JPH0782691B2 - Cassette transfer device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention will be described in the following order.

A Industrial Field B Outline of the Invention C Conventional Technology D Problems to be Solved by the Invention E Means for Solving Problems F Action G Example G ₁ Outline of Device and Support Mechanism of Vertical Guide Rail (Figs. 1 to 13) Description of G ₂ vertical drive mechanism and horizontal drive mechanism (Figs. 1 to 13)
13 Figure) G ₃ vertical guide rails and description of the movement of the cassette transporter (Fig. 1-Fig. 13) G ₄ Description of loosening prevention mechanism of the connecting member in the horizontal direction (FIG. 1-FIG. 3, FIG. 7 , FIG. 14 to FIG. 15B) Description of the mechanism for preventing loosening of the connecting member in the G ₅ vertical direction (FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, FIG. 7, FIG. 13, FIG. 16 to FIG. 17B)
Fig.) Explanation of the structure of the G ₆ vertical guide rail (Figs. 4 and 5)
FIG, FIGS. 7 and 8, Fig. 11 ~ Fig. 13, Fig. 16) It should be noted, illustrating a major part of the present invention by G ₁ ~G ₃ Section.

H Effect of the Invention A Industrial Field of Use The present invention is for carrying out continuous video reproduction for a long time by, for example, sequentially and selectively transferring a large number of video tape cassettes between a cassette storage rack and a video tape recorder. The present invention relates to an optimal cassette transfer device.

B Outline of the Invention The present invention provides a cassette transfer device configured to move a cassette transfer device between a recording / reproducing device and a cassette storage rack in which a large number of cassettes are stored to transfer the cassette in the vertical and horizontal directions. The vertical guide rail, on which the cassette transferer is vertically movably mounted, is swingably suspended above the cassette storage shelf on a slider that can be moved horizontally, and the vertical guide rail can be vertically synchronized. The vertical guide rails can be easily set and moved in an arbitrary tilted state by moving them in the left-right direction in an adjustable state, and also, in that tilted state, an unreasonable force is not applied to the slider. It is a thing.

C Conventional Technology In this type of cassette transfer device, generally, horizontal guide rails are provided on the top plate and the bottom plate of the main body of the device, and the horizontal guide rails are movable along the horizontal guide rails. A slider is provided, and a vertical guide rail on which the cassette transporter is vertically movable is provided.The upper end of this vertical guide rail is rigidly connected to the upper slider, and the lower end is supported by the lower slider. It was

Then, the cassette transporter is moved in the vertical direction along the vertical guide rails, and both sliders are moved in the horizontal direction along the horizontal guide rails to move the vertical guide rails, whereby the cassette transporter is moved in the horizontal direction. The cassette is moved between the cassette storage rack and the recording / reproducing device by moving the cassette transfer device in the vertical and horizontal directions.

D Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, the conventional vertical guide rail in which the upper end side is rigidly coupled to the upper slider has the following problems.

That is, when the top plate of the apparatus body is not parallel to the bottom plate and is inclined, the upper slider is also inclined due to the inclination of the upper horizontal guide rail. Since the upper end of the vertical guide rail is rigidly connected to the slider, the vertical guide rail is inclined together with the slider, and the vertical state cannot be maintained. Then, the vertical guide rail is moved in the left-right direction while being inclined. For this reason, the cassette transfer machine moved by the vertical guide rails and a large number of cassette storage shelves are misaligned, which causes inconvenience in delivering cassettes between them. On the contrary, even if the vertical guide rail is maintained in the vertical state, the cassette storage rack may be inclined due to the distortion of the frame or the like. In this case as well, since the vertical guide rail is rigidly connected to the slider, the vertical guide rail cannot be tilted so as to correspond to the cassette storage rack, and the same problem as described above occurs.

Therefore, in order to accurately match the positions of the cassette transfer machine and a large number of cassette storage shelves, in correspondence with the inclination or vertical state of the vertical guide rails, the top plate of the main body of the apparatus and the cassette storage shelves are adjusted in any case. It is necessary to accurately adjust the parallelism and verticality. However, these adjustments were extremely large-scale work and were extremely troublesome.

Moreover, in the structure in which the upper end side of the vertical guide rail is rigidly coupled to the slider, when the vertical guide rail is inclined, a large moment due to these weights is applied to the slider in addition to the weight of the vertical guide rail and the cassette transfer machine.
For this reason, in order to withstand an unreasonable force due to a large moment, the joint between the slider and the vertical guide rail, the guide roller for guiding the slider along the horizontal guide rail, and the like need to have large rigidity. Therefore, the joint between the slider and the vertical guide rail must be made extremely strong, which causes a problem that the slider is large and heavy, and the structure is complicated.

