GB2164023A - Tape-cassette container - Google Patents

Abstract

A tape-cassette container has a casing 25 and a drawer 1 mounted in the casing 25, the bottom 2 of the drawer 1 having a space 3 for the thick part of a conventional cassette and the side walls 7, 8 having openings 24 at their lower edge to allow the drawer to tilt when pulled out. A spring 10 is provided on the rear wall 9 of the drawer, and a front key 14 engages in a groove 27 in the top wall of the container 25, the front of drawer 1 being urged upwardly by a cam 23 on a resilient tongue 22. A container of this kind automatically lifts the cassette out of the drawer when open. The invention provides a container in which the drawer 1 has a simplified locking mechanism and is automatically pushed out of the casing 25 into the tilted position. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Tape-cassette container The invention relates to a tape-cassette container having a casing closed on all sides except for one long narrow side and receiving a drawer, the side walls of the drawer having an opening at the un- derside and the bottom of the drawer having a space near the back wall for receiving the thick part of the cassette.

A container of this kind is known from DE-OS 29 17 806. It has the advantage that the drawer can be folded out when in the pulled-out position and the cassette is held horizontally between the bottom and top of the casing, ready for gripping. It is thus unnecessary to lift the cassette out of the drawer.

However, the container has the disadvantage that the drawer has to be pulled out of the casing, and locking tongues at the two sides of the drawer have to be actuated for unlocking. Consequently, such containers cannot be stacked close beside one another. More particularly when the container is used in motor vehicles, the user's attention can be occupied for only a short time. In this application, in the case of the known container, the tape cassette is also presented in the right position, since in most car cassette recorders the cassettes are inserted with their thick part in front.

There is also a container for receiving a magnetic tape cassette known from DE-PS 24 11 371, where a spring automatically pushes the drawer out of the casing after the drawer locking means have been released. Various locking means are described, all having the common feature that they are disposed at the side of the drawer. Neither the drawer guide nor the spring enables the drawer to tilt when pulled out. The cassette must therefore be carefully pulled out of the drawer, with its thick part in front. The spring and locking means take up a lot of room, so that the casing is considerably larger than the drawer or the cassette inside.

The object of the present invention is to facilitate handling of the cassette as it is removed from the container, without the casing being made appreciably larger by the components required for this purpose.

The invention provides a container comprising casing and a drawer in which spring means is provided on the rear of the drawer or casing for urging the drawer out of the casing and releasable locking means is provided at the front wall of the drawer opposite the spring means for engaging with an upper or lower wall of the casing to lock the drawer in position.

More particularly, the invention provides a tapecassette container having a casing closed on all sides except for one long narrow side and receiving a drawer, the side walls of the drawer having an opening at the underside and the bottom of the drawer having a space near the back wall for receiving the thick part of the cassette, characterised by spring means disposed at the back wall of the drawer, locking means disposed centrally at the front wall opposite the point of application of the spring, and a resilient tongue incorporated in the drawer bottom and having a cam facing the housing bottom.

The additional space in the casing depends on the locking elements and particularly on the spring.

However, the more force the spring has to apply to push the drawer into the end position in which it can tilt, the stronger the spring has to be and the more space it takes up. It is therefore necessary that the forces acting on the drawer during automatic opening should be kept as small as possible.

The guide conditions, friction forces and spring force must be adjusted accordingly. More particularly the drawer must be prevented from twisting.

Since the spring is disposed on the drawer and its free end no longer abuts the back wall of the casing when the drawer has been completely pulled out, the drawer is no longer prevented from tilting.

If a leaf spring is used for pushing the drawer it can be made conical, so that it does not touch the top of the casing when the drawer tilts. The conical shape has the further advantage of improving the distribution of force during the opening movement.

The drawer is prevented from twisting in that the interlock device is disposed opposite the point of application of the spring. As a result of the resilient cam on the drawer bottom, the interlock device engages safely and reliably behind the catch. Guide cylinders in the two rear corners of the drawer reduce frictional forces between the drawer and the casing. The side walls of the casing can have curved webs preventing friction over a large area between the casing and the side walls of the drawer. When the drawer is pushed, the leaf springs move inwards along the back wall of the casing. At the place of contact, the friction can be reduced by the cylindrical shape of the spring ends.

In order to release the drawer, the interlock device on the drawer must be able to move. However, the internal width of the casing need not be increased if the drawer bottom tapers towards the front edge.

As a result of the opening in the drawer bottom and the resulting reduction in the stiffness of the back wall of the drawer, the cassette is clamped by spring action between the front side of the drawer and the back wall thereof.

Since the coils are non-rotatably held on spigots, the cassette cannot rattle in the casing even when the container is used in motor vehicles.

The tape can be protected from damage if the back wall has projections opposite the webs of the cassette covering the tape.

Advantageously the casing is manufactured from two parts which are then assembled together.

The components, springs, locking mechanism and drawer abutment according to the invention may be disposed so that frictional connection occurs exclusively via only one of the two components forming the casing.

The invention will be further described by way of example with reference to accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a drawer of a container according to the invention; Figure 2 is a section through the drawer in Fig.

1; Figure 3 is a plan view of a casing component; Figure 4 is a side view of the casing of Fig. 3 in section; Figure 5 is an end view of the casing of Fig. 3, and Figure 6 shows an assembled container component with the drawer pulled-out.

