Winding – tensioning – or guiding – Coil holder or support – Radially expansible or contractile
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-16
2002-10-29
Rivera, William A. (Department: 3653)
Winding, tensioning, or guiding
Coil holder or support
Radially expansible or contractile
C242S345000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06471156
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic tape recording-and-playing apparatus such as a videotape recorder, and more particularly to a reel support for rotating reels in a magnetic tape cassette inserted in a magnetic tape recording- and-playing apparatus.
2. Related Art
A videotape recorder using a magnetic tape cassette has a tape-loading mechanism equipped therewith. Specifically the magnetic tape is pulled out of the cassette to be applied to the rotary head cylinder with the aid of the tape-loading mechanism. Thus, the rotary head cylinder is loaded with the magnetic tape with accuracy. To assure that the tape-loading mechanism works well it is necessary that the winding reel support and rewinding reel support of the videotape recorder be fitted in the winding reel and rewinding reel of the cassette with accuracy.
The reel support for rotating either reel in the cassette comprises a support stage, a reel post and blades, all of which are integrally connected to provide a whole body. The support stage is used for bearing the cassette reel, and the reel post stands upright on the support stage to be press-fitted in the hole of either cassette reel. The reel post has longitudinal slots made in its circumference, each containing a selected blade loosely, allowing one part of the blade to project outward from the longitudinal slot. When the reel post is press-fitted in the aperture of the winding or rewinding reel, the blades are engaged with some selected projections of the indented aperture of the winding or rewinding reel. Thus, the winding or rewinding reel can be rotated by rotating the reel support.
Referring to FIGS.
5
(
a
) and
5
(
b
), the reel support is rotated clockwise as indicated by the arrow, making each blade
51
abut on the confronting side of a selected projection
53
in the reel indented-aperture to transmit the torque from the reel support to the cassette reel via the blade
51
. As seen from FIG.
5
(
a
), the blade
51
is yieldingly bent counterclockwise (leftward in the drawing) to abut on the confronting inner sidewall
55
of the longitudinal slot
54
. Thereafter, the blade
51
is yieldingly bent inward as indicated by the arrow, and then, it may happen that the blade
51
comes off from the projection
53
, which is called “blade hopping”.
Such “blade hopping” can be prevented by increasing the blade's resistance to bending. Such a stiff blade
51
will prevent the reel post from getting in the reel indented-aperture
52
when the blades
51
happen to ride on the selected projections
53
in the reel indented-aperture
52
(see FIG.
5
(
b
); broken lines). If the reel post is press-fitted in the reel indented-aperture
52
by making the stiff blade
51
yieldingly bend inward by force (see FIG.
5
(
b
); solid lines), the stiff blade
51
can hardly come off and fall from the projection
53
down to the inter-projection space
56
to be caught at the confronting side of the subsequent projection. Even though the stiff blade
51
slips off from the projection
53
fortunately, unpleasing sound is produced.
To prevent the blade from riding on the projection and from holding tightly each other it is necessary that the blade's resistance to bending be reduced, but to prevent the “blade hopping” it is necessary that the blade's resistance to bending be increased. Apparently this is contradictory, and no satisfactory reel support can be designed.
The longitudinal slot
54
has a narrow gap remaining between either side of the blade
51
and the confronting inner wall
55
. The blade width can be increased in the longitudinal slot by reducing the opposite gaps
57
in the slot. The so widened blade
51
can have an increased resistance to the circumferential bending as a counter action to abutment on the projection
53
(see FIG.
5
(
a
)), and accordingly the possibility of “blade hopping” is reduced. The widening of the blade still permits the blade
51
to bend yieldingly inward apart from the projection
53
even if the blade
51
should ride on the projection
53
. The blade
51
, therefore, can come off from the projection
53
with ease.
This remedy, however, requires a metal mold whose parts to shape such narrow gaps in the longitudinal slot are too thin to be used for a long time. Thus, the life of the metal mold is reduced significantly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One object of the present invention is to provide a reel support which is guaranteed to be free of “blade hopping” and “tight-holding of the blade and the projection”.
To attain this object a reel support for rotating one of the winding and rewinding reels in a magnetic tape cassette inserted in a magnetic tape recording-and-playing apparatus, is improved according to the present invention in that the reel support is a resin mold, and that the reel support comprises a support stage having a reel post and blades integrally connected to and standing upright from the support stage, the upright blades extending in the longitudinal slots made in the circumference of the upright reel post, each upright blade having a nail formed on its tip end, partially appearing from the circumference of the upright reel post to the extent of being caught by a selected projection in the indentation of the aperture of either reel; each longitudinal slot has a stepwise indent formed on one side facing the tail side of the nail of the blade, thus permitting the corner of the nail to be engaged with the stepwise indent of the one side of the longitudinal slot.
With this arrangement each blade can have a good flexibility sufficient to allow the blade to come off from the counter projection even though the blade rides thereon, falling into the inter-projection space to be caught and supported by the stepwise indent of the confronting side of the slot in the reel post. Thus, further bending of the blade which would cause the “blade hopping” can be prevented effectively. Still advantageously, the stepwise indent of one inside wall of each slot permits the corresponding part of the metal mold to increase its strength.
The nail of each blade can be engaged with a selected projection in the indentation of the aperture of either reel in a plane containing the center axis of the reel support; and the corner of the nail to be engaged with the stepwise indent of the one side of the longitudinal slot is shaped so as to be complementary to the stepwise indent, but the corner of the nail is somewhat apart radially from the stepwise indent.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be understood from the following description of a reel support for rotating one of the winding and rewinding reels in a magnetic tape cassette according to one preferred embodiment of the present invention, which is shown in the accompanying drawings:
REFERENCES:
patent: 1796770 (1931-03-01), Stimpson
patent: 1809049 (1931-06-01), Lemoine et al.
patent: 3722929 (1973-03-01), Gilman
patent: 4541587 (1985-09-01), Stumpfi et al.
patent: 5062579 (1991-11-01), Noguchi
patent: 5170959 (1992-12-01), Jin
patent: 5492280 (1996-02-01), Corres et al.
patent: 61-68760 (1986-04-01), None
Orion Electric Co. Ltd.
Rivera William A.
Wenderoth , Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
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