Tape Player Having Motor-Driven Tape-Pack Loading Mechanism

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an automatic tape-pack loading mechanism adopted in a tape player or magnetic tape recording/playing device, amd more particularly to a mechanism, of a simpler construction, for automatically and smoothly loading a tape pack into the playing position in the tape player.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Heretofore it has been proposed and adopted in some conventional tape players to utilize a motor drive for moving into the playing position a tape pack inserted in the player. The conventional tape-pack loading mechanisms use an intermittent-motion gear to unlock the tape-pack guide which is normally forced downward, thus dropping the tape pack into place for tape playing; in this mechanism, a large force is required to lift the tape pack for ejection after playing or in the course of playing for some reason. Namely, a large operating force is necessary for unloading the tape pack, which leads to disadvantages so that the operability of the tape player is low and no compact design of the mechanism is obtainable.

Accordingly, the present invention has as a primary object to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional automatic tape-pack loading mechanisms by providing a novel and improved automatic tape-pack loading mechanism.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be better understood from the ensuing explanation, made by way of example, of the embodiments of the present invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a tape player equipped with a tape-pack loading mechanism according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the player as viewed from the direction of arrow II in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the player as viewed from the direction of arrow III in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the player as viewed from the direction of arrow IV in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 5 through 7 show a variation of the lock-link control mechanism included in the tape-pack loading mechanism of FIG. 1, FIG. 5 being a plan view of the mechanism, FIG. 6 being a longitudinal side view and FIG. 7 being a lateral side view.

Referring now to the drawings, there is movably supported on the top of a chassis 11 a push plate 2 formed integrally with a gear support 1. A spring 8 is provided between the push plate 2 and the chassis 1 to force the plate 2 to slide to the left in the plane of FIG. 2 (downward in the plane of FIG. 1). Further, said push plate 2 has provided inside thereof an elastic piece 2a, as shown in FIG. 1, which engages a tape pack 12 at a reel hole in the tape pack; thus, the push plate 2 is pushed to the right in the view of FIG. 2 (upward in the plane of FIG. 1). The gear support 1 such as described above has provided at the lower portion thereof an engagement hole 17 or slot of which one end is bent downward as shown in FIG. 2 to define a notch. Engaged in said engagement hole 17 is an engagement piece 3a provided at one end of a lock link or lever 3 which is pivotably supported at an intermediate point thereof on a supporting protrusion 11b of said chassis 11 by means of a pivot point 3b; the lock link 3 has fixed at one end thereof a sping 7 which normally forces said engagement piece 3a downward, the other end of this lock link 3 engaging a joint piece 4b provided on the lower end of a rack member 4. There is installed on the innermost side of the gear support 1 a worm wheel 5 which engages a worm 6 integrally assembled to a pulley 22 which is driven by a motor. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the worm wheel 5 has formed integrally therewith a spur gear 15 which can engage rack 4a of said rack member 4. Further, said rack member 4 has formed at the upper portion thereof a tape-pack holder 9 extending horizontally so as to be perpendicular to the sliding direction of said rack member 4. The tape-pack holder 9 has fixed to one end thereof a lever member 19 of which the base is pivotably mounted by means of a pivot piece 19a to support seat 11a of the chassis 11 as shown in FIG. 3. Further, there is fixed to the lower end of the lever member 19 a tension spring 14 which normally forces the lever member 19 and tape-pack holder 9 upward. There is installed on the innermost side of the tape-pack holder 9 a tape-pack ejecting piece 10 to which a spring 13 is fixed as shown in FIG. 2. Moving in of the ejecting piece 10 causes it to act on the tape pack 12 within the holder 9 so as to eject the tape pack 12. In addition, the chassis 11 has slidably provided thereon a head plate 18 with which a spring 28 is engaged, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 4. There is formed in the head plate 18 an engagement hole 18a in which a control portion 16a of a control lever 16 is inserted. A lock pin 9b provided on the tape-pack holder 9 is arranged as to engage an engagement portion 16b of the control lever 16 when the pin 9b is made to lower. Further, there is fixed to the bottom face of the chassis by means of a fixture 23 an elastic engagement plate 21 to disengage the head plate 18 from the tape pack 12, the free end of said elastic engagement plate 21 being so arranged as to face an engagement hole 18c in the head plate 18 through a through-hole 11c provided in the chassis 11.

The tape-pack loading mechanism according to the present invention, having been described in the foregoing, functions as in the following: The worm 6 is made to rotate through the pulley 22 by the motor 20. By inserting a tape pack 12 into the tape player, the elastic piece 2a of the push plate 2 engages a portion such as the reel hole in the tape pack 12 and slides together with the tape pack 12; thus, insertion of the tape pack 12 will cause the worm wheel 5 to engage the worm 6. The engagement piece 3a of the lock link 3 is made, under the action of the spring 7, to drop in the bent portion of the engagement hole 17 and assure the engaged relation between the worm wheel 5 and worm 6. The spur gear 15 is engaged with the rack 4a to lower the tape-pack holder 9 down to the playing position. When the tape pack 12 is made to lower its full extent, the engagement piece 4b of the rack plate 4 acts on the tail end of the lock link 3, thus releasing the locking of the gear support 1 by the lock link 3. Under the action of the spring 8, the gear support 1 is pulled to the left as viewed in the plane of FIG. 2, thus disengaging the worm 6 and worm wheel 5 from each other, while the the tape pack 12 forces down the elastic engagement plate 21 to disengage the head plate 18; the spring 28 acts to press the head 100 on the head plate 18 onto the tape within the tape pack 12. Namely, the tape playing condition is thus created, which condition is securely kept by the engagement pin 16b on the control lever 16 being engaged with the lock pin 9b provided on the tape-pack holder 9.

In case of ejecting the tape pack, the head plate 18 is moved back to the initial position so that the locking by the control lever 16 is eliminated. Then, the spring 14 acts to make the tape-pack holder 9 rise, and the ejecting piece 10, on which the spring 13 acts, ejects the tape pack 12.

The present invention may be realized in variation in which the head plate 18, gear support 1 and lock link 3 are modified as shown in FIGS. 5 thru 7. Particularly, there is formed on the head plate 18 a cam 18d which functions to control the lock link 3. As the head plate 18 is made to move forward, it will raise the lock link 3 to eliminate the locking by the latter as shown in FIG. 7.

As having been described in the foregoing, according to the present invention, a tape pack can be loaded or set in the playing position only by inserting the tape pack into the tape player; consequently, a tape player is provided which can be easily operated with a reduced force, is excellent in operability, and of which the construction is simpler and the operation is more highly reliable.