Telex Computer Products, Inc.

Jack W Clymer

Richard W Pembroke

Ivo T Plachy

A reel hub latch for use in holding rotating devices, such as a reel of tape, rigidly and concentrically to a rotating shaft, in which a seating surface is provided for the reel on the outside surface of a first or hub portion of the device. There is an annular channel in the outer surface of the hub in which is provided a ring of deformable material, which has two parallel faces perpendicular to the axis of the ring. These two surfaces are provided with shallow narrow ridges molded into the material which are equally spaced around the circumference of the ring. The walls of the annular channel are likewise provided with an equal plurality of shallow narrow grooves in the parallel facing walls of the channel. A segmented disk is provided in the hub to extrude the deformable material outwardly with the movement of the handle, and to withdraw the ring material into the channel when the handle is moved in the reverse direction. The purpose of the ridges and grooves is to insure that the ring of deformable material does not rotate around the axis of the hub when there is a high torque between the rotating hub and the tape reel.

Reel hub latch

A tape drive hub having an improved reel latch, a hub body having a plurality of radial openings communicating with a reel receiving cylindrical surface, a tapered locking member carried axially by the body removable from an unlocked to a locked position, and an actuator received in each of the radial openings, each of the actuators being formed of a cylindrical body having a piston at the outer end and means at the inner end for engaging the locking member, and each actuator cylindrical body including a preloaded spring engaging the piston so that when the locking member is axially advanced into the locked position, each cylindrical body is pushed outwardly to engage the piston end with a reel positioned in the hub, the force of engagement being determined by the preload on each of the actuator springs.

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Tulsa, OK, United States of America

Jack W Clymer