JP3371452B2 - Cassette autochanger - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cassette / recorder for carrying out continuous recording and / or reproduction for a long time while automatically exchanging various cassettes containing tape-shaped recording media and disk-shaped recording media. It's about an autochanger.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The applicant of the present invention, as a cassette autochanger for a television broadcasting station, automatically exchanges a plurality of types of cassettes having different thicknesses while continuously playing back video for a long time or recording / editing. Which has been designed to do so (for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 3-31519).
(See No. 6).

In this prior application example, a plurality of types of cassettes having different thicknesses are stored in a plurality of storage shelves. Then, a plurality of types of cassettes having different thicknesses are selectively clamped from the upper and lower thickness directions by the pair of upper and lower cassette clamping units of the hand mounted on the carrier, and the cassettes are withdrawn from the storage rack. Then, the cassette that has been taken out is placed on a cassette pedestal provided in the carrier while being sandwiched by a pair of upper and lower cassette sandwiching parts, and after being transported by this carrier, it is selectively placed in the recording / reproducing device by a hand. It was designed to be loaded.

At this time, in this prior application, the entire hand is attached to the carrier so as to be vertically movable, the lower cassette holding portion is fixed to the hand, and the upper cassette holding portion is opened and closed. When a cassette with a different thickness of the recording / reproducing device is picked up by a hand, the upper cassette holding part is closed with respect to the lower cassette holding part to hold the cassette between the pair of upper and lower cassette holding parts in the thickness direction. However, at that time, when the stop position of the hand with respect to the storage rack and the recording / reproducing device is displaced downward,
This has been dealt with by letting the entire hand float above the carrier at the moment the cassette is clamped.

[0005]

However, in this prior application, when the cassette is picked up by the hand and the stop position of the hand with respect to the storage rack and the recording / reproducing device is largely displaced downward, the cassette is clamped at the moment. Due to the weight of the entire hand, the cassette tilts downward, and the cassette is twisted in the storage rack and the recording / reproducing apparatus, so that the cassette cannot be removed after that. In order to solve this problem, the upper and lower cassette sandwiching parts are both opened and closed, and cassettes having different thicknesses are attempted to be sandwiched on the center between the upper and lower cassette sandwiching parts. The height of the bottom face of the sandwiched cassette varies depending on the change. Therefore,
When the sandwiched cassette is taken out from the storage shelf and the recording / reproducing device and is to be placed on the cassette pedestal of the carrier, the bottom surface of the cassette floats above the cassette pedestal due to the height variation of the bottom surface. However, there is a problem that the cassette cannot be placed on the cassette cradle stably.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and when the cassette is picked up by the hand, the stop position of the hand with respect to the storage rack and the recording / reproducing apparatus is displaced vertically. Another object of the present invention is to provide a cassette autochanger in which cassettes having different thicknesses can be safely held and smoothly removed.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To achieve the above object, a cassette autochanger of the present invention comprises a plurality of cassettes in which recording media are stored and different thicknesses, and a plurality of cassettes in which the plurality of cassettes are stored. A storage rack, a recording / reproducing device that selectively records and / or reproduces the plurality of cassettes, and a carrier that selectively conveys the plurality of cassettes between the plurality of storage racks and the recording / reproducing device. In a cassette autochanger equipped with a carrier transfer device, a cassette delivery hand attached to the carrier, a lower cassette holding part fixed to the hand, and a lower cassette holding part above and below the lower cassette holding part. Upper cassette holding portion opened / closed, an opening / closing mechanism opening / closing the upper cassette holding portion, and the storage rack and the recording / reproducing apparatus having different thicknesses. When going to receive a set, closes the upper cassette holding section downward, is provided with a means for driving the entire hand upward integrally with the lower cassette holding portion with respect to the storage rack and the recording and reproducing apparatus. At this time, up and down driving of the entire hand with respect to the storage rack and the recording / reproducing device is performed by the transport device transfer device,
It is preferable that the cassettes with different thicknesses extracted from the storage rack and the recording / reproducing device by the hand are placed on a cassette pedestal provided in the transporter and transported.

[0008]

The cassette autochanger of the present invention having the above-described structure, when a cassette is used to receive cassettes having different thicknesses of the storage rack and the recording / reproducing device,
Since the upper cassette holding part is closed downward and the entire hand is driven upward together with the storage cassette and recording / reproducing device together with the lower cassette holding part, the hand is stopped for the storing shelf and recording / reproducing device. The vertical displacement of the position can be easily corrected by the amount of upward movement of the entire hand.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a cassette autochanger of a video cassette for a television broadcasting station will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[Outline of cassette autochanger] First, an outline of the cassette autochanger will be described with reference to FIGS.

In this cassette autochanger, a plurality of types of recording formats of magnetic tape as a recording medium are used, and a plurality of types of cassettes having the same recording format but different sizes (outer diameter and thickness) are mixed. ,
The plurality of types of cassettes are configured to be selectively recordable and / or reproducible by a VTR which is a plurality of types of recording / reproducing devices for each recording format.

Next, the cassette / autochanger main body (hereinafter simply referred to as the main body) 1 is constituted by a vertically long rectangular parallelepiped housing, and an opening / closing door 2 is in the front in the direction of arrow a, which is horizontal. It is attached to open and close freely. Further, in the main body 1, there are two types of storage shelf units including a plurality of storage shelf units 4 having upper and lower four storage shelves 3 and a plurality of storage shelf units 6 having five upper and lower storage shelves 5. The storage shelf unit row 7 is configured by being mounted side by side vertically. A top plate unit 8 is attached to the uppermost stage of the storage shelf unit row 7.

The upper and lower parts 4 of the plurality of storage shelf units 4
It is possible to indiscriminately load the large, medium, and small cassettes 10L, 10M, and 10S of three sizes with the same recording format on the storage shelves 3 in a row. In addition, the upper and lower five storage shelves 5 of the plurality of storage shelving units 6 have the same recording format and have two types of large and small cassettes 11L and 11L.
S can be mixed indiscriminately. However, the recording formats of the large, medium and small cassettes 10L, 10M and 10S are different from the recording formats of the large and small cassettes 11L and 11S.

At this time, the large, medium and small cassettes 10L, 10
As the M and 10S, for example, a cassette using a magnetic tape of 3/4 inch width such as a digital cassette or a Umatic cassette is used, and the thicknesses of the large, medium and small cassettes 10L, 10M and 10S are It is made thick. In addition, the large and small cassettes 11L and 11S have a half size, such as a beta cassette or a VHS cassette.
A cassette using an inch-wide magnetic tape is used, and the large and small cassettes 11L and 11S are made thin. Other than this, for example, an 8 mm cassette or the like using a magnetic tape having a width of 8 mm can also be used.

Next, inside the main body 1, large, medium, small cassettes 10L, 10M,
Two types of VTRs 12 and 13 for different recording formats for selectively recording and / or reproducing 10S and large and small cassettes 11L and 11S are mounted together. On the front surfaces of these VTRs 12 and 13, large, medium and small cassettes 10L, 10M and 10S and large and small cassettes 1 are provided, respectively.
Cassette insertion ports 12a and 13a for 1L and 11S are formed. And a plurality of storage shelves 3, 5 and VTRs
The front surfaces of 12 and 13 are aligned in a line.

Next, between the plurality of storage shelves 3 and 5 and the VTRs 12 and 13 and the opening / closing door 2 in the main body 1, a carrier 16 having a hand 15 for cassette delivery and a plurality of the carrier 16 are provided. The storage racks 3 and 5 and the VTRs 12 and 13 are arranged along the VTRs 12 and 13, and the transporter transporting device 17 for transporting in the vertical directions a and b. In addition, the carrier 16 has
The hand 15 is provided with a plurality of storage shelves 3 and 5 and VTRs 12 and 13.
Arrows d and e, which are horizontal cassette loading and unloading directions
A hand transfer mechanism 18 for transferring in the directions f and g, which are the horizontal direction at right angles to the direction and the right and left thereof, is attached.

