US 6,128,158 AGranted

Magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus

AssigneeAlps Electric Co., Ltd.

InventorsShoichiro Saito, Mikio Oka

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Abstract

A magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus including a detecting member which is operated to rotate a drive source disposed in a housing, and a slidable operating member for operating the detecting member. By simply pressing an indicator portion of the operating member with a small force from the front face side of the housing, the cartridge 4 is easily ejected by electrical power as a result of rotation of the drive source. In conventional magnetic recording/reproducing apparatuses, when the cartridge, loaded in the apparatus, is ejected therefrom, the back end of the cartridge must be firmly gripped to pull it out. Therefore, more force is required to pull out the cartridge than is required to insert it, making it very difficult to pull out the cartridge. The magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus of the invention overcomes this problem.

Claims6

Dependent claims

A magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus for a cartridge containing a magnetic tape therein, the apparatus comprising:

a first slide member for sliding the cartridge in order to load or unload the cartridge;
a second slide member for sliding the first slide member;
a drive source for sliding the second slide member;
a housing for separately and slidably supporting the first slide member and the second slide member;
a detecting member, disposed in the housing, for driving the drive source;
a slidable operating member for operating the detecting member, the operating member being formed of a light-guiding material;
and
a light-emitting member for emitting illumination light depending on the state of operation of the cartridge;
wherein the illumination light from the light-emitting member enters the operating member, which guides the illumination light outwardly of the housing to indicate the operation state.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.