WO1988002916A1

WO1988002916A1 - Video cassettes

Info

Publication number: WO1988002916A1
Application number: PCT/AU1986/000385
Authority: WO
Inventors: John Michael Woodbury
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1986-10-20
Filing date: 1986-12-17
Publication date: 1988-04-21
Anticipated expiration: 1989-04-20

Abstract

A tape cassette (60) which has a pair of tape reels (65) supported in recesses in a solid body (61). The body (61) is provided with tape pathways (73) through which tape may pass to and from the respective reels (65) about guide faces (71) formed integrally with the body (61). The latter is suitably formed of foamed plastics material.

Description

"VIDEO CASSETTES"

This invention relates to tape cassettes such as video, audio and computer tape cassettes. However for illustrative purposes only, particular reference will be made hereinafter to video cassettes.

Home video recording and replay systems were originally introduced so that users could record programmes they were unable to watch and replay that programme at a later date. This "time shifting" of televised programmes led to acceptance of home video systems which far exceeded original expectations. The resultant market competition resulted in video cassettes which mostly conform to an industry stereotype cassette which is of a very high standard. The casings for the presently available video cassettes are formed from complex shell mouldings and have very precise internal mechanical components for minimising frictional tape drag in use. Most cassettes also have inbuilt reel braking systems and provide optimum performance over a long period of recording, playback and re-recording. A disadvantage of such cassettes is that they are expensive to •manufacture.

The demand for movies pre-recorded on video cassettes grew with.the increase in numbers of home video systems and to date film makers have released a large range of movies on the accepted standard video cassette which, as mentioned above, is specifically designed for long life and "time shifting". Because of this the cost of production of each movie cassette is relatively high. Movie cassette rental libraries have been established to overcome this problem and to meet the demand for the home movie cassette^' market. This has led to a number of major problems within the film making industry including video piracy and lack of adequate return in relation to the large audience each movie released on cassette may reach. Renting pre-recorded video cassettes also exposes customers to the risk of damaging expensive video players as rental video cassettes are often subject to a variety of abuses including use in video cassette players of varying quality and cleanliness. The present invention aims to alleviate the above entioned disadvantages and to provide tape cassettes which will be efficient in operation. Other objects and advantages of this invention will hereinafter become apparent.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, this invention in one aspect resides broadly in a tape cassette including a substantially rectangular housing having a base wall and side walls which co-operate to form first and second chamber portions in which tape may be stored, said side walls including a leading wall assembly which is provided with pathways through which tape may pass through the front of said housing to said chamber portions and said pathways having tape guides across which tape may pass from one said chamber portion to the other.

The leading wall assembly may be in the form of a wall which extends continuously between said pathways or it may be constituted by a plurality of spaced columns or walls. Preferably said side walls are formed from a low density plastics material suc as polystyrene foam or other foamed plastics material and adequate strength is achieved by making the side walls relatively thick. For- example, the side wall thickness may be in the range of 2mm to 5 mm but preferably the side walls are formed with the base wall as a solid one piece body. Alternatively, a separate base wall or an additional base wall lamination could be formed from relatively dense plastics material and connected to the side walls. Of course the side walls including integral tape guides and the base wall could be formed of dense plastics material if desired and in thin walled sections.

The first and second chamber portions may .be constituted by respective end portions of a single chamber or •recess, but preferably each said chamber portion is substantially cylindrical for retaining the tape reels in their operative attitude. For this purpose each cylindrical chamber may include an inwardly extending collar which locates between the end discs of each reel to retain the reels in its chamber. The side walls may extend from said chamber portions to the outer peripheral side boundaries of the housing and appropriate voids may be formed in the side walls to reduce the volume of plastics material contained therein. The housing may also include a top wall which may be connected to the upper face of said side walls. The top wall is preferably formed from a transparent material such that the video tape stored in said chamber portions is visible through said top wall. Alternatively, the top wall may be formed from a low density plastics material and it may be formed integrally with said side walls or a portion thereof. The top wall may be formed from a plastics material having a closure flap formed integrally therewith and connected to the top wall by a»live hinge or the like and adapted to pivot between' closed and open positions as in conventional video cassettes. Suitably the top wall is adhered to the top face of said side walls so that the cassette cannot be taken apart without destroying the side walls.