Next, the two types of storage rack units 4 and 6 and the VTRs 12 and 13 can be freely rearranged according to the recording format of the cassette used by the user so that these storage rack units 4 and 6 can be recombined. , 6 and VTRs 12, 13 are attached to the main body 1 in an exchangeable manner.

At this time, the outer diameters of the two types of storage rack units 4 and 6 and the top plate unit 8 are substantially the same in plan view, but in particular, the two types of storage rack units 4 and 6 are used.
Have the same size H _{1 and} have no gap adjustment between the storage rack units 4 and 6 when performing replacement work such as changing the number of storage rack units 4 and 6 to be used or changing the arrangement. It is not necessary to perform the replacement, and the replacement work can be easily performed.

The top plate unit 8 also serves as the top plates of the two types of storage shelf units 4 and 6, depending on the type of the storage shelf units 4 and 6 arranged at the top of the storage shelf unit row 7. The top plate unit 8 is vertically inverted and used.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the two types of storage shelf units 4 and 6 are horizontally inserted between a pair of right and left columns 20 vertically installed in the main body 1, and these left and right columns are installed. The pair of flanges 21 is used as a pair of left and right positioning pins 2.
2 and a plurality of right and left setscrews 23 are detachably (replaceable) attached to both columns 20. Also, the top plate unit 8 is horizontally inserted between both columns 20, and the left and right ends of the front plate 8a are detachably attached to both columns 20 by a pair of left and right positioning pins 22 and setscrews 23. It is installed.

A pair of left and right vertical projections 24a, 24b integrally formed on the left and right ends of the U-shaped plate 24 fixed to the back surface of the front plate 8a of the top plate unit 8 form the front plate 8a. The slits 25a and 25b, which are a pair of left and right horizontal references along the horizontal reference line P ₁ , are formed on the protrusions 24a and 24b so as to penetrate therethrough and project forward.

[Outline of operation of cassette autochanger] Next, referring to FIG. 1 to FIG.
An outline of the operation of the autochanger will be described.

First, the operator opens the opening / closing door 2 and manually performs the loading and replacement work of the plurality of cassettes 10L, 10M, 10S and 11L, 11S in the plurality of storage shelves 3, 5. At this time, large and medium cassettes 10L, 10M
The large cassette 11L is stored in the central position of the storage shelves 3 and 5 in the left-right direction, and the small cassettes 10S and 11S are stored separately on the left and right of the storage shelves 3 and 5, respectively.

In this cassette autochanger, the large, medium and small cassettes 10L, 10M, 10S and the large and small cassettes 11 mixedly mounted on the plurality of storage shelves 3, 5 are mixed.
The storage positions of L and 11S are searched and stored in advance. Then, based on the cassette exchange command signal, the transport operation of the transport device 16 by the transport device transfer device 17 in the directions of arrows b and c,
In combination with the transfer operation of the hand 15 by the cassette transfer device 18 in the directions d, e and f, g, the hand 1
Large, medium and small cassettes 10L, 10M, 10S and large and small cassettes 11 from the storage shelves 3 and 5 designated by 5.
The designated cassette of L and 11S is selectively clamped and automatically pulled out, and the designated VTR1
2 to 13, and the cassette insertion port 12a, 1
3a is automatically loaded to record and / or reproduce. The used cassettes, which have been recorded and / or reproduced and discharged to the outside of the cassette insertion openings 12a and 13a of the VTRs 12 and 13, are returned to the original storage shelves 3 and 5 by the above-described reverse operation. Then, by repeating the cassette automatic exchange operation, continuous video reproduction and recording / editing are performed for a long time.

[Description of Carrier Transfer Device] Next, the carrier transfer device 17 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

First, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the main body 1
One of the support columns 20 is integrally formed on one mounting reference plate 27 that is vertically disposed on one side portion of the inside. Therefore,
Two types of storage shelf units 4, 6, top plate unit 8 and V
The TRs 12 and 13 are attached to the attachment reference plate 27.

Next, a guide rail 28 for the carrier 16 and a guide rail 29 for a counterweight, which will be described later, are fixed to the same mounting reference plate 27 in a vertical and parallel manner. Then, a pair of sliders 32 and 33 attached to these both guide rails 28 and 29 respectively by a plurality of guide rollers 30 and 31 so that there is no rattling.
Is configured to be able to travel along both guide rails 28 and 29 in the up and down directions of arrows b and c.

Next, the carrier transfer device 17 is attached to the same attachment reference plate 27. This carrier transfer device 17
Is composed of a motor 37, an encoder 38 directly connected to the motor 37, a pair of timing belts 39, 40, and the like. Then, the motor 3 is attached to one end side of the motor mounting plate 41 fixed to the inside of the upper end of the mounting reference plate 27.
7 is attached. And the motor mounting plate 4
1. A timing belt 39 is horizontally wound around a motor pulley 42 and an intermediate pulley 43 which are attached to both ends of the intermediate pulley 1, and a driven belt which is attached to the lower end of the attachment reference plate 27 at a position directly below the intermediate pulley 43. The timing belt 40 is vertically wound around the pulley 44. A part of both sides of the timing belt 40 is fixed to both sliders 32 and 33 by a belt fixing portion 45.

According to the transporter transporting device 17, the timing belt 40 is driven by the forward / reverse rotation driving of the motor 37 through the timing belt 39 in the up and down directions of the arrows b and c to transport the transporter. 16 is an arrow b,
Transport in the c direction. At this time, the counterweight 36 is run in the direction opposite to the carrier 16 in the directions of the arrows b and c to balance the weight of the carrier 16 and carry the carrier 16 at high speed.

In accordance with this, the hand 15 of the carrier 16 is controlled by the hand transfer mechanism 18 in the directions of arrows d and e and in the directions of arrows f and g. Then, it is mixedly mounted in a plurality of storage shelves 3 and 5 in the storage shelving units 4 and 6, and
The cassettes of the designated storage shelves 3 and 5 are selected from the medium and small cassettes 10L, 10M and 10S and the large and small cassettes 11L and 11S by the hand 15 in the direction of arrow e,
This cassette is VTR1 designated by the carrier 16.
A cassette automatic loading operation of carrying the cassette in the direction of arrow c up to 2 and 13 and automatically loading this cassette in the cassette insertion openings 12a and 13a of the VTRs 12 and 13 designated by the hand 15 in the direction of arrow a and vice versa. Perform the cassette automatic exchange operation with the cassette automatic return operation,
Perform continuous video playback and recording / editing for a long time.

[Description of Position Detection Device for Carrier] Next, a position detector for detecting the position for initial setting of the carrier 16 will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, as shown in FIGS.
One optical sensor 47 equipped with a light emitting element and a light receiving element (neither shown) as one detecting means for performing position detection for initial setting is attached to the stage 35 which is the lifting table of No. 6 There is. The origin setting plate 48 indicating the reference position of the carrier 16 and the plurality of type setting plates 49 and 50 indicating the respective types of the two types of storage rack units 4 and 6 and the two types of VTRs 12 and 13 are the optical sensor 4.
The mounting reference plate 27 is detachably screwed to the mounting reference plate 27 along a vertical movement path of the device 7. The origin setting plate 48 and the plurality of type setting plates 4
Reference numerals 9 and 50 are shutter plates that block light between the light emitting element and the light receiving element of the optical sensor 47. The origin setting plate 48 is mounted at a fixed position, whereas the plurality of type setting plates 50 are arranged so that they can be appropriately rearranged according to the mounting positions of the storage shelf units 4, 6 and the VTRs 12, 13. There is.

Next, as shown in FIG. 8, the origin setting plate 48
And the plurality of type setting plates 49, 50 are configured to have different shapes. That is, the origin setting plate 48 has a vertical width L
₁ is formed to 50 mm or more, and a slit 4 is formed in the middle.
8a is formed. The vertical width L ₂ of the slit 48a is formed to be 5 mm, and the vertical width L ₃ between the lower end of the slit 48a and the lower end 48b of the origin setting plate 48 is 20 m.
It is set to m. Further, the vertical widths L ₄ and L _{5 of} the type setting plates 49 and 50 are set to 45 mm and 10 mm, respectively. In addition, the conveyor 16 is provided above and below the attachment reference plate 27.
A pair of upper and lower stoppers 52 and 53 for preventing runaway of the above are attached.

