Sony Corporation

Apls Co., Ltd.

Takashi Oogi

Tadao Igarashi

Susumu Morita

Toshikazu Konno

Haruyuki Karibe

Tsuyoshi Ohta

A tape guide roller for a tape cassette comprises an inner cylindrical body including a flange portion projecting from the outer circumference on one end thereof, and a synthetic resin injection portion provided at the outer circumferential surface at the other end thereof, the inner cylindrical body being molded by injecting synthetic resin from a direction substantially perpendicular to the axial direction thereof and an outer cylindrical body having an inside diameter such that it fits tightly over the inner cylindrical body, and includes a synthetic resin injection portion provided at the outer circumferential surface on the end side thereof opposite to the end side which serves as the insertion end for the inner side cylindrical body. The outer cylindrical body is molded by injecting synthetic resin from a direction substantially perpendicular to its axial direction through the synthetic resin injection portion. The outer cylindrical body is inserted from its insertion end onto the inner cylindrical body so that the former becomes integral with the latter, thus comprising a tape guide roller. The inner cylindrical body and the outer cylindrical body may also be molded by a double molding method.

Method of manufacturing a tape guide roller for tape cassette

Tape guide roller for tape cassette

A tape cassette includes reel hubs which have flanges provided at their peripheral surfaces with engagement portions, and reel lock members, each of which has an engaging portion and is biased so that the engaging portion engages the engagement portion of the flange for preventing rotation of the reel hub. The engaging portion of each reel lock member is provided with a restricting piece for restricting movement of the flange in a direction parallel to the thickness of the flange when the engaging portion is in contact with the engagement portion.

Tape cassette having reel lock members with restricting portions

In a tape cassette including a brake member and a wire-shaped brake spring supported at its opposite ends by the brake member, the brake member is biased by the brake spring to come into pressure contact with hubs and thereby lock the hubs. One end of the brake spring is completely fixed to the brake member, and the other end of the brake spring is supported by the brake member with a degree of freedom parallel to the axial direction of the brake spring. The brake member has a guide recess opened at one end thereof and is adapted to be slidably moved to effect hub locking and unlocking operations while being guided by a guide pin formed in a cassette case, the guide pin being inserted through the guide recess. The opened end of the guide recess diverges to form a tapering portion so that the guide pin may be smoothly introduced into the guide recess upon sliding movement of the brake member.

Tape cassette with spring-biased hub brake

A reel presser for pressing a reel within a cassette casing which has an upper half and a lower half comprises a holder which abuts the reel and a cap engaged with the holder. The holder and the cap are arranged on opposite sides of the upper half, and a spring is provided between the upper half and the holder. When a tape cassette containing the reel presser is loaded in a cassette mounting device, a reel pressing member provided in the cassette mounting device depresses a continuous surface disposed at the top of the cap so as to depress the reel toward the lower half of the cassette casing.

Tape cassette with pressable cap for fixing reel on reel base

A tape cassette has indicating means for indicating various information about the tape cassette itself, and the indicating means is so disposed as to be interposed between a pair of reels which are arranged within the cassette casing.

Tape cassette

The present invention provides a tape cassette used as a recording medium for the recording and/or reproducing apparatus, such as a tape recorder. The tape cassette includes a lid for protecting the tape during the time the tape cassette is not used and a lock lever for locking the lid in a closed state. According to the present invention, the abutting portion on the lock lever on which abuts the release pin of the aforementioned recording and/or reproducing apparatus which is adapted for releasing the lock of the lock lever, is inclined with respect to the moving direction of the release pin, so that, when the release pin undergoes positional deviation in a direction orthogonal to its moving direction, the lock lever may be at a predetermined position when the lock lever is released, so as to prevent the lock lever from contacting with the tape in the tape cassette due to the aforementioned positional deviation of the release pin to assure the running stability of the tape.

A tape cassette has a cassette casing in which reels and a tape wound thereon are accommodated, a lid for closing a front opening of the casing, a lid-locking member pivoted on a mounting pin which projects from a pedestal on the bottom of the cassette casing, and detecting holes in the casing bottom with respective obstruction or indicating members for providing information as to the cassette, with one of the detecting holes being arranged substantially under the pedestal in alignment with the mounting pin without interfering with the mounting pin, so that the full area of the bottom of the casing is effectively utilized.

Growing community of inventors

Miyagi, Japan

Takashi Oogi