1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to recording tape cartridge storage systems and, more particularly, to a novel tape cartridge storage apparatus for releasably holding a tape cartridge and whereby a plurality of such apparatus may be detachably connected together.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For many years, it has been the conventional practice to pre-record music, voice, entertainment renditions, and other data on an endless loop of tape such as magnetic which is carried in a cartridge adapted to be inserted into a suitable play-back mechanism, such as a tape recorder. In some instances, data is recorded on a paper tape carried in a cartridge as a unit. The individual tape cartridges are separate units from the recorder or play-back mechanism and when a particular tape is selected, the cartridge carrying the tape is inserted into the tape recorder so that a drive roller engages with an exposed portion of the tape for driving the tape past a play-back head. Although such systems have been in use for many years, space requirements for storing tape cartridges are extremely limited and restricted so that orderly storage of many tape cartridges becomes awkward and creates a problem for the owner.
Normally, in the home or in an automobile, several tape cartridges may be kept in a cabinet or storage compartment or in some instances, a separate wall unit may be installed for holding a quantity of tape cartridges from which the operator may select a particular cartridge. The operator removes the selected cartridge from the storage compartment or cabinet and manually inserts the cartridge into the tape recorder where the play-back mechanism automatically commences play-back of the prerecorded selection.
Many difficulties and problems have been encountered when employing separate storage compartments for tape cartridges in that such a compartment occupies a relatively large volumetric area in addition to the space occupied by the tape recorder. In other instances, the storage compartment is intentionally made of relatively small size so as to hold perhaps five tape cartridges which are selected by the operator from a master storage arrangement and subsequently transferred to the area of limited storage.
Furthermore, most prior cartridge storage devices do not have a means for forcibly ejecting a selected cartridge so that the cartridge must be removed by finger grasping of the cartridge edges to effect removal.
Recently, the overall size of conventional tape cartridges has been reduced by closely packing the coils or loops of tape and these new tape storage units are known in the art as "cassettes". Although the overall size has been reduced, the cassettes are handled in the same way as the tape cartridges so that storage and handling of the cassettes is identical to the procedures for handling tape cartridges.
Therefore, it can be seen that a long standing need has existed for a suitable tape cartridge or cassette storage system which not only stores a quantity of cartridges, but provides a simple and suitable means for forcibly ejecting a selected cartridge from the stored quantity.