Next, the initial position detection operation when the cassette auto changer is turned on will be described with reference to FIG. 8 and the flow chart of FIG.

First, as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG.
When the power is turned on while the optical sensor 47 is in the position where it is turned off by the origin setting plate 48, the optical sensor 4
7 is turned on and off, and when it is off, the motor 37
The timing belt 40 is driven in the direction of arrow c to move the stage 35 downward. Then, the optical sensor 47
Detects the slit 48a of the origin setting plate 48 and turns ON, and detects the A position.

Then, while measuring the moving distance of the stage 35 by the number of pulses of the encoder 38 directly connected to the motor 37, the stage 35 is moved 15 m from this position A.
Confirm that the optical sensor 47 is OFF by lowering it by m, but when the stage 35 descends by 5 mm, the optical sensor 47 turns off.
If it becomes F, the B position is confirmed. That is, it is confirmed that A position-B position = 5 mm.

Then, the stage 35 is moved 20 m from the B position.
Confirm that the optical sensor 47 is ON by lowering it by m, but the optical sensor 47 is turned ON when the stage 35 is lowered by 20 mm.
Then, the origin of the carrier 16 at the C position is confirmed. That is, it is confirmed that B position-C position = 20 mm, and it is determined that the C position is the origin.

When the optical sensor 47 is at a position lower than the origin setting plate 48 as shown by the solid line in FIG. 8 and the optical sensor 47 is turned on when the power is turned on, the timing belt is driven by the motor 37. 40 for arrow b
Drive in the direction to raise the stage 35. And
From the position where the optical sensor 37 is turned off, the above operation is repeated to find the C position which is the origin.

Next, the stage 35 is lowered from the origin (position C) and the optical sensor 47 is used to move to the next type setting plate 49.
After the photo sensor 47 is turned off and then turned on, the stage 35 is raised and the photo sensor 4
If the distance from when 7 is turned off to when it is turned on is 20 mm, it is determined to be the type setting plate 49, the D position and the E position of the type setting plate 49 are respectively confirmed, and the D position is stored. It is determined to be the origin of the shelf units 4 and 6. Similarly, the next type setting plate 50 is also confirmed.

As described above, this position detecting device is provided with one optical sensor 4 mounted on the stage 35 of the carrier 16.
7, an origin setting plate 48 and a plurality of type setting plates 49,
By detecting the shape of 50, the origin (C position) which is the reference position is detected, and the positions of the plurality of storage rack units 4, 6 and the VTRs 12, 13 are detected. However, the optical sensor 47 is in the OFF state when the carrier 16 is at the uppermost position where it can move, and when the optical sensor 47 is at the lowermost end of the lowermost type setting plate 50, the carrier 16 is It is necessary to be able to move downward by 15 mm or more.

The position information detected by the above initial operation is stored in the memory circuit according to the number of pulses of the encoder 38. Then, when the above-mentioned access for automatic cassette exchange is performed, the origin (C position) of the carrier 16, a plurality of storage rack units 4, 6 and the VTR 1 are provided.
The cassette automatic exchange operation is performed while confirming the vertical movement amount of the carrier 16 based on the respective origins 2 and 13 by the pulse number of the encoder 38.

[Description of Hand Transfer Mechanism of Carrier] Next,
A hand transfer mechanism 18 for horizontally transferring the hand 15 of the carrier 16 in the arrow d and e directions and the arrow f and g directions will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, the hand transfer mechanism 18 has a first linear movement mechanism 55 mounted horizontally on the horizontal stage 35 and parallel to the stage 35, and a horizontal and right angle above the first linear movement mechanism 55. And a second linear movement mechanism 56 attached to the.

Then, these first and second linear movement mechanisms 5
5 and 56 have the same double slide mechanism, and the first linear movement mechanism 55 is configured such that the first slider 58a and the second slider 59a are sequentially stacked on the slide base 57a horizontally fixed on the stage 35. Arrow f, respectively
It is attached so as to be doubly slidable in the g direction. Also,
The second linear motion mechanism 56 is the second linear motion mechanism 55 of the second linear motion mechanism 55.
The first slider 58b and the second slider 5 are mounted on the slide base 57b which is horizontally fixed on the slider 59a.
9b are sequentially overlapped and mounted so as to be doubly slidable in the directions of arrows d and e, respectively. The hand 15 is vertically mounted on the second slider 59b of the second linear movement mechanism 56.

Then, these first and second linear movement mechanisms 5
The drive mechanisms 5 and 56 have the same structure, and the rack and pinion mechanism 60 drives the first sliders 58a and 58b with respect to the slide bases 57a and 57b.
a, 60b and a motor 61 for driving these pinions
a, 61b, encoders 62a, 62b directly connected to these motors 61a, 61b, and each first slider 5
8a and 58b, timing belts 63a and 63b for sliding the second sliders 59a and 59b with a stroke twice that of the first sliders 58a and 58b. Both timing belts 63a,
63b is wound around a pair of pulleys 64a and 64b attached to both ends of the first sliders 58a and 58b in the lengthwise direction, and both timing belts 63a and 63b.
A part of both upper and lower sides of b is fixed to both slide bases 57a and 57b and both sliders 59a and 59 by the belt fixing portion 65.
It is fixed to b.

According to the hand transfer mechanism 18, both the rack and pinion mechanisms 60a and 60b are driven by the two motors 61a and 61b of the two linear motion mechanisms 55 and 56, so that both the first and second sliders 58a and 58b. Also, both the second sliders 59a and 59b can be doubly slid in the directions of the arrows f and g and the directions of the arrows d and e.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 14, the rotation of both timing belts 63a and 63b causes the rotation of both second belts.
The sliders 59a and 59b are replaced by both first sliders 58a,
With a stroke S ₂ which is twice the stroke S ₁ of 58b, it can be slid at high speed in the directions of arrows f and g and in the directions of arrows d and e.

Then, the linear movement mechanisms 55 and 56 move the hand 15 into and out of the cassette by the arrow d,
It is possible to perform linear movement at a high speed horizontally in two directions, ie, the direction e and the directions f and g perpendicular to the cassette loading / unloading direction.

On the front surface of the hand 15, there are provided a pair of upper and lower cassette holding portions 67 and 68 formed of horizontal plates, and the first slider 58 of the second linear movement mechanism 56.
A pair of horizontal and parallel cassette pedestals 69 are provided on the upper part of b.
Are formed. The lower cassette holding portion 67 is fixed to the hand 15.

[Explanation of Stage Mounting Device to Slider] Next, referring to FIGS.
A mounting device 71 of the stage 35 of the carrier 16 to the slider 32 of No. 7 will be described.

First, the slider 32 has a pair of left and right vertical support plates 72a assembled in a substantially H-shaped plane.
And a vertical support plate 72b disposed between them, and a mounting plate 72c for fastening means is provided below the support plate 72b. And both side plates 72a
A pair of left and right pin fitting grooves 7 that are stage receivers on the upper edge of the
3 is formed. It should be noted that these both pin fitting grooves 73 are formed as U grooves that are open upward.

The stage 35 is formed by aluminum die casting or the like, and one end portion 35a of the stage 35 is formed on both support plates 7.
It is formed in such a size that it can be inserted between 2a from above. A pair of horizontal left and right suspension pins 74, which are suspension portions, are integrally formed on both left and right sides of the upper end of the one end portion 35a. Further, an end face plate 35b perpendicular to the tip of one end 35a of the stage 35 is integrally formed, and a punch lock 75 which is a fastening means for fastening between the end face plate 35 and the attachment plate 72c of the slider 32 is attached. It is attached to the plate 72c. Further, the adjustment screw 7 which is the levelness adjusting means is attached to the nut 76 fixed to the support plate 72b of the slider 32.
7 is mounted horizontally, and the end face plate 35b of the stage 35 is configured to abut the tip of the adjusting screw 77. A hook 78 for hooking the tip of the punch lock 75 on the side opposite to the adjusting screw 77 of the end face plate 35b.
Is stuck.

