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US 4,232,349 AGranted
Mode switching mechanism for a cassette tape recorder
AssigneeOlympus Optical Co., Ltd.
InventorMinoru Kobayashi
Life of this patent
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AssigneeOlympus Optical Co., Ltd.
InventorMinoru Kobayashi
Estimating the term…
A mode switching mechanism for a cassette tape recorder is provided with an operation member slidable from neutral position in either of opposite directions. The movement of the operation member is transmitted via a rockable switching lever to a support lever which supports a pinch roller and a magnetic head. The support lever is rocked from a stop mode position to a play mode position or a record mode position, thereby bringing the pinch roller and magnetic head into contact with a magnetic tape. The switching lever is biased by a spring to rock around a first fulcrum member or a second fulcrum member. The operation member has first and second contacts. When the operation member is slid from the neutral position in either direction, the first or second contact hits and rocks the switching lever around the first or second fulcrum member against the force of the spring. Since the switching lever is rocked about the first or second fulcrum member, the distance between either fulcrum member and the point where either contact hits the switching member is sufficiently long whichever direction the operation member is slid.
A mode switching mechanism for a cassette tape recorder, comprising a first fulcrum member and a second fulcrum member, a rockable support lever supporting a pinch roller and a magnetic head, an operation member slidable from neutral position in either of opposite directions, a switching lever which is rocked when the operation member is slid in either direction, so as to rock the support lever from stop mode position into record mode position or play mode position, characterized in that said switching lever is biased by a spring to rock around said first fulcrum member or said second fulcrum member and that said operation member has a first contact for rocking said switching lever about the first fulcrum member against the bias of the spring when the operation member is slid in one direction and a second contact for rocking said switching lever about the second fulcrum member against the bias of the spring when the operation member is slid in the other direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.