Apparatus capable of loading a plurality of cassettes

An apparatus capable of loading a plurality of cassettes, comprising:

• a housing incorporating a tape driving section;
• a cassette carrying unit capable of carrying a plurality of cassettes while being located inside said housing, for conveying the cassettes to a position from which the conveyed cassette can be loaded in said tape driving section;
• a motor, mounted at a fixed position in said housing, for moving said cassette carrying unit;
• a rotary member mounted at a fixed position in said housing so as to be rotated interlocking with said motor;
• pulse generating means, interlocking with the rotation of said rotary member, for generating pulses in number corresponding to a rotational speed of said rotary member;
• and
• control means for counting the pulses generated by said pulse generating means to determine a moving distance of said cassette carrying unit, and varying a rotational speed of said motor to assume a value between a maximum rotational speed and minimum rotational speed according to the moving distance.

An apparatus capable of loading a plurality of cassettes, comprising:

• a housing incorporating a tape driving section;
• an opening portion formed in a front wall of said housing;
• a cassette carrying unit which can be horizontally inserted or removed in a front-and-back direction through said opening portion and in which a plurality of cassettes can be placed on a top surface in the front-and-back direction;
• a motor, mounted at a fixed position in said housing, for driving said cassette carrying unit horizontally via a gear meshing with a rack of said cassette carrying unit;
• a rotary member mounted on a fixed position in said housing so as to be rotated interlocking with said motor;
• pulse generating means for generating pulses in number corresponding to a rotational speed of said rotary member during rotation of said rotary member;
• and
• control means for counting the pulses generated by said pulse generating means to determine a moving distance of said cassette carrying unit, and varying a rotational speed of said motor to assume a value between a maximum rotational speed and a minimum rotational speed as said cassette carrying unit moves closer to a predetermined target position.

An apparatus capable of loading a plurality of cassettes, comprising:

• a housing incorporating a tape driving section;
• an opening portion formed in a front wall of said housing;
• a cassette carrying unit which can be horizontally inserted or removed in a front-and-back direction through said opening portion and in which a plurality of cassettes can be placed on a top surface in the front-and-back direction;
• a motor for driving said cassette carrying unit horizontally via a gear meshing with a rack of said cassette carrying unit;
• position detecting unit for detecting a moving position of said cassette carrying unit;
• and
• speed control means for controlling a driving voltage of said motor by referring to position detection data from said position detecting unit, said speed control means controlling said driving voltage to reduce a speed of said motor to assume a value between a maximum rotational speed and a minimum rotational speed before said cassette carrying unit reaches a predetermined stop position.

An apparatus capable of loading a plurality of cassettes, comprising:

• a housing incorporating a tape driving section;
• an opening portion formed in a front wall of said housing;
• a cassette carrying unit which can be horizontally inserted or removed in a front-and-back direction through said opening portion and in which a plurality of cassettes can be placed on a top surface in the front-and-back direction;
• and
• clicking means for stopping said cassette carrying unit at a desired position, said clicking means provided midway along a horizontal moving path of said cassette carrying unit inside said housing and elastically fit on a projection of said cassette carrying unit in correspondence with a position at which said cassette carrying unit stops.

An apparatus capable of loading a plurality of cassette, comprising:

• a housing incorporating a tape driving section;
• an opening portion formed in a front wall of said housing;
• a cassette carrying unit which can be inserted or removed horizontally through said opening portion and in which cassettes can be loaded in a plurality of regions on a top surface, respectively;
• a horizontal motor for rotating a gear to be meshed with a rack of said cassette carrying unit to serve as a power source for moving said cassette carrying unit horizontally;
• pantograph mechanisms, attached to respective regions of said cassette carrying unit, each one of said pantograph mechanisms for vertically moving a corresponding cassette support plate, each said cassette support plate for receiving horizontally loaded cassettes;
• a pantograph driving mechanism, provided at a predetermined position in said housing, for selectively driving each of said pantograph mechanisms to vertically move a corresponding said cassette support plate;
• and
• a vertical motor for applying a rotational force to a rotary member of said pantograph driving mechanism to serve as a power source of said pantograph mechanisms.

