has been desired to obtain the board sheet having a further large size, and to cut off a large number of slim boards of electric circuits at one time. For example, in the above described ID board for the magnetic tape cassette, it is sometimes required that 100 to 200 pieces of the ID boards are taken from a sheet of the ID board sheet. However, as a result of upsizing the ID board sheet, it is feared that the ID board sheet may be deflected during the transfer to the press section, and flat ID boards cannot be obtained in the press section.
In this situation, it has been considered that the chip resistors are mounted in a state where a reinforcing plate is attached to the back face of the ID board sheet 360 (the face provided with the contacts 351a to 351d). However, when such reinforcing plate has been employed, the contacts on the ID board sheet are covered with the reinforcing plate, and cannot get in touch with the measuring terminals in the measuring section.
Moreover, in the conventional steps of taking the ID board 350 from the ID board sheet 360, the measuring terminals have been abutted against the contacts of the relevant ID board sheet from below of the ID board sheet 360. However, in order to support the ID board sheet so as to permit the access of the measuring terminals from the below, a complicated mechanism has been required. Therefore, it has been considered that the ID board may be turned upside down while it is carried to the measuring section, which however, would incur a further complication of the mechanism.
A sixth object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic tape cassette which is provided with a slim electric circuit board of which productivity can be improved.
The first object of the invention is attained by a magnetic tape cassette comprising a pair of tape guides having guide faces which are provided at both sides of an opening formed at a front side of a cassette case, a magnetic tape being stretched between the guide faces at the opening, cam grooves for guiding an open/close lid so as to cover the stretched magnetic tape formed on back faces of the guide faces, and projections having position detecting holes provided in respective positions in lower parts of the back faces and backward of the cam grooves, characterized in that there are formed molding sink preventive recesses only at positions forward of the cam grooves on the back faces, and at positions backward of the cam grooves on the back faces and above the projections.
It has been found, as a result of an intensive study of the inventors, that molding sinks will hardly occur in fact, even though the molding sink preventive recesses having a small opening area are not provided at positions backward of the cam grooves on the back faces of the tape guides and above the projections formed with the position detecting holes.
According to the magnetic tape cassette of the invention, in molds for forming molding sink preventive recesses on the back faces of the tape guides, the portions having a small sectional area have been omitted. Accordingly, there will be no fear of damaging the molds, and durability of the molds can be enhanced.
In this invention, each of the cam grooves has preferably an S-shape. In addition, a lower curved part of the cam groove having the S-shape is preferably extended up to a position below an upper face of the projection. In this manner, an area of the backward part of the back face which has been divided by the cam groove is decreased, and occurrence of the molding sinks can be more reliably prevented.
The above described second object of the invention is attained by a magnetic tape cassette comprising a cassette case including an upper and a lower cassette halves and provided with an opening at a front side, and an open/close lid for covering a magnetic tape stretched at the opening, the open/close lid including an inner lid adapted to cover a back face of the magnetic tape, slide pins projected from both ends of a lower edge of the inner lid being slidably engaged with cam grooves for the inner lid formed in the lower cassette half, characterized in that the upper cassette half is provided with position regulating means which are adapted to be abutted by the slide pins in a state where the open/close lid is fully opened.
According to the magnetic tape cassette of the invention, when the upper cassette half is assembled to the lower cassette half, in the fully opened state of the open/close lid, the position regulating means provided on the upper cassette half are abutted against the slide pins of the inner lid. Positioning of the inner lid can be made with reference to the abutting position, and so, the slide pins of the inner lid can be reliably inserted into the cam grooves for the inner lid in the lower cassette half. Assembling workability of the open/close lid can be thus enhanced.
In the invention, the faces of the position regulating means to be abutted by the slide pins are preferably positioned forward of upper end walls of the cam grooves for the inner lid. In addition, the faces of the position regulating means to be abutted by the slide pins are preferably positioned substantially on a same plane as a plane parallel to a vertical direction of the cassette case, which includes a center line of position detecting holes provided in the lower cassette half.