Next, in the punch lock 75, a support metal fitting 81 is fixed to the mounting plate 72c by a plurality of setscrews 80, and a horizontal fulcrum pin 82 at the upper end of the support metal fitting 81 is rotated with a substantially U-shaped cross section. One end of the metal fitting 83 is rotatably attached,
Horizontal fulcrum pins 84 on both sides of the lower end of the rotating fitting 83
A pair of tension metal fittings 85 are rotatably attached via a pair, and a pair of locking metal fittings 86 are connected to both of these tension metal fittings 85 via a pair of tension springs 87 which are pressure springs.
A horizontal locking pin 88 is connected between the upper ends of the pair of locking metal fittings 86. The hook 78 also has a plurality of setscrews 89.
Is horizontally fixed to the end face plate 35b.

According to this stage mounting device 71, as shown in FIG.
5 and FIG. 16, first, the one end portion 35a of the stage 35 is inserted between the pair of support plates 72a of the stage 35 from above, and the pair of suspension pins 74 is attached to the slider 32.
Are fitted into the pair of pin fitting grooves 73 from above in the direction of arrow h. Then, the stage 35 is rotated in the direction of arrow j around the pin fitting groove 73 and the hanging pin 74 to move the end face plate 35b.
Is horizontally contacted with the tip of the adjusting screw 77 in the direction of the arrow m, and the stage 35 is suspended by the slider 32 and supported horizontally.

The tip of the punch lock 75 is hooked with 78
The end face plate 35a is strongly pressed against the tip of the adjusting screw 77 from the direction of the arrow m, and the stage 35 is strongly fixed to the slider 32 by hooking the punch lock 75 onto the slider 32 with one touch.

At this time, as shown in FIGS. 17 and 19,
The locking pin 88 of the punch lock 75 is hooked on the hook 78, and the knob 83a at the lower end of the rotating metal fitting 83 is attached to both tension springs 8.
It is slightly pushed in so as to rotate in the direction of arrow o around the fulcrum pin 84 against 7. Then, from the moment when the fulcrum pin 84 which is the movable point of the rotary fitting 83 exceeds the dead point P ₂ which is the straight line connecting the fulcrum pin 82 which is the fixed fulcrum and the locking pin 88 in the direction of arrow o, the tension springs 87 of both tension springs 87 are moved. The punch lock 75 is automatically locked by automatically operating the rotational moment in the direction of the arrow o due to the tensile force.

Therefore, the punch lock 75 can be tightened with one touch, and the end plates 35b of the stage 35 are elastically and strongly pressed against the tip of the adjusting screw 77 from the direction of the arrow m by the pulling force of both tension springs 78. Note that the knob 83a
17 in the direction of arrow p in FIG. 17, the punch lock 75 can be unlocked with one touch by the reverse operation of locking, and the locking pin 8
8 can be easily removed from the hook 78.

Therefore, according to the stage mounting device 71, when assembling the stage 35 to the slider 32, it is not necessary to perform the tightening work such as screwing while supporting the heavy stage 35 with one hand. Moreover, since the punch lock 75 can be locked with one touch, the stage 35 can be easily and quickly assembled to the slider 32. Further, the punch lock 75 can be easily unlocked, and after the locking pin 88 of the punch lock 75 is removed from the hook 78 and the stage 35 is slightly lifted, both the hanging pins 74 are removed from the both pin fitting grooves 73. The stage 35 can be easily disassembled from the slider 32 by removing it in the upward direction of the arrow i.

Next, according to the stage mounting device 71, as shown in FIGS. 15 and 17, if the adjusting screw 77 is adjusted so as to be taken in and out of the nut 76 in the directions of the arrows m and n, the stage 35 The horizontal degree of the stage 35 can be easily adjusted by rotating and adjusting the hanging pins 74 in the pin fitting grooves 73 in the directions of the arrows j and k.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 17, punch punch 7
The end face plate 35b of the stage 35 is elastically pressed against the tip of the adjusting screw 77 from the direction of the arrow m by the pulling force of the two tension springs 87 of No. 5, so that the stage 35 and the slider 32 are adjusted by adjusting the adjusting screw 77. Both tension springs 87 can accommodate the change in the gap G ₁ between them.

The horizontality of the stage 35 can be easily measured (confirmed). That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the pair of protrusions 24a, 2a provided on the front plate 8a of the top plate unit 8 are provided.
Since a pair of horizontal slits 25a and 25b are formed in 4b, as shown in FIG. 20, the horizontal lower cassette holding portion 67 fixed to the hand 15 is used as a measuring element. The lower cassette holding part 67 is horizontally moved in the direction of arrow f along the horizontal reference line P ₁ in FIG. 3 from one slit 25a to the other slit 25b. Then, the lower cassette holding portion 67 works well on both slits 25.
If you can pass between a and 25b, stage 3
It can be confirmed that the levelness of 5 is within the allowable range. Therefore, in addition to easily measuring the levelness of the stage 35,
You can save the trouble of measuring the levelness using another jig.

[Description of Hand] Next, the details of the hand 15 will be described with reference to FIGS. First, as shown in FIGS. 21 and 22, a hand support base 91 is horizontally fixed by a plurality of setscrews 92 to the upper portion of the second slider 59b of the second linear movement mechanism 56 of the hand transfer mechanism 18 described above. . A pair of elevating guide shafts 93, 94 are vertically erected on the hand support base 93, and a substantially casing-shaped hand body 95 of the hand 15 is vertically arranged by a pair of vertical guide holes 96, 97. It is loosely fitted so as to be movable up and down in the directions of arrows b and c. It should be noted that one of the elevating guide shafts 93 is configured as a main shaft having a large diameter, and a pair of sleeves 98 made of synthetic resin or the like fixed to the upper and lower parts of the hand main body 95 to smoothly elevate the hand main body 95 is used for the elevating guide It is loosely fitted on the shaft 93. In addition, a flanged screw 93a is provided on the upper end of the lifting guide shaft 93 to prevent the screw from coming off.
Is attached.

Therefore, a pair of upper and lower cassette holding portions 67,
With the cassette 10L etc. sandwiched from above and below between 68,
The hand 15 moves up and down the guide shafts 9 on the hand support base 91.
It is configured such that it can freely move up and down in the directions of arrows b and c along the lines 3 and 94.

[Explanation of Opening / Closing Mechanism of Cassette Holding Part] Next, as shown in FIG. 23, the lower cassette holding part 67 formed of a horizontal plate is fixed to the lower surface of the hand body 95 by a plurality of set screws 99. The upper cassette holding portion 68 formed of a horizontal plate is configured to be openable / closable in parallel with the up and down directions of arrows b and c. It should be noted that anti-slip members 67a and 68a of the cassette are adhered to the upper and lower opposing surfaces of the cassette holding portions 67 and 68, respectively.

An opening / closing mechanism 100 for opening / closing the upper cassette holding portion 68 up and down is mounted in the hand body 95. The opening / closing mechanism 100 has an opening / closing guide 101 and a feed screw 102 which are vertically attached between the upper and lower walls 95a and 95b of the hand body 95, and the upper cassette holding portion 68 is slidably engaged with the opening / closing guide 101. The nut 116 fixed to the upper cassette holding portion 68 is screwed to the feed screw 102. And the hand body 95
Inside, a motor 103 and an intermediate shaft 104 vertically attached between the upper and lower walls 95a and 95b are attached.
The gear 105 fixed to the motor shaft 103a is the intermediate shaft 10
4, a one-way slip type torque limiter 107 is interposed between the torque limiter gear 106 and the intermediate shaft 105, and the gear 108 fixed to the intermediate shaft 104 is a feed screw. 1
It is meshed with the gear 109 fixed to 02. Also,
The shutter disk 110 fixed to the intermediate shaft 104 and the optical sensor 111 mounted in the hand body 95 constitute an encoder 112 which is an opening amount control means. Further, an upper limit sensor 114 and a lower limit sensor 115, which are turned on and off by a shutter plate 113 attached to the upper cassette holding portion 68 to detect the upper limit position and the lower limit position of the upper cassette holding portion 68, are attached to the hand body 181. There is.

