Electro-Sound, Inc.

Amoco Corporation

George D Rehklau

Lee A Cotterill

Robert Z Langevin

William T Davids

Lloyd D Clark

Auto-radiogram image acquisition scanner

A multistation cassette loading apparatus 10 loads a predetermined amount of blank or pre-recorded magnetic tape into cassettes 12. Cassettes to be loaded are oriented and positioned on a conveyor 16 by an automatic feed mechanism 14. A loading mechanism 18 transfers each cassette to the first station of a four station turntable 20. At the first station, the leader tape 320 of the cassette is extracted. At the second station, the leader is oriented in a splice block 24 and is held in place by vacuum. The leader tape is cut into two sections of equal length by a cutter 34. At the third station, one section of the leader tape is spliced to the end of a reel of supply tape 38 by a spicer 40. A measured amount of supply tape is wound into the cassette at a constant tension. A cushion of air blown around the reel of tape in the cassette during winding reduces frictional heating from tape drag. After the measured amount of tape is loaded into the cassette, the supply tape is cut by another cutter 46. At the fourth station, the cut end of the supply tape is spliced to the other section of the leader tape by splicer 48. After the excess tape is wound into the cassette, it is unloaded from the turntable.

Cassette loading apparatus

A multistation cassette loading apparatus 10 loads a predetermined amount of blank or pre-recorded magnetic tape into cassettes 12. Cassettes to be loaded are oriented and positioned on a conveyor 16 by an automatic feed mechanism 14. A loading mechanism 18 transfers each cassette to the first station of a four station turntable 20. At the first station, the leader tape 320 of the cassette is extracted. At the second station, the leader is oriented in a splice block 24 and is held in place by vacuum. The leader tape is cut into two sections of equal length by a cutter 34. At the third station, one section of the leader tape is spliced to the end of a reel of supply tape 38 by a splicer 40. A measured amount of supply tape is wound into the cassette at a constant tension. A cushion of air blown around the reel of tape in the cassette during winding reduces frictional heating from tape drag. After the measured amount of tape is loaded into the cassette, the supply tape is cut by another cutter 46. At the fourth station, the cut end of the supply tape is spliced to the other section of the leader tape by splicer 48. After the excess tape is wound into the cassette, it is unloaded from the turntable.

A loop bin for use with tape transport apparatus including a front wall 50 and rear wall 52 separated by slightly more than the width of the tape to be stored, a pair of entry and exit openings at the top, a resilient distributing arm 34 located proximate the entry opening a compliant length of flexible material 36 suspended from each side of the bin and forming a catenary configured bin bottom, and a compliant damper loop 38 disposed midway down the bin and adjacent the exit side thereof for damping exiting tape tension fluctuations and assisting in the stacking of tape within the bin.

Loop bin for magnetic tape recording apparatus

Apparatus for loading tape onto the hub of a magnetic tape cartridge spool and including a tape supply for supplying a continuous strip of tape, a carriage for locating the cartridge at a first position, a hub drive for turning the spool to wind tape thereon, a tape cutter for cutting the length of tape from the continuous strip, a flyer carried by the hub drive for releasably holding the ends of the tape wound upon the hub, a tape supply arm for moving the lead end of the strip into contact with the flyer, for guiding the strip as it is wound onto the hub and for aligning and holding the strip relative to the cutter, a take-up loop arm for measuring out a selected loop length of the tail portion of the length of tape wound upon the hub, for holding the tape as it is cut by the cutter and for moving the tail end of the length into contact with the flyer and positioning it in abutting relationship with the lead end held thereby, a splicer for applying a segment of splicing tape across the abutted lead and tail ends as they are held by the flyer, and a control system for actuating each of the operative components of the apparatus in a predetermined sequence.

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Los Altos, CA, United States of America

George D Rehklau