The third object of the invention is attained by a magnetic tape cassette comprising a cassette case including an upper and a lower cassette halves and provided with an opening at a front side, a pair of tape guides formed in the lower cassette half at both sides of the opening, and an open/close lid for covering a magnetic tape stretched between the tape guides, the open/close lid including an inner lid adapted to cover a back face of the magnetic tape, the inner lid being provided with slide pins projected from both ends thereof and adapted to be slidably engaged with cam grooves for the inner lid formed on inner faces of the tape guides, the upper cassette half being provided with cam covers at a front edge thereof projected forward so as to be positioned above the cam grooves for the inner lid, characterized in that the cam covers are provided with protrusions at their inner base parts.
According to the magnetic tape cassette of the invention, the side faces of the inner lid are guided along the protrusions of the cam covers, on occasion of opening and closing the open/close lid. In short, a space is ensured between the side faces of the inner lid making the opening and closing motions and the tape guides. As the results, the inner lid will be prevented from interfering with the tape guides, the opening and closing motion of the open/close lid can be smoothly performed, and occurrence of an error such as a dropout and so on due to abrasion powder can be avoided.
Further, in a state where the open/close lid is completely closed, the upper edge of the inner lid will not be held by the protrusions, so that the side faces of the inner lid are apart from the tape guides and the inner lid is made free. When the magnetic tape cassette has accidentally fallen down, an outer force can be received by the entire surface of the side faces of the inner lid, and it can be avoided that the inner lid partially receives an intensive load. As the results, damage of the magnetic tape cassette due to a shock or the like can be eliminated.
The fourth object of the invention is attained by a magnetic tape cassette comprising a cassette case including an upper and a lower cassette halves and provided with an opening at a front side, an open/close lid for covering a magnetic tape stretched at the opening, lid lock members adapted to be engaged with lock projections provided on side plates of the open/close lid to lock the open/close lid in a closed state, and a lid spring for urging the open/close lid in a closing direction and for urging one of the lid lock members in a locking direction, pivotal pins provided on the side plates of the open/close lid being rotatably supported by pin supporting pieces provided on side walls of the upper and lower cassette halves, the lid spring including a coil portion to be mounted on one of the pivotal pins, one leg portion to be locked on a spring hook projection provided on the side plate, and the other leg portion to be locked on a spring hook projection provided on the side wall of the upper cassette half, wherein the other leg portion urges the lid lock member in the locking direction, characterized in that on each side of the cassette case, a lower end of an outer face of the pin supporting piece of the upper cassette half is positioned inward of an outer face of the pin supporting piece of the lower cassette half, and an upper end of the outer face of the pin supporting piece of the upper cassette half is positioned outward of the outer face of the pin supporting piece of the lower cassette half.
According to the magnetic tape cassette of the invention, an interference between the spring hook projection and the pin supporting piece can be reliably prevented. Therefore, the opening and closing motion of the open/close lid can be smoothly performed, and occurrence of an error such as a dropout and so on due to abrasion powder can be avoided.
In the invention, the outer face of the pin supporting piece of the upper cassette half is preferably an inclined face of a flat plane having a constant gradient.
It is also considered as a measure for eliminating the interference between the spring hook projection and the pin supporting piece, that the pin supporting piece of the upper cassette half is extended toward the lower cassette half. However, this measure is unfavorable, because the extended pin supporting piece will hinder the open/close lid from being accurately assembled to the cassette case.
The fifth object of the invention is attained by a magnetic tape cassette comprising a cassette case which rotatably contains a pair of reels around which a magnetic tape is wound, an open/close lid attached to the cassette case so as to cover the magnetic tape, cam grooves having curved portions and provided at both sides of the cassette case so as to guide slide pins which are projected from both sides of the open/close lid, and a biasing member located near one of the cam grooves for urging the open/close lid in a closing direction, characterized in that a gap between an inner face of the curved portion of one of the cam grooves and an outer peripheral face of the slide pin is different from a gap between an inner face of the curved portion of the other of the cam grooves and the outer peripheral face of the slide pin.
The inventors have found, as a result of their intensive study, that, of the cam grooves provided at the both sides of the upper cassette half, in the cam groove which is not provided with the lid spring, the slide pin tends to swing when the top lid is opened.
