Orion Electric Company, Ltd.

Masahiko Nishide

Kenji Sakano

Takeshi Makino

Masahide Moroishi

Yuichi Kobayashi

The invention provides an electronic device with a recording and/or reproducing apparatus having a claming mechanism having superior vibration resistance, capable of securely supporting the disk clamped via a clamper and a turntable. The electronic device according to the present invention comprises a supporting portionhaving a retention frameand a screw hole, wherein one end of a leaf springis locked thereto and the other end is screw-engaged thereto so that a depressed portionA of the leaf springis elastically in contact with a projectionB of the clamper, by which the disk D clamped by the clamperand the turntableis biased without fail by the leaf spring. Thereby, the present invention enables to provide a clamping mechanism having enhanced vibration resistance.

Disk clamping mechanism having improved vibration resistance

To provide a disc changer capable of working without any malfunctions in spite of a reduced number of switches, it includes a mode-detecting mechanism having means for identifying an operation, cams respectively operated by powers supplied from a first and second motors, each cam provided with said identifying means, sensors for detecting said identifying means moving according to the operation of said cam, each composed of a set of a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element, a control section for receiving operation signals detected by said sensors to control the operation of the disc changer, and transmission gears for driving said cams, said transmission gears interlocking with a transporting gear meshing with a rack of said main tray for carrying the main tray out with the subtray put thereon.

Disc changer, method of detecting mode thereof, and method of selecting disc ejection

A disk drive with a tray that can be smoothly taken in and out without a gear coming-off from a rack. The tray includes, on its back surface side, a cam wall and a gear escape-preventing wall in parallel to each other along the rack with a predetermined spacing therebetween, and a guide groove provided on a rear side of the tray and connected to the gear escape-preventing wall via an inclined portion formed on the cam wall. Provided on a font side of the tray are a transverse guide groove perpendicular to a disk conveyance track, a transverse guide wall defining the transverse guide groove, a corner wall connected to the cam wall, and a corner escape-preventing wall connected to the gear escape-preventing wall. First and second bosses are provided on a rack loading device, which interpose therebetween the cam wan and the gear escape-preventing wall.

Disk drive provided with tray

To achieve a disc device with a disc changer in which number of motors is reduced, and a quiet and stable switching operation, accurate positioning of a sub-tray, smooth clamp and release of a disc are possible, only a first motor for driving a main tray and a second motor for driving the sub-tray are used as driving sources, and a gear switching mechanism is provided, in which driving channels of the first and second motors can be disconnected. The gear switching mechanism comprises a first cam gear having first and second cam grooves formed therein and rotationally driven by the first motor; a clutch lever installed in a back-and-forth swingable manner around a pivot fixed to a body frame and a back edge fitted slidably into the first cam groove in the first cam gear; a second cam gear having a cam groove formed therein and connected to a traverse-unit moving unit via the cam groove; and a clutch gear pivotally supported by a front edge of the clutch lever and capable of switching of connection to a channel including a transmission gear engaging with a sub-tray rack for conveying the sub-tray to the playback position, or to a channel including the second cam gear and transmission gears connected to the second motor.

Disc device with disc changer

A video recorder housing has a pivoting gate to open and close the cassette slot of the video recorder. The pivoting gate has a movable hook secure to its rear side. When a video cassette is inserted into the cassette slot to be loaded into the housing, the movable hook partially appears from the lower edge of the pivoting gate, and the pivoting gate remains partially open with the protruding hook resting on the upper surface of the video cassette. The partially open pivoting gate exposes the label of the video cassette to be seen from the outside.

Video recorder housing whose pivoting gate permits backbone of videocassette fitted inside be seen from outside

Disclosed is an improved video recorder housing having a main-and-auxiliary pivoting gate assembly to open and close its front cassette slot. The housing has a chamfered cassette guide extending inward from the lower edge of the cassette slot. The housing has a horizontal pin positioned inside and above the cassette slot. The main gate is attached to rotate about the horizontal pin and is spring-biased toward its closing position. The main gate has a sub-horizontal pin and an inverted &ldquo;L&rdquo;-shaped lever both operatively connected to control the degree of opening of the auxiliary gate. The auxiliary gate is spring-biased toward its closing position, and can be rotated about the sub-horizontal pin while the inverted &ldquo;L&rdquo;-shaped lever rolls on the ceiling of the housing. With this arrangement, the main gate is kept half open with its lower edge caught by the upper surface of a videocassette loaded inside the video recorder. The auxiliary gate then suspends vertically in the cassette slot leaving a lateral space between the lower edge of the auxiliary gate and the chamfered cassette guide permitting the label of the videocassette to be seen from the outside.

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Fukui, Japan

Masahiko Nishide