Fig. 1 shows a drawer 1 comprising a bottom 2 formed with an opening 3 for the thick part of the cassette and other weight and material-reducing openings, 4,5,6, side walls 7 and 8, a back wall 9 to which a spring 10 is secured by a web 11, and a front wall 12 at which an interlock device 13 projects. Front wall 12 is recessed at device 13 and thus forms an actuating key 14. The spaces 15,16 formed to the right and left by the recess can be used for inserting lettered indicator labels. Two spigots 17 project from drawer bottom 2 and engage in tape coils and non-rotatably hold them.

Near web 11, wall 9 is recessed inwardly and forms an abutment surface 18 for the cassette.

When closed and acted upon by the maximum spring force, the back wall 9 can yield inwardly as a result of opening 3 and the cassette is clamped between surface 18 and recess 19. The corners formed by side walls 7,8 and back walls 9 contain cylindrical sliding cams 20 which project slightly beyond bottom 2 and walls 7,8. Spring 10 ends in a cylindrical thick part 21. A spring tongue 22 projects into recess 5 and bears a downwardly pointing cam 23. Cam 23 and tongues 22 press drawer 1, when closed, constantly against the casing top wall 26 and thus lock the drawer 1.

The sectional diagram in Fig. 2 clearly shows the shape of cam 23 and the actuating key 14. Spring 10 slopes towards its end, to avoid contact with casing wall 26. Near the back wall 9, the side walls 7,8 have recesses 24 which enable the drawer to tilt when open. The drawer bottom 2 tapers towards the front wall 12, so that the locking means can move without taking up additional space.

Fig. 3 shows the associated casing part 25 in plan view. Near the front edge, the top wall 26 has a groove 27, which forms a catch 28 for the interlock device 13. A number of webs or projections 31 are formed on the inward surfaces of side walls 29, 30.

Openings 33, 34 are formed in the side walls 29, 30, starting from the back wall 32 and ending shortly before the front edge.

~Fig. 4 shows apertures 35 near openings 33, 34 and below the top wall 26. Side walls 29, 30 are prolonged by webs 36 which have the same dimensions as recesses 33, 34 and bear inwardly extending connecting-cams 37.

The casing is made up of two similar parts 25, the webs 36 being inserted into recesses 33, 34 until cams 37 engage in apertures 35. This method of connection produces a completely flat side wall.

The last casing bottom of the resulting stack or the bottom of a casing for only one drawer corresponds to the top region of part 25 from the top wall 26 to slightly below the apertures 35, the resulting edge being closed on the front side.

Fig. 5 is a front view showing the shape of recesses 33, 34 and the arrangement of cams 37 on web 36. Adjacent the walls 29, 30, abutments 38 project under the wall 26 into the path of cam 20 and prevent drawer 1 from slipping out of the casing. They also tilt drawer 1.

Fig. 6 shows the position of cassette 39 when drawer 1 is pulled out of casing 40, which is made up of two similar parts 25. Part 25, whose top wall 26 forms the bottom of the casing 40 above, is not shown completely. The sliding cams 20- of drawer 1 are against abutments 38. As before, the cassette is prevented from tilting by the top walls 26 of the relevant casing parts 25, which are spaced at intervals approximately equal to the thick part of the cassette.

Claims (18)

1. A tape-cassette container having a casing closed on all sides except for one long narrow side and receiving a drawer, the side walls of the drawer having an opening at the underside and the bottom of the drawer having a space near the back wall for receiving the thick part of the cassette, characterised by spring means disposed at the back wall of the drawer, locking means disposed centrally at the front wall opposite the point of application of the spring, and a resilient tongue incorporated in the drawer bottom and having a cam facing the housing bottom.

2. A container according to claim 1, characterised in that the locking means comprises an interlock device projecting from the front wall of the drawer and a catch having the same width as the interlock device and disposed on the front edge of the top wall of the casing on the side of the opening.

3. A container according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the spring means secured to the drawer comprises a leaf spring.

4. A container according to claim 3, characterised in that the leaf spring is conical or tapers to the rear.

5. A container according to claim 3 or 4, characterised in that the spring is cylindrical at its free ends.

6. A container according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the spring is made of the same material as the drawer and is manufactured together therewith.

7. A container according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the spring is made of spring steel and is cast in a projection on the back wall of the drawer.

8. A container according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterised in that the back wall of the drawer is deformable and has projections on the side facing the tape cassette.

9. A container according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterised in that the drawer bottom tapers towards the front wall.

10. A container according to claim 2, characterised in that the front wall of the drawer has a recess near the interlock device.

11. A container according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterised in that the casing side walls have spaced-apart vertical rounded webs.

12. A container according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterised in that the drawer has cylindrical sliding cams at the rear corners.

13. A container according to claim 12, characterised in that the sliding cams end in a cap shape.

14. A container for tape cassettes, having a casing for holding a drawer and made up of two parts, characterised in that the two parts are similar and each comprises a top wall, side walls and a back wall, the side walls having webs about half the thickness of the side wall, connecting-cams laterally projecting from the webs, and openings extending from the top wall and having the same height and same thickness as the webs, which have apertures corresponding to the cams.

15. A container according to claim 14, characterised in that the casing is made up of a number of parts each receiving a drawer, and the casing bottom being formed by the top wall of the adjacent part.

16. A container according to claim 1 or 14, characterised in that abutments for limiting the motion of the drawer are disposed on the top wall of part near the side walls.

17. A container according to claim 15 or 16, characterised in that the openings on the side walls extend from the back wall to near the front edge of the casing.

18. A container for a cassette, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.