Cassette Album

Abstract

An album having front and back booklike flaps which respectively mount cassette-holding vacuum molded trays. Among other features, the trays are molded with interfitting peripheral structure providing a friction fit holding the album closed and also serving as a seal against dust and other contamination of the album interior.

Description

The present invention relates generally to a tape cassette holder or album, and more particularly to an improved cassette album arranged to function like a book wherein the closed condition thereof is advantageous for storage, and merely upon opening the same the cassettes are readily accessible for use.

In contrast to tape cassette storage racks, trays and other such devices, the product hereof is a booklike album having the significant advantage that the closed condition thereof, i.e., the condition wherein the two booklike flaps are closed together like book covers, is one which is compact so as to facilitate storage, is readily transported, and is well adapted to protect the stored contents or cassettes therebetween. Additionally, use is made of vacuum-molded trays mounted on the insides of the album covers to actually contain the cassettes, these trays being molded not only with appropriately sized recesses to receive the cassettes, but with cooperating friction-fitting structure which contributes to contemplated use of the cassette holder as a book. That is, such structure minimizes inadvertent opening of the album covers.

In summary, it is broadly an object of the present invention to provide an improved cassette album which, unlike typical open storage trays or racks such as are now in prevalent use for storing cassettes, has a closed condition, as already noted, which protects the cassettes and thus overcomes the shortcomings and other disadvantages of present cassette holders. Specifically, it is an object to provide a booklike cassette album with opening and closing covers and all the advantages resulting therefrom, and which nevertheless is also capable of economical mass production.

A cassette album demonstrating objects and advantages of the present invention includes an outer cover delineated into a cooperating folding pair of front and rear flaps, the arrangement being like a book. Adhesively or otherwise appropriately secured on the insides of these flaps are molded trays having recesses serving as storage compartments for the cassettes, the gauge of the plastic of these trays being incapable of resisting crushing but, because of the facing relation of the trays and their containment of the relatively hard-plastic cassettes, crushing of the trays during use of the album is obviated. The molding of the trays also readily permits, as a contemplated part of the invention hereof, the embodiment of frictionally interfitting structure to both hold the album closed and serve as a dust seal.

The above brief description, as well as further objects, features and advantages of the present invention, will be more fully appreciated by reference to the following detailed description of a presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative embodiment in accordance with the present invention, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the cassette album hereof in its closed position;

FIG. 2 is similarly a perspective view, but illustrating the album in its open position; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken along lines 3--3 of FIG. 2, illustrating further structural details of the album.

Reference is now made to the drawings wherein there is shown a holder or album, generally designated 10, which is particularly suitable for preparing and storing one or more tape cassettes 12. As clearly illustrated, each of the cassettes 12 is of a well-known construction, including a housing or body 14 for a strip of tape which is transferred back and forth between two reels journaled within the housing 14. As generally understood, the tape reels are journaled about openings 16 and 18 which, in practice, receive the spindles of the recorder or playback device. It is the rotation of these spindles which, in a well understood manner, cause transfer of the tape back and forth between the reels.

The album 10 hereof includes upstanding projections 20 and 22 strategically located so as to be projected within the openings 16 and 18. The album also is formed with compartments 24 sized to accommodate an individual cassette 12. Thus, the projections 20 and 22 are of a size and shape, as is also the compartment 24, which is selected so that the album 10 is particularly suitable for the holding and storage of standard-sized tape cassettes 12. The album 10 additionally includes several noteworthy features which will now be described in detail which greatly contribute to its advantageous use for the transporting and storage of the cassettes 12.

Specifically, each album 10 preferably includes an outer booklike cover, generally designated 26, which ideally should be fabricated of cardboard or other such material, as is conventionally used for book covers or the like. Cover 12 is delineated into front and rear flaps 28 and 30 by fold lines 32 and 34 about which the flaps can partake of pivotal movement. As a consequence, album 10 can be placed in a closed condition, as illustrated in FIG. 1 during storage and, preparatory to use, can be opened, as illustrated in FIG. 2, enabling the user to remove a cassette 12 from any one of the twelve storage compartments 24.

