A tape loading device having a tape loading mechanism including a guide drum and other associated parts, the mechanism being movable with respect to the tape driving device on which the tape cassette is mounted. The guide drum is movable into the tape cassette beyond the opening formed in the tape cassette, so that the tape loading mechanism including the guide drum is housed within the outside dimension of the tape cassette, thus attaining a ultra-miniaturized mechanism.

Disclosed is a tape cassette for short-time recording having an interchangeability with a long-playing standard tape cassette. The short-time cassette has the external size and functions substantially the same as that of the standard tape cassette. The casing of the short-time tape cassette is provided with a large aperture the area of which is made larger than that of an aperture formed in the bottom of the standard tape cassette, owing to the reduction in the diameters of the reel flanges. Wit...

In a recording/reproducing apparatus, a first support frame (22) supports a tape cassette (1), a second support frame (23) supports a tape guide drum (9) and loading rings (29), (30), (16), (17), and a third support frame (24) slidably supports the first support frame (22) and the second support frame (23). In a cassette loading operation, when the first support means (22) approaches the second support means (23) for a predetermined interval, a predetermined tape path is established by various l...

Disclosed is a tape cassette having a front cover urged in the direction for covering, by pivoting, a tape stretched along the front surface of a cassette case, and a cover-locking piece adapted to pivot within a plane thicknesswise of the tape cassette while being urged in the direction for holding the pivoting of the front cover when it is not in use. The tape cassette is further provided with an optical path aperture formed in a side surface portion thereof in order to form an optical path th...

Two auxiliary heads are provided in addition to the two main heads for a helical scan video signal tape recorder. The vertical and horizontal positions of the auxiliary heads are determined so as to effectively reproduce a slow-motion picture from a magnetic tape on which the signals are recorded using the so called "azimuth" recording method. The output of each head is selectively supplied to a video signal demodulating circuit via a switching circuit.

A tape cassette includes reel hubs rotatably received in the housing of the cassette, each reel hub being formed with a recess. The recess includes an opening at its lower end and reel pawls therein are adapted to engage with pawls of a reel drive on a reel base. The recess further includes a cylindrical-shaped portion disposed below the reel pawls and a conical-shaped portion disposed below the cylindrical-shaped portion, one of which portions is caused to engage with an engaging surface of the...

A tape cassette having a swingable cover adapted to cover and protect a tape stretched along the front side of the tape cassette, a cover locking member adapted to prevent swinging of the swingable cover by rotating in the thicknesswise direction of the tape cassette within a groove which is defined between the inner surface of one side wall of the swingable cover and the side wall of the box-like structure of the tape cassette and also between two side walls of the box-like structure which are ...

An optical head which includes a movable bobbin having an objective lens and tracking coils for tracking operation, a carriage guided in such a manner to be able to move in the tracking direction and a state transformation mechanism for transforming the state of the bobbin and carriage between a first state, in which the objective lens can move in the tracking direction but the carriage does not move in the tracking direction, and a second state, in which the movable bobbin and the carriage move...

The invention provides an information recording/reproducing apparatus having a device for loading a cartridge internally holding an information recording medium, an opposing member directly facing the information recording medium at least in a recording mode, and a device for transferring the opposing member. When inserting the cartridge into the information recording/reproducing apparatus, the cartridge loading device transfers the cartridge at least in the direction of the thickness of the car...

A tape guiding drum for a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus including a rotary magnetic head, a lower drum having a cylindrical tape guide surface formed on the upper peripheral portion thereon, and an upper drum having a cylindrical tape guide surface on the lower peripheral portion thereof and disposed above the lower drum so as to leave a slit between the drums, the rotary magnetic head being provided within the slit and the tape being obliquely run around the drums, straddling the...