The origin search operation of the opening / closing mechanism 100 is performed as follows. First, when the cassette auto changer is powered on, the motor 103 is rotated in the normal direction, and the gears 105, 106 and the torque limiter 10 are rotated.
7, the feed screw 102 is driven to rotate in the forward direction via the intermediate shaft 104 and the gears 108 and 109. Then, the feed screw 102
The upper cassette holding portion 68 is guided by the opening / closing guide 101 by the screw feeding operation of the nut 116 by and is lowered in parallel with the arrow c direction. As indicated by the one-dot chain line, the position P _{3 at} which the lower limit sensor 115 detects the shutter plate 113 is the origin, and the motor 103 is moved when the upper cassette holding portion 68 is lowered to the origin P _3. Is stopped.

The cassette holding operation is performed as follows.
Next, when a cassette pinching command is issued, the motor 103 is reversely rotated and the feed screw 102 is reversely driven. And
By the screw feeding operation of the nut 116 by the feed screw 102, the upper cassette holding portion 68 is guided by the opening / closing guide 101 and is raised in parallel with the arrow b direction, and the upper cassette holding portion 68 is moved upward with respect to the lower cassette holding portion 67. Open to. At this time, the torque limiter 107 rotates in a non-slip state, and the encoder 112 accurately counts the opening amount H ₁ of the upper cassette holding portion 68 with respect to the lower cassette holding portion 67.

At the time when the cassette holding command is issued, the thickness information of the cassette designated for holding is known. Therefore, based on the thickness information of this cassette,
The opening amount H ₁ is counted by the encoder 112,
After adjusting to a predetermined value, the motor 103 is stopped.

The cassettes 10L and 11L having different thicknesses shown in FIG. 22 are provided between the cassette holding portions 67 and 68.
When it is detected by a cassette presence / absence sensor, which will be described later, that the components are horizontally inserted from the direction of arrow e, the motor 10
3 is again rotated in the forward direction, and the forward rotation of the feed screw 102 causes the upper cassette holding portion 68 to descend again in parallel in the direction of arrow c. Then, the cassettes 10 having different thicknesses are formed on the lower cassette holding portion 67 by the upper cassette holding portion 68.
L, 11L, etc. are clamped so as to be pressed in parallel from the direction of arrow c corresponding to these thicknesses.

At this time, the torque limiter 107 rotates in a slippable state, and both cassette holding parts 67, 6
When the cassettes 10L, 11L and the like having different thicknesses between 8 are clamped, the upper cassette clamping unit 68 receives a repulsive force in the direction of arrow b, that is, when the load exceeds a certain torque value, the torque limiter 107 slips. The intermediate shaft 104 on the output side of the torque limiter 107 is stopped, and the upper cassette holding portion 68 is automatically stopped. And the intermediate shaft 1
When the encoder 112 detects that 04 has stopped, the completion of holding the cassettes 10L and 11L between the both cassette holding portions 67 and 68 is detected, and the motor 103 is stopped.

Therefore, according to this cassette autochanger, cassettes having different thicknesses can always be stably sandwiched with a constant clamping force, and the cassette clamping force becomes excessive due to the change in the cassette thickness. Therefore, it is possible to prevent accidents such as accidentally damaging the cassette.

In FIG. 23, the position P ₄ of the upper cassette holding portion 68 shown by the solid line shows the maximum open position which is even larger than the thickness of the large cassette 10L having the largest thickness, and is indicated by the one-dot chain line. The position P ₅ indicated by is the upper limit stop position where the upper limit sensor 114 detects the shutter plate 113. Then, the hand 15 causes the upper cassette holding portion 68 to overstroke S ₃ from the maximum open position P ₄ to the upper limit stop position P ₅ by the reverse rotation of the motor 103.
Is configured so that it can be driven upward in the direction of arrow b without slipping.

[Description of Cassette Pushing Means] Next, referring to FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 4 to 26, the cassette pushing means 117 is attached to one side of the hand body 95. The cassette pushing means 117 has a substantially L-shaped rotating arm 11.
8, a horizontal pushing arm 119, and a tension spring 120 for returning movement.

That is, the upper end side of the rotary arm 118 is rotatably attached in the directions of arrows q and r through a horizontal fulcrum shaft 121, and the horizontal support shaft 121a is provided inside the upper portion of the rotary arm 118. The roller 122 is mounted horizontally. The horizontal pushing arm 119 is disposed between the pair of upper and lower cassette holding portions 67 and 68, and is horizontally placed on the upper portion of one end of the horizontal lower wall 95b of the hand body 95. The pushing arm 119 is connected to the VTR 1 via the pair of guide pins 123 and the guide groove 124.
It is mounted on the lower wall 95b so as to be able to move in and out horizontally in the directions of arrows d and e, which are forward and backward directions with respect to 2 and 13.
The tip end 119a of the pushing arm 119 is bent into a substantially L shape in a horizontal plane so that both cassette holding portions 67 and 68 are held.
Extends to the center of the width of the.

The lower end of the rotating arm 118 and the rear end of the pushing arm 119 are rotatably connected to each other through the pin 125 and the elongated hole 126, and these are constructed as a substantially L-shaped link mechanism. . And the rotating arm 11
8 and the push-in arm 119, a tension spring 1 is provided between a pair of spring locking portions 127 and 128 formed substantially in the middle in the longitudinal direction.
20 is attached in a substantially triangular shape. Then, the upper cassette holding portion 68 is attached to the roller 122 of the rotating arm 118.
One side end of the is contactable from below.

The cassette pushing means 117 is driven as follows. That is, the state shown by the solid line in FIG. 26 is the backward movement state, and the tension spring 120 causes the rotary arm 118 to move.
By receiving the urging force in the direction in which the opening angle of the pushing arm 119 is reduced, the rotating arm 118 is rotationally urged in the direction of arrow q, the pushing arm 119 is slid in the direction of arrow e, and its tip 119a is moved to both sides. The cassette holding portions 67 and 68 are moved back from the tip position P ₆ to the returning position P ₇ retracted in the direction of arrow e.

Next, the upper cassette holding portion 68 is driven upward overstroke S ₃ minutes arrow b direction to a raised stop position P ₅ from the maximum open position P ₄ shown in FIG. 26 by, as described above, opening and closing mechanism 100 Then, the roller 122 is pushed up in the direction of arrow b by the upper cassette holding portion 68.

Then, as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG.
The rotary arm 118 has a tension spring 12 around the fulcrum shaft 121.
It is driven to rotate in the direction of arrow r against 0 and push arm 1
19 is pushed out in the direction of arrow d, and its tip 119a
Tip position P of both cassette holding parts 67, 68₆ Passing through
Sufficient extrusion position P in the direction of arrow d₈ Stroke up to S _Four 
It is automatically pushed out in the direction of the minute arrow d. And after this
The upper cassette holding portion 68 is at the maximum open position P._Four Arrow
If it moves back in the direction of mark c, the rotation arm 118 and the pushing
The home position of the arm 119 is shown by the solid line by the tension spring 120.
It is moved back in the directions of arrows q and e, respectively.

The rotating arm 118 and the pushing arm 1
If a tension spring 120 is attached in a substantially triangular shape between the rotary arm 118 and the pushing arm 119,
The rotary arm 118 and the pushing arm 119 can be easily attached to the hand main body 95 in a state where the tension spring 120 is previously assembled between the hand and the hand main body 95. Body 9
Assembling the cassette pushing means 117 to the No. 5 can be performed easily. Further, the rotary arm 118 is attached to the upper cassette holding portion 68.
Since it can be rotationally driven by the cassette pushing means 11
It is not necessary to provide a dedicated drive mechanism for No. 7.

