Sound recording and reproducing apparatus, and record containing case and recording medium
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a phonograph, and more particularly to a sound recording and reproducing apparatus which includes a record selecting mechanism operated to select any one of a stack of records in a two-part cassette-type case which is placed in position on the apparatus. The invention relates further to a record having a construction for being received by the case and selected by the apparatus. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     It is known in the art that records (as well as magnetic sheets) have a central hole for receiving a centering shaft of the record player and have a spiral record groove of a given width outside of the central hole. For reproduction of the recorded material records are individually handled and placed in position on the player. It is also known that there is a reproducing apparatus, such as a juke box, equipped with record selector buttons which are selectively operated or depressed for selecting any one of the records arranged within the apparatus and moving the selected record to the position for reproduction and after the end of the reproduction moving it back to its original position. As readily understood, in this case, the record selecting and moving mechanisms have a very complicated construction which makes the size of the apparatus large as well as making the apparatus expensive, and such apparatus is only novel in that the manual record selection has been mechanized. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Having the above-mentioned problems of the prior art in view, it is one object of the present invention to provide a sound recording and reproducing apparatus which permits a selection of records or magnetic recording sheets for recording or reproduction from a stack of records or sheets contained in a two-part cassette-type case which is placed in position on the apparatus. 
     It is another object of the present invention to provide a specially devised two-part cassette-type case forming part of the apparatus for use therewith, and constructed to contain a stack of records or sheets. 
     It is still another object of the present invention to provide a recording medium forming part of the apparatus for use therewith, and constructed to have a record selecting arrangement having a combination of selecting apertures which are engaged by the selector rods of the apparatus. 
     It is a further object of the present invention to provide a simple construction and easy-to-operate apparatus. 
     Features and advantages of the present invention derived from the objects enumerated above are summarized below. The two-part cassette-type case contains a stack of records or sheets, and consists of two upper and lower parts which are normally locked together but which are automatically unlocked when the case is placed in position on the apparatus. The apparatus includes an operating rod which is operated for movement up and down, thus raising the upper part of the case together with the records above a record selected for recording or reproduction, leaving the selected record and records below it in the lower part, and introducing the transducer onto the selected record. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the specification and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus according to the present invention showing the reproducing stylus placed on a selected record for reproduction; 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the apparatus of FIG. 1, showing the internal record selecting mechanism with the upper case part and the upper part of the stack of records omitted for convenience of illustration; 
     FIG. 3 is an enlarged front view, partly broken away, of the apparatus of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view, or an enlarged scale, of the apparatus of FIG. 1, showing records in a raised position; 
     FIG. 5 is an enlarged plan view of the apparatus of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 6 is an enlarged side view of a pickup arm guide assembly showing a guide plate in its raised position; 
     FIG. 7 is an enlarged side view of the guide assembly showing the guide plate in its lower position; 
     FIG. 8 is a plan view of a two-piece cassette type record case according to the invention for use with the apparatus; 
     FIG. 9 is a front view of the case of FIG. 8; 
     FIG. 10 is a plan view of the lower part of the case of FIG. 9 with the upper part removed; 
     FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view taken along the horizontal center line of FIG. 10; 
     FIG. 12 is a partial plan view, on an enlarged scale, showing the upper and lower parts of the case locked together; 
     FIG. 13 is a partial plan view, on an enlarged scale, illustrating the operation of the locking mechanism of the case; 
     FIG. 14 is also a plan view, on an enlarged scale, illustrating the operation of the locking mechanism; 
     FIG. 15 is a plan view of a record according to the present invention, for use with the apparatus; 
     FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view of the record of FIG. 15; and 
