Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to tape cassettes
and to the cassette holders of cassette tape recor~ing
and/or reproducing apparatus of the front-loading type in
which tape cassettes of different sizes can be selectively
employed.
Description of the Prior Art
In a known cassette tape recording and/or
reproducing apparatus capable of selectively employing tape
cassettes of different sizes, for example, as disclosed in
U.S. Patent No. 3,735,939, having a common assignee
herewith, a cassette holder movable between a raised
cassette receiving and discnarging position and a lowered
cassette loading position is provided with a single,
substantially laterally centered guide rail that extends
parallel to the direction in which a cassette is slidably
inserted into, or removed from the holder with the latter in
its raised position. Each cassette, whether of large size
or small size, is provided with a substantially centered
guide groove in its bottom surface for slidably receiving
the guide rail of the holder when the respective cassette is
inserted into the holder so as to correctly position the
cassette relative to the holder.
It will be apparent that, in the foregoing
arrangement according to the prior art, each of the
cassettes of different sizes has to be provided with a
substantially laterally centered guide groove in its bottom
surfaces for suitably positioning either the small-sized or
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large-sized cassette in the cassette holder. However, many
cassettes that are currently available commercially and
could be economically used as the small- sized cassettes do
not have an approximately laterally centered guide groove in
the bottom surface and, hence, cannot be used in the
described arrangement according to the prior art for
permitting the use of cassettes of different sizes in a
cassette tape recording and/or reproducing apparatus.
Therefore, in order to use the currently commercially
available cassettes as the relatively small-sized cassettes
according to the known arrangement, each currently available
cassette would have to be additionally processed to provide
the laterally centered guide groove in its bottom surface.
It is apparent that such additional processing of each
currently available cassette would be both costly and
difficult.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to
provide a tape cassette recording and/or reproducing
apparatus capable of selectively employing cassettes of
different sizes without encountering the described
disadvantages of the prior art.
More specifically, it is an ob~ect of this
invention to provide a tape cassette recording and/or
reproducing apparatus capable of selectively employing at
least a large-sized cassette and also a small-sized cassette
which, if desired, may be of a type currently available
commercially without modification.
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In accordance with an aspect of this invention, a
relatively large-sized tape casse~te is provided having a
width measured in a transverse direction larger than the
similarly measured width of a standard, relatively small-
sized tape cassette and which is adapted to ~e selectively
loaded, in place of the standard cassette, into a tape
cassette recording and/or reproducing apparatus, such large-
sized tape cassette having a bottom surface with a plurality
of grooves therein spaced apart in the transverse direction
by a distance equal to the width of the standard, relatively
small-sized cassette, and extending at right angles to the
respective transverse direction.
In accordance with another aspect of this
invention, the tape cassette recording and/or reproducing
apparatus capable of selective operation with either the
large-sized cassette or the standard, relatively small-
sized cassette comprises a cassette holder movable between a
cassette receiving and discharging position and a cassette
loading position, a pair of parallel guide rails on the
cassette holder which are spaced apart laterally for
slidable reception in the grooves of the large-sized
cassette so as to position the latter in respect to the
holder in the loading position and so as to guide the large-
sized cassette i~ and out of the holder in the receiving and
discharging position, and confronting surfaces on the guide
rails which are spaced apart by the width of the small-sized
cassette so that such confronting surfaces are slidably
engageable with opposed side surfaces of the small-sized
cassette for positioning the latter in respect to the holder
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in the loading position and for guiding the small-sized
cassette in and out of the holder in the receiving and
discharging position.
The above, and other objects, features and
advantayes of the invention, will be apparent in the
following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment
of the invention which is to be read in connection with the
accompanying drawings wherein corresponding parts are
identified by the same refer~nce numerals in the several
views.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a perspective view, partly broken away
and in section, of a cassette holder included in a tape
cassette recording and/or reproducing apparatus according to
an embodiment of the invention;
Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the cassette
holder shown in its raised cassette receiving and
discharging position and with a large-sized cassette
positioned therein according to this invention;
Fig. 3 is a front elevational view similar to that
of Fig. 2, but showing a small-sized cassette positioned in
the cassette holder according to this invention;
Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line
IV-IV on Fig. 2, but showing the cassette holder containing
the large-sized cassette in its loading position; and
Fig. 5 is a view similar to that of Fig. 4, but
showing the small-sized cassette situated in the cassette
holder.