In one form of the invention the tape cassette is adapted as a video tape cassette and said leading wall assembly is recessed intermediate said tape guides for receiving a video player's tape carrier members when the latter are disposed rearwardly of video tape extending across said leading wall assembly. Preferably the base wall is apertured to permit the drive spindles of a conventional video player to extend upwardly into said chamber portions and to provide recesses for locating pins for the optical sensor motor control and the brake release mechanism associated with a conventional video player. Optical fibres may be embedded into or secured to the housing to enable circuitous light paths to be formed to direct light to the optical sensors. For example optical fibres may be moulded into the housing or be adhered thereto or optical fibres may be formed integrally with a plastics leaf spring secured to the top of the cassette and utilized to force the tape reels downwardly to their stowed positions.

In one aspect the tape cassette of the present invention is adapted as a one play or play only device and for this purpose a permanent magnet or electro-magnet means or other tape spoiling or upsetting means such as mechanical scratching or punching means is supported in the cassette. The spoiling means may be supported in the housing adjacent to the end portion about which played tape returns to the housing. Alternatively, a magnetic wire may be located in the top or bottom wall of the housing or in the receiving reel or about the periphery of the chamber portion which receives played tape. Preferably.the one play device of this invention also utilizes low grade tape in order to keep the cost of manufacture as low as possible. In order to prevent the tape reels from rotating during transport the undersides of the tape reels may be provided with projections which pierce the lower wall of the housing or which engage in recesses or apertures formed therein. In such embodiments sp.rlng means are provided to force the tape reels downwardly into engagement with the base wall and the arrangement is such that when the cassette is loaded onto the spindles of a player the tape reels are lifted upwardly to free the downward projections from the base wall of the cassette. Alternatively the outer periphery of a reel end disc may be arranged to engage non-rotatably in a shallow recess in the housing. In another arrangement the packaging for the cassette may Include fold-in portions which engage with the internal splines on the tape reels to prevent the latter from rotating. In another aspect, this invention resides in a - D -

cassette having top and bottom walls formed of relatively high density plastics material and a body portion extending therebetween and formed of low density plastics material. Preferably the top wall is transparent and the^'body is formed from foamed plastics material and with integral tape guide surfaces.

In order that this invention may be more readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a typical embodiment of the present invention, and wherein:-

FIG 1 is a top perspective view of a video cassette housing;

FIG 2 is an underside perspective view of the cassette; FIG 3 is an exploded view of the video cassette;

FIG 4 is an exploded perspective view of an alternate form of video cassette housing;

FIG 5 is a perspective view of a further form of video cassette; FIG 6 is a cross-sectional view along the line 6-6 of

FIG 5;

FIG 7 is a view which corresponds to FIG 6 but illustrating yet another embodiment of the invention, and FIG 8 is an exploded perspective view of a preferred form of tape reel.

Referring to the drawings it will be seen that the video cassette 10 is in the form of a substantially rectangular housing 11 for supporting a pair of tape reels 12 (illustrated in Fig 3 only) whereby for storage purposes, video tape 13 may extend across the recessed leading wall 14 concealed by the pivotable cover flap 15. The latter is connected hingedly to the top wall 16 of the housing by a live hinge 17. The top wall 16 and the cover flap 15 may be produced as an injection moulding or as an extrusion and the /0291 _ _ _

live hinge 17 may be so formed as to be useful for only a limited number of pivoting operations before breaking. A resilient retaining bow 18, which may be integral with the top wall T6, is supported therebeneath whereby its opposed end portions 19 bear down on top of the central portion of each reel 12 to force them into firm engagement with the base wall 20. As shown in the cut-away section of one reel 12, the underside of each reel 12 is provided with downwardly projecting nibs 21 which engage with the base wall 20 and prevent rotation of the reels 12 when they are forced into their lowermost position by the bow 18.

Referring specifically to FIG 3 it will be seen that the base wall 20 and the side walls, including the leading wall 14 and the trailing and end walls 22 and 23 respectively, are moulded as a solid one piece article and suitably from polystyrene foam. The leading wall 1 is provided with recesses 26 and 27 for location of video player carrier rollers behind the stored tape 13 as well as a recess 28 for the pinch roller of a video player. The leading wall 14 is provided with respective tape^* pathways 29 and 30 extending through the front of the housing 11 into the respective reel locating recesses 31 and 32. ^'The base wall 20 is apertured at 33 and 34 centrally of the recesses 31 and 32 to enable the drive spindles of a video player to engage with the tape reels 12.

