JPH079745B2 - Tape car ledge - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention is a tape cartridge having a front lid for protecting the tape, which is an improvement of the locking means for holding the front lid in the closed posture.

[Conventional technology]

In the tape cartridge as shown in FIG. 2, a locking device provided on the inner surface of the main body case 1 in order to prevent the front lid 10 from being opened unexpectedly during handling and damaging the tape.
The front lid 10 is closed at 15 and is locked and held in a posture.

As this type of lock 15, as shown in FIG. 9, it is formed in the shape of a leaf spring that is long in the front-rear direction, and its rear end is fixed to the rear portion of the inner surface of the case side wall 24. A lock claw 16 is provided to be removed. Then, a release piece 17 is provided in the front and rear part of the lock tool 15, and the release piece 17 is pushed in from the outside of the case to move the front end side of the lock tool 15 to the case side wall.
It is known that the lock claw 16 is released from the engagement by flexing and deforming in the thickness direction of 24 (unknown document).

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

The conventional locking device 15 is advantageous in that the number of members is small.

However, the problem is that the clock tool 15 itself functions as a leaf spring, and the lock claw 16 is disengaged from the engaging portion 23 of the front lid 10 by the lock tool 15 being flexibly deformed. Moreover, in order to obtain a predetermined spring characteristic, the lock member 15 is supported in a cantilever manner on the rear portion of the case side wall 24, and its swing span is set large. Therefore, the middle part of the locking device 15 is located at the position where the tape reel 3 and the case side wall 24 are closest to each other, and the locking device 15 may come into contact with and interfere with the tape 4 during the releasing operation.

In order to avoid such a problem, conventionally, the wall thickness of the case side wall 24 is made thin so that the lock 15 can be separated from the tape reel 3 as much as possible. However, this is still insufficient to prevent the contact interference between the lock 15 and the tape 4. On the contrary, thinning of the case side wall 24 leads to insufficient case strength, which causes new problems such as the main body case 1 being easily twisted and deformed by a small force, and the side wall 24 being damaged by a drop impact.

In addition, the thinning of the case side wall 24 also adversely affects the molding accuracy. For example, the side wall 24 has a tendency to incline like an outward expansion, and when the lock 15 is assembled, the lock claw 16 is attached to the front lid 10.
It does not engage properly with the engaging portion 23 and causes a locking failure. The large swinging span of the lock 15 also contributes to the above-mentioned lock failure. That is, if there is a slight deviation in the assembling posture of the lock tool 15 on the fixed end side, the lock claw 16 at the tip end largely shakes, and the engagement position with the engagement portion 23 is displaced. .

Furthermore, since the engagement position of the lock claw 16 is maintained only by the elastic force of the lock tool 15 in the free state, it is difficult to obtain a sufficient lock engagement force, and the front lid 10 may be opened by a small external force. there were.

The present invention has been proposed in order to solve such a conventional problem.

An object of the present invention is to reliably prevent the tape from being damaged and the strength of the case from being lowered due to the provision of the above-described lock tool in the main body case.

An object of the present invention is to reliably hold the front lid in a locked state. Is to get.

An object of the present invention is to make the lock mechanism compact so that the lock mechanism can be easily installed in a limited space in the case.

[Means for solving problems]

The lock tool 15 of the present invention comprises a lock tool body 18 having a lock claw 16 and a release piece 17, and a spring body 19 for urging the lock tool body 18 in a locked posture. It is assumed that the lock claw 16 disengages from the front lid 10 by being displaced substantially in parallel with. The spring body 19 is integrally formed with the lock tool body 18 via the hinge portion 20.

[First Embodiment] FIGS. 1 to 7 show a first embodiment of a tape cartridge according to the present invention.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body case, which is formed by connecting an upper case 1a and a lower case 1b in a lid-fitting manner. Inside the main body case 1, a pair of tape reels 2 and 3 are provided on the left and right sides. The tape 4 is led out from one reel 2 so as to cross the tape loading pocket 7 provided on the front surface of the case via the guide rollers 6 of the tape outlets 5 on the left and right of the front end of the case, and then to the other reel 3. Being rolled up.

A front cover 10 is attached to the main body case 1 so as to be opened and closed so as to cover and protect the outside of the front surface of the tape 4 when not in use.

2 and 4, the front lid 10 includes a main wall 11 that covers the front surface of the main body case 1 across the left and right, and a connecting piece 12 that extends from the upper half of the left and right ends of the main wall 11 toward the rear of the case. And are integrally molded with plastic. Left and right connecting pieces 12
Has an upper end portion pivotally connected to the upper case 1a via a shaft 13,
This causes the front lid 10 to rotate about the shaft 13. A spring member 14 made of a torsion coil spring is wound around one shaft 13, one end of which is locked to the front lid 10 side and the other end of which is locked to the upper case 1a side. It is urged to rotate to its posture.

