Tape support pins in magnetic tape cassette

Claim 1

In magnetic tape cassette including a hollow casing having an opening on the front face thereof through which a recording or reproducing magnetic head of a tape recorder is inserted, a pair of cores rotatably mounted within said hollow casing, a magnetic tape wound on said cores and fed from one core to the other, a pair of rotatable guide rollers for guiding the tape from one core to the other by way of the opening, a spring plate having a length which is a small fraction of the length of said casing disposed to face the opening, and a pad provided on the front face of the spring plate to contact the tape passing over the opening of the casing, the improvement comprising a pair of tape support pins disposed at a distance from each other which is less than the length of said plate so as to be closely spaced, said pins being located on opposite sides of the opening for holding the spring plate at the rear face thereof and supporting and guiding the tape passing over the opening at the front face thereof, each of said support pins being provided with a concave guide surface on the front face thereof which is adapted to matingly engage the flexible tape and thus provides means for self-centering said tape and in conjunction with the close spacing of the pins to increase the stiffness of the tape by bending the same along its transverse axis and to guide the tape along a predetermined passage in contact with a magnetic head which is inserted into the casing.