In the cam groove which is provided with the lid spring, the slide pin of the top lid is urged by the lid spring by way of the outer lid, and the slide pin will not easily rattle. In other words, a gap between the cam groove and the slide pin has become substantially narrower than a designed size. Therefore, in case where the size of the cam grooves at the both sides of the upper cassette half and the size of the slide pins at the both sides of the top lid are designed to be the same, the actual gaps between the cam grooves and the slide pins will be different at both sides, since a position of the outer lid is restrained in a determined direction when the pivotal pins have been rotatably engaged with the pin holding cutouts provided at both sides of a forward part of the upper cassette half. In the cam groove which is not provided with the lid spring, when the top lid is opened, that is, when the slide pin moves along the curved portion of the cam groove, the slide pin swings to be abutted against an inner face of the cam groove, since the slide pin is less restrained from the movement than the slide pin at the side having the lid spring. This has been a cause of an increase of the friction resistance.
In view of the circumstances, the inventors have come to a concept that the designed size of the cam grooves at the both sides of the upper cassette half and the designed size of the slide pins at the both sides of the top lid should be set considering the actual gap between the cam groove and the slide pin.
According to the magnetic tape cassette of the invention, occurrence of abrasion powder caused by the interference between the cam grooves of the cassette case and the slide pins of the open/close lid can be reliably prevented, and a dropout, etc. will not occur.
The sixth object of the invention is attained by a magnetic tape cassette comprising an electric circuit board incorporated therein, the electric circuit board having a base plate provided on its one face with first contact parts consisting of electric contacts exposed to the exterior, and on its other face with circuit elements electrically connected to the first contact parts by way of a wiring, characterized in that the other face of the base plate is provided with second contact parts consisting of electric contacts electrically connected to the wiring and exposed to the exterior.
Shape of the second contact parts is not restricted. For example, plated terminals of a circular shape and a rectangular shape can be adopted. The base plate having a thickness of about 0.2 mm to 0.8 mm can be employed. As the circuit elements, the chip resistors and IC can be exemplified.
According to the magnetic tape cassette of the invention, in the process of taking a plurality of electric circuit boards from a large size board sheet, a prescribed measurement can be done by means of the second contacts which are provided on the side carrying the circuit elements. Moreover, in both the measuring process and the press process, measuring terminals and cutting means such as cutting edges can be respectively moved in the same direction to be abutted against the electric circuit board. Therefore, manufacturing system can be simplified, and upsizing of the board sheet become possible, thus enhancing productivity of the electric circuit board.
a) and 26(b) are sectional views of an upper cassette half in the conventional magnetic tape cassette.
Now, embodiments of the invention will be described referring to the drawings. Components having similar structures and operation to those components which have been already described will be denoted with the same or corresponding reference numerals, and their explanation will be simplified or omitted.
As shown in
The cam groove 26 formed on the back face 18b of the tape guide 18 has an S-shape so that the back face 18b may be substantially divided in a vertical direction. In this embodiment, a lower curved part 26a of the cam groove 26 is extended up to a position below an upper face of the projection 28. The lower curved part 26a extends forwardly.
On the back face 18b of the tape guide 18, molding sink preventive recesses 29a, 29b are respectively formed only at a forward position of the back face 18b which is divided by the cam groove 26, and at a backward position of the back face 18b which is divided by the cam groove 26 and above the projection 28. The tape guide 18 is provided with a top plate 18c.
As shown in
Although the tape guide 18 is provided with the top plate 18c in the above described embodiment, in some cases, a tape guide 38 having no top plate may be employed for the reason of design as shown in
It is to be noted that in an ordinary 8mm cassette, the projection provided with the detecting hole does not exist at the same position as in the above described embodiment. As the result, the molding sink preventive recess will not be so small, and the problem of damaging the mold will not occur.
A characteristic structure of this embodiment is that each of the upper walls 55b has a curved shape and is arranged at a forward position as compared with the conventional example as shown in
By the way, there is a fear that by arranging the upper wall 55b in the forward position, the upper wall 55b may not be flush with the lower wall of the lower cassette half, and as the result, dust proofing property cannot be assured. Therefore, as a countermeasure, the upper wall 55b may be inclined backward in a downward direction to make a mating face between the upper wall 55b and the lower wall flush, thus ensuring the dust proofing property.