Therefore, the present invention is to set the vertical guide rail in an arbitrary inclined state so that the vertical guide rail can be moved, and to prevent an unreasonable force from being applied to the slider in the inclined state.

E Means for Solving the Problems The present invention relates to the above-described cassette transfer device, in which a slider that is movable in the left and right directions above the cassette storage shelf and a vertical mount in which the cassette transfer machine is vertically movable are attached. A guide rail and a vertical drive mechanism for moving the cassette transporter vertically along the vertical guide rail are provided, and the upper end side of the vertical guide rail is pivotally supported on the slider by the drive shaft of the vertical drive mechanism, and the vertical guide is provided. The rail is configured to be swingably suspended on the slider, and a horizontal drive mechanism having vertical synchronization adjusting means for driving the upper end side and the lower end side of the vertical guide rail in the horizontal direction is provided. The guide rail is horizontally moved by a horizontal drive mechanism to move the cassette transfer machine horizontally.

F Action According to the above-mentioned means, the vertical guide rail is suspended on the slider so that the vertical guide rail is kept in the vertical state even if the slider is tilted, and the vertical guide rail is moved in the left-right direction in this vertical state. It Further, since the swingable vertical guide rail is moved in the left-right direction by the horizontal drive mechanism having the vertical synchronization adjusting means, when the cassette storage shelf is tilted, the vertical guide rail can be moved by shifting the vertical synchronization. It can be easily set to an inclined state corresponding to the inclination of the cassette storage shelf and moved.

Moreover, the structure in which the upper end side of the vertical guide rail is pivotally supported by the slider so that the vertical guide rail is tilted does not give a large moment to the slider due to the weight of the vertical guide rail and the cassette transporter.

Further, since the vertical guide rail is pivotally supported on the slider by utilizing the drive shaft of the vertical drive mechanism, it is not necessary to provide a special pivot shaft, and the pivotal support structure of the vertical guide rail is extremely simple.

G Embodiment An embodiment of the cassette transfer device to which the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the drawings. In addition, this device is a cassette that performs continuous video reproduction (and / or video recording) for a long time by sequentially and selectively transferring a large number of video tape cassettes between a large number of cassette storage shelves and a plurality of video tape recorders. It is a transfer device.

G ₁ First, the outline of the apparatus and the support mechanism of the vertical guide rail will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 13.

First, as shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, a large number (for example, several hundreds) of cassette storage shelves 2 are provided on the apparatus main body 1 of the cassette transfer device in multiple rows in the vertical and horizontal directions. A large number of video tape cassettes (hereinafter simply referred to as cassettes) 3 are stored in each. Two sets of cassette storage shelves 2 are arranged in the front and rear of the apparatus main body 1. A plurality of video tape recorders (hereinafter simply referred to as VTRs) 4 which are recording / reproducing devices are arranged on the side of the apparatus main body 1 so as to be vertically stacked. Each
The VTR 4 is constructed so that the cassette 3 is inserted from the side surface. A vertical guide rail 5 is movably arranged in the left-right direction (arrows a, a'directions) between the cassette storage shelves 2 arranged at the front and rear, and the cassette transfer machine 6 moves vertically along the vertical guide rails 5. It is attached so as to be movable in the directions (arrows b, b'directions).

Therefore, the cassette 3 is pulled out from the predetermined cassette storage shelf 2 by the cassette transfer machine 6, and the vertical guide rail 5
In the direction of the arrow a and the movement of the cassette transfer device 6 in the direction of the arrow b or b ', the cassette 3 is transferred to a predetermined side position of the VTR 4, and the cassette 3 is sent from the cassette transfer device 6 into the VTR 4. It is worn and installed. The cassette 3 on which the desired recording or reproduction has been performed by the VTR 4 is pulled out by the cassette transfer device 6 and is moved by moving the vertical guide rail 5 in the arrow a'direction and the cassette transfer device 6 in the arrow b or b'direction. 3 is transferred to the original position of the cassette storage shelf 2, and the cassette 3 is sent from the cassette transfer machine 6 into the cassette storage shelf 2 and stored therein.

Next, the support mechanism 10 on the upper end side 5a of the vertical guide rail 5 will be described.

First, as shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, a horizontal guide rail 12 is fixed to the lower surface of the top plate 11 of the apparatus main body 1 along the left-right direction (arrow a, a'direction). A slider (13) is attached so as to be movable in the left-right direction. That is, as shown in FIGS.
Before and after the vertical ribs 16 of the horizontal guide rail 12 are sandwiched by four guide rollers 15 which are rotatably pivoted on the upper surface of the horizontal plate 14 and which are fixed to the upper surface of the horizontal plate 14. Eight guide rollers 18a, 18b, which are rotatably and pivotally mounted on a pair of vertical plates 17, are inserted into a pair of front and rear horizontal guide grooves 19 of the horizontal guide rail 12. The fifth
As shown in the figure, each guide roller 18a has a horizontal guide groove 19
Of the horizontal guide groove 1
It is in contact with the underside of 9. Therefore, the slider 13 is smoothly moved in the left-right direction (arrows a, a'directions) along the horizontal guide rail 12 by the guide rollers 15, 18a, 18b.

