Universal cassette

Abstract

A cassette assembly for holding circular and non-circular disks is provided. A cassette body has a top wall, a bottom wall, opposite side walls, and an open front, creating an inside and outside of the cassette body. The side walls have grooves adapted to receive and hold the disk. One or more first stops are provided inside the cassette body adjacent the grooves for stopping non-circular disks at a location in the grooves as the non-circular disks are placed in the grooves from the front. Additionally, one or more removable second stops inside the cassette body are spaced inwardly from the first stops for stopping the circular disks at the location in the groove as the circular disks are placed in the grooves from the front, so that the geometric center of the circular disk approximately aligns with the geometric center of the non-circular disk.

1 . A cassette assembly for holding circular and non-circular disks comprising: 
 a cassette body having a top wall, a bottom wall, opposite side walls, and an open front, creating an inside and an outside of the cassette body, the side walls having horizontal grooves adapted to receive and hold the disks;    one or more first stops inside the cassette body adjacent the grooves for stopping non-circular disks at a location in the grooves as the non-circular disks are placed in the grooves from the front; and    one or more removable second stops inside the cassette body spaced inwardly from the first stops, for stopping the circular disks at the location in the grooves as the circular disks are placed in the grooves from the front, so that the geometric center of the circular disk approximately aligns with the geometric center of the non-circular disks.    
     
     
         2 . The cassette assembly of  claim 1  wherein the grooves open toward the inside of the cassette body and extend from the front towards a rear of the cassette assembly.  
     
     
         3 . The cassette assembly of  claim 1  wherein the grooves are linear.  
     
     
         4 . The cassette assembly of  claim 1  wherein the one or more removable second stops extend from the top wall to the bottom wall.  
     
     
         5 . The cassette assembly of  claim 1  wherein the one or more first stops are plastic.  
     
     
         6 . The cassette assembly of  claim 1  wherein the one or more removable second stops are stainless steel.  
     
     
         7 . The cassette assembly of  claim 1  wherein the grooves are chamfered.  
     
     
         8 . A cassette assembly for holding circular and non-circular disks comprising: 
 a top plate:    a bottom plate;    two opposite side plates extending between the top and bottom plates and relatively parallel to one another, the side plates having parallel grooves from a front edge of the side plates extending towards a rear edge of the side plates, the grooves opening towards an inside of the cassette assembly and adapted to slideably receive the disks;    one or more removable spacer posts connected inside the cassette assembly relatively perpendicular to the grooves.    
     
     
         9 . The cassette assembly of  claim 8  further comprising one or more stops in the grooves, near the rear edge of the side plates.  
     
     
         10 . The cassette assembly of  claim 9  wherein the stops in the grooves are nearer the rear edge of the side plates than the removable spacer posts are.  
     
     
         11 . The cassette assembly of  claim 8  wherein the grooves are chamfered.  
     
     
         12 . The cassette assembly of  claim 8  further comprising one or more locating pins for locating the top and/or bottom plate to the side plates.  
     
     
         13 . A cassette assembly for holding circular and non-circular disks comprising: 
 a top wall;    a bottom wall;    a pair of spaced apart side walls connected by the top and bottom wall, the side walls having multiple grooves adapted to slideably receive the disks between the side walls, the grooves extending from a front of the walls toward a rear of the walls;    one or more removable stops extending from the top wall to the bottom wall for stopping travel of the circular disks at a location within the grooves; and    one or more stops adjacent the grooves for stopping the non-circular disks in the same relative location within the groove when the removable stops are removed.