Up to now, a disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus employing, as a recording medium, a disc, such as an optical disc or a magneto-optical disc, housed in the disc cartridge and operating as a recording medium for information signals was used.
The disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus employing an optical disc or a magneto-optical disc as a recording medium includes a disc rotating mechanism for rotating a disc and a disc driving mechanism having an optical pickup device and a magnetic head for recording/reproducing information signals on or from the disc thus rotated by the disc rotating mechanism.
This disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus includes a loading device for loading/unloading a disc cartridge on or from a disc driving unit.
Among the loading devices used for the disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus, there is such an apparatus employing a holder in which is inserted and held the disc cartridge. The holder constituting the loading device is rotatably supported on a base carrying the disc driving unit. The holder is adapted for being rotated about a pivot shaft operating as a support for the base. The disc cartridge is inserted into or removed from the holder when the latter has been rotated to a first position separated from the disc driving unit. When the holder, rotated about the pivot shaft, has been rotated to a second position proximate to the disc driving unit, the holder causes the disc cartridge held by the holder to be loaded in position on a cartridge loading section arranged on the base for clamping the disc housed in the disc cartridge in a state ready for being rotated in unison with the disc rotating mechanism. The disc rotating mechanism is then driven for rotating the disc, while the optical pickup device and the magnetic head are fed along the radius of the disc for recording and/or reproducing information signals.
The disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus, including the loading unit, provided with the holder, is provided with an ejection mechanism for ejecting the disc cartridge held by the holder out of the holder when the holder is rotated from the second position towards the first position. This ejection mechanism includes an ejection lever rotatably supported by the base and a tension spring for rotationally biasing this ejection lever. The ejection lever is rotated by the disc cartridge inserted into the holder, against the bias of the tension spring. When the disc cartridge has been inserted into the position of completion of insertion into the holder, the ejection lever is maintained at a position of not biasing the disc cartridge. The ejection lever is held by a holding mechanism provided on the base.
When the holder is rotated from the second position to the first position, the ejection lever ceases to be held by the holding mechanism and is rotated under the bias of the tension spring for thrusting the disc cartridge held by the holder for ejecting the disc cartridge from the holder.
As described above, in the ejection mechanism rotatably supported on the base, the ejection lever is rotated in the cartridge loading section arranged on the base, so that it becomes difficult to reduce the thickness of the loading mechanism further.
In particular, if the ejection lever is constructed for thrusting the inserting side front end face of the disc cartridge inserted into the holder, a thrusting portion of a width slightly smaller than the thickness of the disc cartridge needs to be used for reliably thrusting the disc cartridge. This increases the size of the ejection lever itself to render it difficult to further reduce the thickness of the loading device.
Moreover, the loading device becomes complex in structure because of the necessity of providing a mechanism on the base for holding the ejection lever adapted for not thrusting the ejection lever on loading the disc cartridge on the cartridge loading section and a mechanism for disengaging the ejection lever held by the holding mechanism, thus complicating the structure of the loading mechanism to render it difficult to further reduce the size of the loading device and the disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus provided with this loading device.