[Explanation of Cassette Presence / Absence Sensor] Next, as shown in FIGS. 24 to 26, a pair of left and right cassette stopping plates 130 are provided vertically on the left and right sides of the hand main body 95 at positions offset to the lower end side. And a pair of left and right cassette presence sensors 1 on both left and right sides of both cassette stop plates 130.
31 is attached. The both cassette presence / absence sensors 131 are attached to the both cassette stop plates 130 via a pair of fulcrum shafts 131 so as to be rotatable in the vertical and forward / backward directions s and t, respectively.
And a pair of optical sensors 134 attached to both cassette stop plates 130 and turned on and off by both shutter plates 133.

When no cassette is inserted between the cassette holding parts 67 and 68, as shown by the solid line in FIG. 25, both shutter plates 133 of both cassette presence / absence sensors 131 rotate in the direction of arrow t due to their own weight. Both light sensors 134 are turned off. At this time, a pair of shutter plates 133 formed on both cassette stop plates 130 is formed in a state in which the tips 133a of both shutter plates 133 are projected from both cassette stop plates 130 by a slight distance L _{6 in the} direction of arrow d. It comes into contact with the stopper 135 and stops.

Next, as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIGS. 24 and 25, the cassette 10 is sandwiched between the cassette holding portions 67 and 68.
When L or the like is correctly inserted in parallel from the direction of the arrow e and the cassette 10L or the like abuts on both cassette stop plates 130 in parallel, both shutter plates 133 of both cassette presence / absence sensors 131 are arrowed by the cassette 10L or the like. It is pushed in the e direction and rotated in the arrow s direction, both optical sensors 134 are turned on, and the presence of the cassette is detected.

At this time, both cassette presence / absence sensors 13
1 also serves as a cassette tilt sensor. That is, as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 24, both cassette holding portions 67, 68
When the cassette 10L or the like is tilted in the direction of arrow u or v in the horizontal plane and inserted from the direction of arrow e, only one of the cassette presence / absence sensors 131 is turned on, while the other is kept off. Accordingly, the inclination of the cassette 10L or the like can be detected.

[Explanation of Control Device for Controlling Receiving Cassettes from Storage Shelf] Next, referring to FIGS. 27 to 33, the hand 15 selectively receives cassettes having different thicknesses from the storage shelves 3 and 5. The control in this case will be described.

First, as shown in FIG. 27 and FIG. 28, this cassette autochanger is provided with a pair of upper and lower cassette holding portions of the hand 15 for holding cassettes 10L and 11S stored in the storage shelves 3 and 5 having different thicknesses. After selectively sandwiching by the 67 and 68 from the thickness direction, the hand 15 is slid in the direction of the arrow e on the first slider 58b, so that the cassettes 10L and 11S with different thicknesses selectively sandwiched by the hand 15 are provided. Storage shelves 3, 5
In the direction of arrow e. Then, the cassettes 10L, 11S and the like that have been taken out are stably placed horizontally on a pair of parallel cassette pedestals 69 of the first slider 58b, and are stably transported to the VTRs 12, 13 by the transporter 16. It is the one.

At this time, as shown in FIGS. 29A and 29B, the pair of upper and lower cassette holding portions 67 and 68 are simultaneously closed in the directions of arrows b and c from the upper and lower sides to form a cassette 10L having a different thickness. , 11S and the like are sandwiched from above and below, cassettes 10L and 11S are placed on both cassette pedestals 69.
However, there is a problem that it becomes impossible to place the etc. stably.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 29 (A) and 29 (B), both cassette holding portions 67 and 68 are closed in the same manner in the directions of arrows b and c from the vertical direction, so that a cassette having a large thickness T ₁ is formed. Cassette 11S with a small thickness T _{2 of} 10 L
When sandwiched from above and below, the sandwiched cassette 10
The vertical center P ₉ of L and 11S does not change. However, the bottom surface of the cassette 11S 11S 'is, T ₁ -T ₂ /
Only the step G ₂ corresponding to 2 is the bottom surface 10 of the cassette 10L.
It floats up in the direction of arrow b, which is above L '.

Therefore, when the height of the cassette receiving stand 69 is set to the same height LW as the bottom surface 10L 'of the cassette 10L, the bottom surface 11S' of the cassette 11S and the cassette receiving stand 6 are set.
9 and a step G ₂ is generated, and the cassette 1
It becomes impossible to place 1S on the cassette pedestal 69 with good stability. In this case, when the withdrawn cassettes 11S, although the level difference G ₂ by the cassette receiving stand 69 may be raised adjusted in the direction of the arrow b, the cassette 10L thickness of the cassette receiving stand 69 are different, high up and down in accordance with the 11S or the like The method of adjusting the height is extremely complicated in structure and is not practical.

Therefore, in this cassette autochanger, as described above, the lower cassette holding portion 67 is fixed to the hand 15, and only the upper cassette holding portion 68 is opened and closed up and down. When the hand 15 receives the different cassettes 10L, 11S, etc., the upper cassette holding portion 68 is closed downward, and the lower hand 15 is integrally driven with the lower cassette holding portion 67. .

First, the control circuit 137 shown in FIG. 30 is controlled by the microcomputer 138 by the I / O port 13.
The motor 103 of the opening / closing mechanism 100 and the motor 3 of the transporter transfer device 17 are driven by the drivers 140 and 141.
Control 7 simultaneously. Then, the upper cassette holding portion 68 is closed downward by the motor 103, and the motor 3
7, the entire hand 15 of the carrier 16 is controlled to move upward. At this time, the encoder 112 of the motor 103 detects the closing amount of the upper cassette holding section 68, and the encoder 112 of the motor 37 detects the hand 15
The total amount of rise is detected, and this information is displayed by the counter 14
2, 143 and the I / O port 139 are used to control the reading by the microcomputer 138.

Next, the actual operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 31 and 32. First, FIG. 31 shows the thickness T in the storage shelf 3.
₁ large cassette 10L is the case go to receive by the hand 15, as shown in (A) of FIG. 31, both cassette holding portion 67, 68 of the cassette 10L thickness T ₁
On the other hand, the hand 15 approaches the cassette 10L from the direction of the arrow d with a gap G ₃ of 3 mm vertically. Then, as shown in FIG. 31B, both cassette holding portions 6
7 and 68 are completely inserted into the top and bottom of the cassette 10L,
When both the cassette presence / absence sensors 131 detect the cassette 10L, as shown in FIG. 31C, the motor 103 in FIG. 30 lowers the upper cassette holding portion 68 in the direction of the arrow 3 mm, and Of the hand 1 integrally with the lower cassette holding portion 67 by the motor 37 of
The whole 5 is raised in the direction of arrow b by 3 mm. At this time, the cassette pedestal 69 is also raised by 3 mm together with the hand 15,
The height of the cassette holder 69 with respect to the lower cassette holding portion 67 is always kept constant. Then, both cassette holding portions 6
The cassette 10L is sandwiched between 7 and 68 from the vertical thickness direction at the same time. Then, as shown in FIG. 31D, the cassette 10L is moved from the storage shelf 5 to the arrow e by the hand 15.
It is pulled out in the direction and placed on the cassette pedestal 69 stably without any step.

