Tape cassette storing case

Details Tape cassette storing case Tape cassette storing case

2001-09-27

2004-09-28

Ackun, Jr., Jacob K. (Department: 3712)

Special receptacle or package

For holding a machine readable recording medium

For holding a tape cassette

Reexamination Certificate

active

06796427

ABSTRACT:

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Applications No. JP 2000-304244 and JP 2001-121702, and the disclosure of those applications are incorporated herein by reference to the extent permitted by law.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tape cassette storing case. More particularly, the present invention relates to such a tape cassette storing case which is capable of preventing a tape wound on reels of the tape cassette from being loosened or deviated and also preventing reels and component parts of the tape cassette from incurring unwanted damage when the tape cassette incurs a shock via falling onto a rigid floor or the ground, for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to keep video tape cassettes used for broadcasting stations and conventional consumers as library sources, generally, many of them are stored in plastic cases prepared for storage.
FIG. 29
exemplifies an external perspective view of a tape cassette storing case
100
in the related art, where
FIG. 29A
shows the case when a lid is closed, whereas
FIG. 29B
shows the case when the lid is held open.
In an example shown in
FIG. 29
, the tape cassette storing case
100
comprises the following: a cubic case
101
having four lateral walls
103
, a lid member
301
having three lateral walls
303
, and a junction member
201
which is connected to a bottom plate
102
of the cubic case
101
and a ceiling plate
302
of the lid member
301
via a pair of hinges
202
and
203
so that the junction member
201
become a lateral wall of the lid member
301
when the lid member
301
is closed An insertion pocket
304
is disposed at the center portion of the surface of the lid member
301
, where the insertion pocket
304
is made from a transparent film attached on the lid member
301
by, for example, spot fusion utilizing a high-frequency dielectric heating process for allowing insertion of title cards, for example. Further, a front-side lateral wall
303
, being opposite from the junction member
201
, is reinforced by a rib
303
r
, whereas a pair of lateral-wall locking members
306
are disposed on both ends. Further, a card-inserting pocket
307
for allowing the insertion of recording cards is disposed inside of the lid member
301
by way of fusing a transparent film with a right-angled linear portion
307
a
consisting of a portion abutted with the short-side lateral wall
303
by way of occupying substantially one-half the ceiling plate
302
and a portion abutted with the hinge
203
.
The above-referred four lateral walls
103
, each having a lowered center portion are continuously formed in the cubic case
101
. A pair of stopper holes
106
for engaging the hooks
306
f
of the above-referred lateral-wall locking members
306
therewith are formed at both end portions of the front-side lateral wall
103
. In addition, a pair of cylindrical members
107
for engaging a tape cassette are disposed at the center portions of the bottom plate
102
, which are individually and idly inserted into hub-holes of reels from the back surface of the tape cassette being stored
FIG. 30
designates a state in which a professional purpose tape cassette C is stored inside of the cubic case
101
of the tape cassette storing case
100
while the lid member
301
remains open. In
FIG. 30
, only the front surface of the tape cassette C is shown by way of deleting the hub holes on the back surface.
The professional purpose tape cassette C is stored in the storing case
100
and serves as a library source. Nevertheless, a tape cassette C in the related art has a substantial dimension with 254 mm of width, 143 mm of length, and 15 mm of thickness, for example, and yet, it also has a substantial weight. Because of this, it is possible that a broadcasting station staff member may accidentally drop a storing case accommodating tape cassettes C onto a hard concrete floor in a library or a road on the way to preparing indoor or outdoor filming. Inasmuch as the storing case
100
is rarely provided with such a measure to resist shock when the storing case
100
is dropped from a high position, the video tape stored in the tape cassette C is substantially loosened thereby making it quite difficult to properly load the tape cassette C into a video tape recorder or resulting in the destruction of the latchet mechanism for locking the rotation of the reels on which the video tape is wound, thus raising a critical problem. Even when incurred damage is negligible, a problem often arises in which the edges of the tape wound on the reels incur unwanted damage, and this results in the generation of a distorted video picture. In addition, there is a problem in which the lateral-wall locking member
306
may be loosened to cause the lid member
301
to be opened very easily.
To prevent the above problems from occuring, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 08-253285 (1996) disclosed a cassette case provided with elastically deformable shock-absorbing members along the external peripheral portions, for example. Concretely, the above Patent Publication disclosed a storing case that is designed to alleviate shock by means of flanges consisting of upper and lower plates of the cassette case, respectively, being extended in the external direction and ribs that are disposed at least in the neighborhood of corner portions of the flanges by way of projecting themselves in the vertical direction. In addition, the Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 09-40065 (1997) proposed such a carrying case designed to prevent the video tape from being loosened by means of the following. In order to prevent the reels inside of a tape cartridge from idly moving themselves when incurring shock via falling, a first elastic member was provided, which was forcibly brought into contact with a plurality of tape cartridges disposed on the bottom surface of a lid member a sheet-form second elastic member which was forcibly brought into contact with the tape cartridges, where the second elastic member internally contains air fed via a plurality of air holes formed through the bottom surface of the main body, and a third sheet-form elastic member which was forcibly brought into contact with a tape supplying reel and a tape winding reel of each of the tape cartridges, where the third elastic member was disposed at a plurality of air holes formed through the external periphery of a positioning projection of each of the tape cartridges and by way of covering air holes. To form the first elastic member, aside from such a sheet-form elastic member internally filled with air, a coil spring is provided with a holding member at the tip portion and a plate-form sponge member with rectangular shape were respectively exemplified.
Further, the Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-258888 (1998) disclosed a tape cassette storing case, which was designed to cause a reel-base formed on a vertically movable shell-holding member for supporting a shell of the tape cassette to be afloat above the shell of the tape cassette after accommodating the tape cassette therein. Concretely, after ending a recording or replaying process, when drawing a tape cassette out from a video tape recorder, floating reels are lowered to core into contact with a shell of a tape cassette. However, there is such a case in which the tape cannot be lowered due to adhesion to the tape guide posts to cause the upper edge of the tape to be pressed against the upper reel whereby generating deformation. The above arrangement was designed to prevent probable deformation of the tape from being generated. To constitute such an elastic member for vertically moving the shell holding member, a center plate spring or an open-sided plate spring secured to the bottom surface of the tape storing portion, a coil spring, or bellow-formed plastic material, was introduced.
The tape cassette storing case disclosed by the above Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 08-253285 (1996) was designed

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Tape cassette storing case does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Tape cassette storing case, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Tape cassette storing case will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3209206