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DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to the drawings in detail, it will be
seen that, in accordance with this invention, there are
provided a large-sized cassette 1 (Figs. 2 and 4) and a
small-sized cassette 2 (Figs. 3 and 5) which may b~ of a
currently commercially available type, for example, of the
typ~ employed in Beta-type cassette VTRs. Each of the
cassettes 1 and 2 contains a pair of rotatable reels
conventionally arranged side-by-side, and one of which is
indicated at R on Fig. 4. The cassettes 1 and 2 are
substantially rectangular and have equal thicknesses Tl and
T2 (Figs. 2 and 3), while the large-sized cassette 1 has a
width W1 measured in the transverse direction (Fig. 2) and a
depth or dimension D1 measured at right angles to the
transverse direction (Fig. 4) that are substantially larger
than the width W2 and depth D2, respectively, (Figs. 3 and
5) of the small-sized cassette 2. Thus, the reels contained
in cassette 1 can be spaced further apart and of
substantially larger diameter than those contained in
cassette 2 so as to permit a substantially larger amount of
tape to be wound on the reels in cassette 1 than is wound on
the reels contained in cassette 2. Cassettes 1 and 2 have
openings l and 2' respectively, extending across the back
of the respective cassette for affording access to the tape
within the cassette, and lids 3 and 4 (Figs. 4 and 5) are
pivotally mounted at the back portions of cassettes 1 and 2,
respectively, for swinging movements in the direction of the
arrows C between closed positions covering the openings l
and 2' and the illustrated raised, opened positions (Figs.
4 and 5).
In accordance ~ resent invention, the
large-sized tape cassette 1 is formed, in its bottom surface
la, with a plurality of grooves 5 (Figs. 2 and 4) which are
spaced apart in the transverse direction by a distance w
approximately equal to the width W2 of the small-sized
cassette 2. Such grooves 5 are parallel to each other and
extend at right angles to the transverse direction of the
cassette 1. Further, as shown on Fig. 4, each of the
grooves 5 has a length Ll substantially smaller than the
depth D1 of the cassette 1 and extends from a back edge lb
at the bottom of cassette 1 which, at least in part, defines
the opening l. The grooves 5 are open only at the back
ends 5a thereof, that is, only at the ends corresponding to
the edge lb, while the forward ends 5b of the grooves are
closed.
As distinguished from the foregoing, the small-
sized cassette 2, which as noted above may be a commercially
available cassette for use in Beta-type VTRs, is used
without modification, and thus does not have any grooves in
the bottom surface 2a thereof, as shown on Fig. 3.
A tape cassette recording and/or reproducing
apparatus capable of selective operation with either the
large-sized cassette 1 or the small-sized cassette 2
includes a cas-ette holder 10 formed of sheet metal and
having side portions lOa directed upwardly from the opposite
side edges of a bottom support plate lOb, and a bracing
member lOc extending between side portions lOa adjacent the
back of holder 10 and being spaced upwardly from support
plate lOb. It will be apparent from Fig. 2 that cassette
holder lO is large enough to accommodate the large-sized
cassette l, and hence also the small-sized cassette 2. More
particularly, the lateral distance between side portions lOa
of holder lO is shown to be larger than the width wl of the
large-sized cassette 1, while the vertical distance between
support plate lOb and the underside of bra~ing member lOc is
at least slightly larger than the thicknesses Tl and T2 of
cassettes 1 and 2, respectively.
Eac~ ~ side portions lOa of holder 10 has guide
rollers lla and llb directed outwardly therefrom, and a
third guide roller llc, at each side of the cassette holder,
is directed outwardly from the lower end of a bracket lOd
depending from the respective side portion of support plate
lOb. Guide rollers lla,llb and llc are movable along guide
slots 14a,14b and 14c, respectively, formed in vertically
directed side plates 13 which are suitably fixed, at their
lower portions, to the opposite sides of a chassis 12 (Figs.