Next, a pair of front and rear support plates 20 and 21 are vertically fixed to the lower surface of the horizontal plate 14 of the slider 13 by a plurality of bolts 22. As shown in FIG. 7, a drive shaft 25 of a drive motor 24 of a vertical drive mechanism 23, which will be described later, is rotatably supported by both support plates 20 and 21. The drive motor 24 is a geared motor, and the drive shaft 25 is its output shaft. The drive motor 24 is fixed to the outer surface of one support plate 21, and the tip of the drive shaft 25 is supported by a bearing 26 formed of a ball bearing fixed to the inner surface of the other support plate 20.

Next, the upper end 5a of the vertical guide rail 5 is pivotally supported by the drive shaft 25. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, bearings 30 and 31 formed of a pair of ball bearings are fixed to the inner surfaces of the front and rear walls 28 and 29 at the upper end side 5a of the vertical guide rail 5,
The drive shaft 25 is inserted into both bearings 30 and 31. Therefore, the upper ends of the vertical guide rails 5 are
5a is pivotally supported on the drive shaft 25, whereby the upper end side 5a of the vertical guide rail 5 is pivotally supported by the slider 13 as shown in FIG. 5, so that the vertical guide rail 5 is suspended by the slider 13. It is configured. As shown in FIG. 7, a gap 34 having a width ω is provided between the support plates 20 and 21 and the vertical guide rail 5. When the vertical guide rail 5 is pivotally supported by the slider 13, the upper end 5a of the vertical guide rail 5 is pivotally supported by the drive shaft 25 attached to the pair of front and rear support plates 20 and 21, as shown in FIG. In addition, one of a pair of left and right connecting rods 32 connecting the support plates 20 and 21 to each other is hooked on a hook 33 fixed to the lower surface of the horizontal plate 14 of the slider 13 as shown in FIG. In this way, the vertical guide rail 5 is temporarily temporarily fixed to the horizontal plate 14 of the slider 13, and then both supporting plates 20 and 21 are fixed to the horizontal plate 14 by bolts 22, whereby the vertical guide rail 5 is pivotally supported on the slider 13. Therefore, this work can be performed very easily.

Next, the support mechanism 37 on the lower end side 5b of the vertical guide rail 5 will be described.

First, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a horizontal guide rail 39 is fixed to the upper surface of the bottom plate 38 of the apparatus main body 1 along the left-right direction (arrows a, a'directions).
A slider 40 is attached along 39 so as to be movable in the left-right direction. That is, as shown in FIG. 9 to FIG. 11, a horizontal T-shaped horizontal guide rail 39 is formed by four front, rear, left and right guide rollers 42 rotatably attached to the lower surface of the horizontal plate 41 of the slider 40. The vertical rib 43 is sandwiched. Therefore,
The slider 40 is smoothly moved in the left-right direction (arrow a, a'direction) along the horizontal guide rail 39 by each guide roller 42. At this time, the slider 40 is moved in the vertical direction (arrow b,
It is in an unrestrained state in which it is not regulated in the b'direction).

Next, a pair of upper and lower connecting portions 44 are fixed to the outer surface of the front wall 28 at the lower end side 5b of the vertical guide rail 5, and the horizontal plate 41 of the slider 40 is inserted between these connecting portions 44 to form a vertical shape. Connecting shaft
Connected by 45. Therefore, the upper slider 13
The lower end side 5b of the vertical guide rail 5 suspended on the lower side is supported by the lower slider 40.
Since 40 is not restrained in the vertical direction, the vertical guide rail 5 is configured such that the lower end side 5b is swingable in the directions of arrows c and c '(FIG. 10) with the drive shaft 25 at the upper end side 5a as a support shaft. There is.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 12 and FIG. 13, a slider 57 is fixed to the side surface of the cassette transfer machine 6, and four guides vertically and rotatably pivotally attached to the slider 57. A roller 58 is inserted into a vertical guide groove 59 of the vertical guide rail 5, and eight guide rollers 61a and 61b vertically and rotatably pivotally mounted on a pair of front and rear vertical plates 60 of a slider 57 are provided on the vertical guide rail 5. Are inserted in a pair of front and rear vertical guide grooves 62. As shown in FIG. 5, each guide roller
61a is in contact with the left side surface of the vertical guide groove 62, and each guide roller 61b is in contact with the right side surface of the vertical guide groove 62.
Therefore, the slider 57 is smoothly moved in the vertical direction (arrows b, b'directions) along the vertical guide rails 5 by the respective guide rollers 58, 61a, 61b, whereby the cassette transferer 6 is moved.

