Tdk Corporation

Morimasa Sasaki

Masaru Ikebe

Takateru Satoh

Haruo Shiba

Kenji Hashizume

Chotaro Kouzu

Kimio Tanaka

Akio Momoi

Hiroshi Kaneda

Kunihiro Ueda

Yukio Miyazaki

Takateru Sato

Hisao Katoh

Shinichi Satoh

An information medium capable of preventing inclination of tape reels driven for rotation. The information medium includes a pair of tape reels around which a magnetic tape is wound, a casing body rotatably accommodating the tape reels, and a pair of sheets in which a pair of insertion holes are formed, respectively. A pair of plate-shape spring members for urging at least one end of each reel body via an associated one of the sheets having opposite ends of respective hubs inserted into the insertion holes formed in the sheets are arranged at least one of a gap between one of the sheets, disposed toward one ends of the respective reel bodies, and one of main boards, and a gap between the other of the sheets, disposed toward the other ends of the respective reel bodies, and the other of the main boards.

Information medium

A tape reel includes a hub in the shape of a bottomed-cylinder with a disc-like lower flange integrally formed at a lower end thereof and an opening formed at an upper end thereof; and an upper flange that is disc-like, has a center hole formed therein, and has a ring-shaped protrusion formed so as to protrude at a rim of the center hole, the protrusion being fitted into and fixed at the opening of the hub. The upper flange is constructed by forming the rim of the center hole thicker than other parts aside from the rim.

Tape reel and information recording apparatus

An information medium capable of preventing tape reels from being inclined during driving and improving the manufacturing efficiency. The information medium includes a pair of tape reels having a magnetic tape wound around, a casing body rotatably accommodating the tape reels, and a pair of sheets having a pair of insertion holes formed, respectively. A pair of plate-shaped spring members each formed with an insertion hole are arranged between one sheet and one main board, for urging respective ends of hubs of the tape reels via the sheet, with the associated end of the hub inserted into the insertion hole. Each spring member is fixed to the main board, by being fitted on an outer periphery of an associated annular protrusion formed on the one main board.

A cartridge case of an information recording medium includes a case main body where a guide part is disposed on an inner surface of a top plate, a tape reel that includes a hub in the shape of a bottomed-cylinder and is rotatably enclosed inside the case main body, and a locking member that is guided in a state where rotation is restricted by the guide part, is enclosed within the case main body so as to be capable of moving in a direction toward and away from a base plate of the hub, and restricts rotation of the tape reel. The guide part includes a cylindrical first convex part disposed on the inner surface and a plate-like second convex part disposed on the inner surface. The locking member includes a main part, a cylindrical third convex part that is disposed on the main part and engages the first convex part, and a plate-like fourth convex part that is disposed on the main part and contacts the second convex part to restrict rotation of the locking member.

Cartridge case and information recording medium

A cartridge case includes a case main body, a tape reel having a hub including a first teeth portion and accommodated in the case main body, and a lock member including a second teeth portion engaged with the first teeth portion, wherein the lock member includes at least one of an inner peripheral projection formed to an inner peripheral side of the second teeth portion, projecting toward the bottom plate beyond the second teeth portion, and engaged with the tape reel on the inner peripheral side of the first teeth portion when the first teeth portion is engaged with the second teeth portion and an outer peripheral projection formed to the outer peripheral side of the second teeth portion, projecting toward the bottom plate beyond the second teeth portion, and engaged with the tape reel on the outer peripheral side of the first teeth portion in the above engaged state, thereby the tape reel can be securely locked without loosening a magnetic tape.

A tape cartridge capable of preventing emission of vibrating sounds and occurrence of abrasion at a usage time when a reel hub unit rotates at a high rotating speed. The tape cartridge has a single reel hub unit rotatably accommodated in a case and having its periphery wound with a tape-shaped recording medium, a brake lock member including an engaging portion for engaging a reel hub unit to restrict rotation of the reel hub unit when in non-use, and a flat surface bearing portion provided substantially at a central part of the brake lock member, wherein the central axis of said flat surface bearing portion of the brake lock member is parallel with and offset from the rotating central axis around which said brake release member rotates together with said reel hub unit.

Tape cartridge

An information medium includes: a tape reel around which a magnetic tape is wound; a case body that encloses the tape reel; a lid, including a support plate that is pivotally attached to the case body, that opens and closes a withdrawal opening; and a coil spring disposed between the case body and the lid in a state where a first arm portion of the coil spring engages a top plate of the case body and a second arm portion of the coil spring has engaged the lid, the coil spring energizing the lid in a direction of pivotal movement so as to close the withdrawal opening. The coil spring is formed so that the first arm portion is linear, and when the coil spring has been disposed, an end of the first arm portion protrudes from a withdrawal opening-side edge of the top plate.

