Closure assembly for record medium entry passage

Details Closure assembly for record medium entry passage Closure assembly for record medium entry passage

2002-01-03

2003-09-09

Korzuch, William (Department: 2813)

Dynamic information storage or retrieval

With particular cabinet structure

Reexamination Certificate

active

06618339

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a closure assembly for a record medium entry passage to load and unload a main housing of a CD player, a CD changer, or the like with a record medium.
2. Related Art
Some automobiles are mounted with one of various types of car audio units including a record medium reproduction unit like a compact disk (called as CD hereinafter) player and a CD changer. The CD changer accommodates a plurality of CDs as record mediums to reproduce selected information according to an instruction of a car occupant. The information is output as an audio one from a speaker of the reproduction unit.
The CD player or the CD changer has a record medium insertion opening for entry of a plurality of CDs. The insertion opening has a door to prevent dust and contaminants from coming into the CD changer.
Some of the CD players or the CD changers have a closure assembly for inserting CD in a main housing thereof, in which a vehicle occupant pushes CD onto a door panel of the main housing. A record medium insertion opening
109
of a conventional closure assembly
101
illustrated in
FIGS. 20
to
23
is opened to allow insertion of CD only when the occupant operates an associated switch.
The closure assembly
101
, which opens a record medium insertion opening
119
(shown in
FIGS. 22 and 23
) only when the switch has been operated, has a door
113
to close and open the insertion opening
119
, a gear
115
, an actuating member
107
positioned within the main housing, etc.
The door
113
is a plate bar and is turnably supported at an end
113
a
thereof to open and close the insertion opening
119
. The door
113
unitarily has a gear
121
at the end
113
a
as illustrated in
FIGS. 20 and 21
.
The gear
115
is turnable and engages with the gear
121
. The door
113
and the gear
115
are resiliently biased in a direction such that the door
113
closes the insertion opening
119
. The door
113
and the gear
115
close the insertion opening
119
when they are apart from the actuating member
107
as illustrated in
FIGS. 20 and 22
.
The actuating member
107
is slidable in the main housing so as to move inward and outward in the main housing. The actuating member
107
contacts the gear
115
when extended from the main housing, so that, as illustrated in
FIGS. 21 and 23
, the gear
115
turns the door
113
to open the insertion opening
119
.
In response to the operation of the switch, in the closure assembly
101
, the actuating member
107
moves to extend from the main housing so as to turn the gear
115
so that the door
113
opens the insertion opening
119
. Thereby, the occupant can insert CDs
103
into the main housing or remove them from the main housing.
The closure assembly
101
is resiliently biased only such that the door
113
closes the insertion opening
119
. Meanwhile, an vehicle occupant, who tends to insert CD
103
into the CD changer by pushing the door
113
with CD
103
, may try to insert CD
103
in the same way, even when the main housing is not in a state to allow entry of CD
103
into main housing.
As described above, the conventional closure assembly
101
has the disadvantage that the record medium is undesirably received when the main housing is not in a state to allow entry of CD
103
into the main housing through the insertion opening
119
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an closure assembly for a record medium entry passage of a record medium reproduction unit, which can surely prevent entry of a record medium except when the record medium is allowed to enter a main housing of the unit.
For achieving the object, a first aspect of the invention is a mechanism for opening and closing a record medium entry passage to load and unload a main housing of a record medium reproduction unit with a record medium. The mechanism includes:
an entry opening for passing the record medium,
a stopper panel movable between a preventing position to prevent entry of the record medium through the entry passage into the main housing and an allowing position to allow entry of the record medium through the record medium into the main housing, and
an actuating mechanism for moving the stopper panel between the preventing position and the allowing position,
wherein, the actuating mechanism moves the stopper panel from the preventing position to the allowing position when the main housing is loaded or unloaded with the record medium, and the stopper panel prevents entry of the record medium into the main housing when the stopper panel is at the preventing position.
Thus, the actuating mechanism moves the stopper panel to the preventing position to prevent entry of the record medium into the main housing. That is, the stopper panel prevents entry of the record medium into the main housing except when the actuating mechanism moves the stopper panel to the allowing position to allow entry of the record medium. This prevents an incorrect insertion of the record medium.
A second aspect of the invention is a mechanism for opening and closing a record medium entry passage to load and unload a main housing of a record medium reproduction unit with a record medium. The mechanism includes:
an entry opening for passing the record medium,
a closing unit to open and close the entry opening
a stopper panel movable between a preventing position to prevent entry of the record medium through the record medium into the main housing and an allowing position to allow entry of the record medium through the record medium into the main housing, the stopper panel being independent from the closing unit, and
an actuating mechanism for moving the stopper panel between the preventing position and the allowing position,
wherein the actuating mechanism moves the closing unit to open the insertion opening simultaneously with the movement of the stopper panel from the preventing position to the allowing position, and the actuating mechanism moves the closing unit to close the insertion opening simultaneously with the movement of the stopper panel from the allowing position to the preventing position.
Thus, the closing unit and the stopper panel are movable independently from each other. Thereby, the stopper panel surely stays at the preventing position except when the actuating mechanism moves the closing unit to open the insertion opening and moves the stopper panel to the allowing position. Accordingly, an incorrect insertion of the record medium into the record medium reproduction unit is prevented.
Preferably, the stopper panel is positioned inward from the closing unit within the main housing.
Thereby, the stopper panel surely stays at the preventing position except when the actuating mechanism moves the closing unit to open the insertion opening and moves the stopper panel to the allowing position. Accordingly, an incorrect insertion of the record medium into the record medium reproduction unit is prevented.
According to a further feature of the present invention, the mechanism has a plurality of peripheral walls surrounding the insertion opening, one of which has a hole, and the stopper panel has a hook received in both the insertion opening and the hole at the preventing position, while the hook can be positioned outside both the insertion opening and the hole at the allowing position.
Thus, at the preventing position, the hook of the stopper panel enters the hole of the peripheral wall, so that the stopper panel can not be moved to the allowing position by the insertion of the record medium.
According to a further feature of the present invention, the closing unit has a door panel with a pivot shaft extended in a lateral direction of the insertion opening such that the door panel is turnable around the pivot shaft to open and close the insertion opening, and the closing unit has a door panel moving gear for turning the door panel to open and close the insertion opening. The stopper panel has the hook and a cam member, the stopper panel being movable around the pi

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Closure assembly for record medium entry passage does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Closure assembly for record medium entry passage, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Closure assembly for record medium entry passage will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3032923