In this embodiment, a permanent magnet, shown in dotted outline at 35 is moulded into the inner corner portion 36 adjacent the inner end of the tape slot 30. The magnet 35, in use, destroys the recording on the video tape as it passes from the feeding reel 12 in the recess 31 to the receiving reel 12 in the recess 32.

It will be seen that the outer corners 40 and 41 of the leading wall 14 of the pathways exits are rounded so as to provide a smooth guide surface across which the video tape may pass to and from the reels 12. Smooth corners are also provided on the side walls at inner ends of the slots 29 and 30 so that in use passage of tape across those corners will not damage the tape.

Referring to FIG 2 it will be seen that the underside of the cassette 10 is similar to a conventional cassette and in-order that the cassette 10 of the present invention may be used with conventional players it is provided with a recess 42 into which the brake release pin of the player may pass, as well as a recess 43 into which the optical sensor for the motor control may pass and locating recesses including a circular recess 44 and an elongated recess 45 arranged in conventional manner.

The body 25 in this embodiment is formed from polystyrene foam or the like low density plastics material so that any attempt to dismantle the assembly, such as to remove the permanent magnet 35, will result in substantial damage to the body 25. Of course in lieu of the permanent magnet 25 a magnetised wire can be placed in the body 25 so that it will be extremely difficult to remove and leave the cassette functional. Furthermore the density of the body may be such that continued use of the cassette 10 will cause flaking of the corners 40 and 41 or other parts of the housing whereby the cassette will become unserviceable.

If desired the outer end portions of the leading wall 14 and/or other parts of the cassette may be formed of thin wall sections in order to provide a relatively weak structure which will withstand a single playing but not repeated insertion and ejection from video playing apparatus or rewinding. Such thin wall sections may be adapted to fold in and jam the apparatus if rewinding is attempted.

From the above it will be seen that a relatively inexpensive cassette can be manufactured suitably using Inexpensive tape which may be sold as a one use pre-recorded tape such as a film or advertisement. Of course the cassette 10 can be made from a more substantial plastics material if desired and it may be provided without the tape scrubbing feature of the Inbuilt permanent magnet 33 or other defacing device. Accordingly, in such form cassettes of this invention may have an extended life and be used as a replayab e tape. The cassette 50 illustrated in FIG 4 has a body formed in three separate pieces, namely a fixed top cover 51, a central body section 52 and a bottom wall 53. The body section 52 can be formed of a low density plastics material which is reinforced by the relatively thin high density plastics cover 51 and bottom wall 53. The latter may be provided with the necessary cutouts and recesses and if desired the body section 52 could be sliced from an extruded bar of plastics material having the cross-sectional configuration as illustrated. The body section 52 could be formed with an integral base wall adapted to overlie the bottom wall 53. A permanent magnet 54 is supported in the wall section at the trailing end of the entrance pathway 55.

However as in the previous embodiment the magnet can be left out if the cassette is to be used as a multiple play or t recording device.