Now, a method of assembling the magnetic tape cassette in this embodiment will be described. As a first step, the outer lid, the top lid and the inner lid are temporarily assembled. Then, the slide pins of the top lid are engaged in the cam grooves for the upper lid provided in the upper cassette half, and at the same time, the pivotal pins of the outer lid are engaged with the pin holding cutouts in both side walls of the upper cassette half.
Thereafter, as shown in
From a viewpoint of improving assembling performance, there is provided a tapered guide 56c at an upper end of an end wall 56d on a top of the cam groove 56 for the inner lid. The cam groove 56 for the inner lid is open in an upward direction so that the slide pin 323c of the inner lid 323 can be inserted therein. The tapered guide 56c is provided at an edge of the opening.
In the above described embodiment, the slide pins of the inner lid are regulated in position, by arranging the curved upper walls 55b in the more forward position than the conventional upper wall. However, means for regulating the position are not restricted to this embodiment, but appropriate variations and modifications can be made. For example, the upper walls of the upper cassette half may be at the same position as in the conventional example, and additional projections may be provided on the upper walls to regulate the position of the inner lid by means of these projections. Alternatively, by cutting the cam grooves for the upper lid in the upper cassette half into which the slide pins of the top lid are adapted to be engaged deep in a backward direction for a determined length, the upper walls at the same position as in the conventional example can be abutted against the slide pins of the inner lid thus to regulate the position of the inner lid.
A characteristic structure of this embodiment is that a slid pin abutting face (a front face) 85c of the upper wall 85b is arranged ahead of an end wall 86d in an upper part of a cam groove 86 for the inner lid. The end wall 86d extends substantially perpendicularly to a flat plate 82b of the lower cassette half. In a fully opened state of the open/close lid 320, the slide pin abutting face 85c of the upper wall 85b is abutted against the slide pin 323c of the inner lid 323 thereby to position the inner lid 323. On this occasion, the slide pin 323c is positioned directly above an opening of the cam groove 86 for the inner lid. Accordingly, the slide pin 323c can be easily inserted into the cam groove 86 for the inner lid. Moreover, because the slide pin abutting face 85c of the upper wall 85b is arranged ahead of the end wall 86d of the cam groove 86 for the inner lid, the slide pin 323c will not be abutted against the end wall 86d of the cam groove 86 for the inner lid when the upper cassette half is assembled to the lower cassette half. In other words, the slide pin 323c can be reliably inserted into the cam groove 86 for the inner lid without interfering with the end wall 86d.
For information, the slide pin abutting face 85c of the upper wall 85b and the end wall 86d of the cam groove 86 for the inner lid may be located on the same plane.
A characteristic structure of this embodiment is that a slide pin abutting face (a front face) 125c of the upper wall 125b and an end wall 126d of a cam groove 126 for an inner lid include a center line C of the reference hole 138a of the projection 138 for dimensional reference, and is positioned substantially on the same plane as a plane which is parallel to a vertical direction of the cassette case (in a direction perpendicular to the flat plates of both the upper and lower cassette halves). Herein, the expression “is positioned substantially on the same plane” includes a concept that they are positioned not only on the completely same plane, but they may be deviated in back and forth directions of the cassette within a range of 1.0 mm or less.
By positioning the reference holes 132a, 138a of the projections 132, 138 for dimensional reference while the open/close lid is fully opened, the position of the slide pin 223c of the inner lid 323 in the back and forth direction can be aligned with a position of an insertion opening of the cam groove 126 for the inner lid. On this occasion, the slide pin 323c is located directly above the opening of the cam groove 126 for the inner lid. Therefore, assembling performance of both the upper and lower cassette halves can be enhanced according to this embodiment.