     FIG. 17 is a plan view of a horizontal plate in operative association with the operating rod of the apparatus. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring first to FIG. 15, the construction of one form of a phonograph record, generally designated by A, is illustrated. The record shown has the form of a mechanically recorded disc carrying the usual spiral record groove, but may be a magnetic recording sheet which is reproduced and recorded on by a known record/reproduce head assembly. Although the invention will be described hereinafter with reference particularly to a mechanical record which is reproduced by a reproducing stylus or needle, it should be understood that this is simply for convenience of illustration and the invention allows for the possibility of using magnetic recording sheets, in which case the reproducing stylus should be replaced by the record/reproduce head assembly. Such records and recording sheets are collectively referred to as sheet-like recording media. The record A comprises a body 1 having an outside spiral record groove 2 of a given width and and an inside record selecting area which will further be described below. The record selecting area has a plurality of outside apertures 3, for example twelve apertures, shown spaced at regular intervals surrounding the selecting area for receiving projections 4 on a later described record containing case, a combination of ten elongated apertures 7 and two apertures 8, 9 on a diameter on opposite sides of the center of the record, at different radical distances from the center, and having different sizes, all arranged within the outside apertures 3, and a central guide shaft receiving hole 10. Each of the elongated apertures 7 has an outer enlarged portion for engaging a large-diameter selecting rod 5 shown in FIG. 2 and an inner reduced portion for engaging a small diameter selecting rod 6 shown in FIG. 2. The central hole 10 has twelve slits extending radially from the rim of the hole 10 for engaging a longitudinal projection 11 which runs along the length of a guide shaft 32 shown in FIG. 4. A cassette-type record case of synthetic resin material, generally designated by B is shown in FIG. 8, which consists of two identical rectangular shaped case members 13 which are releasably locked together as shown in FIG. 9. Each of the case members 13 has a central hole 14 for engaging the guide shaft 32, and the hole 14 has one elongated slit extending outwardly from the rim of the hole 14. Each of the case members 13 has the form of a saucer consisting of a central area and an area outside of the central area, the two areas having the forms corresponding to those of a recording medium A. More particularly, the central area has two diametrically opposite apertures 19 and two diametrically opposite projections 4, the aperture 19 being positioned at right angles relative to the projections 4. The central area further has a combination of elongated apertures 16 and two diametrically opposite holes 17 and 18 inside of the apertures 19 and projections 4, the arrangement, forms and sizes of those apertures 16 and holes 17 and 18 corresponding to those of the record A. As particularly shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the area at 20 is recessed to receive a number of records therein. At each of the four corners of each case member 13 of the case B is rotatably provided a locking arrangement which permits locking the two members 13 together, said locking arrangement consisting of a locking member 21 turning on a pin 42, a resilient member 22 connected to one end of the locking member 21, and a locking end 23 at the other end of the locking member 21. The locking ends 23 of the locking members 21 of the upper and lower case members 13 engage each other so that the case as a whole is normally in its locked condition. As shown, each of the case members 13 has a hole 24 adjacent to the locking member 21 and partly covered by the member 21, said hole 24 receiving a projection 25 provided on the apparatus for moving the member 21 on the pin 42 to cause the locking end 23 of one case member to disengage from the end 23 of the other case member. 
     In FIGS. 1 and 2, the recording and reproducing apparatus, generally designated by C, comprises a chassis 26, a top plate 27 rigidly mounted on the chassis 26 and having a central opening 28, and a turntable 29 rotatably mounted inside the opening 28. As particularly shown in FIG. 4, the turntable 29 has two diametrically opposite projections 25 extending from the upper surface thereof just inside the circumferential edge of the turntable, for releasing the locking arrangement of the record case B from its locked condition, and has a central recessed portion 30. The central recessed portion has a cover 31 which covers the upper opening of the recessed portion 30, and a hollow guide shaft 32 is rigidly secured to the cover 31 at the central portion thereof. An operating rod 33 extends through the guide shaft 32, and through the interior of the recessed portion 30 and has the lower end rigidly secured to a horizontal plate 34 such that the plate 34 can be held in a horizontal position. To the plate 34 are rigidly fixed the two selecting rods 5 and 6 having different diameters which extend vertically therefrom in the spaced relationship described above. The two vertical rods 5 and 6 are on diametrically opposite sides of the rod 33 and arranged so that they can align themselves with the corresponding apertures 7 and 16 on a record A and case B, and can engage the apertures 7 and 16. The selecting rods 5 and 6 shown having different diameters, but they may have an identical or like diameter, and their locations may be otherwise than diametrically opposite. It should be understood, however, that their locations must correspond to the locations of the apertures 7 and 16 in the record A and the case B. Fixing members 35 are secured to the underside of the cover 31, and extend downwardly therefrom. A spring 36 is mounted on and secured to each of the fixing members 35, for holding the plate 34 in a horizontal position. As shown in FIG. 17, the plate 34 has a plurality of notches 73 spaced at regular intervals around the circumferential edge thereof, the number of the notches 73 having a predetermined correspondence to the number of the records to be selected (twelve notches for ten records, for example). Each notch 34 is normally engaged by the lower end 36a of a corresponding spring 36 so that the plate 34 can rotate through selected angles and at regular pitches. The aforementioned top plate 27 carries a pickup arm 37 having one end thereof pivotally mounted on one side of the plate 27 for swivelling movement. The top plate 27 also has a vertical guide plate 38 on the other side thereof for supporting and guiding the free end of the pickup arm 37, the guide plate 38 being capable of movement up and down within a stationary guide frame 39 rigidly mounted on the top plate 27. 
