Special receptacle or package – For holding a machine readable recording medium – For holding a tape cassette
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-07
2001-07-17
Luong, Shian (Department: 3728)
Special receptacle or package
For holding a machine readable recording medium
For holding a tape cassette
C206S493000, C206S478000, C206S001500
Reexamination Certificate
active
06260702
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cassette accommodation case suited for accommodating a tape cassette such as, for example, an audio compact cassette and the like and particularly, to a cassette accommodation case of a slide type for accommodating a tape cassette by laterally inserting the tape cassette from an inserting mouth portion provided on one side thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in a cassette accommodation case for accommodating and keeping an audio compact cassette, a cassette accommodating case of a slide type for laterally inserting a cassette from an inserting mouth portion provided on one side thereof has been practiced.
The structure of the conventional cassette accommodation case of side type will be shown in
FIG. 1
to FIG.
5
.
In
FIGS. 1
to
5
, reference numeral
1
indicates a cassette accommodation case
1
and an audio compact cassette (hereafter, referred to simply as a cassette)
10
is accommodated in the cassette accommodation case
1
by being laterally inserted from an inserting mouth portion
2
provided on the one side thereof of the cassette accommodation case
1
.
First of all, the structure of the cassette
10
will be explained. As shown in
FIG. 1
, there are formed hub driving shaft inserting holes
12
on the left and right of a cassette housing
11
of the cassette
10
and corresponding to the hub driving shaft inserting holes
12
, a pair of hubs
14
for winding a magnetic tape
13
are rotatably accommodated inside the cassette housing
11
.
On the front surface of the cassette housing
11
is formed an opening portion
15
through which the magnetic tape
13
is exposed, while inside the cassette housing
11
, a tape transit path is formed in a way that the magnetic tape
13
led out from the hub (supplying side hub)
14
on one side is wound around the hub (takeup side hub)
14
on another side through the opening portion
15
.
A magnetic head and the like are to be inserted in the opening portion
15
from a cassette deck side. In order to secure the thickness at a portion into which the magnetic head and the like are to be inserted, trapezoid shaped swelled portions
16
which swell to the upper and lower sides of both surfaces are formed at the front portion of the cassette housing
11
.
The cassette accommodation case
1
into which the cassette
10
is inserted is structured by uniting an upper half
1
A and a lower half
1
B. The upper half
1
A is a molded plastic product molded from, for example, GPPS (general purpose polystyrene) as its material and also, the lower half
1
B is a molded plastic product molded from, for example, HIPS (impact-proof polystyrene) as its material. The upper half
1
A and the lower half
1
B are integrally united by means of ultrasonic-welding and the like while in a state of being united.
Then, the inserting mouth portion
2
is provided on one side surface side of the cassette accommodation case
1
with its surface being wholly opened, and the cassette
10
is laterally inserted into the cassette accommodation case
1
from the inserting mouth portion
2
in a sliding fashion.
The cassette accommodation case
1
is such that the cassette
10
is accommodated therein almost without any clearance. To this end, on the respective inner surfaces of the upper half
1
A and the lower half
1
B inside the cassette accommodation case
1
, concave grooves
3
a
and
3
b
for escaping the swelled portions
16
of the cassette
10
are respectively formed in a lateral direction, that is, in a cassette inserting direction.
Also, nearly at a central portion of the upper half
1
A of the cassette accommodation case
1
, a long opening portion
4
of an oblong shape in the cassette inserting direction is formed. When the cassette
10
is to be taken out from the cassette accommodation case
1
, the cassette
10
is pushed out by putting a finger (for example, a thumb) from the opening portion
4
.
Further, a stopper tab
5
is provided inside the cassette accommodation case
1
so as to prevent the cassette
10
from unexpectedly jumping out from a state of the cassette
10
being accommodated in the cassette accommodation case
1
.
The stopper tab
5
is integrally projectingly formed on the lower half
1
B and an engaging convex portion
5
a
is provided at a tip end portion thereof. Then, in the state of the cassette
10
being accommodated in the cassette accommodation case
1
, the engaging convex portion
5
a
of the stopper tab
5
is, as shown in
FIG. 5
, engaged with an edge of an aperture portion
18
in which an erroneous erasure protection detecting nail
17
for the cassette
10
is provided, which keeps the cassette
10
in a lightly locked state in the cassette accommodation case
1
, thereby preventing the cassette
10
from unexpectedly jumping out (coming off) from the cassette accommodation case
1
.
Further, a rotation stopping member
6
is equipped inside the cassette accommodation case
1
for preventing the magnet tape from becoming loose by blocking the unnecessary rotation of the hubs
14
in the cassette
10
.
The rotation stopping member
6
is a molded plastic product molded from, for example, PP (polypropylene) as its material and is structured in a way that rotation stopping projecting tabs
8
corresponding to the hub driving shaft inserting holes
12
of the cassette
10
are projectingly formed on a base plate portion
7
to be capable of elastically rising and falling, and the base plate portion
7
is attached by being caulked and fixed to caulking projections
9
projectingly provided nearly at a central portion inside the lower half
1
B.
Then, when the cassette
10
is inserted into the cassette accommodation case
1
, the rotation stopping projecting tabs
8
are pushed down by the cassette
10
. Further, when the cassette
10
is completely accommodated in the cassette accommodation case
1
, since the hub driving shaft inserting holes
12
of the cassette
10
correspond to the rotation stopping projecting tabs
8
, respectively, the rotation stopping projecting tabs
8
elastically each revert to an erect state and engage with engagement projecting tabs
14
a
on an internal circumference of the hubs
14
to block the rotation of the hubs
14
.
With the above-mentioned conventional cassette accommodation case
1
, because the rotation stopping projecting tabs
8
become a state of being pushed down every time the cassette
10
is pushed therein and pulled out therefrom, a so-called state of deformation due to fatigue occurs in the rotation stopping projecting tabs
8
, and in that case, the rotation stopping projecting tabs
8
do not almost revert to a state of erection when the cassette
10
is completely accommodated and become a state of not engaging with the hubs
14
, with the result that it becomes impossible to prevent the hubs
14
from unnecessarily rotating.
Also, in a case where the rotation stopping projecting tabs
8
erect incompletely, depending on circumstances, the tip ends of the rotation stopping projecting tabs
8
get stuck in a clearance between the hubs
14
and the hub driving shaft inserting holes
12
and get bent and folded, and as a result, in this case too, there is the loss of the function in preventing the hubs
14
from unnecessarily rotating.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is implemented in view of these problems and its object is to provide a cassette accommodation case capable of surely preventing the hub from unnecessarily rotating while the cassette is in a state of being accommodated therein.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to the present invention there is provided a cassette accommodation case which is so structured as to accommodate a cassette by laterally inserting the cassette from an inserting mouth portion provided on one side surface thereof and in which rotation stopping projecting tabs engaged with hubs of the cassette for preventing them from rotating are elastically provided that they are
Kananen Ronald P.
Luong Shian
Rader Fishman & Grauer
Sony Corporation
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