In either of the above described embodiments, from viewpoints of dust proofing property and assembling performance of the upper and lower cassette halves, the front wall of the upper cassette half may preferably have such a structure as shown in
It is to be noted that the present invention is not restricted to those embodiments described above, but appropriate variations and modifications can be made. For example, it is apparent that the embodiment as shown in
An open/close lid in this embodiment is also composed of an outer lid, a top lid and an inner lid 323. The inner lid 323 is provided with slide pins 323c at both ends of a lower edge of a back lid plate 323a. The slide pins 323c are slidably engaged in cam grooves 166 for the inner lid formed on inner faces of tape guides 168 which are provided at both sides of an opening of a lower cassette half 162. The cam grooves 166 for the inner lid have an S-shape and are open above the tape guides 168. From a front end of an upper cassette half 161, there are projected forwardly cam covers 171 in a shape of flat plate for covering upper ends of the openings of the cam grooves 166 for the inner lid. The cam covers 171 are provided at both sides of the openings. The cam covers 171 restrain the slide pins 323c of the inner lid 323 from being detached upward out of the cam grooves 166.
An inner face 171a of one of the cam covers 171 opposed to the other cam cover which is not shown is provided at its base part with a protrusion 172 for guiding a movement of the inner lid 323. The protrusion 172 projects from the inner face 171a inwardly with a minute width Δ. In short, the inner face 171a is integrally provided with the protrusion 172 which further projects inwardly beyond the inner face 171a, and both the side faces of the inner lid 323 are restricted in position by means of inner faces 172a of both the protrusions 172. A length of the protrusion in back and forth direction is γ which is slightly shorter than a length β of the cam cover 171 in the back and forth direction.
Between the inner face 171a of the cam cover 171 and the inner face 172a of the protrusion 172, there is formed a tapered face (a guide face) 173. Because of the presence of this tapered face 173, the inner lid 323 can smoothly move between the inner face 171a of the cam cover 171 and the inner face 172a of the protrusion 172.
Now, operation of the magnetic tape cassette in this embodiment will be described. When the open/close lid is opened and closed, the inner lid 323 performs opening and closing motions in association with the outer lid and the top lid, and both the side faces of the inner lid 323 are guided along the protrusions 172. The inner lid 323 guided by the protrusions 172 is drawn to a position at a center of the cassette (a center of the opening), and there are created spaces respectively between both the side faces of the inner lid 323 and the inner faces of the tape guides 168. In this manner, interferences of the inner lid 323 with the tape guides 168 will be prevented, enabling the opening and closing motion of the open/close lid to be smoothly conducted, and occurrence of an error such as drop out and so on due to abrasion powder can be avoided.
Further, in a state where the open/close lid is completely closed, the upper edge of the inner lid 323 is positioned ahead of the tapered faces 173, and the inner lid 323 will not be held by the protrusions 172 from both sides. In other words, there are created spaces between entire surface of the side faces of the inner lid 323 and the inner faces 168b of the tape guides 168, and thus, the inner lid 323 is made free. When the magnetic tape cassette has accidentally fallen down, an outer force can be received by the entire surface of the side faces of the inner lid 323, and it can be avoided that only a part of the inner lid 323 is intensively loaded. As the results, damage of the magnetic tape cassette due to a shock or the like can be eliminated.
A pin holding hole 194 is defined by pin supporting pieces 208a, 208b which are integrally provided at front sides of the side walls of the upper and lower cassette halves 181, 182. Into the pin holding hole 194, is engaged a pivotal pin 321c having a distal end flange 333 which is provided on a side plate 321b of an outer lid 321.
As shown in
Now, operation of this embodiment will be described. When the magnetic tape cassette has been loaded in a hardware which is not shown, the outer lid 321 will be pushed upward by means of a lid opening pin of the hardware, and the open/close lid will be opened. The spring hook projection 336 provided on the outer lid 321 is moved along the outer face 209b of the pin supporting piece 208b of the lower cassette half 182. After the spring hook projection 336 has ridden across the outer face 209b of the pin supporting piece 208b of the lower cassette half 182 and the outer face 209a of the pin supporting piece 208a of the upper cassette half 181, the spring hook projection 336 will be moved upwardly and outwardly along the outer face 209a of the pin supporting piece 208a of the upper cassette half 181. There is no such step-like difference between the outer faces 209a and 209b of the pin supporting pieces 208a, 208b of the upper and lower cassette halves as interfering with the spring hook projection 336. As the results, the open/close lid 320 can be smoothly opened. In addition, an occurrence of an error such as a dropout and so on due to abrasion powder will be avoided.