An apparatus capable of loading a plurality of cassettes, comprising:

• a housing incorporating a tape driving section;
• an opening portion formed in a front wall of said housing;
• a cassette carrying unit, which can be inserted or removed horizontally in a front-and-back direction through said opening, having bottom plates, and in which a cassette can be placed on each of said bottom plates;
• pantograph mechanisms, attached to said cassette carrying unit, each one of said pantograph mechanisms corresponding to each one of said bottom plates for moving said bottom plates vertically, and each one of said pantograph mechanisms having an intermediate member;
• a locking member corresponding to each one of said pantograph mechanisms, each said locking member mounted on said cassette carrying unit, each said locking member for holding a corresponding one of said bottom plates at a position in a horizontal moving path of said cassette carrying unit by engaging an intermediate member of a corresponding one of said pantograph mechanisms;
• and
• pantograph driving means, provided at a fixed position in said housing, for selectively operating said pantograph mechanisms of said cassette carrying unit by releasing the engagement between an intermediate member of a selected one of said pantograph mechanisms and a corresponding said locking member and driving said selected one of said pantograph mechanisms to move a corresponding one of said bottom plates downward when said cassette carrying unit moves to a predetermined position in a horizontal moving direction.

An apparatus capable of loading a plurality of cassettes, comprising:

• a housing incorporating a tape recording and reproducing function;
• an opening portion formed in a front wall of said housing;
• a cassette carrying unit which can be inserted or removed horizontally in a front-and-back direction through said opening portion and having bottom plates, and in which cassette can be placed in each one of said bottom plates;
• pantograph mechanisms, provided in said cassette carrying unit, each one of said pantograph mechanisms for moving a corresponding one of said bottom plates vertically;
• a vertical moving member, provided in each of said pantograph mechanisms, for moving vertically as a corresponding one of said pantograph mechanisms moves a corresponding one of said bottom plates vertically, each said vertical moving member having a free end potion;
• a guide member provided in said cassette carrying unit associated with each said vertical moving member, each said guide member having a guide groove, an elongated hole with a locking portion and a stopper portion, each said elongated hole engaging a free end portion of a corresponding said vertical moving member, each said locking portion locking a free end portion of a corresponding said vertical moving member to regulate downward movement of said corresponding vertical moving member and being formed in an upper position of a corresponding said guide member, each said stopper portion regulating a lower most position of a corresponding said vertical moving member and being formed in a lower position of a corresponding said guide member, each said guide groove being longer than and parallel to a corresponding said elongated hole;
• and
• a driving lever corresponding to each said guide member and provided at a fixed position in said housing, each said driving lever having a pivoting distal end portion for inserting into a corresponding said guide groove to vertically drive a corresponding said vertical moving member of a corresponding one of said pantograph mechanisms, each said pivoting distal end portion being inserted into a corresponding said guide groove to displace a corresponding said free end portion to release the engagement between a corresponding said locking portion and said corresponding free end portion, each said pivoting distal end portion being engaged with a corresponding said vertical moving member to drive said corresponding vertical moving member and thus a corresponding one of said pantograph mechanisms to move a cassette downward, and each said pivoting distal end portion pulling a corresponding said vertical moving member and disengaging from a corresponding said guide groove to move said corresponding vertical moving member to a corresponding said locking portion.

An apparatus capable of loading a plurality of cassettes, comprising:

• a housing incorporating a tape driving section;
• a cassette carrying unit having a plurality of cassette holding sections, each cassette holding section being capable of holding a cassette while being located inside said housing, said cassette carrying unit for conveying each cassette holding section holding a cassette to a position from which the conveyed cassette can be loaded in said tape driving section;
• a motor mounted at a fixed position in said housing, for moving said cassette carrying unit;
• a rotary member mounted at a fixed position in said housing so as to be rotated interlocking with said motor;
• and
• pulse generating means, interlocking with the rotation of said rotary member, for generating pulses in number corresponding to a rotational speed of said rotary member to generate data for determining a moving distance of said cassette carrying unit.