Tape cartridge

Claim 1

A cartridge to house a rotatable tape spool, said cartridge comprising a first part and a second part, each part including a rectangular panel of resilient material with upstanding edge flanges, releasable coupling means on said first and second parts, alignment means to align corresponding flanges of first and second parts and align said releasable coupling means to couple the first and second parts together to form a closed cartridge with an interior chamber to house a spool, aligned gaps in corresponding first flanges at first edges of the panels to provide access to the spool chamber, arcuate upstanding walls on each panel defining said chamber and positioning said spool for rotation in the chamber, the upstanding arcuate walls and the flanges on the corresponding second, third and fourth edges of the panels substantially preventing flexure of the panel at those edges and the gaps in the first flanges permitting flexure of the panels along the first edges; said releasable coupling means comprising complementary toothed upstanding lug means and surface means respectively at the third edges of the first and second panels which third edges lie opposite the first edges thereof and rigid upstanding legs at the second and fourth edges of the panel having said lug means and adjacent the first edge thereof, shoulder means on each of said legs, rigid upstanding tongues on the flanges of the second and fourth edges of the panel not having the legs, said tongues engaging in notches in the corresponding flanges of the panel having the legs so as to align the first and second parts, and apertures in the tongues engagable by the shoulder means of the legs to releasably secure the parts together by rotationless superimposition, said shoulder means being engagable in said apertures as a result of flexure of the first edges of the panels to convex and concave configuration to make the legs convergent in a direction extending away from the panel having the legs and the flanges divergent in a direction extending away from the panel having the flanges, and an opening in one panel to permit driving engagement of driving means with a spool when housed in said chamber.