Recording and/or reproducing device having a tape pull-out element and having latching means for this tape pull-out element

#The invention relates to a recording and/or reproducing device, into which a cassette can be loaded, which cassette comprises a housing and a rotationally drivable supply reel accommodated in the housing and a record carrier in the form of a tape wound onto the reel hub of the supply reel and a coupling element connected to the record carrier in the area of the free end of the record carrier and held in a coupling position, and which comprises a rotationally drivable take-up reel having a reel hub, and which comprises a pull-out element constructed to be coupled to the coupling element, and which comprises retaining means constructed to detachably retain the pull-out element and enabling the pull-out element to be retained in an area in which a coupling to the coupling element can be effected and from which the pull-out element is detachable after coupling to the coupling element, and which comprises controllable latching means which are movable between a latching position and a release position, in which latching position they can inhibit a disengagement of the pull-out element from the retaining means and in which release position they enable the pull-out element to be detached from the retaining means, and which comprises actuating means by which the pull-out element, together with the coupling element coupled thereto, can be moved away from the retaining means and up to the reel hub of the take-up reel, in order to bring into engagement with one another, on the one hand, the reel hub and, on the other hand, the pull-out element and the coupling element coupled thereto.

#Such a recording and/or reproducing device of the type defined in the opening paragraph is known, for example from the patent document WO 98/44499 A1. In the known recording and/or reproducing device the retaining means are stationarily mounted in the recording and/or reproducing device and is connected to a wire spring having an offset portion, which spring forms a latching element which precludes a movement of the pull-out element as long as the wire spring forming the latching element is in its latching position. The wire spring can be moved from this latching position into a release position, the wire spring forming the latching element of the known recording and/or reproducing device being moved from its latching position into its release position when the cassette is loaded into the recording and/or reproducing device and is thus brought into its operating position. Since in the known recording and/or reproducing device the wire spring forming the latching element is moved with the aid the cassette, the situation may occur that the cassette moves the latching element although the coupling element in the cassette is not correctly or, in the worst case, not all coupled to the pull-out element. In this situation a movement of the pull-out element towards the take-up reel is possible although the coupling element is not correctly, i.e. unsatisfactorily, or, in the worst case, not all coupled to the pull-out element. This is a problem because it may result in incorrect operation which in the worst case leads to a repair, which is of course undesirable.

#It is an object of the invention to preclude the aforementioned problems and to provide an improved recording and/or reproducing device of the type defined in the opening paragraph in a simple manner and using simple means, and in a simple manner, in which a joint movement of the pull-out element and the coupling element coupled thereto is always guaranteed after the pull-out element has been released by the latching means.

#The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the drawings, which show an embodiment given by way of example but to which the invention is not limited.

#FIG. 1 is a top view of a recording and reproducing device in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention, into which a cassette can be loaded.

#FIG. 2 is an oblique top view of the cassette which can be loaded into the recording and reproducing device of FIG. 1, whose housing comprises two housing halves and which accommodates a record carrier in the form of a magnetic tape, a coupling pin being provided at the free end of the magnetic tape.

#FIG. 1 shows a recording and reproducing device 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, hereinafter briefly referred to as the device 1. The device 1 has a chassis 2, shown only diagrammatically, for carrying a multitude of component parts of the device 1. A cassette 3, shown in dash-dot lines in FIG. 1, can be loaded into the device 1. Hereinafter, the construction of the cassette 3 will first be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4.

#The cassette 3 has a housing 4, which comprises a lower housing half 5 and an upper housing half 6. With the housing halves 5 and 6 joined to one another, i.e. when the housing 4 is closed, the housing 4 has an upper wall 7 and a bottom wall 8, a front side wall 9, a rear side wall 10, a left-hand side wall 11 and a right-hand side wall 12. A grip portion 13 has been provided in the rear area of the upper wall 7 and a grip portion 14 has been provided in the rear area of the bottom wall 8.

#In the area of the front side wall 9 a wedge-shaped recess 15 has been provided which, like a positioning portion 16 of the front side wall 9, serves for positioning the cassette 3 when it is moved inside the device 1. In the right-hand side wall 12 the cassette 3 has an access opening 17, which can be closed by means of a shutter 18, but which is shown in its open position in FIG. 2 and in FIG. 3, into which position it is brought automatically when the cassette 3 is loaded into the device 1.