     The operation of the apparatus according to the embodiment described hereinbefore will now be described, in connection with the playing of a record having a spiral record groove. The cassette-type record case B containing a number of records is set in position on the the turntable 29 in such a manner that the projections 25 on the plate 29 engage the appropriate insertion holes 24 of the case B. Setting the case B in the above manner causes the locking members 21 of the upper and lower case parts 13 to rotate on the pins 24 as indicated by arrow 40 or 41 in FIG. 13 or 14 and thus move the locking ends 23 from the position shown by a in dot-dash lines to the position b in which the locking ends 23 of the two parts 13 are disengaged from each other. Reversely, when the case B is removed from the apparatus, the lock release projections 25 move out of the apertures 24 to permit the parts of the locking device to engage each other at their ends 23 under the action of the resilient member 22, thereby locking the two parts 13 together. After the record case B is positioned, lifiting the knob 43 on the upper end of the operating rod 33 as shown by arrow 44 in FIG. 4 to the position 43a indicated by dot-dash lines causes the plate 34 fixed to the lower end of the rod 33 and the selecting rods 5 and 6 to be moved up therewith. The rods 5 and 6 pass through the selecting holes in the lower case member 13 of the case B, and if the rods 5 and 6 are positioned as indicated at 5a and 6a by dot-dash lines in FIG. 15 relative to a given record of the stacked records A, contacting the unapertured area of the record, and if the operating rod 33 is further lifted, the rods 5 and 6 abutting said given record move said given record, the records above it and the upper case member 13 upwardly together, separating the two case members 13 as indicated by dot-dash lines in FIG. 1 or 4, the upper member containing the given record and the records above it, and the lower member containing an uppermost record to be played. In this case, the plate 34 is held in its raised position by the notches 73 in plate 34 being engaged by the upper ends 36b of the corresponding springs 36. Then, the free end of the pickup arm 37 is moved in the direction of the arrow 45 in FIG. 6 along the guide plate 38 to the position of one of the V-shaped notches positions 46 and 47 (the notch may have any other shape or form) or to the fartherst position 48. When the pickup arm 37 is stopped in any selected position, the operating rod 49 is then depressed in the direction of the arrow 50 in FIG. 6, causing the guide plate 38 to be moved down therewith as shown in FIG. 7 while causing the stylus 51 on the pickup arm 37 to be placed in the starting point of the selected record. The playback operation is now ready to begin, and the motor switch (not shown) is activated, turning on the motor 52 which imparts its rotary motion to the turntable 29 by way of a pulley 53, belt 54, pulleys 55 and 56, a belt 57 and a pulley 58 in that order as shown in FIG. 3. The playback takes place in the ordinary manner. In the above description, the pickup arm 37 can be set in any of the three positions 46, 47 and 48 in FIG. 6, and the record A can have three record sections on each face which correspond to the above positions and each of the positions corresponds to the starting point of a respective record section. If a record has a size which permits the record to carry fifteen minutes of information on one face, each of the three sections can have carry information which corresponds to a period of five minutes. The reproduction can be started at any section and at any position of each section. If a record of a greater size is employed, the record can have more than three sections, e.g., four to six sections or more, and the number of the pickup arm setting positions can be increased to correspond to the increased number of sections. Thus, the record can provide a wider range of selection of different pieces of information. As the operating plate 49 is depressed the lever 59 is pivoted in the direction of the arrow 6Q as the guide plate 38 is moved down therewith, as already described, and a projection 61 on the guide plate 38 engages a projection 63 on the plate 62 rotatably mounted on the guide frame 39, thus holding the guide plate 38 in its lower position. When the operating plate 49 is then moved down a slight distance, the guide plate 38 moves down slightly, disengaging the projection 63 from the projection 61 and thus causing the locking plate 62 to be moved in the direction of the arrow 64 under the action of a spring 65 while causing the lever 59 to be pivotally moved in the direction of the arrow 67 under the action of a spring 66 thus moving the guide plate 38 upward. In other words, the guide plate 48 which is held in its lower position after the initial depression of the operating plate 49 is released from its locked condition by the further depression of the plate 49. In FIG. 