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Who and when invented cassette box?

L

Late Boomer

Super Member
The Philips website shows the first cassette recorder along with a cassette and a cassette box: https://www.philips.com/a-w/about/n...101-First-Philips-cassette-recorder-1963.html The box is made of cardboard. So I wonder who invented the plastic Norelco box? On the one hand, one may assume that Philips did it simply because it is named "Norelco box" in the U.S. But maybe someone else did it, and the name just stuck because Philips was the cassette inventor? I googled around and could not find much.

For example, this patent https://patents.google.com/patent/US5186325 describes a slightly modifed box and shows "prior art", but it does not go anywhere as far as 1960s.

Anyone has more insight?
 
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Does not say anything about the cassette box. But I think I figured it out, Philips made it too, but probably one or two years later. I can see them in 1964 ad.
 
Thanks vwestlife! Was it before or after they invented compact cassette? Interesting, the right image is cut off, does the black part also have the "pin" (what is the correct name for it?) to lock the reel in place? Not important for a single reel I guess.

EDIT: DutchReeltoReel from TH claims that Philips came with this packaging for R2R in 1965. Ah, and his post links here: http://www.bandrecorder.be/Bandrecorder/banden.html The text reads (translated with Google Translate): "In 1965 Philips comes with a completely new concept, the well-known plastic folding box based on the box of the cassette tape. There will be a separate index card in the folding box." So, the cassette box of this design seems to had come first.

This page shows supposedly first Philips/Norelco cassette in the U.S. for 1964/65 "model year", it already has a plastic case.
 
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There were several different cartridge tape formats over the years by various mfgrs, the hinged box with the spool stoppers may "indeed be prior art".
 
Philips' prototype "einloch" (single hole) cassette from 1962 also came in a plastic clamshell case:

3800931_XXL.jpg
 
vwestlife said:
Philips' prototype "einloch" (single hole) cassette from 1962 also came in a plastic clamshell case.
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Interesting! Assuming that the plastic case was originally developed for the single hole cassette in 1962, Philips adapted it for Compact Cassette in 1964 and then ported it back to R2R in 1965. If I were a developer on Einloch project I would be saddened that the only part surviving from the project was the case.

This photo shows the case from the other side, there is a peg in the middle, but it does not seem to be wide enough to serve as a spool stopper. Maybe it was there just to provide more rigidity to the box. Maybe this design had internal brake like a video cassette and did not require a spool stopper.

be1ec306de69f0c8e17808654ff9429a_bb_07.jpg
 
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Cassette is a French word (meaning "little box"), and maybe Norelco initially thought it would be too foreign-sounding for the U.S. market.

A similar thing happened with the Sony Walkman. Sony was initially going to call it the "Soundabout" in the U.S. and the "Stowaway" in the UK, because they thought the name Walkman wouldn't make sense to native English speakers. But dealers and the press ended up calling it the Walkman anyway, so the name stuck.
 
A note: Philips invented both. In the USA, then, North American Philips sold their products as Norelco. The Norelco Carry-Corder was first as correcly posted, sold as a Cartridge recorder, for a short time, later known months later as the Compact Cassette.
 
The original large cassette I thought was a great idea. Same size tape used in a RTR, so you should have been able to get the same sound quality in a handy cartridge without having to thread a real. But, it didnt catch on and was later produced in the smaller form we know today with narrower tape, slower speed and lower frequency response.
 
Lavane said:
The original large cassette I thought was a great idea. Same size tape used in a RTR, so you should have been able to get the same sound quality in a handy cartridge without having to thread a real. But, it didnt catch on and was later produced in the smaller form we know today with narrower tape, slower speed and lower frequency response.
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Sony would not be able to create a wearable Walkman using these cartridges ;-)

RCACartridgeRecBruceT4.jpg
 
In the 1970s, Sony had another go at making a larger cassette with 1/4" tape inside it, but it was also a failure.

sony-elcaset.jpg
 
Late Boomer said:
Sony would not be able to create a wearable Walkman using these cartridges ;-)

RCACartridgeRecBruceT4.jpg
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No, but for home use the original huge cassette would have been a great alternative to the reel to reel. They would have taken up less space and easier to play. I agree these aren't the best for portable or car/boat use though. I think the earliest one I saw was a Philips console.
 
I can't find a picture of it now. But the Cassette was huge, bigger than whats been posted so far.
 
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