Container for video discs

• US 4,084,694 A
• Filed: 09/07/1976
• Issued: 04/18/1978
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/1975
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Thomson-Brandt
• Original Assignee: Thomson-Brandt
• Inventors: Fichot, Bernard, Lainez, Lucien, Bijon, Jean-Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Price, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Farrow, Douglas B.
• Application Number:
  US05/720,657
• Time in Patent Office: 588 Days
• Field of Search: 206/444, 206/307, 206/309-313, 211/40
• US Class Current: 206/313
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 23/0328 the disc having to be extracted from the cartridge for recording reproducing, e.g. cooperating with an extractable tray

Abstract

A container for video-discs includes a support for the disc and a protective envelope which is open along one edge to allow the support to be inserted laterally into the envelope. The container comprises furthermore guiding means for centering the video-disc on the support, and means for engaging the support for its handling and insertion means arranged at one end of the support to allow its sliding into the envelope.

Claims

1. A container for retaining, protecting and for allowing the handling without manual contact of a flexible video-disc having a circular central opening for its transfer and its driving in rotation, said container including a substantially rectangular protecting envelope jacket having one of its edges open and three others closed and a substantially flat, quadrilateral, tray-shaped supporting plate slideably displaceable within said envelope for carrying said video-disc;

said supporting plate including, at its rear, engaging means for allowing its mechanical handling to and from the envelope, at its front, means for facilitating its insertion and positioning inside said envelope, a central opening greater than that of said disc for allowing the transfer thereof and, on one of its sides, a plurality of arcuate, normally orientated projections, concentric with said central opening for providing a circular hollow seating closely surrounding the circumference of the disc when centered, said envelope including a stop projecting from and integral with at least one of its inner walls, and means for centering the disc on said plate, wherein the improvement comprises that the width of said supporting plate and the distance between at least a portion of the inner walls of the parallel lateral closed edges of the envelope are made to be substantially equal to the diameter of the disc and that the stop projecting inside said envelope is positioned to come into contact with the circumference of the disc and the front of the supporting plate when it is entirely inserted inside the envelope, whereby the inside of lateral edges and the stop of the envelope cooperate to position said disc with its central opening concentrical with that of said support whatever the orientation of the container.

2. Container as claimed in claim 1, wherein said envelope and said supporting plate are made of a flexible material and said arcuate projections providing the seating are interrupted so as to render said container foldable along an axis parallel to the direction of displacement of the plate inside the envelope.

3. Container as claimed in claim 2, wherein at least a sheet of soft material is fixed to the internal face of the envelope facing the disc for preserving the grooves carrying the recording from frictional damage.

4. Container as claimed in claim 2, wherein said engaging means include at least one hole situated adjacent the rear edge of the support and at least one clearance situated adjacent the front edge of at least the lower wall of said envelope for exposing said hole.

5. Container as claimed in claim 4, wherein said means for facilitating the insertion and positioning of said supporting plate inside said envelope include a gradual increase of the width of the supporting plate at its transition between its front edge and its parallel lateral edges.

6. Container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the outer width of the envelope exceeds the widths of both its frontal opening and the supporting plate, whereby to create on said envelope two lateral margins along which the upper and lower walls of the envelope are joined together, for engaging said envelope independently of said supporting plate.

7. Container as claimed in claim 6, wherein the envelope further includes a right angle flap for closing its open edge, said flap having a small side whose free end is pivotably joined to the front edge of the lower wall of the envelope.

8. Container as claimed in claim 6, wherein said upper and lower envelope walls are respectively made of two plastic materials having different flexibilities for facilitating the rolling up of the envelope in a crosswise direction as well as the reinsertion of said supporting plate into said envelope.