Next, FIG. 32 shows a case where the cassette 11S having a small thickness T ₁ in the storage rack 5 is to be picked up by the hand 15. As shown in FIG. , 68 with a gap G ₃ of 3 mm above and below the thickness T _{2 of the} cassette 11S, the hand 1
5 approaches the cassette 11S from the direction of arrow d. And
As shown in FIG. 32B, both cassette holding portions 67,
68 is completely inserted into the upper and lower parts of the cassette 11S, and both the cassette presence / absence sensors 131 described above are inserted into the cassette 11S.
When S is detected, as shown in FIG.
The upper cassette holding portion 68 is 3 m by the motor 103 of
The motor 37 shown in FIG.
As a result, the entire hand 15 is lifted up by 3 mm in the direction of arrow b together with the lower cassette holding portion 67. At this time, hand 1
The cassette pedestal 69 is also raised by 3 mm integrally with 5, so that the height of the cassette pedestal 69 with respect to the lower cassette holding portion 67 is kept constant. Then, both cassette holding parts 67, 68
The cassette 11S is simultaneously sandwiched between the upper and lower thickness directions. Then, as shown in FIG.
The cassette 11S is pulled out from the storage rack 5 in the direction of arrow e and stably placed on the cassette pedestal 69 without any step.

Then, as described above, the two cassette holding portions 67, 68 are connected to the thicknesses T ₁ , T _{2 of the} cassettes 10L, 11S.
With respect to the upper and lower sides of the cassettes 10L and 11S with a gap (margin) G ₃ of 3 mm, the upper cassette holding portion 68 is lowered in the direction of arrow c and the hand 15
The whole cassette 1 is raised in the direction of arrow b, and the cassette 1
If 0L and 11S are configured to be simultaneously clamped from above and below by both cassette clamping units 67 and 68, the storage shelves 3 and 5
Even if the stop position of the hand 15 with respect to the position slightly shifts downward (however, within the range of 3 mm), the shift can be easily corrected by the amount of upward movement of the entire hand 15, so that the cassettes 10L and 11S are moved by the upper cassette holding portion 68. Is forced downward and the cassettes 10L and 11S are tilted downward in the storage shelves 3 and 5, and there is no inconvenience that the cassettes 10L and 11S are twisted in the storage shelves 3 and 5 and cannot be removed. Does not occur.

Further, the cassette 10 held by the hand 15
When inserting L, 11S, etc. into the storage shelves 3, 5, etc., the reverse operation is performed. That is, the carrier 16 is stopped at a position where the bottom surfaces of the cassettes 10L, 11S and the like held by the hand 15 coincide with the cassette mounting surfaces of the storage shelves 3, 5, and the hand 15 stores the cassettes 10L, 11S, etc. 5, but the ends of the cassettes 10L and 11S are the storage shelves 3 and 5.
When the upper cassette holding part 68 is opened to the upper side and the lower cassette holding part 67 is held by the hand 1
It is possible to smoothly push the cassettes 10L, 11S, etc. into the storage shelves 3, 5 by the hand 15 while lowering the cassette 10L and the lower part together.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 33 (A), due to the variation in the stop position of the carrier 16, the cassette 10L or the like is inclined to the lower guide end 14 of the storage shelf 3 or the like.
When the cassette 10L or the like is abutted against the arrow 5 in the direction of the arrow d and is about to be pushed upward by the step G ₄ by the inclined guide surface 145 thereof, as shown in FIG.
The entire hand 15 can be lifted up along the elevating guide shaft 93 in the direction of the arrow b, which is the step G ₄ above the hand support base 91.

Then, as described above, as a control means for vertically moving the hand 15 in the directions of the arrows b and c, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, if the motor 37 and the encoder 38 of the transporting device transfer device 17 are used, it is not necessary to newly provide a special driving means, and the structure can be simplified and the cost can be reduced.

[Explanation of cassette pushing operation into VTR]
Next, the operation of forcibly pushing the cassette 11S or the like to the deep position of the VTR 13 will be described with reference to FIG. First, as shown in FIG. 34 (A), the hand 15 is advanced in the direction of arrow d with respect to the VTR 13 while holding the cassette 11S between the both cassette holding portions 67, 68 of the hand 15, and As shown in (B), the cassette 11S
Is horizontally inserted into the cassette insertion opening 13a of the VTR 13 from the direction of arrow d. Then, as shown in (C) of FIG. 34, when the front end of the cassette 11S is inserted into the cassette insertion opening 12a to some extent, the upper cassette holding portion 68 is opened upward in the direction of the arrow b, and as shown in FIG. 22D of the hand 15 as shown in FIG.
4, both cassette stop plates 130 shown in FIG. 25 are pushed into the cassette insertion opening 13a in the direction of arrow d.

[0098] Then, as shown in (A) of FIG. 35, is raised in the direction of arrow b from the maximum open position P ₄ shown in continued Figure 26 the upper cassette holding portion 68 to the upper limit stop position P _5, FIG. 35 (B), the pushing arm 119 of the cassette pushing means 117 is pushed in the direction of arrow d from the backward movement position P ₇ to the pushing position P ₈ shown in FIG. Can be forcibly and surely pushed to a deep position in the cassette insertion opening 13a. After this, as shown in (C) of FIG.
26, the upper cassette holding portion 68 is returned to the maximum open position P ₄ in FIG. 26 in the arrow c direction, and the pushing arm 119 is returned to the return position in the arrow e direction.

As described above, the operation of opening the upper cassette holding portion 68 in the direction of arrow b is utilized to drive the pushing arm 119 in the direction of arrow d to drive the cassette 11.
The device forcibly pushing S to a deep position in the VTR 12 can quickly and surely push the cassette 11S, so that the access time and cycle time for automatic cassette exchange can be greatly shortened. In addition, the cassette pushing operation can always be performed smoothly, and the drive method using the overstroke S ₃ of the upper cassette holding portion 68 in the arrow b direction can simplify the control program.

[Explanation of Control Device for Controlling Hand when Receiving Cassette Ejected Shallowly from VTR] First, the control circuit 147 shown in FIG.
38, the motor 103 of the opening / closing mechanism 100 by the drivers 140, 148 through the I / O port 139.
And the motor 61b of the hand transfer mechanism 18 is controlled. The motor 103 controls the opening / closing of the upper cassette holding portion 68, and the motor 61a controls the hand 15 to move forward and backward with respect to the VTRs 12 and 13. The encoder 112 of the motor 103 and the encoder 62b of the motor 61b detect the opening / closing movement amount of the upper cassette holding portion 68 and the forward / backward movement amount of the hand 15, and use these pieces of information as counters 142, 149 and I / O port 139. Read by the microcomputer 138. The microcomputer 138 is a cassette presence sensor 13
Information from 1 is also controlled to be read through the I / O port 139.

Next, for some reason, the VTR 12 was shallowly discharged (the discharge amount should be less than the specified amount).
38 and 39 for the operation of receiving the cassette 11S and the like.
Will be described together with the control circuit 147 of FIG. 36 and the flowchart of FIG.

First, in FIG. 38A, for some reason,
It shows a state in which the amount of cassette 11S discharged from the VTR 13 has become smaller than the specified amount, and the hand 15 advances in the direction of arrow d as usual and goes to receive the cassette 11S. At this time, it is always checked whether or not the cassette presence / absence sensor 131 detects the cassette 11S and whether or not the hand 15 reaches the VTR 13.

However, as shown in FIG. 38B, the tips of both cassette holding portions 67 and 68 of the hand 15 are VTRs.
Since the hand 15 is stopped by colliding with the front panel 13a of the cassette 13, the cassette presence / absence sensor 131 is
1S cannot be detected. On the other hand, the hand 15 is V
The encoder 62b detects that it has stopped at TR13.

Then, as shown in FIG. 38C, the upper cassette holding portion 68 is closed downward, and a part of the cassette 11S is held between the both cassette holding portions 67 and 68 by a shallow holding amount C.
Hold it from above and below with ₁ . Then, as shown in FIG. 38 (D), the hand 15 is moved in the direction of arrow e by a distance L ₇ of 20 mm.
Only by retracting the cassette 11S from the VTR 13 by 20 mm in the direction of arrow e.

Next, as shown in FIG. 39 (A), after opening the upper cassette holding portion 68 upward, FIG. 39 (B).
As shown in, the hand 15 is again advanced in the direction of the arrow d, and the cassette 11S is again received. Also at this time, the cassette presence / absence sensor 131 is set to the cassette 11S.
It is confirmed whether or not is detected, but at this time, the cassette 11S is normally inserted deeply between the cassette holding portions 67 and 68, and the cassette presence / absence sensor 131 can detect the cassette 11S.