Further, as shown in FIG. 13, a counterweight 64 is attached to the vertical guide rail 5 symmetrically with the cassette transfer machine 6. That is, the four guide rollers 65 vertically and rotatably mounted on the counterweight 64 are inserted into the vertical guide grooves 66 of the vertical guide rail 5, and vertically and vertically 8
The individual guide rollers 67a and 67b are inserted into a pair of front and rear vertical guide grooves 68 of the vertical guide rail 5. The contact state of each guide roller 67a, 67a is the same as that on the side of the cassette transfer machine 6 described above.

G ₂ Next, the vertical drive mechanism and the horizontal drive mechanism will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 13.

First, the vertical drive mechanism 23 moves the cassette transfer machine 6 along the vertical guide rails 5 in the vertical direction (arrows b and b'directions). That is, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 7, the drive (toothed) pulley 47 is fixed to the intermediate portion of the drive shaft 25. The drive pulley 47 is arranged in the U groove 52 which is cut out from above the left and right walls 50 and 51 on the upper end side 5a of the vertical guide rail 5. Further, as shown in FIG. 11, bearings 53 made of a pair of ball bearings are fixed to the inner surfaces of the front and rear walls 28, 29 on the lower end side 5b of the vertical guide rail 5, and the driven shaft 54 is rotated by these bearings 53. It is supported freely. A driven (toothed) pulley 48 is fixed to the intermediate portion of the driven shaft 54. This driven pulley 48
Is arranged in the U-shaped groove 55 cut out from below in the left and right walls 50, 51 on the lower end side 5b of the vertical guide rail 5. A timing belt 49 is wound around the drive pulley 47 and the driven pulley 48. As shown in FIG. 12, the slider 57 of the cassette transfer machine 6 is fixed to a part of the timing belt 49 by a belt clamper 63. The counter weight 64 is fixedly attached to a part of the timing belt 49.

Next, the horizontal drive mechanism 71 moves the vertical guide rail 5 in the left-right direction (arrows a and a'directions). First, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 10, a pair of upper and lower bearings fixed to the top plate 11 and the bottom plate 38 laterally in the apparatus body 1.
A connecting shaft 73 is vertically rotatably arranged by 72. The lower end of the connecting shaft 73 is extended below the bottom plate 38, and a driven (toothed) pulley 74 is fixed thereto. As shown in FIG. 3, the drive shaft of the drive motor 75 (composed of a geared motor) fixed vertically to the bottom plate 38.
A timing belt 78 is wound around a driving (toothed) pulley 77 and a driven pulley 74 that are fixed to the 76. The connecting shaft 73 is provided with a pair of upper and lower drive (toothed) pulleys 79 and 80, and a pair of upper and lower driven (toothed) rotatably supported by the drive pulleys 79 and 80 and the top plate 11 and the bottom plate 38. A pair of upper and lower timing belts 83 and 84 are respectively wound around the pulleys 81 and 82. Both drive pulleys 79, 80
Are attached to the connecting shaft 73 via vertical synchronization adjusting means 86 each including a friction joint 85, and are configured so that the vertical synchronization can be adjusted by rotating the drive pulleys 79 and 80 with respect to the connecting shaft 73. ing. And Fig. 7 and
As shown in FIG. 11, a belt clamper 87 fixed to the horizontal plate 14 of the upper slider 13 is fixed to a part of the upper timing belt 83, and a belt fixed to the horizontal plate 41 of the lower slider 40. Timing belt 84 with clamper 88 on the lower side
Is stuck to a part of.

G ₃ Next, the movement of the vertical guide rail and the cassette transfer machine will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 13.

First, the connecting shaft 73 is rotationally driven via the timing belt 78 by the rotational driving of the drive motor 75 in the forward and reverse directions, and the connecting shaft 73 rotationally drives the pair of upper and lower drive pulleys 79 and 80. Then, the timing belts 83, 84 are driven in the left and right directions (arrows a, a'directions), and the upper and lower sliders 1
3, 40 are moved in the left-right direction, and the vertical guide rail 5 is moved in the left-right direction. The moving position of the vertical guide rail 5 is that the shutter plate 126 (FIG. 11) fixed to the lower end of the vertical guide rail 5 is located below the horizontal guide rail 3.
It is detected by crossing a plurality of sensors 127 fixed along 9.