On the inner surface of the side wall 24 of the main body case 1, there is provided a lock tool 15 for locking and holding the front lid 10 in a closed posture at a position in front of the front and rear central portion.

In FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, the lock tool 15 has a plate-shaped lock tool body 18 having a lock claw 16 on the front side and a release piece 17 in the middle, and the lock tool body 18 along a case side wall 24. It is composed of a spring body 19 that presses and urges the lock posture and a hinge portion 20 provided between the lock body 18 and the spring body 19, and is integrally molded integrally with a plastic material such as polyacetal.

6 and 7, the spring body 19 and the hinge portion
The reference numeral 20 is integrally formed as a plate-like member continuous to the rear end of the lock main body 18 in the expanded state, and takes the form of a leaf spring and a forming hinge only after being incorporated into the main body case 1.

From the plate surface of the lock tool main body 18, the lock claw 16 is continuously extended toward the front of the case, and an engaging piece 22 is outwardly projected at the continuous end. The engagement piece 22 can be freely engaged with and disengaged from the engagement portion 23 provided in the inner surface of the connection piece 12 of the front lid 10, locks the front lid 10 in the closed posture, and can be unlocked at the time of use. Release piece 17
Is formed as a truncated pyramid-shaped protrusion,
With the inside of the case assembled, it faces the outside of the case from the window 25 opened in the side wall 24 of the case.

In FIG. 3, the hinge portion 20 has a first hinge arm 26 that is continuous with the rear portion of the lock body 18 and a second hinge arm 27 that is continuous with the spring body 19, and both hinge arms 26, 27 in the mounted state. Are bent and opposed to each other in a V shape in a plan view so that the front and rear axes passing through the hinge center 20a have an almost symmetrical shape.

In this way, the hinge arms 26 and 27 are bent and opposed to each other in a V shape, and the hinge center 20a is positioned in the middle of the case side wall 24 and the receiving wall 29 that faces the side wall 24 to receive and support the spring body 19. By doing so, the lock main body 18 is switched to the lock posture and the lock release posture in a posture substantially parallel to the side wall 24 and displaced. In other words, even in the mounted state, the hinge center 20a is displaceable in the thickness direction of the side wall 24, and the entire hinge portion 20 is bent and stretched to absorb the release operation force acting on the release piece 17. Are displaced almost in parallel.

In FIG. 3, the spring body 19 comprises a fixed spring arm 30 continuous to the lower portion of the projecting end of the second hinge arm 27, and a working spring arm 31 which is integrally extended obliquely upward. In the mounted state of FIG. Contacts the back portion of the lock tool body (18) where the release piece (17) is present, and presses and urges the lock tool body (18) to the lock position where it contacts the case side wall (24). Most of the urging force of the lock body 18 is obtained by the spring body 19, and the hinge portion 20 is
Demonstrate the urging force to the extent that it helps.

In FIG. 1, a receiving wall 29 for receiving and supporting the second hinge arm 27 has a dogleg shape in a plan view and is provided so as to project downward from the inner surface of the upper wall of the upper case 1a. A rib-shaped positioning member is provided between the rear upper end of the receiving wall 29 and the case side wall 24.
By projecting 33 and engaging the notch 34 at the upper edge of the first hinge arm 26 with this, the movement of the lock 15 in the front-rear direction is prevented. By this position regulation, the lock piece 15 can be prevented from moving forward when the release piece 17 is pushed inward of the case and an external force is applied to the lock piece 15 from the front lid 10 side toward the front of the case.

As shown in FIG. 1, the lock 15 includes the first and second hinge arms 26,
Bend 27 into a V-shape, and the action spring arm 31 is
The hinge portion 20 is positioned between the case side wall 24 and the receiving wall 29 in a state of being in contact with the inner side surface of the casing, the release piece 17 is loosely fitted in the window 25, and the notch 34 is engaged with the positioning member 33. . In this assembled state, the lock 15 is temporarily fixed to the upper case 1a. When the upper and lower cases 1a and 1b are joined together by lid-fitting from this state, the lower end surface of the lock body 18 is received and supported by the support wall 35 provided in the lower case 1b.

The lock 15 is switched between the locked posture and the unlocked posture against the urging force of the spring body 19 by the bending operation of the hinge portion 20 in a substantially parallel posture. FIG. 1 shows a locked state, in which the engagement piece 22 at the tip of the lock claw 16 is engaged with the engagement portion 23 of the front lid 10 in the closed posture. This is the state when not in use.

When the tape cartridge is loaded into the deck from this state, the operation member on the deck side pushes the release piece 17 inward of the case. Now, as shown by the phantom line in Fig. 1, the lock body
18 is displaced inwardly of the case while pressing the action spring arm 31, and the engagement piece 22 of the lock claw 16 is disengaged from the engagement portion 23. After this, the front lid 10 is rotated upward and open against the spring member 14. When the front lid 10 is closed by the spring member 14, the spring body 19
The locking claw 16 is engaged with the engaging portion 23 by the elastic force of, and the front lid 10 is locked and held in the original closed posture.

