Special receptacle or package – For holding a machine readable recording medium – For holding an optical disc
Patent
1996-05-24
1998-06-23
Fidei, David T.
Special receptacle or package
For holding a machine readable recording medium
For holding an optical disc
20638711, 206 15, B65D 8557
Patent
active
057692181
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a storage and safety device which prevents the articles being displayed in stores, such as compact disks, cassette tapes, and other articles, from being shoplifted.
In recent years compact disks, cassette tapes (audio tapes and video tapes), and other similar articles are overflowed on the market, and the number of shops selling these articles have increased. These shops are designed to enable customers to readily and comfortably choose the discs being purchased and to allow them to freely access to the discs. On the other hand, the discs are small sized since compact discs have been introduced into the market, so that a measure for preventing the compact discs from being shoplifted has become a serious problem for the shops.
To effectively prevent shoplifting, a sensor which actuates an electric alarm system is installed in a box in which compact discs or cassette tapes are stored. The sensor reacts to actuate the alarm system if the box together with the discs stored therein is taken out of the shop.
In this system, however, if the discs are taken out of the box and lifted from the shop with the empty box being left on the shelf, the alarm system is not actuated, failing to prevent shoplifting.
For this reason, it is necessary to provide a safety device which makes it difficult for the customers to take the discs from the box and to combine this safety device with the above-mentioned sensor. This type of storage and safety device must be manufactured at a low cost and must be difficult to be opened by customers, while being easily handled by shop personnel. In addition, the use of the storage and safety device of cassettes or the like should not interfere with other goods and articles.
Several storage and safety devices have been developed to satisfy these requirements. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 502442/1992 discloses a storage and safety device for common cassettes. This storage and safety device is provided with a lock member outside the enclosure of the cassette to lock by engagement with the cassette and a latch means which is operated by magnetic power. The lock member is provided with a rotating bolt which is housed in a lock housing. The rotating bolt has a structure to be adjusted in an engaged position or a released position from outside the lock housing.
This device, however, has problems undesirable for the shops. That is, the nail of the rotating bolt breaks cellophane packing the cassette in the locked state, thereby reducing the commercial value of the product. In addition, the strong magnetic power applied when releasing the lock adversely affects other products sold in the shop.
As a technology for solving these problems, U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,429 discloses a storage and safety device having a frame for enclosing the cassette being stored, in which a gap is formed between the frame and the cassette stored. A lock member provided separately from the frame is inserted into this gap, whereby the device is locked so that the cassette cannot be taken out from the frame. This device, therefore, has not the problems of breaking the cellophane or of adversely affecting other products by the strong magnetic power.
However, because this device has two separate members, one a frame for enclosing the cassette and the other a lock member for preventing the cassette from being taken out from the frame, locking operation cannot be performed by one-touch. In addition to this operational problem, there is a problem that the lock member may be lost.
The present invention has been completed by the research and development to solve these problems, and has an object of providing a storage and safety device having a lock mechanism for preventing the article being stored (such as a cassette) contained in the frame from being taken out, formed integrally with the frame, whereby locking operation is performed by one-touch and the risk of losing the lock member is prevented.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a storage an
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Citizen Watch Co. Ltd.
Fidei David T.
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