On occasion of closing the open/close lid 320, the spring hook projection 336 will be moved downward by means of a force of the lid spring 327, from the state where the spring hook projection 336 is kept in contact with an upper end of the outer face 209a of the pin supporting piece 208a of the upper cassette half which is located at the outermost side. The open/close lid 320 will be moved downward without contacting the outer faces 209a, 209b of the pin supporting pieces 208a, 208b of the upper and lower cassette halves.
The outer lid 321 includes a front lid plate 321a covering a front face of the magnetic tape which is not shown, and side plates 321b provided at both ends of the front lid plate 321a. There are provided pivotal pins 321c projected from inner faces of both the side plates 321b and adapted to be rotatably engaged with pin supporting pieces 238a provided at both ends of a forward part of the upper cassette half 211.
A lid spring 327 in a form of a helical spring is mounted on one of the pivotal pins 321c which is projected from the side plate 321b of the outer lid 321 and adapted to be engaged with the other side in a longitudinal direction (a left side in the drawings, herein referred to as a “T side”) of the upper cassette half 211. The lid spring 327 has such a shape that both ends of its coiled part are respectively extended rectilinearly.
The top lid 322 has an upper lid plate 322a covering an upper edge of the magnetic tape, and side plates 322b provided at both ends of the upper lid plate 322a. There are provided front lid connecting pins 322c projected from forward sides of inner faces of the side plates 322b and adapted to connect the top lid 322 to the outer lid 321. There are further provided slide pins 322d at rearward ends of the inner faces of the side plates 322b and adapted to be slidably engaged with cam grooves 225 for the upper lid which are formed at both sides of a forward part of the upper cassette half 211.
The inner lid 323 has a back lid plate 323a covering a back side of the magnetic tape. There are provided upper lid connecting pins 323b projected from both ends of an upper edge of the back lid plate 323a and adapted to connect the inner lid 323 to the top lid 322. There are further provided slide pins 323c projected from both sides of a lower edge of the back lid plate 323a and adapted to be slidably engaged with cam grooves for an inner lid which are provided in tape guides of a lower cassette half which is not shown.
At the T side as shown in
On the other hand, at the S side as shown in
It is to be noted that the cam groove at the S side is not limited to this shape, but the width of the groove may be set to be W1 along the entire length of the arc-shaped portion, and may be gradually decreased from W1 in the rectilinear portion.
On occasion of assembling the open/close lid to the upper cassette half 211, the outer lid 321, the top lid 322 and the inner lid 323 have been temporarily assembled in advance. Then, the pivotal pins 321c of the outer lid 321 are engaged with the pin supporting pieces 238a of the upper cassette half 211, and at the same time, the slide pins 322d of the top lid 322 are inserted into the cam grooves 225 of the upper cassette half 211, thereby to complete assembling of the open/close lid to the upper cassette half 211. At this moment, the open/close lid is in a closed state, and the slide pins 322d are positioned near the open ends of the cam grooves 225 as shown in
In order to open the open/close lid of the magnetic tape cassette, a lock of the open/close lid is released by lock releasing means which are not shown, and when the outer lid 321 is rotated about the pivotal pins 321c against the force of the lid spring 327, the front side of the top lid 322 supported by the outer lid 321 will be raised along an arc. At an instant when the top lid 322 starts to be raised, the slide pin 322d at the S side as shown in
According to the magnetic tape cassette having the above described structure, generation of abrasion powder due to abrasion between the cam grooves 225 for the upper lid of the upper cassette half 211 and the slide pins 322d of the top lid 322 can be reliably prevented, and a dropout and so on will not occur.