[Second Embodiment] FIG. 8 shows a second embodiment of the lock 15 according to the present invention.
Here, the hinge arm 27 of the hinge portion 20 is extended to the front of the case to form the fixed spring arm 30, and the action spring arm 31 is provided so as to project obliquely rearward from the front edge of the fixed spring arm 30. That is, the first
In the second embodiment, the bending base end of the working spring arm 31 is substantially horizontal, whereas in the second embodiment, the bending base end of the working spring arm 31 is substantially vertical.

[Another embodiment example]

There can be a plurality of action spring arms 31. For example, the action spring arms 31 and 31 described in the first and second embodiments are simultaneously locked to the lock main body 18
May be contacted with.

The hinge portion 20 does not necessarily have to be thinner than the others as long as the hinge center 20a is the bending center. For example,
When the lock 15 is formed of a metal leaf spring, the cross section of the hinge center 20a may be smaller than the others so that the hinge center 20a is surely the bending center. Further, the lock 15 may be an integral one in which only the spring body 19 is made of a metal plate and the other is made of a plastic material.

The hinge portion 20 and the spring body 19 can be formed in a bent state from the beginning, and need not necessarily be formed in an expanded state.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, the lock device 15 of the present invention separates the lock device main body 18 and the spring body 19 which is an urging member of the lock device main body 18 so as to differentiate the functions, while the lock tool main body 18 and the spring body 19 are separated from each other. Are integrated via the hinge part 20. Accordingly, regardless of the front-rear length of the lock tool main body 18, an appropriate spring characteristic can be obtained by setting the elastic force of the spring body 19 to be large or small, and the front-rear length of the lock tool main body 18 can be small. It can be something. In addition, since the lock tool main body 18 can be switched between the locked posture and the unlocked posture in a substantially parallel posture by the bending / extending motion of the hinge portion 20, the operating region of the lock fixture 15 can be made sufficiently small and the lock implement main body 18 described above can be made smaller. It is possible to realize the compact size of the lock device 15 as a whole, in addition to the miniaturization of the lock device 15. Therefore,
The lock 15 can be easily installed in the limited space inside the case in front of the front and rear central portions of the case side wall 24. The interference of the lock 15 with the tape 4 and the lock 15 increase the strength of the case. You can often eliminate the sacrifice.

The biasing force of the spring body 19 surely presses and urges the lock main body 18 to the lock posture, so that a sufficient engaging force can be applied to the lock pawl 16 especially in the lock posture.
Since there is no displacement of the engagement position during assembly due to the large front-rear length of the lock main body 18 and the thin wall thickness of the case side wall 24, the front lid 10 can be securely held in the lock state. Can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 7 show a first embodiment of a tape cartridge according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional plan view of a main portion, FIG. 2 is an overall plan view showing an internal structure, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view for explaining the engagement relationship between the lock and the front lid, FIG. 4 is a side view with a part cut away of a main portion, FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 4, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a plan view of the locking tool in a deployed state, and FIG. 7 is a side view of the locking tool in the same deployed state. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional plan view of essential parts showing a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a plan view of a main part showing a conventional example. 1 …… Main body case, 10 …… Front lid, 15 …… Locking tool, 16 …… Locking claw, 17 …… Release piece, 18 …… Locking tool body, 19 …… Spring body, 20 …… Hinge part, 20a …… Center of hinge, 24 …… side wall of main unit case, 29 …… receiving wall.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A front cover for protecting a tape on a front surface of a main body case 1.
10 is pivotally mounted so as to be openable and closable, and has a lock tool 15 for holding the front lid 10 in a closed posture on the inner surface of the side wall 24 of the main body case 1. The lock tool 15 engages with a part of the front lid 10. Locking tool body 18 having a locking claw 16 and a releasing piece 17 for locking, and a locking tool body 18
And a spring body 19 for urging and pressing the lock body in a locking posture. The spring body 19 is integrally formed with the lock body 18 via a hinge portion 20, and the lock body 18 moves substantially parallel to the side wall 24. In this way, the hinge center 20a of the hinge portion 20 is located substantially at the center of the side wall 24 and the receiving wall 29 that receives and supports the spring body 19. 2. Hinge arms 26 and 27 for connecting the hinge portion 20 and the lock main body 18, and the hinge portion 20 and the spring body 19, respectively.
The tape cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the tape cartridge is bent and assembled in a V shape in a plan view. 3. The tape cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a positioning member 33 provided on the inner surface of the body case 1 for restraining the movement of the lock tool body 18 in the front-rear direction.