3, the guide shaft 32 is shown as having a slit 68 in the upper portion, and a stop member 69 is rotatably provided within the slit 68 and is biased by a spring 70. The spring loaded stop member 69 is housed in a groove 71 in the upper portion of the operating rod 33 as shown in FIG. 4. Thus, when the knob 43 of the operating rod 33 is lifted, the grooved portion 71 of the rod 33 is displaced therewith, allowing the stop member 69 to project outside the guide shaft 32 against the action of the spring 70 and thus to prevent escape of the upper part 13 of the case B. When the operating rod 32 is at its lowest position, when an appropriate one of the selecting markers on the outer surface of the knob 43, e.g. the marker 72, is set at a position corresponding to the side projection 11 on the guide shaft 32, the selecting rods 5 and 6 are aligned with the apertures in a record which corresponds to the selected marker and pass therethrough, allowing the record to be selected by lifting the operating rod 33 which separates the stacked records in the case B leaving the selected record as the uppermost record in the lower case member 13. 
     If the reverse sides of the records in the case B are to be reproduced, the case B has only to be turned upside down and placed in position on the apparatus. The above described procedures are then followed. In the described embodiment where ten selecting holes are provided, ten records can be placed in the case B in a predetermined order of rotational positions around the center thereof. As the positions of the selecting rods can be changed only when the operating rod is in its lowermost position, there is no risk of disturbing the relative positions of the records during the lifting of the operating rod. As described, one of the selecting rods has a greater diameter than the other, and this ensures the records are supported with greater stability. 
     When the case B is lifted away from the turntable, the projections 25 on the turntable are withdrawn from the holes 24, allowing the locking members 21 automatically to be locked together by the resilient members 22 and thus holding the case B in its locked condition. The case B can be handled without disturbing the relative positions of the records therein and without the case members 13 becoming detached from each other. The records are placed in the case B at regular angular intervals of for example 30 DEG. and held in position by the case members 13 so that the records are properly arranged relative to each other as long as the case members 13 are in their closed position. When separating the case members 13 for recording or reproduction, the records are maintained in their relative positions by causing the longitudinal projection on the guide shaft to engage the slit 15 extending from the central hole of each record. A stack of ten records each 0.2 mm thick for example has to a thickness of 2 mm, and the record case B can contain 5 mm or less total thickness of records. If each record can contain 30 minutes of information on both sides, ten records can contain a total of 300 minutes (five hours) of information. Records can be cassetted according to units of study such as would together form a text book. Cassette-type cases containing a number of records can be arranged in order in a relatively small space. 
     One of the features of the invention lies in the easy access to information desired. If a record can has three record sections on each face to be accessed, the record can have six sections on both faces. As a result, ten records have sixty accessible sections in total. Difficulties are encountered in accessing desired information on the conventional mechanical records and magnetic sheets. It is known that in the case of magnetic sheets a counter is used to reference the locations of information, but the accuracy of the location of information is not satisfactory. There are as many different modes of access as there are different types of recorders, and a counter must be reset to zero whenever a new reel or cassette is loaded for recording or reproduction. This causes a problem in operation. 
     The above problem has been eliminated by the present invention, which permits automatic selective accessing of information on each record or sheet and on each side of the record. Although the invention has been illustrated with particular regard to a grooved mechanically reproduced record, it is apparent that the invention can be applied to magnetic recording sheets in which case the magnetic read/write device is provided in place of the reproducing stylus and makes possible both recording and reproduction. The invention is applicable to use with magnetic sheets without modifying the construction described herein in any substantial manner and by simply replacing the stylus cartridge by the read/write head assembly. In addition, it should be understood that the invention may have various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.