It is to be noted that the invention is not limited to the above described embodiment, but appropriate variations and modifications can be made. For example, the width of the cam groove in the curved portion at the T side may be smaller than in the rectilinear portion, and the width of the cam groove in both the curved portion and the rectilinear portion at the S side may be equal to the width of the rectilinear portion of the cam groove at the T side. In this manner, because the gap with respect to the slide pin in the curved portion of the cam groove at the T side has been made extremely narrow, the slide pin at the S side swings to less extent, and abrasion will not occur at the S side. It is also possible to apply technical concept of the invention to the inner lid.
The base plate 250a is provided with four through holes 252. At respective positions on a back face of the base plate 250a corresponding to the through holes 252, there are provided rectangular contacts 351a to 351d (refer to
Now, steps of producing the ID board 250 will be described hereunder.
As a first step, material for the base plate is prepared by attaching copper foils to both faces of an epoxy resin containing glass plate. The copper foils having the rectangular shape are left on one face (a back face) of the material of the back plate, and the copper foils having the determined printed wiring and the circular shape are left on the other face (a front face) through pattern printing, etching and rinsing process. Then, the through holes are formed at the determined positions of the copper foils, and plating treatments are conducted. First, nickel plating is given, and then, decorative gold plating (D-Au) is given. Successively, the area except the contacts 255a to 255d, and 351a to 351d are coated with a protective film through resist treatment. Thereafter, slits for defining the ID boards will be made by means of a punch or the like, and thus, an ID board sheet has been produced. In this embodiment, a thickness of the ID board sheet is set to be 0.4 mm.
Then, a reinforcing plate (having a thickness of 1.0 to 5.0 mm) which is a flat plate made of iron or the like having higher rigidity than plastic is bonded to a back face of the produced ID board sheet. In this case, an adhesive is applied only to the connecting members of the ID board sheet to bond the reinforcing plate to the ID board. Then, the ID board sheet having the reinforcing plate bonded to the back face will be transferred to a mounting section, and after the chip resistors 253a, 253b have been mounted on the front face of the ID board sheet, the ID board sheet will be transferred to a measuring section as shown in
Then, the ID board sheet 260 will be transferred to a press section as shown in
According to the ID board 250 described above, in the process of taking out the ID boards 250 from the ID board sheet 260, the contact 255a to 255d which are the second contact parts are exposed from the upper face of the ID board sheet 260, when the ID board sheet 260 provided with the chip resistors 253a, 253b on the front face thereof has been transferred to the measuring section.
Therefore, the measuring terminals 271 can be easily brought into contact with the contact 255a to 255d, and thus a mechanism for supporting the ID board sheet 260 in the measuring section can be simplified.
In addition, because the ID board sheet 260 can be prevented from being warped by the use of the reinforcing plate 270, the ID board sheet 260 can be made large-sized. As the results, productivity of the ID board can be enhanced.
Further, since the reinforcing plate 270 has been bonded to only the connecting members 261 of the ID board sheet 260, a work for peeling the ID boards 250 from the reinforcing plate 270 after cutting in the press section will not be required.
The slim electric circuit board according to the invention is not limited to the above described embodiment, but appropriate variations and modifications can be made. For example, memory elements may be provided in place of the chip resistors. In this case, the measuring terminals in the measuring section get in touch with the contacts on the surface of the ID board to detect memory function of the memory elements. Moreover, the slim electric circuit board according to the invention may be produced for example, by employing a reinforcing plate in other shapes than the flat plate, or without employing any reinforcing plate, provided that warpage may not occur in the ID board sheet.
It is to be noted that the invention is not limited to the above described embodiments, but appropriate variations, modifications and so on can be made. For example, the invention can be applied to other types of magnetic tape cassettes than DVC. The invention may be also applied not only to the magnetic tape cassette having a lid of three panel type, but also to a magnetic tape cassette having the lid of two panel type.
Although the invention has been described referring to the several embodiments and variations, it is apparent that the invention also includes combinations of at least two of these embodiments and variations.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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P. 11-137406 | May 1999 | JP | national |
This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 09/979,011 filed Nov. 15, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,866,215, which is the National Stage of International Application PCT/JP00/03136, filed May 16, 2000; the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country |
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0 720 163 | Jul 1996 | EP |
5-54592 | Mar 1993 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20040031870 A1 | Feb 2004 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 09979011 | US | |
Child | 10640320 | US |