2 and 3) and which extend upwardly from the latter. The
guide slots 14a,14b and 14c each have a relatively long
horizontally extending portion from which, at the back end,
a vertical portion depends. Thus, cassette holder 10 is
guided by guide rollers lla,llb and llc and guide slots 14a,
14b and 14c for reciprocal movements in the directions
indicated by the arrows a and b on Figs. 4 and 5 along a
generally inverted L-shaped path between a raised cassette
receiving and discharging position (Figs. 1,2 and 3), and a
lowered cassette loading or mounting position (Figs. 4 and
5). It will be appreciated that the bottom support plate
lOb of holder 10 remains horizontal during its movements
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between the cassette receiving and discharginq position and
the cassette loading position. Further, in the cassette
receiving and discharging position, support plate lOb is
substantially at the level of the bGttom edge of a port 16
provided in a front panel 15 of the apparatus, and the open
front of holder 10 is then disposed immediately in back of
opening or port 16 so that a cassette 1 or 2 can be slidably
inserted through port 16 into holder 10. On the other hand,
in the lowered cassette loading or mounting position, the
cassette 1 or 2 in holder 10 is moved rearwardly and
downwardly onto a pair of reel tables 17 which project
upwardly through cutouts lOe (Fig. 1) in support plate lOb
and engage in the hubs (not shown) of the supply and take-up
reels in cassette 1 or 20
As shown on Figs. 2 and 3, the reel tables 17 are
rotatably mounted on support blocks 19 which are
reciprocable along respective horizontally disposed guide
rails mounted on cha~sis 12. Further, each support block 19
carries a motor 20 for rotatably driving the respective reel
table 17. A holder driving mechanism (which is not related
to the present invention and hence not shown) may be
provided to selectively drive holder 10 between its raised,
cassette receiving and discharging position and its cassette
loading or mounting position. Further, a mechanism (which
also bears no relation to the present invention and is not
shown) may be desirably provided for responding to the size
of the cassette 1 or 2 inserted into holder 10 when the
latter is in its cassette receiving and discharging
position, and for suitably positioning reel tables 17 for
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engagement with the reels contained within the inserted
cassette. Thus, for example, when a large-sized cassette 1
is inserted into cassette holder 10, as shown on Fig. 2, the
distance between reel tables 17 is increased to correspond
to the distance between the axes of the reels contained
within the large-si~ed cassette 1~ On the other hand, when
a small-sized cassette 2 is inserted, as shown in Fig. 3,
the distance between the axes of reel tables 17 is decreased
to correspond to the relatively smaller distance provided
between the axes of the reels in small-sized cassette 2. It
is also to be noted that, when a large- sized cassette 1 is
inserted in holder 10, the reel tables 17 are in relatively
forward positions so as to be adjacent to the forward edge
of support plate 10b with holder 10 in its cassette loading
position (Fig. 4), whereas, reel tables 17 are rearwardly
displaced from the forward edge of support plate 10b in the
loading position of cassette holder 10 when the latter
contains a small-sized cassette 2 (Fig. 5).
In accordance with the present invention, a pair
of parallel, laterally spaced apart guide rails 23 are
secured on the upper surface of support plate 10b of holder
10, as by screws 24. The guide rails 23 are desirably
formed of molded synthetic resin. The rails 23 extend
parallel to the direction of movement of holder 10 and are
symmetrically disposed in respect to the middle of holder
10. Further, in accordance with the present invention,
guide rails 23 are laterally spaced relative to each other
so that the lateral distance dl (Fig. 1) between the
confronting surfaces 25 of guide rails 23 is substantially
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equal to the distance w1 between the yrooves 5 in the
bottom surface of large-sized cassette 1 and also
substantially equal to the width W2 of the small-sized
cassette 2. As shown particularly on Fig. 1, the forward
end portions of confronting surfaces 25 on guide rails 23
diverge from each other, as at 26, for facilitating the
entry of a cassette 1 or 2 into holder 10.