The one-play cassette of this invention has the advantage that It can not be used to record since Information recorded onto the tape is upset upon passage to the storage reel. Thus such one-play cassettes can only be used for their original intended purpose which is- the play back of pre-recorded material. If desired reverse recording techniques may be used to record onto the tape but such techniques are not generally available and thus such recording could be limited to authorised persons. The- video cassette 60 illustrated in Figs 5 and 6 has a solid body 61 formed of mass foamed plastics material such as polystyrene foam which may by moulded in a two part mould. It will be seen that each reel recess 62 has a shallow intermediate serrated step 63 in which the enlarged and serrated top disc 64 of each reel 65 locates to prevent accidental rotation of the reels 65. A spring bow 66 holds the reels 65 in their stored position. When the cassette 60 is loaded into a player the reels 65 are lifted above the step 63 so that they may be rotated. The top disc 64 and the bottom disc 67 also form dust covers to prevent ingress of dust into the tape chamber 68 when the cassette is stored. It will also be seen that the tape pathways 69 and 70 diverge inwardly towards the reel recesses so that passage of tape from the reels, whether full or empty, to the rounded guide abutment 71 is always clear of the pathway walls 72 and 73. The cassette 75 illustrated in FIG 7 and 8 also utilizes a mass foamed polystyrene body 76. However it differs from the FIG 6 embodiment in that the top disc 77 and bottom disc 78 of the reel 90 have similar overall diameters and the body 76 includes an annular retaining flange 79 which engages between the reel discs 77 and 78. The top disc 77 is connected by snap together fastenings 80 and 80A to the hub 81 and bottom disc 78 after they have been inserted in the recess 82 whereby the top and bottom discs 77 and 78 form the top and bottom walls of the disc recess 82. The tape retaining segment 83 of the reel 90 is formed integrally with the hub 81 and it is connected thereto by a live hinge 84 instead of being a separate part as in conventional constructions. Its free end is provided with a snap lock fastening 85 with engages behind the fixed hub portion 86 when the segment 83 is pivoted inwardly to secure the end of the tape to the hub 81. Thus assembly of reel and tape is simplified.

It will of course be realised that the above has been given only by way of illustrative example of the present invention and that all such modifications and variations thereto as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art are deemed to fall within the broad scope and ambit of this invention as is defined in the appended claims.

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWSr-

1. A tape cassette including a substantially rectangular housing having a base wall and side walls which co-operate to form first and second chamber portions in which tape may be stored, said side walls including a leading wall assembly which Is provided with pathways through which tape may pass through the front of said housing to said chamber portions and said pathways having tape guides across which tape may pass from one said chamber portion to the other.

2. A tape- cassette according to Claim 1 , wherein said housing is formed from a low density plastics material.

3. A tape cassette according to Claim 2, wherein, said base wall includes a lamination formed from a relatively dense plastics material.

4. A tape cassette according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each said chamber portion is substantially cylindrical.

5. A tape cassette according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said housing includes a top wall lamination connected to the upper face of said housing.

6. A tape cassette according to Claim 5, wherein said top wall lamination is formed from a transparent material.

7. A tape cassette according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein there is provided tape spoiling means in said cassette for spoiling recorded tape that passes to the tape receiving reel.

8. A tape cassette according to Claim 7, wherein said - 1 1 -

tape spoiling means is provided in said housing adjacent to said end portion about which played tape returns to said housing.

9. A tape cassette according to Claim 7, wherein said tape spoiling means is formed in said tape receiving reel.

TO. A tape cassette according to any one of Claims 6, 7, 8^l or 9 wherein said tape spoiling means is a permanent magnet.

TT. A tape cassette according to any one of the preceding claims and adapted for use as a video cassette and wherein said base wall is apertured to permit the locating pins for the optical sensor motor control and for the brake release mechanism of a conventional video player to extend into said housing.

12. A video cassette according to Claim 11, wherein optical fibres are utilised to convey sensing lights for cassette control functions.

T3. A video cassette according to Claim 12 wherein said top wall- is formed with an integral front closure flap connected thereto by a live hinge.

T4. A video cassette according to any one of Claims 11 to T3, wherein said tape reels are provided with projections which engage releasably in said housing.

15. A video cassette according to any one of Claims 11 to 14, wherein the packaging for said cassette includes fold-in portions which engage with the internal splines on the tape reels to prevent the latter from rotating.

T6. A video cassette according to any one of the Claims 11 to 15, wherein spring means, are provided to force the tape reels downwardly towards engagement with said base wall.

17. A tape cassette according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said body is formed from foamed plastics material which is shaped to form integral tape guide surfaces.

18. A tape cassette having top and bottom walls formed of relatively high density plastics material and a body portion extending therebetween and formed of low density plastics material.

19. A method of forming a tape cassette including providing a pair of tape reels each having a tape holding hub and a clip-on end disc; forming a housing of plastic material provided with respective openings therethrough in which said reels may be located and providing an annular retaining collar in each opening and having an internal diameter less that the external diameter of both said end discs of the ^'respective reels; inserting said hubs into said openings and clipping said end discs to said hubs to secure the reels in said openings.

20. A video cassette substantially as hereinbefore described with reference' to any one of the accompanying drawings.