The invention relates to a cassette for accommodating a record carrier in the form of a tape which extends between two winding hubs, and more particularly to a cassette having two cover surfaces and side surfaces interconnecting these two cover surfaces, the record carrier inside the cassette being passed along one of said side surfaces which is formed with at least two openings through which scanning elements can cooperate with the tape. A single movably and pivotably journalled rigid bar-shaped support is arranged substantially parallel to the side surface with the openings, and two spaced adjacent elastic pressure members or pads are mounted on the support each near one of the two openings, which members press the record carrier against the scanning elements which cooperate with said carrier. The support is movably and pivotably journalled by at least one pair of coaxial projections which each extend perpendicularly to one of the two cover surfaces, which projections engage with corresponding guide slots which extend parallel to the cover surfaces and substantially perpendicularly to the side surface with the openings, and the support is loaded towards stops on the cassette side by a spring which acts toward the openings. Such a cassette is commercially available.
In this known cassette the support for the elastic pressure pads which each consist of a felt strip is provided with a single pair of coaxial projections for its movable and pivotable journalling. Furthermore this cassette includes stops on both covering surfaces near the two ends of the bar-shaped support, the support being loaded towards these stops by a helical pressure spring. These stops define a rest position for the support, which position is occupied when no scanning elements have been passed into the cassette through the openings for cooperation with the record carrier which is accommodated in the cassette. Thus, separate devices are provided in the known cassette for journalling the support and for defining its rest position, which is disadvantageous because of the space occupied inside the cassette, in particular when as is generally required the cassette should be of very compact construction.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds