Sony WM-B52 Mechanism

The Sony WM-B52 Sports Walkman has a metal chassis and pushbutton selector mechanism. The tape transport mechanism consisted of toothed cogwheels so that the unit could recover from exposure to water, however it still used rubber belts, which slipped when wet. As you can see, there are two drive belts in the mechanism. There is one belt to turn the capstan flywheel, and the other to power the fast forward, rewind, and auto stop functions.

Motor Drive

The capstan flywheel is composite metal and plastic. The d.c. motor seems to do a good job of keeping the speed constant and still works after all these years.

Drive Belts

A dual drive belt system is very common; however, it would have been cleverer to find a way to eliminate the use of drives belts.

Nicely designed products such as these tend to operate much better in the electronics world.

The components for the pushbutton assembly are metal, and there are many pull-up springs as you can see.

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