Further, the drive pulley 47 is rotationally driven by the rotational drive of the drive motor 24 in the forward and reverse directions, and the timing belt 49 is driven in the vertical direction (arrows b and b'directions). As a result, the cassette transfer device 6 is moved in the vertical direction, and the counterweight 64 is moved in the vertical direction in balance with the cassette transfer device 6. Note that the moving position of the cassette transfer device 6 is the shutter plate 12 fixed to the vertical plate 60 of the slider 57.
8 is detected by crossing a plurality of sensors 129a-129e (FIGS. 5 and 10) fixed to the outer surface of the front wall 28 of the vertical guide rail 5. Here, the upper sensors 129a, 129b and
129c indicates the deceleration position, the origin position, and the limit position, and the lower sensors 129d and 129e indicate the deceleration position and the limit position, respectively.

By the way, according to the cassette transfer device operated as described above, since the vertical guide rail 5 is suspended by the slider 13 so as to be swingable, the top plate 11 of the device body 1 is parallel to the bottom plate 38. However, even if the slider 13 tilts and moves to the left and right in the tilted state, the vertical guide rail 5 is maintained in the vertical state and is moved to the left and right in this vertical state.

Further, since the swingable vertical guide rail 5 is moved in the horizontal direction by the horizontal drive mechanism 71 having the vertical synchronization adjusting means 86, when the cassette storage shelf 2 is tilted,
Friction joint 85 drives drive pulley up and down relative to connecting shaft 73
By adjusting 79, 80 and shifting the drive pulleys 79, 80 out of synchronization, the vertical guide rail 5 is moved to the arrow c or c '.
Can be swung in any direction. Therefore, the vertical guide rail 5 can be easily set and moved in an inclined state corresponding to the inclination of the cassette storage shelf 2. At this time,
Since the lower slider 40 is not restrained in the vertical direction, even if the vertical guide rail 5 is tilted, the length of the vertical guide rail 5 need not be adjusted at all.

Moreover, even when the vertical guide rail 5 is tilted, the upper end side 5a of the vertical guide rail 5 is pivotally supported by the slider 13 so as to be swingable, so that the weight of the vertical guide rail 5 and the cassette transfer machine 6 is large. Moment is slider
Never join 13.

Further, since the vertical guide rail 5 is pivotally supported on the slider 13 by utilizing the drive shaft 25 of the vertical drive mechanism 23, it is not necessary to provide a special pivot shaft, and the vertical guide rail 5 is pivotally supported. It's pretty easy. At this time, as shown in FIG. 7, a gap 34 having a width ω is provided between the support plates 20 and 21 of the slider 13 and the vertical guide rail 5. By inserting the vertical plate 60 of the slider 57 of No. 6, the cassette transfer machine 6 is moved upward without being influenced by both supporting plates 20 and 21, and a larger stroke can be obtained.

G ₄ Next, the slack prevention mechanism of the connecting member in the horizontal direction will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, 7, and 14 to 15B.

First, the slack prevention mechanism 90 uses the drive motor 24 of the vertical drive mechanism 23.
The connection member 92 that supplies the drive current, the control signal, and the like to the cassette transporter 6 is prevented from being loosened. A flexible strip-shaped flat cable is used as the connecting member 92, and the connecting member 92 is provided along the side plate 94 from the power source section 93 (FIGS. 1 and 3) arranged in the lower lateral portion of the apparatus body 1. Guided upwards. As shown in FIG. 7, a guide shelf 96 is horizontally provided along the left-right direction at the upper position of the rear cassette storage shelf 2, and as shown in FIG. The end portion 92a is bent horizontally along the shelf 96 and is connected to a substrate 95 provided on the upper portion of the drive motor 24. The length of the connecting member 92 has a sufficient margin corresponding to the amount of movement of the drive motor 24 that is moved in the left-right direction together with the vertical guide rail 5. The vertical guide rail 5, the drive motor 24, the cassette transfer device 6 and the like that are moved in the left-right direction are collectively referred to as a moving body 91.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 14 to 15B, the connecting member 92 is wound around the first movable pulley 97 composed of a flanged pulley rotatably mounted on the guide shelf 96. Have been folded back. The two guide shafts 99 are arranged in parallel along the left-right direction by a pair of left and right brackets 98 fixed to the lower surface of the upper plate 11, and the second movable pulley 100 is mounted on both of these guide shafts 99. It is mounted so that it can roll freely. This second
A wire 101 is wound around the movable pulley 100 of the
One end of 1 is fixed to the bracket 98, and the other end is fixed to the substrate 95 via the guide roller 102 at the fixed position. Further, both ends of the wire 107 guided by the guide rollers 105 and 106 at fixed positions are fixed to stays 103 and 104 attached to the shaft of the first movable pulley 97 and the shaft of the second movable pulley 100, respectively. . A tension adjusting spring 108, which is a tension coil spring, is interposed in the wire 107.