As shown on Fig. 2, when a large-sized cassette
1 is selectively inserted in cassette holder 10, guide
grooves 5 in the bottom surface la of cassette 1 slidably
receive guide rails 23 and the surfaces 5c at the
laterally inner sides of grooves 5 slidably engage the
confronting or positioning surfaces 25 on guide rails 23
for thereby accurately positioning cassette 1 in the
lateral direction relative to holder 10. Further, as
shown on Fig. 4, the length Ll of each of the guide
grooves 5 in the large-sized cassette 1 is approximately
equal to the length of the guide rails 23. Since guide
grooves 5 in the bottom surface la of large-sized
cassette 1 only open at the back edge lb of the bottom of
cassette 1, that is, guide grooves 5 only open at the
ends thereof adjacent opening l of the cassette, it will
be apparent that cassette 1 can be inserted in holder 10
only with opening l and lid 3 directed towards the back,
that is, with opening l in leading relation when
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cassette 1 is inserted lnto holder 10. If the large-
sized cassette 1 is inserted into port 16 with lid 3 at
the foremost or trailing part of the cassette, guide
rails 23 will prevent the insertion of the erroneously
oriented cassette 1 into holder 10.
When a small-sized cassette 2 is selectively
inserted in the horizontal direction through port 16 into
holder 10 in its raised cassette receiving and
discharging
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position, the opposite side surfaces 2b of cassette 2 are
guided by the rearwardly converging end portions 26 of
confronting surfaces 25 so as to engage between the surfaces
25 of guide rails 23 and thereby be accurately positioned in
the lateral direction relative to holder 10.
As is shown particularly on Fig. 1, the support
plate lOb of holder lQ has stop elements, for example, in
the form of tabs 27, directed upwardly between guide rails
23 from the back edge lOf of support plate 10~. Thus, when
a large-sized cassette 1 is inserted into holder 10, the
edge 1~ of the bottom la of the cassette which defines, at
least in part, the opening l' and which is in leading
relation during insertion of the cassette into the holder,
engages the stop elements or tabs 27 for precisely locating
lid 3 and opening l relative to holder 10 in the forward
and rearward direction. ~Similarly, when a small-sized
cassette 2 is inserted into holder 10, the edge of the
bottom surface of the cassette which is in leading relation
and which defines, at least in part, the opening 2 is
engageable against tabs 27 for precisely locating opening 2
and lid 4 relative to the holder. Accordingly, when holder
10 is moved to its lowered cassette loading or mounting
position with either a large-sized cassette 1 or a
small-sized cassette 2 in the holder 10, the lid 3 or 4 and
the opening l or 2 of such cassette is precisely located
relative to the holder for ensuring that a conventional lid
opening device (not shown) will properly engage the lid 3 or
4 for opening the latter in the direction of the arrow C on
Figs. 4 and 5. The accurate positioning of the cassette 1
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or 2 relative to the holder 10 further ensures that the size
of the cassette will be reliably sensed for causing the
proper adjustment of the posi~ions of the reel tables 17 for
engagement with the reels in cassette 1 or 2, as previously
described.
In the above described embodiment of the
invention, the confronting or laterally inwardly directed
surfaces 25 of guide rails 23 serve to laterally position
the small-sized cassette 2 by engagement with the side
surfaces 2b of such cassette, and also to laterally position
the large-sized cassette 1 by engagement with the surfaces
5c at the inner sides of guide grooves 5. However, if
desired, the guide grooves 5 can be laterally located or
dimensioned in the bottom surface of large-sized cassette 1
so that the outwardly facing sides of rails 23 are slidably
engageable with the side surfaces of grooves 5 at the outer
sides of the latter for laterally locating the large-sized
cassette 1 in the holder 10. In such case, the inner or
confronting surfaces 25 of rails 23 would still serve to
locate a small-sized cassette 2 by engagement with the
opposite side surfaces of the latter.
Although the present invention has been described
as having particular application to the holder of a cassette
VTR, it will be appreciated that the invention can be
similarly applied to various cassette mounting devices in
other cassette recording and/or reproducing apparatus, such
as, data processing apparatus and the like.
Having described a specific embodiment of the
invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is
to be understood that the invention is not limited to that
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precise embodiment, and that various changes and
modifications may be effected therein by one skilled in the
art without departing from the scope or spirit of the
invention as defined in the appended claims.