Then, as shown in FIG. 39C, the upper cassette holding part 68 is closed downward, and the cassette 11S is normally held between the two cassette holding parts 67 and 68 with a deep holding amount C ₂ of 20 mm or more. Can be clamped from above and below. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 39 (D), the hand 15 can be retracted in the direction of the arrow e, and the cassette 11S can be reliably and reliably removed from the VTR 13 in the direction of the arrow e in a stable manner.

[Explanation of Cassette Tilt Correction Operation] Next,
With reference to FIG. 40, an inclination correcting operation of the cassette 10L or the like when going to receive the cassette 10L or the like ejected from the VTR 12 or the like will be described. First, as shown in (A) of FIG. 40, when the cassette 10L ejected in the direction of the arrow e into the cassette insertion opening 12a of the VTR 12 is tilted for some reason, as shown in (B) of FIG. 2 when the cassette 10L is picked up in the direction of arrow d by 15
4, a pair of cassette presence / absence sensors 131
Thus, the inclination of the cassette 10L can be detected.

Therefore, at this time, as shown in (C) of FIG. 40, the cassette holding plates 67 and 68 are left open and the cassette 15 is stopped by the pair of cassette stop plates 130 of the hand 15 shown in FIGS. 22 and 24. 10L is pushed in the direction of arrow d to correct the cassette 10L to be in a parallel posture with respect to the hand 15. Then, after this, as shown in FIGS. 40D and 40E, the cassette 10L can be clamped by the both cassette clamping portions 67 and 68, and the cassette 10L can be stably and reliably extracted from the VTR 12 in the arrow e direction.

As described above, one embodiment of the present invention has been described.
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention. Further, the present invention is not limited to the video cassette autochanger, but can be applied to various cassette autochangers accommodating various other tape-shaped recording media and disk-shaped recording media.

[0110]

The cassette autochanger of the present invention constructed as described above has the following effects.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the cassettes having different thicknesses of the storage rack and the recording / reproducing apparatus are to be received by the hand, the upper cassette holding portion is closed downward and the storage rack and the recording / reproducing apparatus are lowered. By driving the entire hand upward together with the side cassette holding part, it is possible to easily correct the vertical shift of the stop position of the hand with respect to the storage rack and the recording / reproducing device by the amount of upward movement of the entire hand. Therefore, there is no inconvenience that the sandwiched cassette tilts and twists in the storage shelf or the recording / reproducing device, or the removed cassette floats up and becomes unstable with respect to the cassette cradle of the transporter. It is possible to safely sandwich cassettes with different thicknesses, smoothly extract them, and transport them safely.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the whole hand is vertically moved with respect to the storage rack and the recording / reproducing device by the carrier transporting device. Therefore, the whole hand is vertically moved integrally with the lower cassette holding section. No special drive means is required, and the structure is simple.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the cassettes with different thicknesses extracted from the storage rack and the recording / reproducing device by the hand are placed on the cassette pedestal provided in the transfer device and transferred. In addition, the cassettes having different thicknesses can be safely transported, and it is not necessary to move and adjust the cassette pedestal up and down with respect to the transporter, and the structure is simple.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an entire cassette auto changer that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway schematic side view of the above.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the same, with some cutouts.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a storage rack unit and a top plate unit.

FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway side view showing the entire carrier transporting device.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged plan view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a partially cutaway side view showing the entire position detecting device of the carrier.

FIG. 8 is a partially cutaway side view showing a main part of the above position detecting device.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a control operation of the above position detecting device.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the entire carrier.

11 is a plan view of FIG.

12 is a partially cutaway side view taken along the line BB of FIG.

13 is a partially cutaway side view taken along the line CC of FIG.

FIG. 14 is a schematic side view illustrating a transfer stroke of a hand.

FIG. 15 is a partially cutaway side view illustrating a device for mounting a stage of a carrier on a slider of a carrier transfer device.

16 is a partially cutaway plan view of FIG.

FIG. 17 is an enlarged side view showing a locked state of the fastening means of the above stage mounting apparatus.

FIG. 18 is an enlarged side view showing an unlocked state of the fastening means of the above.

FIG. 19 is a side view taken along the line DD of FIG.

FIG. 20 is a partially cutaway perspective view for explaining the levelness measuring operation of the stage of the carrier.

FIG. 21 is a perspective view illustrating a device for mounting a hand on a hand support base of a carrier.

FIG. 22 is a partially cutaway side view of the above hand attaching device.

FIG. 23 is a schematic side view illustrating an opening / closing mechanism of the cassette holding portion of the above hand.

FIG. 24 is a plan view of the entire hand of the above.

FIG. 25 is a side view taken along the line EE of FIG.

FIG. 26 is a side view taken along the line FF of FIG.

FIG. 27 is a perspective view showing a carrier cassette holder.

FIG. 28 is a partially cutaway side view for explaining loading / unloading of a cassette between a storage rack and a cassette cradle.

FIG. 29 is a schematic side view illustrating a problem when a cassette having different thicknesses is simultaneously clamped from above and below by a pair of upper and lower cassette clamp portions and is withdrawn from the storage rack.

FIG. 30 is a block diagram of a control circuit that performs control when receiving cassettes having different thicknesses with a hand.

FIG. 31 is a schematic side view illustrating an operation when a cassette having a large thickness is received from a storage rack by a hand.

FIG. 32 is a schematic side view explaining the subsequent operation of the same.

FIG. 33 is a schematic side view illustrating lifting of the hand when the cassette is inserted into the storage rack.

FIG. 34 is a schematic side view explaining the operation of pushing the cassette into the deep position of the VTR.

FIG. 35 is a schematic side view explaining the subsequent operation of the same.

FIG. 36 is a block diagram of a control circuit for controlling a hand when the cassette ejected shallowly from the VTR is received by the hand.

FIG. 37 is a flowchart showing the control operation of the above control circuit.

FIG. 38 is a schematic side view for explaining the operation when the cassette is shallowly discharged from the storage rack and is received by the hand.

FIG. 39 is a schematic side view explaining the subsequent operation of the same.

FIG. 40 is a schematic plan view illustrating an operation when a cassette obliquely ejects from a VTR is received by a hand.

[Explanation of symbols]

3, 5 storage shelves 10L, 10M, 10S Large, medium and small cassettes 11L, 11S large and small cassettes 12, 13 VTR (recording / playback device) 15 hands 16 carrier 17 Carrier transfer device 18 Hand transfer mechanism 67 Lower cassette holding part 68 Upper cassette holding part 69 cassette stand 100 open / close mechanism

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-4-74348 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G11B 15/68

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of cassettes containing recording media having different thicknesses, a plurality of storage shelves storing the plurality of cassettes, and selectively recording and / or recording the plurality of cassettes.
Or a cassette including a recording / reproducing device for reproducing, a carrier for selectively conveying the plurality of cassettes between the plurality of storage shelves and the recording / reproducing device, and a carrier transfer device.
In the autochanger, a cassette delivery hand attached to the carrier, a lower cassette holding part fixed to the hand, an upper cassette holding part opened and closed up and down with respect to the lower cassette holding part, An opening / closing mechanism that opens and closes the upper cassette holding portion, and when the cassette of the storage rack and the recording / reproducing apparatus having different thicknesses is received, the upper cassette holding portion is closed downward and the storage rack and the recording / reproducing apparatus are connected to each other. On the other hand, a cassette autochanger characterized by being provided with means for driving the entire hand upward together with the lower cassette holding portion. 2. The cassette autochanger according to claim 1, wherein the carrier is vertically moved to vertically move the entire hand with respect to the storage rack and the recording / reproducing device. 3. The cassette, which is taken out from the storage rack and the recording / reproducing device by the hand, and has a different thickness, is placed on a cassette pedestal provided in the transporting device and is transported. The cassette autochanger described in 2.