Therefore, the spring force of the tension adjusting spring 108 pulls the first moving pulley 97 and the second moving pulley 100 on the guide rack 96 and both guide shafts 99 in the direction of arrow a, respectively, and the first movement The pulley 97 is configured to pull the connecting member 92. The moving body 91 and the second movable pulley 100 are connected to the wire 1
Since they are connected by 01, when the moving body 91 is moved in the direction of arrow a or a ′, the second movable pulley 10 is correspondingly moved.
It is configured that 0 is moved in the a'or a direction.

According to the slack prevention mechanism 90 configured as described above, the fifteenth
As shown in FIGS. A to 15B, when the moving body 91 is moved by the distance x in the direction of the arrow a, the wire 101 fixed to the moving body 91 is also moved by the same distance. Since the second movable pulley 100 is wound around the wire 101, the second movable pulley 1
00 is 1/2 of the movement distance of the wire 101 due to the function of the movable pulley,
That is, the arrow a ′ is 1/2 · x with respect to the moving distance x of the moving body 91.
Is moved in the direction. On the other hand, by the movement of the second movable pulley 100, the first movable pulley 97 is pulled in the direction of the arrow a via the wire 107, and the connection member 92 is pulled by the first movable pulley 97. At this time, the first movable pulley 97 has a function of the movable pulley that is 1/2 · x of the moving distance x of the moving body 91 and is indicated by an arrow a.
Will be moved in the direction.

Therefore, the first movable pulley 97 and the second movable pulley 100 are both moved by the same distance, and the tension adjusting spring 108 interposed in the wire 107 connecting these both movable pulleys 97, 100 is always A constant tension is maintained. As a result, no matter which position the moving body 91 is moved to, the connecting member 92 always keeps the tension adjusting spring.
It is pulled in the direction of the arrow a with the constant tension T set at 108. In this way, using the movement of the moving body 91,
By pulling the connecting member 92 with the first movable pulley 97,
It is possible to reliably prevent the connection member 92 from being loosened. Even if the moving stroke of the moving body 91 is very large, the space factor of the entire mechanism is very good. Mobile unit 91
Since the connecting member 92 is always pulled with a constant tension T by the amount of movement of the moving member, the responsiveness (following property) of the connecting member 92 to the movement of the moving body 91 is very excellent.

G ₅ Next, FIGS. 1 to 3, FIG. 7, FIG. 13, and FIG. 16
The slack preventing mechanism for the connecting member in the vertical direction will be described with reference to FIG. 17B.

First, the slack prevention mechanism 111 supplies the cassette transfer device 6 with a connecting member 112 that supplies a drive current for loading / unloading the cassette and a control signal.
It is to prevent the slack of. A flexible strip-shaped flat cable is used for the connection member 112.
As shown in the figure, after being guided from the substrate 95 to the lower part of the drive motor 24, it is hung downward along the vertical guide groove 113 of the vertical guide rail 5 and connected to the clamper 114 attached to the cassette transfer machine 6. Is guided to the cassette transfer device 6. The length of the connecting member 112 is the same as that of the vertical guide rail 5.
There is a sufficient margin corresponding to the amount of movement of the cassette transfer machine 6 which is moved in the up and down direction.

Next, as shown in FIG. 16, the connecting member 112 is wound around a moving pulley 115 that also serves as a weight and is formed by a flanged pulley, and is folded back upward. The movable pulley 115 is configured to be guided by the first guide means 121 and the second guide means 122. That is, FIGS. 13 and 16
As shown in the figure, in the first guide means 121, both flange portions 115 a of the movable pulley 115 are the vertical guide grooves 11 of the vertical guide rail 5.
The second guide means 122 is constituted by being guided along 3 and the stay 116 mounted on the shaft of the movable pulley 115 is arranged by a vertical guide shaft 118 vertically arranged along the vertical guide rail 5. It consists of being guided. It should be noted that the vertical guide shaft 118 is a pair of upper and lower support portions fixed to the substantially central portion and the lower portion of the vertical guide rail 5.
The stay 116 is supported by 119 and 120, and is inserted into the vertical guide shaft 118 by a bearing 117 which is a linear bearing fixed to the stay 116.

Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 17A and 17B, the connecting member 11
2 is suspended along the vertical guide rail 5 by the weight W of the movable pulley 115. When the cassette transfer device 6 is moved in the vertical direction (arrows b and b'directions), the movable pulley 115 is restricted from being displaced in the left-right direction by the vertical guide groove 113, and is moved in the front-back direction by the vertical guide shaft 118. Is regulated so that it can be smoothly moved in the vertical direction.

According to the loosening prevention mechanism 111 configured as described above, the first
As shown in FIGS. 7A to 17B, when the cassette transfer device 6 is moved by the distance y in the direction of the arrow b ′, the movable pulley 115 arranged on the connecting member 112 is moved by the function of the movable pulley to prevent the cassette transfer device 6 from moving. It is moved in the direction of the arrow b'with 1/2 of the moving distance, that is, with a distance of 1 / 2.y. Then, the weight W of the movable pulley 115 pulls the connecting member 112 downward, so that the slack of the connecting member 112 can be reliably prevented. In this way, the connecting member 112
Even if the movement stroke of the cassette transfer machine 6 is very large, the space factor of the entire mechanism is very good by hanging the movable pulley 115 that also serves as a weight on the.

