Pioneer Electronic Corporation

Masanori Sugihara

Kazuo Kobayashi

Yoshinori Yamada

Kiyoshi Morikawa

Masakazu Kurumada

Atsushi Kurosawa

Akihiko Okamoto

Kouji Shimoda

Susumu Yoshida

Tomomitsu Kouno

Akira Bessho

Haruo Kama

Kenji Okuda

Hideki Okii

Toshiyuki Kimoto

A vehicle disk player is disclosed in which a disk is inserted through a disk inserting opening, the disk is fixedly mounted on a turn table by a clamper arm when conveyed to a predetermined position in the player, the turn table is rotated for reproduction of data recorded in the disk, and reproducing means including the clamper arm and turn table are supported in a floating manner. The player is provided with a centering mechanism for positioning said disk at the middle of the disk inserting opening with centering pins. The centering pins are arranged out of the range of vibration of the disk which is fixedly mounted on said turn table supported in a floating manner.

Centering mechanism for automotive disk player

A disk playback apparatus with a centering mechanism for positioning a small or a large disk which comprises a support frame, a clamper arm swingably mounted on a rear portion of the support frame, and a centering mechanism for guiding large and a small diameter disks from a front side of the playback apparatus to a position between the support frame and the clamper arm when the disk is inserted into the playback apparatus. The centering mechanism has a pair of centering arms for contacting with a circumferential edge of the disk for positioning the disk in place, a centering lever provided in the clamper arm and connected to the pair of centering arms for simultaneously opening/closing the pair of centering arms, and lock arms each rotatably mounted on the associated centering arm for locking the centering arm independently, the lock arms allowing the pair of centering arms to be swingable when both the lock arms are released. This playback apparatus can center both the small and large size disks at a clamp position.

Disk playback apparatus with centering device for different disk sizes

A disc player is disclosed which includes a casing having a disc inserting opening, a turntable driven by a spindle motor, a clamper arm operating means for operating a clamper arm in cooperation with said turntable, a centering mechanism for guiding a disc from the disc inserting opening onto the turntable, the centering mechanism including a pair of centering arms (13, 14) each having at distal end portions contact portions which are to be brought into contact with a circumferential edge of the disc, the centering arms being pivotally movable at a predetermined distance in the disc inserting opening, a detecting lever (42) for detecting a condition that the disc is laid on the turntable, and a disc double insertion preventing lock linkage (43, 57) for preventing another disc from being inserted into the casing through the disc inserting opening when the first-mentioned disc is already located on the turntable, the double insertion preventing lock linkage being in cooperation with the centering mechanism.

Disc double insertion preventing mechanism for disc player

A vehicle disk player is disclosed in which a disk is inserted through a disk inserting opening, the disk is fixedly mounted on a turntable by a clamper arm when conveyed to a predetermined position in the player, the turntable is rotated for reproduction of data recorded in the disk, and reproducing means including the clamper arm and turntable are supported in a floating manner. The player is provided with a centering mechanism for positioning said disk at the middle of the disk inserting opening with centering pins. The centering pins are arranged out of the range of vibration of the disk which is fixedly mounted on said turntable supported in a floating manner. A centering lever (15) directly connects two centering arms (13 and 14).

A device for preventing the erroneous insertion of a disc in a vehicle CD player. A movable cover is swingably mounted on a frame through a movable cover opening and closing arm. An operating member is coupled to the movable cover opening and closing arm, the operating member being operated in association with a disc clamping operation of a clamper arm. After the clamper arm clamps the disc, the movable cover opening and closing arm is swung so that the movable cover is swung to a disc-inserting-opening closing position.

Device for preventing the erroneous insertion of a disc in a CD player

A disc player is disclosed which comprises a casing having a disc inserting opening, a turntable driven by a spindle motor, a clamper arm operating mechanism for operating a clamper arm in cooperation with said turntable, a centering mechanism for guiding a disc from the disc inserting opening onto the turntable, the centering mechanism including a pair of centering arms each having at distal end portions contact portions which are to be brought into contact with a circumferential edge of the disc, the centering arms being pivotally movable at a predetermined distance in the disc inserting opening, a detecting pin for detecting a condition that the disc is laid on the turntable; a separating mechanism for separating the pair of centering arms away from the circumferential edge of the disc when the disc is loaded on said turntable in cooperation with the clamper arm operating means. The mechanism is in cooperation with the centering mechanism whereby the disc is located outside of a vibration range of the disc.

Centering mechanism for automotive disc player

A disc reproducing apparatus is disclosed in which a disc is delivered from a disc inserting opening to a predetermined position within a player, a clamper arm that extends over a turntable for clamping the disc is operated to fix the disc on the turntable, and then the turntable is rotated to reproduce information recorded in the disc. A disc guide plate is pivotally mounted to the clamper arm such that the disc guide plate engages and disengages the clamper arm. A disc guiding recess into which a small-diameter disc can be fitted is provided to the disc guide plate. When the small-diameter disc is delivered, the small-diameter disc is fitted into the disc guiding recess to be aligned with a clamp position, and when a large-diameter disc is delivered, the large-diameter disc pushes the disc guide plate away to be aligned with the clamp position on the turntable.

Guide mechanism for disc reproducing apparatus

A disc reproducing apparatus is disclosed in which a large- or small-diameter disc inserted through a disc inserting opening is transferred to a predetermined position within a player, a clamper arm extending over a turntable on which the disc is placed is operated to fix the disc onto the turntable, and information recorded in the disc is reproduced by rotating the turntable. A pair of stopper arms are disposed on the clamper arm, each of which having an abutment which abuts the periphery of the disc. The pair of stopper arms are disposed such that when the small-diameter disc arrives at the predetermined position on the turntable, the angle made by the longitudinal axis of the respective stopper arms is smaller than the angle made by the radial lines connecting each stopper and the center of the small-diameter disc, but greater than the angle made by the radial lines connecting each stopper and the center of the large-diameter disc when the large-diameter disc is place.

A disc reproducing apparatus is disclosed in which a large or small disc inserted through a disc inserting opening is transferred to a predetermined position within a player, a clamper arm extending over a turntable on which the disc is placed is operated to fix the disc onto the turntable, and information recorded in the disc is reproduced by rotating the turntable. A disc guide plate for guiding the small-diameter disc to a clamp position is pivotally mounted to the clamper arm. A disc guiding recess is provided into which the small disc can slip and which has a sufficiently wide opening. A restraining member blocks the advancement of only the large disc into the disc guiding recess. When the small disc is inserted through the disc inserting opening, the small-diameter disc is advanced into the disc guiding recess to be positioned at the clamp position. When the large-diameter disc is inserted through the disc inserting opening, the large-diameter disc is guided by the restraining member to the outside of the disc guiding recess, pushes away the disc guide plate, and is guided to the clamp position on the turntable.

Disc guide mechanism for automotive disc player

A front loading disk player comprising a housing provided with a slot into which a disk to be played is inserted, a playback unit installed in said housing and a disk carrier mechanism for carrying said disk to a playback position. The disk carrier mechanism includes a disk loader. The playback unit comprises a carriage for supporting an optical pickup, a driving mechanism for driving the carriage, a turntable and a support member for supporting the carriage, the driving mechanism and the turntable. The support member is secured to the housing through a vibration-damping mechanism. A locking unit is provided for locking the support member to the housing when the disk is not played.

Auto loading disk player

An automatic disc player including a housing having an elongated slot through which a disc is to be inserted into the housing, disc playback means accommodated within the housing, disc carrier means operative to convey the disc toward a predetermined position along a predetermined path within the housing after the disc is inserted through the slot in the housing, the disc carrier mechanism having a surface portion on which the a disc is to be placed, and alignment operative to move the disc correctly to the predetermined position after the disc is conveyed toward the predetermined position by the disc carrier means, wherein the alignment comprises a pair of position holding device disposed on both sides of the aforesaid predetermined path and engageable with an edge portion of the disc concurrently at at least two locations on a plane substantially parallel with the above mentioned surface portion of the disc carrier, and biasing device urging the locations to move toward the edge portion of the disc while the disc is being engaged by the position holders.

Automatic loading disc player

An automatic disc player including a housing having an elongated slot through which a disc is to be inserted, playback means accommodated within the housing and including a turntable to carry a disc during playback operation, disc carrier means to convey the disc toward a predetermined position with respect to the turntable after the disc is inserted through the slot in the housing, and disc clamp means to move the disc correctly to the predetermined position after the disc is conveyed toward the predetermined position by the disc carrier means, wherein the disc clamp means comprises a support member movable between a release position remoter from the turntable and a disc clamp position closer to the turntable, and a disc clamping member which is rotatably supported on the support member through an elliptical opening formed in the support member and which is cooperative with the turntable for having a disc clamped between the turntable and the disc clamping member when the support member is in the disc clamp position with respect to the turntable, the disc clamping member being formed with a circumferential groove through which the support member engages the disc clamp member along its rim portion defining the elliptical opening therein, the outside diameter of the disc clamping member being smaller than the diameter of the major axis and larger than the diameter of the minor axis of the elliptical opening.

A cassette recorder is equipped with a plunger operated mode selection unit featuring a plurality of independently selectible mode operating rods including lockable rods and a stop rod for releasing locking or retained rods. The plungers are solenoid operated devices which operate to bring a drive gear into engagement with a gear including a cam actuator for engaging a follower to depress a selected mode operation rod.

Mode switch actuator for tape recorders

A pinch roller actuator for use with a tape recorder includes a pinch roller holder and a play arm moved in association with tape recorder mode selection. The holder includes a cam surface slideably engaging a pin of the play arm, such that the holder is pivoted in response to movement of the pin.

Pinch roller actuator for tape recorder

A cassette tape recorder is provided with mode selection levers which are selectively engageable and retainable to achieve operation in a plurality of recorder modes. Playback and record modes are released either by the operation of a stop lever or an eject lever. A pause mode is provided which may be associated with other modes, such as the record mode. When progressing from a record/pause mode to a stop mode, the record mode lever is released first, so as to avoid inadvertant operation in the record mode before achieving the stop mode.

Growing community of inventors

Saitama, Japan

Masanori Sugihara