Limited use video cassette

Abstract

A cassette housing for a recording medium and the transport mechanism for the recording medium is composed of a thin one-piece blank of self-supporting foldable material such as paperboard with indentation lines for folding it into a structure with a pair of generally parallel, spaced apart, planar side panels and an end panel between the side panels and extending normal thereto, and having tabs foldable along others of the indentation lines to form three more end panels extending normal to the side panels to enclose the transport mechanism within the structure and maintain the side panels parallel to each other with relative rigidity. The blank has cutouts to form openings in one of the end panels for passage of the recording medium therethrough while mounted on its transport mechanism. The blank also has slits therein associated with others of the indentation lines for folding portions of the blank to form further tabs for retaining the transport mechanism against substantial lateral movement within the structure. In a preferred embodiment, the recording medium is a magnetic tape and the transport mechanism is a pair of reels on which the tape is mounted for winding and unwinding as the reels rotate in synchronism. The retaining tabs allow independent freedom of rotation of the reels, and the side panels have cutouts to expose the internal portions of the hubs of the reels to permit the reels to be driven for recording or playback.