In addition, the movable pulley 115 has a vertical guide groove 113 and a vertical guide shaft 118.
Since it is guided by and, the movement of the moving pulley 115 in the front-rear, left-right direction is surely restrained. Therefore, the moving pulley 115
Does not shake laterally and interfere with other parts when it moves in the vertical direction. Even if the cassette storage shelf 2 is extremely close to the vertical guide rail 5 as shown in FIG. The contact of the movable pulley 115 with the cassette storage shelf 2 is prevented in advance.

G ₆ Next, Figures 4 and 5, Figures 7 and 8 and 11
The structure of the vertical guide rail will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 to 16.

First, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, the vertical guide rail 5 is divided into front and rear two rails which are joined at their joints 134 by screws or the like. The vertical guide rail 5 is formed by the front and rear walls 28 and 29 and the left and right walls 50 and 51 into a substantially square frame in cross section, and vertical ribs 135a to 135h are integrally formed on the front and rear sides thereof, respectively. The vertical guide rail 5 is formed by extruding an aluminum material, for example.

The vertical ribs 135a, 135b, 135e, and 135f form vertical guide grooves 59 and 62 for guiding the guide rollers 58, 61a, and 61b of the cassette transfer machine 6, respectively.
5c, 135d, 135g and 135h for the counterweight
Vertical guide grooves 66 and 68 for guiding the respective guide rollers 65, 67a, 67b of 64 are formed. Also the vertical ribs 135b and 13
A vertical guide groove 113 for guiding the movable pulley 115 is formed by 5c, and a vertical guide groove 130 for arranging the plurality of sensors 129a to 129e is formed by the vertical ribs 135f and 135g. Further, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 11, the drive pulley 47 and the driven pulley 48 of the vertical drive mechanism 23 are provided inside the upper end 5a and the lower end 5b of the vertical guide rail 5.
Are arranged so that the respective drive shafts 25 and driven shafts 54 are inserted inside at a distance of l ₁ and l ₂ from the upper and lower ends of the vertical guide rail 5. The timing belt 49 wound between the driving pulley 47 and the driven pulley 48 is the 13th belt.
As shown in the drawing, the vertical guide grooves 59 and 66 are configured to be driven vertically.

According to the vertical guide rail 5 having the above-described structure, the vertical guide grooves 59, 62, 66, 68 and 11 for guiding the vertical movement of the cassette transfer machine 6, the counterweight 64 and the movable pulley 115 are provided.
3. Further, the vertical guide groove 130 for arranging the plurality of sensors 129a to 129e can be formed in the vertical guide rail 5 of 10, and the vertical guide rail 5 having a large number of functions is housed extremely compactly.

Further, by disposing the drive pulley 47 and the driven pulley 48 inside the upper end side 5a and the lower end side 5b of the vertical guide rail 5, the upper end and the lower end of the vertical guide rail 5 are l ₁ And l ₂ can be extended up and down. As a result, the movable range of the cassette transfer machine 6 with respect to the vertical guide rail 5 can be greatly increased. The drive pulley 47 and the driven pulley 48
The vertical guide rail 5 has a two-divided structure, so that it can be assembled very easily.

If the vertical guide rail 5 is made of an aluminum material, a lightweight and inexpensive one can be obtained. Further, the cassette transfer machine 6 and each guide roller 5 of the counterweight 64
If urethane rollers are used for 8, 61a, 61b, 65, 67a and 67b, there is almost no operation noise when the cassette transfer machine 6 and the counterweight 64 are moved.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment, and various effective modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention.

For example, as the vertical drive mechanism and the horizontal drive mechanism, a mechanism including a drive pulley, a driven pulley, a timing belt and the like is shown in the embodiment, but various effective mechanisms can be used. Further, although the friction joint is shown in the embodiment as the vertical synchronization adjusting means of the vertical drive mechanism, various effective means can also be used. Further, in the embodiment, the upper and lower sliders are driven to drive the upper end side and the lower end side of the vertical guide rail, but this may be driven directly to the upper end side and the lower end side of the vertical guide rail. Further, in the embodiment, the lower end side of the vertical guide rail is supported by the vertical guide rail through the slider in an unrestrained state, but the lower end side does not necessarily have to be supported, and the free end in the open state can be used. is there.

The present invention is not limited to a video tape cassette transfer device, but can be applied to various cassette transfer devices that store various tapes, disks, and the like.