A particularly noteworthy structural feature of the album 10 resides in the utilization of a cooperating pair of vacuum-molded trays respectively generally designated 36 and 38. Specifically, the trays 36 and 38 cooperate with each other in that there is a dimensional interfitting, one within the other, and thus a resulting frictional engagement which holds the album in its FIG. 1 closed condition. Naturally, this frictional engagement is overcome, when desired, merely by the user gripping the peripheral edges 40 and 42 of the flaps 28 and 30 and opening the album 10 in much the same manner that a book is opened. Also, although the trays are a thin gauge plastic, they are not unduely vulnerable to crushing, because crushing is prevented by the mass and material strength of the stored cassettes 12.

The interfitting relationship which provides the frictional engagement between the trays 36 and 38 is best understood from a consideration of FIGS. 1 and 3. As illustrated therein, tray 38, which is appropriately mounted, as by adhesive or the like, as at 44, to the front flap 30, is vacuum-molded with a peripheral depending projection 46. Tray 36, on the other hand, which is also appropriately adhesively secured or the like, at 48, 64, to the other flap 28, is vacuum-molded with a peripheral shoulder 50 which is advantageously located to accommodate, in a friction fit, the projection 46 of the other tray. In this manner, the two facing surfaces 52 and 54 of the respective trays 36 and 38 achieve an interfitting relation, following pivotal movement of one or both of these trays about the fold lines 32 and 34, as a result of closing movement thereof into positions adjacent each other, as depicted in FIGS. 1 and 3.

Not only is the frictional engagement which maintains the closed position of the album 10 advantageous as far as minimizing inadvertent removal of the cassettes 12 from within the album, but it also renders the album 10 a more convenient article to handle and store since the closed position thereof is comparatively compact. Further, the frictional engagement provided by the construction 46 and 50 at the periphery of the album also efficiently serves as a seal against dust, moisture, or other such contaminants which might otherwise gain entry into the storage compartments 24, and thus into the cassettes 12 being stored therein.

From the foregoing, it should be readily appreciated that there has been described herein an album which is advantageously designed for the storage and transportation of tape cassettes 12. Each such cassette has its own compartment 24 in which it is readily held in place by frictional engagement. Specifically, the cassette is engaged frictionally by the upstanding projections 20 and 22 and the wall surfaces thereof which bound the openings 16 and 18, respectively. Additionally, each compartment 24 has sidewalls 56 which are formed with inwardly projecting portions 58 in opposing relation, and which portions snap over laterally extending flanges on each cassette 12. In this manner, each cassette placed within the compartment 24 is readily held in place.

To facilitate removal of the cassettes, one of the long walls of each of the trays which bound the compartments 24 and which is located along the periphery of each of the trays, is formed with a slight indentation, as at 60, which effectively provides gripping room for the gripping of each cassette preparatory to its removal from the album tray. Actual openings 62 are provided in the interior walls of the compartments for the similar purpose of providing room for the user to hand grip an edge of the cassette and free it of its frictional engagement within its cooperating storage compartment 24.

A latitude of modification, change and substitution is intended in the foregoing disclosure, and in some instances some features of the invention will be employed without a corresponding use of other features. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the spirit and scope of the invention herein.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A cassette album comprising a booklike cover member delineated into front and rear flaps operatively arranged for movement from an open position through pivotal movement towards each other into a closed position, a pair of cassette-holding trays each having a peripheral sidewall mounted to one said flap and a front wall in a clearance position therefrom, each said front wall having recesses formed therein of an extent adapted to loosely accommodate a cassette therein and having inwardly extending gripping projections to hold each said cassette therein, and a gripping wall formed as an extension of one said peripheral sidewall and a cooperating recess formed in a coextensive location about said other peripheral sidewall adapted to have a frictionally interfitting relation in said closed position of said flaps, whereby said trays are frictionally held in face-to-face relation in said closed position and are sealed against dust contamination.