A cartridge case includes a case main body, a tape reel that includes a hub in the shape of a bottomed-cylinder and is rotatably enclosed inside the case main body, and a locking member on whose base part ring-shaped first teeth are formed, which is energized toward an inner surface of a base plate of the hub, is enclosed within the case main body so as to be capable of moving in a direction toward and away from the base plate, and restricts rotation of the tape reel. The tape reel includes a plurality of arc-shaped convex parts that are disposed on a circle about an axis of the hub on the inner surface of the base plate and support the locking member that has moved toward the base plate. Second teeth that engage the first teeth are formed on an upper part of at least one of the convex parts. A contact surface that contacts edges of the first teeth without engaging the first teeth is formed on an upper part of at least one of the convex parts.

A disc cartridge is constructed so that disc access to a recording medium enclosed within the disc cartridge via an opening in the cartridge case is restricted by a disc tray and a shutter member disposed inside the cartridge case. The shutter member is rotatably attached to one of the disc tray and the cartridge case, and detachment of the shutter member is restricted at least in a range of rotation of the shutter member between a position where the shutter member covers part of the opening and a position where the shutter member has been withdrawn from the opening. Attachment of the shutter member is carried out without crimping.

Disc cartridge having disc access opening

A tape reel includes: a hub in the shape of a bottomed-cylinder with a disc-like lower flange integrally formed at a lower end thereof and an opening formed at an upper end thereof; and an upper flange that is disc-like, has a center hole formed therein, and has a ring-shaped protrusion formed so as to protrude at a rim of the center hole, the protrusion being fitted into and fixed at the opening of the hub. The hub includes a plurality of reinforcing ribs that are respectively formed in an up-down direction on an inner circumferential surface of the hub.

Tape reel and information recording medium

An information recording medium of the present invention includes a pair of tape reels around which a magnetic tape is wound, a case main body having first windows and second windows formed to the side walls thereof and rotatably accommodating the pair of tape reels, wherein the first windows cause detection light to enter the inside of the case main body to detect the tape ends of the magnetic tape and the second windows cause the detection light to outgo to the outside of the case main body, a front cover turnably attached to the case main body to open and close a drawing-out port of the magnetic tape; and a reel brake, and the reel brake includes a main body disposed to the case main body so as to slide along a direction in which the main body comes into contact with and separates from the tape reels, and arms formed to the main body as well as slinging the main portion by moving along the direction in which they come into contact with and separate from the tape reels between the first windows and the second windows as the front cover is turned to thereby regulate the rotation of the tape reels and release the regulated rotation of the tape reels.

Information recording medium

A tape cartridge includes a leader pin that is fixed to an end of a magnetic tape, a case main body that is composed of an upper case and a lower case, has a tape withdrawal opening through which the magnetic tape can be withdrawn formed in a side surface thereof, and has leader pin storage parts capable of respectively storing an upper end and a lower end of the leader pin formed in the upper case and the lower case in a vicinity of the tape withdrawal opening, and a spring member that is disposed in the case main body, regulates movement of the leader pin by having contact surfaces thereof contact or be near to side surfaces of both the end parts of the leader pin that are stored in the leader pin storage parts, and elastically deforms when the leader pin is withdrawn to stop regulating the movement. The contact surfaces of the spring member are curved towards central parts thereof so as to project towards the side surfaces.

A disc cartridge capable of permitting a hub to be constantly rotated about the center of rotation thereof without any eccentricity, to thereby ensure smooth and stable rotation of the disc. The hub is formed with three drive shaft inserting holes in a manner to be spaced from each other at equal intervals and positioned on a concentric circle of a predetermined radius defined about a center of rotation of the hub. The drive shaft inserting holes each are formed with a linear driven surface which is adapted to be contacted with a drive shaft inserted into the hole. The driven surface may be arranged at an angle of -30 to +30 degrees with respect to the center of rotation of the hub.

Disc cartridge

An elastic lifter arranged on an inner surface of a casing of a disc cartridge to exert a pressing force on a disc is formed integrally with the casing and into a plate-like shape in such a manner that a proximal end thereof is connected to the casing and a distal end thereof is rendered free. Such construction permits the pressing force to be kept constant for a long period of time and effectively prevents damage to the disc, to thereby substantially improve durability and reliability of the disc cartridge while significantly decreasing the number of parts, facilitating assembling of the disc cartridge, and attains a decrease in manufacturing cost. The lifter may be formed at a proximal end thereof with a decreased thickness, to thereby facilitate bending of the lifter.

A protectively coated sliding member comprises a sliding member body, an anchor layer formed thereon and which consists of (a) a hydrocarbon or hydrocarbon-based plasma polymer film, (b) a diamond-like film, or (c) an ion-plating film of a metal or metallic compound, and a protective coating formed on the anchor layer and which consists of a hydrocarbon or hydrocarbon-based plasma polymer film in case where the anchor layer consists of (a), a diamond or diamond-like film in case of (b), or an ion-plating film of a metallic compound in case of (c). The protective coating is of greater hardness than the anchor layer.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Morimasa Sasaki