H Effect of the Invention According to the present invention, even if the slider is tilted, the vertical guide rail can be maintained in the vertical state and can be moved in the left-right direction in this vertical state. Further, when the cassette storage shelf is inclined, the vertical guide rails can be easily set in an inclined state corresponding to the inclination of the cassette storage shelf and moved by shifting the vertical synchronization. Therefore, there is no need for any large-scale work to accurately adjust the parallelism and verticality of the top plate of the main unit of the device or the cassette storage shelf according to the state of the vertical guide rail, and it is extremely easy to adjust the vertical guide rail. Only by doing so, the positions of the cassette transfer machine and a large number of cassette storage shelves can be accurately matched. As a result, the allowable range of accuracy becomes large when the apparatus body is assembled, so that assembly and adjustment can be performed extremely easily.

Moreover, by pivotally supporting the upper end side of the vertical guide rail on the slider, even if the vertical guide rail is tilted, a large moment due to the weight of the vertical guide rail and the cassette transfer machine is not applied to the slider. The rigidity of the pivotal support between the slider and the vertical guide rail, the guide roller for guiding the slider, etc. is not required. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the size and weight of the pivotally supporting portion of the slider and the vertical guide rail and to simplify the structure.

Furthermore, since the drive shaft of the vertical drive mechanism is used when the vertical guide rail is pivotally supported by the slider, it is not necessary to provide a special pivot shaft, and the pivot structure of the vertical guide rail can be extremely simplified. . Therefore, in combination with this and the miniaturization of the slider described above, the slider that pivotally supports the vertical guide rail can be housed in an extremely small space. In particular, when the drive shaft is composed of the output shaft of the drive motor as in the embodiment, the space factor of the drive motor is improved, so that the cassette storage shelf can be arranged to the upper position in the main body of the apparatus, and the outer shape of the main body of the apparatus can be arranged. It is possible to significantly increase the number of cassettes stored without increasing the size.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The drawings show an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a transfer device for a video tape cassette. FIG. 1 is a front view of the entire device, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a side view of the same as above, Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing a support mechanism on the upper end side of the vertical guide rail, Fig. 5 is a front view of the upper end side of the vertical guide rail, and Fig. 6 is a plan view of the same. , Fig. 7 is VII-VI of Fig. 5.
Sectional view taken along line I, FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII of FIG. 7, and FIG.
Figure is a perspective view showing the support mechanism on the lower end side of the vertical guide rail, Figure 10 is a front view of the same, Figure 11 is a sectional view taken along line XI-XI of Figure 10, and Figure 12 is a cassette transfer machine and a vertical guide. Fig. 13 is an exploded perspective view of the rail, Fig. 13 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line XIII-XIII in Fig. 5, Fig. 14 is a perspective view showing a slack preventing mechanism of the connecting member in the horizontal direction, and Figs. 15A and 15B are the same as above. FIG. 16 is a front view for explaining the operation, FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing a slack preventing mechanism for the connecting member in the vertical direction, and FIGS. 17A and 17B are side views for explaining the same operation. In the reference numerals used in the drawings, 2 ... cassette storage rack 3 ... cassette 4 ... recording / reproducing device 5 ... vertical guide rail 5a ... upper end side 5b ... lower end side 6 ... cassette transfer machine 10 ... Support mechanism 12 …… Horizontal guide rail 13 …… Slider 23 …… Vertical drive mechanism 24,75 …… Drive motor 25 …… Drive shaft 47,79,80 …… Drive pulley 48 81,82 …… Drive pulley 49,83 , 84 ...... Timing belt 71 …… Horizontal drive mechanism 73 …… Coupling shaft 85 …… Frictional joint 86 …… Vertical synchronization adjustment means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A large number of cassette storage shelves in which a large number of cassettes are stored, a recording / reproducing device, and a cassette transfer device which is vertically and horizontally moved between the cassette storage shelves and the recording / reproducing device. A cassette transfer device configured to transfer the cassette between the cassette storage shelf and the recording / reproducing device by the cassette transfer device, wherein a slider that is movable in the left-right direction above the cassette storage shelf, and the cassette A vertical guide rail on which a transfer device is attached so as to be movable in the vertical direction and a vertical drive mechanism for moving the cassette transfer device in the vertical direction along the vertical guide rail are provided, and an upper end side of the vertical guide rail is provided. The vertical guide rail is pivotally supported by the drive shaft of the vertical drive mechanism, and the vertical guide rail is suspended on the slider so as to be swingable. A horizontal drive mechanism having vertical synchronization adjusting means for driving the upper end side and the lower end side of the vertical guide rail in the left-right direction, and the vertical guide rail suspended by the slider is moved by the horizontal drive mechanism to the left and right. A cassette transfer device, wherein the cassette transfer device is configured to be moved in a horizontal direction by moving the cassette transfer device in a horizontal direction.