Motor Support Apparatus

The present invention relates to a motor support apparatus for supporting a motor mounted in a main body of equipment such as a cassette tape recorder.

A motor mounted in a main body of equipment such as a cassette tape recorder is generally fixed with screws on a support plate secured on the main body. However, motor vibration is transmitted to the main bodies through the support plates with this arrangement. Especially in the case of a cassette tape recorder, motor vibration adversely affects tape transport conditions. In order to eliminate this, a plurality of elastic washers are fitted around the screws and located on the sides of the support plate. These elastic washers thus damp the vibration. However, they are compressed by the fastening force of the screws, so that elasticity of the elastic washers is impaired. As a result, motor vibration cannot be sufficiently eliminated. Further, although the elastic washers can more or less damp the vibration in the axial directions of the screws, they can hardly damp the vibration in the directions perpendicular to the axial directions of the screws. Further, since the motor is screwed on the support plate, screw holes must be formed in the motor, resulting in a complex manufacturing processing.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems and has for its object to provide a motor support apparatus which sufficiently damps motor vibration and which is capable of supporting the motor without requiring a special processing.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a motor support apparatus comprising at least one shock absorbing member which elastically supports a motor and which includes a cylindrical portion made of an elastic material, a support portion disposed at one end of the cylindrical portion and mounted on an outer surface of the motor, and a fixing portion disposed at the other end of the cylindrical portion; and a support member which securely fixes the fixing portion of the shock absorbing member to support the shock absorbing member in a state to project toward the motor.

The cylindrical portion of the shock absorbing member is made of an elastic material and formed in a cylindrical shape. Therefore, motor vibration is damped by the shock absorbing member and is not transmitted to the support member. Further, since the motor is supported by the shock absorbing member, special processing such as screw hole formation processing is not required.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a motor support apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view thereof and FIG. 2 is a bottom view thereof; and

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway side view of a motor support apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

A motor support apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

A motor support apparatus 10 has a support member 14 mounted to a case 12 of a main body of equipment such as a cassette tape recorder, and three shock absorbing members 16 fixed to the support member 14. Each shock absorbing member 16 comprises a cylindrical portion 18 which has upper and lower openings at both ends thereof, and a support portion 22 which has a flat support surface 20 perpendicular to the axis of the cylindrical portion 18 so as to close the upper opening of the cylindrical portion 18. The shock absorbing member 16 further has an annular fixing portion 24 which extends radially outward from the outer circumferential surface at the lower end of the cylindrical portion 18 and which is coaxial with the cylindrical portion 18. The fixing portion 24 has a first fixing surface 26a at the side of the upper end of the cylindrical portion 18 and a second fixing surface 26b at the side of the lower end of the cylindrical portion 18. The first and second fixing surfaces 26a and 26b are perpendicular to the axis of the cylindrical portion 18. The cylindrical portion 18, the support portion 22 and the fixing portion 24 are integrally formed by an elastic material such as rubber. The support member 14 has a substantially U-shaped plate 27 which is symmetrical about a line 29. The U-shaped plate 27 has three through holes 28 each having a circular section. The three through holes 28 correspond to the three absorbing members 16, respectively. One of the through holes 28 is on the line 29 and the other through holes 28 are located on both sides of the line 29, respectively. Each through hole 28 has a diameter which is larger than the outer diameter of the cylindrical portion 18 of the shock absorbing member 16 and is smaller than the outer diameter of the fixing portion 24.

The shock absorbing members 16 are inserted in the through holes 28 from below so as to be coaxial therewith, respectively. The first fixing surfaces 26a of the fixing portions 24 are adhered to the lower surface of the U-shaped plate 27. The cylindrical portions 18 extend vertically upward from the U-shaped plate 27 through the through holes 28, respectively. The support surfaces 20 of the support portions 22 are spaced apart from the upper surface of the U-shaped plate 27 at a predetermined distance and are parallel to the upper surface thereof. The support surfaces 20 are on the same plane. Since the diameter of each through hole 28 is larger than the outer diameter of the cylindrical portion 18 of the shock absorbing member 16, the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical portion 18 is spaced apart from the inner circumferential surface of the through hole 28 at a predetermined distance. This predetermined distance is preferably about 10 to 20% of the outer diameter of the cylindrical portion 16. The lower surface of the motor 30 is adhered to the support surfaces 20 of the support portions 20 and the motor is elastically supported by the shock absorbing members 16. The motor 30 is so supported that a motor shaft 32 thereof is located on the line 29 and the lower surface of the motor 30 is parallel to the upper surface of the U-shaped plate 27.

According to the motor support apparatus 10 with the above arrangement, since the motor 30 is supported by the shock absorbing members 16, motor vibration in the axial direction of the cylindrical portions 18 and in the direction perpendicular thereto is damped by the cylindrical portions 18 of the shock absorbing members 16. Further, since the shock absorbing members 16 are arranged so that their outer circumferential surfaces are spaced apart from the inner circumferential surfaces of the through holes 28 at a predetermined distance, respectively, the outer circumferential surfaces of the cylindrical portions 18 may not come in contact with the inner circumferential surfaces of the through holes 28, respectively, even if the cylindrical portions 18 of the shock absorbing members 16 are deformed by the motor vibration. Therefore, the vibration of the motor 30 may not be transmitted to the case 12 through the support member 14. Further, since the shock absorbing members 16 are inserted from the bottoms of the through holes 28, respectively, and are fixed to the U-shaped plate 27, the distance between the motor 30 and the U-shaped plate 27 is small. As a result, the case 12 can be made compact. Further, the axial length of each cylindrical portion 18 can be made sufficiently long. Therefore, the shock absorbing members 16 can sufficiently damp vibration of the motor 30. Since the motor 30 is adhered to the support surfaces 20 of the support portions 22, the screw holes need not be formed in the motor 30.

According to the above embodiment, the shock absorbing members 16 are inserted from the bottoms of the through holes 28, respectively, and the first fixing surfaces 26a of the fixing portions 24 are adhered to the lower surface of the U-shaped plate 27. However, as shown in FIG. 3, through holes may not be formed in the U-shaped plate. The second fixing surfaces 26b of the fixing portions of the shock absorbing members may be adhered to the upper surface of the U-shaped plate 27 instead. With this arrangement, the shock absorbing members 16 are more properly adhered to the U-shaped plate 27. The same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 denote the same parts in FIG. 3. The cylindrical portion of the shock absorbing member need not be cylindrical in shape. Other shapes such as hexagonal and quadrangular hollow prisms may also be utilized to obtain the same effects. The shock absorbing member need not be made of an elastic material such as rubber. Instead, other elastic materials such as an elastic resin may be utilized. Further, the number of shock absorbing members need not be three, but may vary as needed. The positions of the shock absorbing members are not particularly limited only if the motor is supported properly.