Mode selecting device for tape recording and/or reproducing with releasable lock

Abstract

A mode selecting device for a tape recording and/or reproducing apparatus includes a plurality of push-button members which are selectively actuable from rest positions to active positions for selecting corresponding operating modes of the apparatus, an electrically energizable driving means, such as, a solenoid, which is momentarily energized in response to the actuation of a selected one of the push-button members to its active position, an operating member movable by said driving means from an inoperative position to an operative position in response to the momentary energizing of the solenoid and being urged to its inoperative position upon deenergizing of the solenoid, a plurality of transmission members each being coupled with the operating member in response to the actuation of a respective one of the push-button members for establishing the corresponding operating mode of the apparatus by the movement of the operating member to its operative position, a locking assembly for locking the operating member in its operative position upon the movement to such position by the momentary energizing of the solenoid, and a lock release operative, for example, by actuation of a stop push-button member, to release the locking assembly and permit the return of the operating member to its inoperative position for halting a previously selected operating mode. In a preferred embodiment, the transmission members are mounted in superposed relation to each other for independent movement parallel to the movement of the operating member, and a plurality of couplings respectively corresponding to the push-button members are provided. Each coupling is displaceable, by actuation of the respective push-button member to its active position, from a disengaged condition, in which the operating member is movable independently of the respective transmission member, to an engaged condition in which the respective transmission member is coupled with the operating member.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.